Uncertain: Day 14

Word Count: 84,060

Summary of Events:

Joseph, Hazel, and Mr. Averill arrived in the town where the trapper lived very late; so all they did was find a place to stay the night. The next morning they sought out the sheriff, who led them to the home of the trapper, where they found the children, who initially mistook Hazel for their mother before recoiling upon her informing them she was their aunt. As Joseph learned from the trapper, Ruby and Teddy had run away out of fear of Hazel after having met an aunt of their mother's pupils who had frightened them severely. After talking with the trapper Joseph discovered Hazel still not having success convincing the children to come to New Jersey with her, and so took Hazel aside to ask her why her husband couldn't come out to Cimarron to stay with her and the children until they were finished grieving before taking them to New Jersey, only to have Mrs. Chalmers inform him that her husband was dead . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Why you miserable prude,” Joseph spat.

Mrs. Chalmers looked startled.

“When we was at Yates Creek you went up one side’a me and down the other ‘cause I’d just assumed everyone in Cimarron would figure out I was a Confederate because I never denied their accusations of as much,” Joseph said, his voice trembling with barely-restrained rage. “Yet here you’ve been the whole time talking about yourself as Mrs. Chalmers and just assuming I’d figure out that you was widowed.”

“Why else would I have come out west unescorted?” Mrs. Chalmers asked.

“Eastern men is businessmen,” Joseph replied coldly. “They don’t necessarily have time to drop everything and come out west for a few days or weeks to track down their wives’ nieces and nephews. You said your husband worked for the police. Crime don’t take no vacation, so why should men in the business of stopping it?”

“Not every crime is a murder,” Mrs. Chalmers replied.

“I’ll give you that much,” Joseph snapped. “But I ain’t cutting you no slack for upbraiding me for assuming things about people when you done did the same thing back to me again. If’n you’re going to preach the sermon you’d better be doing what it says, after all, there’s a saying I’ve heard what says actions speak louder’n words.”

Mrs. Chalmers lowered her head contritely. Joseph relished in seeing the action, seeing how she’d been the one upbraiding him and tearing him down for most anything she could find for the most part since she’d arrived in town. 

In light of all the condemnations thrown at him thanks to Lavern’s efforts it actually felt extra good to know that someone regretted what they’d done to him and recognised that he was right on something.

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Chalmers said quietly. “I’m sorry for assuming that you would know I was widowed by the fact that I was unescorted and not wearing a wedding band, and I am especially sorry to have upbraided you for having complacently assumed only to be proven false when I was, myself, complacently assuming, only to have now, in this moment, been proven false. Will you forgive me?”

Joseph startled. The last time he’d heard those four words they’d been wheedled out of Irene by Ma because Irene had followed him and Odelia off to their secret talking spot before proceeding to laugh at their conversation.

Now he was actually being asked to forgive someone who’d not had to be coerced to ask; someone who was really, truly, genuinely contrite, without Ma there giving him a look that told him she expected him to say yes just as much as she’d expected Irene to ask for his forgiveness — even though neither had really wanted to make things up to each other.

He didn’t know what to do. He’d never been genuinely asked by someone for forgiveness. Mrs. Chalmers’ green eyes gazed at him expectantly. Joseph felt on the verge of panicking, but it wasn’t like he could ask Ma for help anyways, she’d been dead eleven years now.

“I’ll think about it,” Joseph finally said.

Uncertain: Day 13

Word Count: 78,016

Summary of Events:

At the meeting the night before it'd been decided that Hazel wouldn't help with searching for the children, and so was sitting in her hotel room thinking; she decided that she was going to go search out Joseph after lunch. Joseph, however, arrived at the hotel and found Hazel was staying there under Mr. Andrews' name — which upset him — he took her to the sheriff's office and updated her on what he'd learned before they and the deputy of Santa Fe, Mr. Averill, headed for where Joseph had been told the children were. As they rode Mr. Averill asked Hazel a fair bit about Ruby, Teddy, and Felicity, seeing as he hadn't been too long in Santa Fe, and they got to speculating how the children wouldn't have caught tuberculosis from their mother . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Was your sister a charitable woman?” Mr. Averill asked Hazel. “As in, did she do a lot to help other people?”

“Oh yes,” Hazel replied. “That’s why she wanted to teach.”

“So is it possible your sister knew of someone with tuberculosis and was helping them, but knew she was at risk to catch the disease and had her children in the care of this other woman before she even came down with it?” Mr. Averill asked.

“It sounds perfectly logical to me,” Hazel replied. “Although I don’t see why she would have put herself in such risk, considering that she had children who were at risk of becoming orphans if she did. I don’t see it being worth the sacrifice.”

Mr. Averill nodded.

Hazel struggled to keep herself from falling apart. To think that Felicity would’ve knowingly exposed herself to a deadly disease when her children had no other family that they knew. It didn’t seem fair to the children.

“Especially so close,” Hazel said. “To so much more death.”

“I don’t follow Mrs. Chalmers,” Mr. Averill said quietly.

Hazel pulled out her handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes furiously, but the more she dried up tears the more they came, the more they flowed and blurred her vision.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Chalmers,” Mr. Averill said. “I shouldn’t have kept talking about it.”

Hazel shook her head. “It’s not your fault,” she mouthed more than spoke.

“If you say so,” Mr. Averill said.

“Would you like us to stop?” Mr. Sheldon asked.

Again Hazel shook her head. Rocky would follow them even if she wasn’t steering him. He’d be fine.

“Whoa,” Hazel heard Mr. Sheldon say softly, but it sounded to be on the other side of her than he’d been before. She felt Rocky stop underneath her.

There were sounds of dismounting, then hands lightly at her waist.

“Come here Mrs. Chalmers,” Mr. Sheldon said quietly.

His hands grasped her waist securely and he actually lifted her out of the saddle before embracing her gently against himself.

Hazel admittedly felt a measure of relief to not have to try and hold herself in the saddle and try to cry. She leaned against Mr. Sheldon and sobbed, inhaling breaths scented of horses, wood and tobacco smoke, sweat, and woods.

There was nothing said for a long time. Although Hazel sobbed, she put a concentrated effort into stopping that didn’t initially have much effect, but eventually she was able to stop crying and recover herself.

She pushed away from Mr. Sheldon and dabbed at her eyes to dry them.

Even though she could do it herself, she let Mr. Sheldon help her into the saddle before getting back into his own and going back to the other side of Mr. Averill.

“I’m terribly sorry,” Hazel said.

“Think nothing of it,” Mr. Averill said. “You’re grieving a profound loss. And I can’t speak for Mr. Sheldon, but I personally know it’s very hard to lose a sibling, especially one you’re close to. Cry all you want. I think crying does eventually actually help it feel better.”

Uncertain: Day 12

Word Count: 72,055

Summary of Events:

Hazel had dinner with Mr. Andrews, during which he talked so long he hardly ate, not to mention they lost track of the time and Hazel was the only one of them who was able to get to the meeting Mr. Waller had arranged to have, although she was grateful to be away from Mr. Andrews. The next morning a local widow came to the sheriff's office and told Joseph and the sheriff that a trapper who stayed in her rooming house had returned from checking his traps with two children; Joseph meant to find out if Hazel was in town and bring her to find the children. On his way, though, Joseph ran into his fiancée's father who was not impressed with Joseph and spewed a torrent of angry words at him . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Joseph went into the livery and crept silently to Tempest’s stall. The gelding nickered to him. Joseph tried to smile, but he couldn’t really, nor could he bring himself to speak without being afraid he was going to burst into sobs.

He wrapped his arms around the horse’s neck and leaned his head against the soft coat. He let a few tears crest the edge of his eyelids and track down his cheeks. No one could ever claim that words didn’t hurt.

After a few minutes Joseph felt a little bit relieved and dried his eyes. He heard footsteps stop behind him and turned around calmly.

“Can I help you sir?” the liveryman asked.

Joseph opened his mouth, but then he closed it. He didn’t need to ask about how full the stables were. Eustace wouldn’t be here unless the rest of the search party was. He knew the answer to his question, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a different one.

“If a person from England was to come down here to Santa Fe,” Joseph said. “No matter how unlikely it might seem to you that such a thing would happen, where do you think they’d choose to spend their night?”

“A person from England?” the liveryman asked. “Do you mean a rich one or a poor one?”

“A rich one,” Joseph replied.

“Well, every rich person in town stays at the Conquistador,” the liveryman replied.

“Conquistador,” Joseph repeated.

“It’s the finest hotel in town, built out of brick and everything,” the liveryman said.

Joseph nodded. “Thank you.”

The liveryman nodded back and turned away, but then stopped and turned around to look at Joseph again. “You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a lady from England, would you?”

“Why?” Joseph asked.

“There was a lady with a strange accent who came in here to board her horse,” the liveryman replied. “Had perfect English, but I’ve never heard her kind of accent before. I usually hear Spanish, or your accent.”

Joseph slipped out of the stall. “Where’s the horse?”

“Here,” the liveryman replied, indicating a stall.

Immediately Joseph strode over and looked inside. Looking back at him was a stocky-built grey horse he recognised immediately as Rocky, Denton’s only sidesaddle-trained horse. Mrs. Chalmers was here.

“Thank you very much,” Joseph said to the liveryman.

“You’re very welcome,” the liveryman replied.

With that, Joseph strode off for the Conquistador Hotel. He could just take Mrs. Chalmers with him on the trip to where, according to Mrs. Lewis, Ruby and Teddy Dirk waited for them.

Uncertain: Day 11

Word Count: 66,015

Summary of Events:

Joseph and the sheriff of Santa Fe canvassed businesses in the town to see if they'd seen a trapper with two children accompanying him, but didn't get any leads. Hazel and the search party arrived in Santa Fe and everyone dispersed to find accommodation; to Hazel's dismay Mr. Andrews seemed intent to have her stay in the same hotel as he was, despite her efforts to separate from him . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Hazel kept slightly back of Mr. Andrews and was disappointed to see that he was checking over his shoulder at her every few seconds. He meant to keep her close at hand whether she wanted to be close at hand or not.

Still, she managed to slow down until she was probably a good half-length behind him before he brought his horse around to ride alongside her.

“Your horse must be awful tired,” Mr. Andrews said. “He’s slowing down.”

Hazel nodded, not wanting to give the truth away. “He must be.”

After a few more minutes’ riding — in which Hazel ceased to make efforts to escape Mr. Andrews because she wasn’t going to be able to get away from him now — they arrived  outside a rather imposing edifice of a building, constructed out of stone in the latest architectural fashion.

Engraved words across the top of the building advertised it as the Conquistador Hotel. Mr. Andrews turned to face the rail in front of it and Hazel, unwillingly, joined him.

Mr. Andrews dismounted and tied his horse before holding Rocky’s head and waiting for Hazel to do the same thing before he tied Rocky to the rail and escorted her like a lady through the main doors of the hotel into one of the nicest-looking interiors Hazel had seen since crossing the Mississippi.

An austere-looking hotelier greeted Mr. Andrews, who stepped up to the desk.

“Do you have corner suites?” Mr. Andrews asked.

“We do,” the hotelier replied.

“Do any of them happen to be open?” Mr. Andrews asked.

“More than one,” the hotelier replied.

“Do any of them have an adjoining room available as well?” Mr. Andrews asked.

The hotelier glanced over at something hidden from view for a moment. “Yes.”

“Do you have a corner suite and an adjoining room that are both front-facing?” Mr. Andrews asked.

Another long glance off to the side by the hotelier ensued before an affirmative reply was again given.

“Good, I’ll take them,” Mr. Andrews said.

“For how long?” the hotelier asked.

“We’ll start with three nights,” Mr. Andrews replied.

“And your name is?” the hotelier asked.

“Lavern Andrews,” Mr. Andrews replied. “No e on the end of Lavern.”

Hazel waited patiently as the two men made the arrangements that needed to be made before the hotelier fetched the keys to the rooms for them. Hazel noted that she got the key to the adjoining room, while Mr. Andrews took the key to the corner suite.

Apparently, as much as he was paying for her accommodations, he was still taking the nicer room.

Uncertain: Day 10

Word Count: 60,036

Summary of Events:

The search party was split in half before entering the mountains, with half going by the main road to see if they could get to Santa Fe faster than the half Hazel went with through the mountains following tracks Hazel was sure Joseph had left behind. Arriving in Santa Fe, Joseph sought the help of the sheriff in town to inquire after whether anyone had seen a trapper and two little kids in town somewhere in the last two days. Camped in the mountains for the last night before they'd reach Santa Fe, Hazel waited for the others with her and Mr. Andrews around the fire to go to bed so that she could talk privately with Mr. Andrews . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Hazel and Mr. Andrews bid goodnight to the Mortons and Hazel watched silently as Mr. Morton removed his boots and climbed into his bedroll underneath the wagon, while Mrs. Morton climbed up into the wagon.

She turned and looked at Mr. Andrews.

“Do you mean to bid good night as well?” Mr. Andrews asked.

“No,” Hazel replied. “I have another question for you that I hadn’t realised I’d neglected to ask of you until earlier today.”

“Oh,” Mr. Andrews said. “And what were you wanting to ask me?”

“I was wanting to ask you how exactly you would know that Mr. Sheldon would accuse you of serving in the Confederate Army with him if he was merely your pursuer until earlier this week,” Hazel replied.

“Well I am an excellent judge of character,” Mr. Andrews replied. “And I could tell by the evil glint in his eyes and the savagery with which he pursued me that Private Sheldon was the most nefarious and devious of all the Confederates.”

“And you can ascertain that all Confederates are nefarious and devious?” Hazel asked.

“Well why else would the war have happened?” Mr. Andrews asked.

“It isn’t always evil people who begin conflicts,” Hazel said. “I am sure it can be purely misguided individuals who do so.”

“But the worst of wars are started by the worst of people,” Mr. Andrews said. “And that war was the worst of wars.”

“Really?” Hazel asked.

“Any war that tears a nation in half is worse than a war between two nations that never were unified in the first place,” Mr. Andrews replied. “And as this is the first such war to do so since the creation of guns and cannons, it was the most devastating.”

“Do you necessarily think the Confederates wanted to tear the nation in half?” Hazel asked. “Don’t you think they were just afraid of what would happen to everything they’d ever known if they conceded to the demands that they pay their labourers a fair and living wage?”

“That’s what they want you to think,” Mr. Andrews said. “They want you to think it was fear and desperation, selfishness, greed . . .”

“And what was it really then?” Hazel asked.

“An evil plot,” Mr. Andrews replied. “An evil plot concocted by devious men like Joseph Sheldon meant to ruin lives, families, economies, and much more.”

“But the Confederacy lost,” Hazel said. “And they were ravaged and indebted and ill-prepared, weren’t they?”

“Yes,” Mr. Andrews replied.

“That proves the superiority of the Union, does it not?” Hazel asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Andrews replied.

“If that is the case then your comment comes across to suggest that it was the Union who concocted the evil plot to ruin the Confederacy,” Hazel said.

Mr. Andrews opened his mouth like he meant to speak, but then closed it and turned his gaze toward the fire, which was growing down to just glowing coals.

“I must be tired Mrs. Chalmers,” Mr. Andrews said. “Can’t even speak straight.”

Uncertain: Day 9

Word Count: 54,030

Summary of Events:

Joseph discovered a campsite with a fire, at which Deputy found the children's scents, which proved that the trapper who'd picked up the children had spent the night there with them. Hazel asked Mr. Andrews some of the questions that'd formed in her mind regarding the life story he'd told and was dissatisfied with the answers he gave. Joseph continued riding the next day, cold and wet thanks to an overnight rain, and thought about the search party he knew was behind him, although he wasn't sure was necessarily heading the same way he was . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Joseph shifted his jaw as he thought. Mrs. Chalmers was a very logical person, and she was very close with Mrs. Dirk — they were sisters after all — so she would’ve known the Dirks had lived in Santa Fe too, so she probably would’ve concluded that Santa Fe’s direction was the one they ought to be heading in.

There was, however, the matter of whether she had been able to convince everyone else that it made much more sense for the children to have struck out for Santa Fe instead of any other direction.

Eustace was not exactly an easy man to convince of anything — but neither was Mrs. Chalmers a woman who could be put down easily — and because of his experience as a Union Lieutenant Joseph was willing to put money down to back up his opinion that Eustace had inserted himself as leader of the expedition.

He wasn’t going to lie, Eustace was pretty good at visual tracking — as Joseph himself was — but visual tracking wasn’t as good as dog tracking, thereby Joseph had the upper hand and would probably get to the right place first.

Eustace would probably lead the others wherever the freshest tracks led from wherever they started at, which wasn’t necessarily north to Yates Creek and west to Santa Fe.

If Mrs. Chalmers proved as forceful and persuasive as Joseph was certain she could be, they probably would’ve headed for the creek before looking for tracks, and maybe even have followed after his, but started out far enough behind him to have not succeeded in catching up to him — or hearing Deputy’s barks.

In fact, if they hadn’t loped to the creek, it was likely they were further behind him than they’d set out at.

Not that it really mattered how far behind him Mrs. Chalmers and her search party were, what mattered was ahead of him.

The best he could guess was that the benevolent trapper who’d picked Ruby and Teddy up and was carrying them west to Santa Fe faster than they could’ve ever hoped to get there on foot was a day ahead of him.

Because of the possibility of wildlife, the uneven terrain, and the lack of much for food for Tempest, seeing as grass was not inclined to grow well in spruce forest, Joseph didn’t want to jog or lope to try and catch up.

Too, it wasn’t like the trapper was doing anything wrong. He was getting Ruby and Teddy to safety. He hadn’t kidnapped them. Joseph was sure the man — once they hopefully met up in Santa Fe — would be more than willing to see the kids given to Mrs. Chalmers, seeing as she was their aunt.

Joseph didn’t really see the need to hurry now that he was sure the children were in good hands. He could casually make his way to Santa Fe, track the trapper down there, get the children back, and all would be well; in fact, the search party behind him might even be able to catch up to him that way so that he could present the children to Mrs. Chalmers personally before trekking all the way back to Santa Fe.

Uncertain: Day 8

Word Count: 48,154

Summary of Events:

At the creek Hazel was offered help to cross, but chose to cross on her own and while waiting for the rest to cross spied tracks in the dirt that told her Joseph had been there and headed west; without consulting her opinion, Mr. Waller elected to head east, presuming the children would seek out family in Kansas. Deputy lost the scent of the children and Joseph determined by way of some horse tracks that the children had been picked up by someone on horseback, whom he presumed to be a trapper, as there were quite a few trappers who lived in Cimarron who trapped game in the mountains. Hazel was starting to get unsettled that they were heading eastward and expressed her frustration to one of Mr. Waller's sons, who attempted to inform his father, to no avail . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Hazel nodded and asked Rocky for a canter, which caught her up to Mr. Waller and Mr. Andrews quickly.

“Mr. Waller, please, it is a matter of some urgency,” she snapped.

“What is?” Mr. Waller asked, startled.

“You’re going the wrong way,” Hazel replied.

Mr. Waller didn’t stop his horse. “My dear Mrs. Chalmers, this is the way to Kansas.”

“But the children aren’t in Kansas,” Hazel replied.

“Well of course not,” Mr. Waller replied. “They’re children, I’m sure they haven’t reached the border of New Mexico Territory yet.”

“You don’t understand!” Hazel snapped, using the whip in her right hand that was normally for gently cueing her mount to strike Mr. Waller’s leg. “The children never headed for Kansas in the first place!”

“But they’ve got family in Kansas Mrs. Chalmers,” Mr. Andrews said. “You told us that yourself.”

“But they haven’t met them,” Hazel replied. “They haven’t met me either. Bert and Felicity Dirk were the only family those children knew. Logic prevails that any child would not set out on a trek to find family they’ve never met, but would go somewhere where they know people whom they can trust. And that location is Santa Fe because that is where Bert, Felicity, and the children lived until Felicity came into the employ of Mr. and Mrs. Yates.”

“You’re quite certain?” Mr. Waller asked, sounding rather chagrined and pained as he rubbed his leg where Hazel had struck him.

“Indeed I am,” Hazel replied. “And if you would’ve given me half a moment earlier this morning we would have been headed in that direction from the start instead of marching ourselves down the hills for lunch at your residence that I am certain had been organised beforehand.”

Mr. Waller looked at Hazel guardedly.

“That isn’t to say that I didn’t appreciate the sustenance,” Hazel said, calming her voice. “However, I am thoroughly affronted that you gave me the lead to the creek and then did not consult me for any insight on where I — who had already spent two days seeking the children in the area of Cimarron — believed it likely my niece and nephew had gone. I know I am not from the area, but I kept up a regular correspondence with Felicity, for we were close enough to each other in our age and relationship that some mistook us as twins, thus I know things about her that may not have been well known by anyone else in Cimarron.”

Without a word Mr. Waller brought his horse to a stop. Hazel and Mr. Andrews followed suit, and the others behind them progressively did the same.

“Then why did the children head north Mrs. Chalmers?” Mr. Waller asked.

“I cannot say,” Hazel replied. “But I assure you that they did not make for Kansas.”