The Mistaken Mail Order Bride (21 page)

“What your father put in his will has
nothing to do with what happened last night.”

“Are you kidding me?” Carl shrieked. “It has
everything to do with it. Abe could have killed Lydia so I can’t
hold onto this stream anymore. He’s been after this piece of land
ever since our father died. He doesn’t care about the gold that’s
here. He only wants the water from it. But I need the gold. Our
father died without any money. All he left me is what’s in this
stream. The only way I’m getting out of this town is with that
gold. Abe can have this stream after I’m done with it, but he’ll
never listen to me long enough to understand that. There’s no
reasoning with him.” After a pause, he added, “So you can see that
Abe has a reason to want Lydia dead.”

Eric couldn’t deny the logic in what Carl
was saying. Though Eric knew Abe hadn’t done it, he was going to
have to ask Abe where he was yesterday and last night in order to
be fair.

“Alright, I’ll talk to Abe,” Eric said.

Carl relaxed, but only slightly. “Good.”

“I’m not going to accuse anyone of murder
until I know all the facts. I’ll be thorough in who I ask. I don’t
want the wrong person to be convicted of this.”

With a nod, Carl further relaxed.
“Alright.”

“Is there anything you can tell me that
might help me as I try to find out who did it?”

“All I know is that she slept with different
men, but that’s not exactly a secret.”

No, sadly it wasn’t. Eric was aware she’d
had her lovers. He supposed after talking to Abe, the next people
he’d visit would be those who were known to sleep with her. That
would include the doctor who was currently checking her over for
evidence. He winced. Why didn’t he think of that before he took her
to his office?

“What is it?” Carl asked.

Trying to put the question as delicately as
possible, Eric replied, “When was the last time your wife spent
time with the doctor when she wasn’t sick?”

“Oh, she hasn’t been to his bed for a while.
I don’t know why. I just know she stopped having headaches that
needed medicine.” When Eric frowned, he explained, “That was her
excuse whenever she went to see him.”

Eric decided he’d take Carl’s word for it.
“Do you know who she’s been with besides the doctor?”

“I know she’s been with Hank and Enoch. If
she’s had other lovers, I don’t know who they would be.”

“How do you know she’s been with Hank and
Enoch?”

“Enoch confessed about it right after he got
out of jail. He said it was only once, and he was so drunk he
barely remembered it. As for Hank…” He let out a long sigh. “She
once said she wished I could be as good as him in bed. She’d been
drinking when she said it, so I don’t think she meant for it to
slip out.”

Eric had a hard time understanding why a
woman would be with a man three times her age, but he decided it
wasn’t worth figuring out.

“Thanks, Carl,” Eric finally said. “If I
have any more questions, I’ll let you know.”

With a nod, Carl retrieved his pan and
returned to the stream.

Eric figured he’d asked enough questions
today. He’d continue talking to more people tomorrow.

***

It was in the middle of the night when
Caroline was jolted out of a sound sleep. She sat up in bed, trying
to figure out what had woken her.

“It’s Caleb,” Eric said, throwing on his
clothes.

It was then she realized the boy was
screaming. She hastened to put on her robe and followed Eric to the
boy’s room.

“Caleb, what’s wrong?” Eric asked as
Caroline hurried to the bed and gathered the boy in her arms.

Caleb clung to her. Though he’d stopped
screaming, he was crying. She did her best to dry his face, but the
tears kept coming.

Eric struck a match and lit the kerosene
lamp. He turned the wick so there was sufficient light in the room
to dispel all the dark shadows that might have lingered from his
dreams.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Caroline
asked.

Caleb only continued to cling to her,
sobbing into her shoulder.

Caroline glanced over at Eric, who seemed to
feel as lost as she did in how to help the boy. Their boy. He was
their child now, and that meant his pain was their pain. Eric sat
next to her and put his arms around both of them.

She wished she knew what to say to make
things better for Caleb. There had to be something she could do.
But what? She pulled Caleb far enough from her so she could cup his
face in her hands and look him in the eye.

“Caleb, what is it?” she asked, her tone
tender. “What can we do to make things better?”

Caleb sniffled and wiped his eyes. “Am I a
monster?”

“What?” Eric asked, his tone incredulous.
“No, of course not. Whatever gave you that idea?”

“I think I know,” Caroline said with a
glance at Eric. Turning her gaze back to her son, she asked, “Is
this because of what you heard the people saying about Travis?”

Caleb nodded and wiped another tear away. “I
never had a father.”

“You mean you didn’t know who your father
was,” Eric clarified. “Everyone has a father.”

Caroline nodded. “They do, Caleb. I meant
what I said to those people. Travis has a father and a mother. Just
because they haven’t seen them, it doesn’t mean they don’t
exist.”

“Travis came here when he was seventeen,”
Eric said. “He was alone when he got here. That’s why no one’s seen
his parents. He bought the property from Sam before Sam died. That
was six years ago.”

“Do you know what happened to his parents?”
Caroline asked.

Eric shook his head. “He’s very private
about his life. He doesn’t say anything to anyone about it, and
quite frankly, I think we all should respect that. What are they
saying about Travis?”

Caroline was ready to answer when Caleb
said, “They say he has no mother or father, and it makes him a
monster.”

“One lady,” Caroline began, “suggested one
of Travis’ parents was a spirit. But Caleb, that isn’t true. You
know how people say things about me that aren’t true. They’re doing
the same thing to Travis.”

“Unfortunately.” Eric took a deep breath. “I
don’t know what to do about Travis’ situation. I didn’t realize it
was that bad. I knew people were afraid of him, but I didn’t think
they’d say those kinds of things.”

“Does Travis know?” she asked.

Maybe that was why he ran every time someone
came onto his property. Maybe he didn’t want to face any of those
people. She couldn’t blame him if that was the case. It’d been hard
enough for her to face them after knowing what Ida had told them.
The only reason she’d managed it was because she had people like
Eric, Caleb, Phoebe and Lois in her life. But Travis had no
one.

“I don’t know if Travis is aware of what
they’re saying or not,” Eric finally said. “I’m sure he knows
they’re afraid of him.”

“They all turned their backs to him when he
came through town to meet you at the ravine,” she softly told
him.

He winced but didn’t reply.

“It was just me and Mama,” Caleb said,
interrupting their conversation.

Caroline and Eric turned their attention
back to Caleb.

“It was just me and Mama in Kansas. She was
sad,” Caleb continued. “She cried a lot. But she loved me.”

“She never mentioned your father?” Caroline
asked.

He shook his head. “Lots of men came to see
her. None were him. I asked her, and she always said no.”

Caleb was probably too young to understand
the implication of what he was saying, but from the brief
description he’d just given her, she suspected his mother had had
to make money by resorting to prostitution. Caroline had come
across two ladies who’d done that after the war because they were
so hungry they couldn’t stand it anymore. She didn’t know what she
would have done had it not been for Bee.

“Caleb,” Eric began, interrupting her
thoughts, “even if she didn’t mention him, you had one. Whatever
the people told you today, it’s not true. Travis has parents. Just
like you have a father.”

“May I ask what happened to your mother?”
Caroline ventured, wondering if he’d be willing to disclose that
since he was opening up to them about his past.

“One of the men stabbed her.” Caleb’s voice
was so soft she had to strain to hear him. “I told her he was bad.
But she let him in anyway. I don’t know why he did it. I don’t know
why bad people do what they do.”

“Sometimes we never find out,” Eric
said.

“What happened after that?” Caroline asked
Caleb. “Did the man try to hurt you?”

He shook his head. “The owner of the
building came.” He swallowed as more tears fell from his eyes.
“Mama died. Mama had no one. I was sent to a family, but they
didn’t like me.”

Caroline brushed more tears from his cheeks.
“What makes you say that?”

“They didn’t like my color,” he said.

“Were they mean to you?” Eric asked, concern
in his voice.

“No,” Caleb said. “Not mean. They didn’t
talk to me much. I was there, but they didn’t care. Then one day
they took me out and left me.” He looked at Caroline. “You found me
after that.”

Caroline couldn’t believe what she was
hearing. “They just left you on the streets?”

“They told me to wait, and they’d be back. I
knew they weren’t coming, but I waited.”

“Why?” she forced out when she could trust
herself to speak without crying.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” he
said.

She brought him back in her arms and held
him tightly to her. “I’m glad I found you,” she whispered, allowing
her tears to fall.

The poor boy. What a terrible thing to go
through. After watching his mother die, he had to go through the
pain of rejection.

“We want you here,” she added, stroking his
back, hoping the simple action would help soothe him as it’d often
soothed her when her mother had done it when she was a child.

“We do,” Eric agreed. “Though we’ll never
know what happened to your father, I promise you that he was just
as human as we are. Travis is a good man. He’s just the type who
would rather be alone. That’s all. He’s not a monster, and neither
are you. Caleb, you have a bright future ahead of you if you choose
to take it. You’re smarter than any other seven-year-old I know,
and you see things in people the rest of us miss. I agree with
Caroline. I’m glad you’re here. We’re a family, and we’re going to
get through everything together. Alright?”

Caroline smiled despite the fact that
another tear made its way down her cheek. “He’s right,” she told
Caleb. “We can’t change other people. But we’re not going to let
them tell us who we are or what we should do. That’s up for us to
decide.”

“Exactly,” Eric said. “Caleb, do you feel
better?”

“A little,” he replied. “I still miss
Mama.”

“We don’t expect you to get over losing her
right away,” Eric replied. “I’m sure there’s a part of you that
will always miss her. There’s no getting around it, but maybe
someday, when the pain isn’t so great, you can take comfort in
knowing she loved you.”

“We don’t want to take her place,” Caroline
assured him. “You can talk about her any time you want. She did a
wonderful job taking care of you, and I’m sure if she was here, she
would say she’s proud of you.”

There was no denying his mother had loved
him and did everything she could to shelter him from the harsher
realities of life. She suspected the reason his mother never talked
about his father was because he’d abused her somehow. She had no
proof to back up this thought, but it was there all the same.

“I have an idea,” Eric said. “Why don’t I
tell you a bedtime story? My own mother used to do that for me when
I was your age.”

Since Caleb indicated he’d listen to the
story, Caroline helped him settle back into bed, tucking the
blanket around him in a way that would hopefully make him feel
protected through the rest of the night. From there, she held
Caleb’s hand as Eric began to tell his tale.

Chapter Eighteen

T
he
next day, Eric asked Caroline about the people who’d confronted her
about Travis. Once he found out who they were, he gathered everyone
together in the town hall.

“I heard what happened yesterday after
Travis Martin came through here,” he said. “I know Travis. He’s a
good man. He came here when he was seventeen, and he likes to keep
to himself. There’s nothing wrong with him. This nonsense you told
my wife about him being a monster has to stop.”

“If there’s nothing wrong with him, why
won’t he show us his face?” Hank asked.

Eric debated whether or not he should answer
that question. Travis was sensitive about the scars. He didn’t
think Travis would want the entire town to know about them,
especially since he made it a point to hide his face whenever he
came across anyone. But after careful debate, he opted for telling
them the truth. If he told them the truth about the scars, then
maybe they’d believe him with everything else he was telling
them.