An Officer but No Gentleman(104)

Jaxon allowed Charlie to go below first then pushed his way between his wife and his twin. Charlie stopped dead in her tracks seeing the two men guarding the door.

“Who…?”

“Deputy Marshalls is all I could get out of them,” Jax said.

Charlie understood without having to be told that Grayson had brought them with him. He was having her arrested for killing her mother and Gertie. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life and Grayson had pulled the rug out from under her. No wonder he seemed happy. He planned to send her to go to jail. Parading her in front of all Jaxon’s friends and family would have the added bonus of humiliating Jaxon as well.

She wished to heaven, she had told Jaxon everything so he would not be blindsided by this. Perhaps she should be thankful if what Grayson had said was true about the marriage was not being legal, at least then, Jaxon would have a graceful way to distance himself.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly to Jaxon. “I know this is little consolation, but I love you and I never meant to hurt you.”

“Charlie?”

Jaxon grabbed her elbow and pulled her into Daniel’s former cabin, slamming the door behind him and leaving Grayson and the deputies in the passageway.

“Charlie, I asked you when Grayson left if there was anything he was going to find out that I should know and you told me there wasn’t.”

Charlie bit her lip. “I should have told you, but I couldn’t because I was afraid I’d lose you. I’m so ashamed of it. I prayed every night that he wouldn’t find out. It never occurred to me he’d bring the law with him.”

She had never seen Jaxon so angry. His lips were pressed together tightly and his eyes narrowed under a knitted brow. He released his grip and crossed his arms over his chest as pulled back half a step as if standing close to her disgusted him.

“This is your last chance to tell me before he does.” His voice was as cold as his eyes.

Charlie choked back the lump in her throat. Her lower lip trembled. “I need to sit down,” she said weakly. “I don’t feel well.”

Jaxon waited while she found a seat on the stripped bunk. She folded her hands in her lap and stared at the floor.

“This is about the fire.”

“The fire? When you were five?”

Jaxon felt the anger drain from him. He knew whatever prompted Grayson to bring two deputy marshals with him; it had nothing to do with the fire. However, if she wanted to tell him, he would listen. He pulled a nearby chair over and sat down facing her.

“Aye. There’s no statute of limitation on murder, Jaxon. I always knew it would catch up to me. I just hoped after all these years, maybe they forgot.”

“Start at the beginning.”

“My mother and Gertie, our housekeeper, were canning apple butter in the kitchen. It took all day, or at least it seemed like all day to me. My mother sliced a loaf of bread, spread it with apple butter and gave it to me. I still remember the way it tasted.” Charlie closed her eyes. To this day she could not stomach apple butter. Just the sweet smell of apples and cinnamon brought back the memories and made her sick to her stomach.

“Later, I must have been getting underfoot. She spoiled me terribly and not having Mama’s attention all day made me act up. When I wouldn’t behave, she put me to bed. It must have been earlier than usual because I was wide awake and after just a few minutes, I got out of bed. I wanted to play with my paper dolls, but it was dark in my room so I snuck downstairs with them. A lantern lit in the back parlor so I went in there. If I remember correctly, the formal dining room was between the back parlor and the kitchen and you had to go into the hallway to get into the dining room.

“I had only been in the room a minute before the two pups started scratching and whining at the glass doors. They were at least six months old so they were pretty big. I tried to ignore them, but they wouldn’t stop. They should have been in the kennel with the other hounds, but sometimes they dug under the fences and got out. I knew I wasn’t supposed to let them in the house, but I loved playing with the dogs when my mother would let me.”

“You let them in?”

“Aye. I couldn’t control them. They were rambunctious and running around the room and jumping on me. Then one of them caught me off balance and knocked me into the little pedestal table where the kerosene lamp burned.”

Charlie stopped. She took a deep breath and slowly released it out her mouth before continuing. Jaxon moved to her side. He stretched one arm around her shoulder and set his other hand on hers.

“The lamp hit the fireplace bricks and shattered. One second the smell of kerosene filled the air, a second later the room was ablaze.” Charlie shook her head as if she could somehow erase the sight from memory. “One of the puppies got sprayed with kerosene and when the room caught…,” She couldn’t finish the sentence, but she knew Jaxon would understand. “It was yelping and spreading fire everywhere it ran. I tried to put it out, but my nightgown caught fire. The pain was unbearable. I ran blindly out the garden door and tripped over the threshold. The way I landed on my arm put the fire out. I should have gone around to the kitchen door, but I couldn’t move. Only when the heat from the fire became unbearable did I get on my feet and back away.”