Two weeks later Charlie awoke to discover she was alone in bed. She lay still and tried to calm her frantic heart. She and Sean always got up together. Even when one was awake first, the other lay quietly and waited for the other to waken.
Charlie’s mind was racing. It wasn’t Sunday, so she knew Sean was not feeding the stock, and the stillness of the house told her he was not fixing breakfast.
Charlie rose from the bed and stood clutching the front of her nightgown, not wanting to face what she had feared from the moment Patrick left town. She walked out to the kitchen on limbs that were stiff with dread, limbs that came alive with action when she spotted the note on the table.
Charlotte,
I’ve gone to Duncan’s. Hartley has been in touch, but he’s gone now. I’ll be home soon, so stay where you are. Stay out of the livery, and for my peace of mind, don’t even answer the door.
Sean
Charlie read the note through twice before running to the bedroom with plans to disobey her husband’s every word.
“About what time did you hear the noise?” Duncan asked Sean.
“It was just beginning to get light, so I guess around 4:30.”
Duncan consulted his pocket watch. “It’s been two hours; there’s no point in trying to track him now.”
“Do you think he’s hit the bank?”
“No. I’d have heard by now. You don’t seem overly surprised, Sean, that he was able to track you down.”
Sean’s eyes narrowed in thought for a moment. “I guess it’s because I know Hartley so well. I can’t say as I’ve ever felt that Charlotte and I were being watched, but the man has eyes everywhere, if you catch my meaning.”
“Connections?”
“Right.”
Lora put a plateful of food in front of each man, and Sean was opening his mouth to say he couldn’t stay, when all three heard a horse approaching at high speed.
Charlie burst into the kitchen without even knocking, her hand going to her mouth and her eyes closing in relief when she saw that Sean was all right. The young husband rose from the table and took her into his arms. They stood for a few moments in silence, unaware of the older couple watching them, and then Sean led Charlie to the table.
He put her in the chair next to his own and brushed a stray curl from her cheek. He spoke tenderly and without rebuke.
“I know you read the note or you’d have never found me. You also knew I wanted you to stay home and out of the livery.”
“Would you have stayed if I’d left you the same note?”
“No,” Sean admitted without hesitation, and leaned to press a kiss to her forehead.
Charlie still had hold of Sean’s hand when she began to calm down enough to look at the other people in the room. She looked across the table to find Duncan grinning at her.
“Good morning, Charlie.”
Charlie couldn’t help but smile back. “Hi, Duncan.”
A moment later she had her own plate of food, as did Lora, and Duncan was saying grace as though having people interrupt their breakfast was an everyday occurrence.
“Father in heaven, I thank you for this food and for Lora’s work; please bless our bodies this day. I would also ask Your guiding hand on our plans concerning Hartley. Protect us, Lord, in Your will, that we might glorify Your name. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.”
Charlie ate and listened in silence as the conversation between Sean and Duncan continued. She learned that Sean had heard a noise outside at daybreak. He had gone out dressed in nothing more than his jeans to find Hartley standing by their well.
In the space of a few seconds Hartley told Sean that Rico had been killed in a bank robbery in Los Angeles, and Hartley needed to pull another job because he was out of money. He wanted Sean’s help to hit the Visalia bank.
Before Sean could make any reply, the two men heard noises on the street. Hartley left quickly, but told Sean where to meet him on Sunday night, only three days away, so they could make plans.
“He fascinates me, Duncan, because he seemed genuinely shook when he told me about Rico, and then he went on to tell me where I was to meet him, assuming I’d be a part of his gang again.”
Duncan shook his head. “He doesn’t fascinate Witt. Did you see which way Hartley headed?”
“No, he went around the house.”
“But this place where he wants to meet you is only about a 30-minute ride?”
“Right. He didn’t give me a time, so I’m going to head out when there’s still plenty of light.”
“You can’t be serious?” Charlie said softly, but no one acknowledged her.
“If he doesn’t show, I’ll leave him a note and maybe we can still trap him. I still can’t believe I went outside without the gun. When Witt finds out he’ll be furious.”
“You can’t be serious?” Charlie’s voice, although still an incredulous whisper, was louder this time and heard by everyone. Sean looked at her with great compassion and then explained softly.
“Duncan is not pushing me into this, Charlotte; I volunteered. Hartley would have hit the bank here whether I’d been with him or not, but the truth is, I was with him, and now I want to do something to bring him to the law.”
Charlie was silent. She stared at Sean as though seeing him for the first time. Without thanking Lora for breakfast or bidding anyone goodbye, she rose from the table and walked out the door. The Duncans and Sean stayed in their places even as they listened to her ride away.
“We’ll be praying for you, Sean,” Duncan finally said. “And if you change your mind, there will be no hard feelings. I won’t talk to Witt until I hear from you.”
Sean thanked both husband and wife after those words and went back to the livery to try to reason with his wife.
On their own once again, Lora rose from the table to pour more coffee for Duncan. She would have returned the pot to the stove, but he moved his chair out and patted his knee invitingly. Lora, never needing to be asked twice, sat in her husband’s lap. It had been their special way of cuddling since the day they had been married.
“What were you thinking just now as you poured the coffee?”
Lora sighed on the question.
“Don’t want to tell me?” he questioned as his arms settled around her waist.
“I guess I don’t because it means admitting how faithless I am.”
“Charlie,” Duncan said in instant understanding. Lora nodded.
“I know all about fears, Lucas, and if she would just turn to God, He would comfort her,” Lora said with tender conviction.
“You don’t sound very faithless to me.”
“My faithlessness comes when I see the complete lack of hope on her young face. She’s not the hard person I always believed her to be, but at times she seems so closed to spiritual matters.”
“We’ve got to look at how far she’s come already,” Duncan told her assuredly. “When you think how quickly they’ve made their situation livable, it does make you want to see it as the miracle of which Sean talks.”
Suddenly Lora hugged him back. “Thank you, Lucas. I needed to hear that.”
Still wrapped in one another’s embrace, they took a moment to pray, each thanking God for bringing the Donovans into their world and for whatever purpose He had in doing so.