Chasing Charity Read Online Free PDF Page A

inside her? She wanted to call him back and ask. Lord knew she couldn’t figure it out.
    She should be happy. She and mama would be better off, maybe even rich like Mother Dane and Emmy. Like Daniel. Why did that make her feel so strange?
    “Rangeland,” Mama said behind her. The single word made no more sense than anything else she’d said that day.
    The silence that followed stood like a wall between them. When Charity could take it no longer, she glanced over her shoulder. “What’d you say, Mama?”
    The stubborn little woman stood shading her eyes with one hand, staring at the oak tree behind the house as if she’d never seen it before. “You asked me what would happen. I’m answering your question. We’ll buy rangeland. Acres of it, and cover it with cattle. I always wanted to raise me some beef stock.” She turned without waiting for an answer and went inside.
    Charity crossed to the porch rail and gazed about, seeing the tall, paint-chipped dwelling and weed-strangled plot with new eyes. In the side yard stood a row of pens where Papa had sheltered prized bloodhounds. Except for slight weathering and the need for a coat of whitewash, the pens looked the same as they had when filled with braying dogs. She could almost see Papa bent over the long basins pouring out water for squirming red pups.
    She was here on the porch that day, five years ago, when Mama stepped out the back door and told her Papa was gone. He’d been swept off his feet by the current while fishing near the banks of the San Jacinto River. Mama sold the bloodhounds soon after because she couldn’t afford to feed them.
    Tears sprang to Charity’s eyes. She’d been born in this house, lived here all her days. Just like that, her mama had agreed to walk away from everything that held them together after Papa died.
    The screen door opened behind her, and the squeal of the springs set her teeth on edge.
    Mama stood grim-faced in the entry. “Come inside now. There’s a mess of packing to do, and we’re running short on time.”
    An urge came over her to refuse, to scream and run headlong into the woods. Instead, she lowered her gaze to the rotting boards beneath her. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be right along.”
    The door closed. Charity looked at her fingers, white from gripping the weathered rail. She fought to still her trembling lips then lifted her chin and went inside.
    Rustling noises drifted down the hall from her mama’s cluttered bedroom. Charity found her bent over a satchel, rummaging through her clothes. The dimly lit room smelled of the pressed and dried magnolia blossoms Mama kept in her dresser drawers, but the odor had never put Charity in mind of a funeral before now.
    Arms buried elbow-deep in the bag, Mama twisted around to look at her. “No time to dawdle. They’ll be back directly and expect us to be ready.”
    “But where are we going?”
    “Where do you think?” Mama averted her eyes and went back to her task. “We got no one but Magda. She’ll take us in.”
    Charity’s heart leapfrogged. “For crying in a bucket! I can’t go to Mother Dane’s house. Not after Emmy...”
    “You got a better idea, let’s hear it. Magda would front me the money, but there ain’t no rooms left in town. Remember, that’s how Mr. Pierce came to be on our place.” She stood upright, her hands filled with faded undergarments. “It’s amazing how the good Lord works His will, daughter. If you hadn’t brought Mr. Pierce around here, I would’ve run him off, just like I done all the rest.”
    Charity groaned. Why hadn’t she left Buddy Pierce right where she’d found him? “And we wouldn’t be forced out into the street. I can’t go to Emmy Dane’s house, Mama. I won’t.”
    This brought Mama around to glare at her with burning eyes. “Yes, you can and you will. Magda’s all we got in this town. There’s no place else.”
    Charity put her fists on her hips and planted her feet. “Then I’m staying right