Free Love and Fury: The Coltrane Saga, Book 4 by Patricia Hagan Page A

I’d sooner die. I won’t do it.”
    Juliette Bowden froze. How dared her daughter refuse anything at this point? “You will do as we say, Charlene, and the more I think about it, the more it seems like a good solution. Start packing now, and we’ll have you on tomorrow’s train. It will be difficult for your father and me, trying to hold our heads up amidst all the gossip there’ll be here, but we’ll manage.”
    Charlene stood. Quietly, firmly, she said, “I am not going to Philadelphia, Mother.”
    “Your father and I say you are.”
    “I won’t go.”
    Juliette lifted her chin. “He’ll put you on that train by force, if need be. I suggest you get off that high horse of yours before he forgets you’re grown and gives you the sound thrashing you deserve.”
    In that moment, Charlene knew there would be no peace for her until she made it clear, once and for all, that she was not going to be made to feel worthless forever for what she had done. Looking down at her wrinkled dress, she thought about changing, then decided it made no difference. People would be staring and whispering no matter how she looked.
    She started for the front door.
    Her mother blocked her way. “Just where do you think you’re going? You can’t leave the house today.”
    Charlene stepped around her and opened the door. “I have to, Mother. I’m going to the bank to talk to Daddy. I want to try to make him understand this isn’t the end of the world. We’ll all come out of this.”
    “Talking won’t do any good. You’ve broken his heart. My heart. You’ve ruined our good name and you’ve—”
    Charlene ran out the door and slammed it behind her. She hurried across the porch and down the front steps, to the boardwalk that led to town.
    As she passed the house next door, Mrs. Wilkins deliberately turned her back. Charlene had seen the look of contempt on her face, and a lump rose in her throat.
    Farther on, she came face-to-face with two women she had known her whole life, Mrs. Martha Gibson and Mrs. Ellie Morbane, pillars of the church and respected by all. They looked through her as if she were a ghost. Charlene could feel the chill of condemnation all the way to the marrow of her bones.
    Could she live like this, she asked herself? Her mother was right. No man would want her now. Could she live the rest of her life in this town, shunned? Forevermore, she would be “that Bowden woman”.
    What had she done to her parents, she thought miserably, fresh tears stinging her eyes as she hurried along. They did not deserve this. Perhaps they were right in wanting her to leave town. The furor would die down if she was not around to remind everyone. But…live with Aunt Portia? Could she bear that grim an existence? Aunt Portia’s house was big and dark and gloomy, a haunted abode for souls in purgatory. Aunt Portia never smiled, never talked about anything but the evils of the world.
    Charlene stepped off the boardwalk into the street, heedless of the ever-present mud puddles. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even feel the cold slime as it oozed inside her shoes.
    Absently, she rubbed her eyes. She thought of Colt but felt no bitterness. He wasn’t really to blame. He’d never lied, not even in the beginning. That was not Colt’s way. He had told her he was very fond of her but not ready to fall in love or marry. Freedom, he had said, was what he craved above everything else. Many years would pass before he was ready to marry.
    She smiled a sad smile. John Travis Coltrane was just like his father. He would, in fact, never settle down. Everyone in Silver Butte knew of Travis Coltrane’s adventures and exploits. And everyone admired his wife for accepting him as he was.
    Once, Charlene had confided to Kitty Coltrane her admiration for Kitty’s ability to cope with a man like Travis. She would never forget the surprised look on Mrs. Coltrane’s beautiful face as she responded softly, “That takes no special talent, Charlene.