Free Captive Eden by Brenda Williamson Page B

brother,” she told him,
concerned he thought she and Brant were related.
    “The brothers shared her.”
    “No.” She refused to believe Blue Wolf. He didn’t like her
and he’d say anything to keep her and Brant apart. “Pardon me, I have to get
something for Charlie to eat,” she said.
    Afraid he’d say something to convince her, she rushed back
to the cook pot over the fire. As she ladled the soup into a wood bowl, her
hands trembled. She walked back to the lodge, ducked under the flap and looked
at Charlie and Sully talking.
    “Eden?” Brant’s voice startled her and the bowl tipped out
of her hands.
    “I’ll go get more,” she said, rushing out of the lodge.
    Feeling sick to her stomach, she hurried around to the other
side of the building. What if it wasn’t her uncle Emmet that was Brant’s
father?
    “What is wrong, Eden?” Lucy said from behind. “Are you ill?”
    Eden frantically wiped the tears from her cheeks as she
turned. “No, just tired. It’s been an overwhelming few days.”
    “Charlie is better, so you will get rest now.”
    Eden tried to think of a way to broach the subject of
Brant’s father. “Lucy, did you know my father, William Caruthers?”
    “I had met him a long time ago, before you were born.”
    “Did he… Was he…” There was no way to ask if Emmet was
Brant’s father and no reason to know why Lucy let her and Brant see each other
if she knew they were related. “Brant wants Charlie and me to return to Boston.
I told him I wouldn’t go, but I think it is best for everyone.”
    Lucy’s eyes misted. “I will miss you and Charlie, but you
must do what you feel is right.”
    No argument? It was as if Lucy was answering her
unasked question.
    “I have to go get Charlie’s food. He’s probably wondering
where I disappeared to.” Eden left Lucy and walked back around where she met
Brant coming out of the lodge.
    “I got him something to eat. Where did you go?” he asked.
    She put a hand on her midsection. “It’s my time of the
month,” she lied.
    The statement stopped most men. Brant gave a nod and held
the flap of the door open. She looked inside and saw Charlie intently listening
to a story Sully was telling him.
    With her back to Brant, she whispered to him, “We’ll go back
to Boston, so you can take us to the ranch first thing in the morning.”
    “The wagon and horse will be gone.” He reminded her.
    “Then you can leave me a horse. I need a couple of days to
pack some things since it will be the last time I’ll be there.”
    “I will help you.”
    “I know you’re in a hurry to get us out of your life, but
I’d prefer to spend some time alone with Charlie in the house I grew up in.
Tomorrow, just take us to the house and then you can go.” Without waiting to
hear what more he might want to say, she eased inside the lodge and sat next to
Charlie on the pallet of furs.

Chapter Six
     
    Brant used a blanket as a bed on the floor on the far side
of the lodge, leaving Charlie and Eden to sleep in his old place. He spent most
the night debating whether he was right in sending her away. Yet, with her
agreeing, how did he tell her he changed his mind and demand she remain there
in the village as his wife?
    When sunrise finally sent a beam of light under the doorway
flap of his lodge, he got up and went outside anxious with a plan. Without
telling his mother and father of his decision, he went to them and made
arrangements. Then he paced the camp and waited for Eden to wake.
    “We’ll be ready to go as soon as Charlie is awake.” She emerged
pushing her blond hair back and gathered it in one hand to tie a strip of
leather to hold it like a pony’s tail.
    “We can go now,” he said taking her arm.
    “I don’t want to wake Charlie yet. He’s still weak from the
fever and his leg is hurting him.”
    “He is not going.”
    “If you think you’re sending me away and keeping my son,
think again, Brant Sullette.”
    “He will stay here to rest