Page 10 of Charlotte's Reckoning
The other passengers who had rushed to the left side of the train, peering out, saw what her husband had and were raising the alarm. Some had grabbed their bags and were headed for the rear door.
“Maybe we should get off too,”Carson suggested, frowning with worry as he looked toward the back of the car.
“And go where? We’re in the middle of nowhere!”
He spun around, his face deathly pale, and retrieved her mama’s oiled silk cloak from her bag under the bench. He shoved it into her arms, urging, “Cover yourself and stay quiet.”
“Why?”she questioned, even while she hurried to do as he asked.
“You’re beautiful, and your traveling dress is of fine quality. You stand out like a ray of sunshine breaking through a blanket of dark clouds on a dreary day, especially in third class.”
When he tucked her hair under her collar, he pulled the hood over her head and tied the ribbons beneath her chin. A lady wearing a hat on the train was commonplace, but a hood, especially a fur-trimmed one at this time of year was odd.
It all became clear when a loud crash from the rear of the car sounded, and a gravelly voice demanded, “Don’t nobody move!”
She froze, an icy dread settling over her. Carson’s hand found hers, his touch welcome but far from reassuring.
Boot heels rang out on the wood floor. They grew louder as he walked toward the front of the car, where they sat on the second bench.
“We’re gonna do this calm and orderly like. My friend is going to bring around a bag. Put your money and all your valuables inside it. Cooperate, and no one gets hurt.”The words hung heavy in the air: a promise and a threat.
“This is the poor folks’ car, mister. First class is farther up the train.”
She heard dirt grate between the soles of his boots and the floor. Although she didn’t witness it, she pictured in her mind the robber spinning to face the outspoken passenger.
“Not so poor you can’t afford costly rail travel,”he snapped. “Now, what part of no arguments didn’t you understand?”
Silence followed not the gunshot she expected. It gave her hope the outlaw wasn’t quick on the trigger. At a tug on her left hand, she looked down to see Carson trying to remove her wedding ring from her finger. Carson didn’t have the funds to buy one, not even a plain silver band. They’d used the pearl and amethyst ring Maw McPhee had packed with her belongings. It was beautiful, and because it was her mama’s, Rowie cherished it.
It wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he tugged or when she tried to help and twisted it.
“Hide your hand,”he insisted, pulling her cape closed in front, moving quietly and slowly not to draw the outlaw’s attention or ire.
Minutes passed as they sat motionless, Rowie mainly hearing her heart pounding in her ears.
Suddenly, a burlap sack appeared in front of her.
“Everything you got,”a different voice ordered, this one younger, not high-pitched like a boy but also not deep like a man fully grown. But she didn’t dare look, keeping her gaze downcast instead.
“We’ve got a small amount of cash,”Carson told him as he dropped coins and a few greenbacks into the sack. “But that’s all we have after buying our tickets.”
“What about her?”he asked.
“She’s my wife. I carry the money.”
She could feel his eyes on her. “You’re married, are you?”he grunted. Abruptly, he grabbed her left hand from beneath her cloak. “I’ll take that ring.”
Rowie hesitated. Along with the green cape, it was one of the few things she had of her mother. It ran all over her that after having it barely a month, she had to give it up to a thief.
“It won’t come off,” she told him.
“Ain’t my problem,” he replied, his cold, determined tone making her wonder what lengths he would go to remove it.
“Give it to him, Rowie,” Carson urged. “It isn’t worth the trouble resistance will bring.”
“Listen to your man, Row-ee,”the outlaw crooned in a mocking, singsong voice. “It’s the smart thing to do.”A sharp poke in the arm from the muzzle ofhis gun accompanied his subsequent demand. “I’ll take that cape, too. My girl will fancy it.”
This time, she hesitated too long. “Now!”he barked. “Emmett don’t like to be kept waiting. He ain’t got much patience for argument and pointless acts of bravery, neither.”
