Page 44 of Spilling the Tea

“So did I, Victoria,” he said, assisting her onto Magic’s back.

Just the feel of him touching her in places he’d never done before as he assisted her made intense heat circle around in her stomach. Once seated in the saddle, she stared down at him and said, “So that you know. I’m not sure I’ll be able to wait until after we’re married to share another kiss with you.”

Without waiting for his response, she and her horse took off like the wind.

Chapter Thirteen

Charlotte looked up from reading her book when her mother entered the room. “Yes, Ma?”

Ms. Penny closed the door and approached her daughter who was sitting on the bed. “I think we need to talk, Queenie.”

Charlotte nervously placed her book aside. “About what, Ma?”

“Why, you’ve only received one visitor since we returned from Denver. There should have been two more by now. What’s wrong with you, girl?”

Charlotte’s breath came out in a whoosh. Her mother had always kept up with her monthly like clockwork, so she shouldn’t be surprised that she would notice she’d missed the last two.

“Charlotte, I am waiting for an answer.”

Air practically stalled in her lungs. It had been a long time since her mother had called her Charlotte. It was always Queen Charlotte or Queenie unless she was in trouble. Considering her condition, she was definitely in trouble. There was nothing she could do now but give her mother an answer.

“I’m with child, Ma.”

“With child!” Penny Satterfield’s words echoed through the room like a sonic boom. The look on her face was even worse.

“Yes.”

Her mother stood there for a full minute and stared at her in disgust before she backed up as if Charlotte’s presence sickened her. At that moment, Charlotte’s heart slammed against her breastbone. “I’m sorry, Ma.”

“Too late to be sorry now. I have to tell your father.”

Now she felt her heart missing a few beats. If her aunt Jessie were still alive, she would have asked her mother to send her to Denver before her mother could have detected anything. Her aunt would have known what to do. It was the same thing she had done two years before. But now Aunt Jessie was gone.

“No, Mama, please don’t tell Pa. Can’t you take me to someone who will know what to do?”

“Know what to do?” her mother asked sharply, thoroughly appalled. “How do you know about such matters?”

“I don’t,” she said quickly.

“Then why would you mention anything like that? Is there something you’re not telling me, Charlotte?”

“No.” There was no way she would tell her mother what Aunt Jessie had done two years ago when she’d gone to spend that summer in Denver and met that boy.

Her mother stared at her for another long minute, and Charlotte hoped she hadn’t given her mother any ideas about anything. Her mother had adored her younger sister and must never know what secrets Charlotte and Aunt Jessie had shared. “I just heard girls at school talk, Ma. That’s all.”

“Well, that’s nothing decent girls would discuss. Not good Christian girls anyway.”

Late afternoon sunshine was coming through the bedroom window, but it could have been storming outside for all the gloom Charlotte felt in the room. “Your father and brother should be coming in for supper soon. I’m going to tell them. Isuggest you have the baby’s father’s name ready to give because there will be a wedding tonight.”

Shock covered Charlotte’s face. “A wedding?”

“Yes. A wedding. There’s no way your father is going to let the man who did this to you turn his back on you. You will be forced into a marriage just because you can’t keep your legs closed. I thought we raised you better than this. You have greatly disappointed me, Charlotte. Be prepared for your father’s anger.”

With those final words, Penny Satterfield walked out of the room.

***

A full hour later, Charlotte sensed the heavy footsteps of her father and brother, denoting their return home. All this time, she’d been in her bedroom, her thoughts consumed by her mother’s words. There would be a wedding. The unexpected news had left her reeling, but she couldn’t deny the flicker of hope that her pregnancy brought. She had come up with a plan. Ultimately, she would get the man she desired and was destined to be with.

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