Entangled Hearts

Chapter 15

At eight-thirty, Gene rode up to the secret mailbox and drew from its sacred pocket an envelope addressed in a hurried scrawl to "Gene." It was too dark to read it there, and there was also the danger of being seen by Eli. So, he turned his barebacked horse toward home and rode swiftly. He was afraid his sweetheart had been abused by her angry father. After turning his horse into the corral, he hurried into the house. In his room, he opened the envelope with trembling fingers and read,

"Gene, dearest,

Father unreasonable, he will not listen to mother or me. He said you used disrespectful language to him, this I don't believe, but he is very determined to send me to Denver to stay with my aunt until after you are out of the way, safely in the army. He is sure you will have to go. Auntie has had a bad spell with her heart, and father thinks I should go and cheer her up. But I can see through his plans. I will have to be ready to leave on the ten o'clock train Wednesday. Surely there must be something we can do. I will get a job in town or anything before I will be bossed about by him. Please help me to plan a way out of this. With much love, Laura Mae.

P.S. I will look for an answer at eight in the morning."

Gene was in the middle of reading the missive through for the second time when a knock came at his door. "Come in." It was his Uncle Everett who entered and took a chair near Gene, as he often did when he had something to say so near bedtime.

"My boy," he began, "I have never told you about something that may mean very much to you. I have always tried to make myself believe that you were really my own boy, and being mine, I have tried to be generous in my allowance of money to you."

"You surely have been wonderful to me, Uncle."

"What I want to tell you is that you are twenty-one now, and I am pleased to present you with the ten thousand dollars that your father left you."

"Uncle!" Gene arose in excitement. "Do you mean he left that much for me?"

"Yes, Gene, and it has been accumulating interest all these years. So by now, you have a small fortune in the First National Bank in Kingsford," Everett assured him.

"Gee! That sounds like a fairy tale. How come you tell me this now when you have never even as much hinted about it before?" Gene was hardly able to realize the truth of his uncle's statements.

"Well, my boy, I thought if I kept it a secret, you would not be having any anxious thought haunting you about it. Now you are past twenty-one, and you are going to enlist, I thought it best to have the money put into your name before you go. Something could happen to me while you are away, and things could be all in a muddle for you, don't you see?" Everett gave Gene a paternal smile. Then, as the boy seemed speechless, the uncle continued, "I have been called to attend a very important business meeting in Placerville day after tomorrow. I have planned that you are to accompany me as far as Kingsford, where we will go to the bank and have the money put in your name. You might put a thousand or two in a checking account, but if I were you, I would leave as much as possible to draw more interest."

"Uncle, I want to go less than ever now. You know that money could make my dreams come true?"

"Yes, it would help a great deal. Have you proposed to her yet?" Everett asked with a merry twinkle in his soft gray eyes.

"You bet I have; she would be willing to marry me before I go and enlist. What do you think of that?" Gene quizzed.

"That would be all right with me, then maybe if she were your wife, she could spend part of her time with Maria and me. We are going to get mighty lonesome while you are away, my lad. I like Laura Mae." The girl always brought back his memories of Clara as she looked when he used to court her many, many years ago. He prayed that nothing would ever come to mar the happiness of Gene and Laura Mae. Gene had never told his uncle about Philip Dreyer being favored by Eli, nor had he told him how Eli disliked having him pay attention to Laura Mae.

After a brief pause, Everett continued, "Business may keep me in Placerville overnight, so you would be free to spend the night celebrating in Kingsford before you enlist. How would you like to take in a picture show or two?" he asked before adding, "Of course, my boy, if you would rather, you may go with me to the meeting or else catch a train back here, but I thought you might like a night of freedom before Uncle Sam becomes the boss of every move you make."

"Thanks, Uncle, I have college friends in Kingsford we could have a fine time. I am to meet at the station in town then Thursday and come back home together, is that the plan?"

"Exactly, Gene, and if I do all I have planned to do in Kingsford, we will have to leave here on the seven-fifteen, so I can be ready to board the train from there to Placerville at Eleven-fifteen, that is the train that goes through here at ten o'clock. We can make preparations tomorrow if that is all right with you."

"It surely is all right, but I am afraid that when I wake up in the morning, I will find that it was only a dream."

Everett arose and gave his nephew a gentle slap on the shoulder and with his loving smile and a fond, "Good night," he left the room. Gene sat motionless for a while, staring straight ahead of him as if in a trance. Suddenly, a thought came to him. If Laura Mae knew he would be in Kingsford the day she went on her way to Denver, she would surely drop off and spend the day with him in the city. He took out a piece of stationery and his pen from their place in his study table and wrote a note to Laura Mae,

"My Darling,

I have good news. If you want to marry me against your father's wishes, I can offer you a home and plenty of money while I am away. Uncle told me for the first time tonight that my father left me an inheritance. He and I are going to Kingsford Wednesday to put the money in the bank in my name. He has to go to Placerville on the train that will bring you into Kingsford. Unless you arrange to get off there on the seven-fifteen. Uncle said if we were married before I enlist, that you would be welcome to live with him and Maria, then you would be near your mother, too. Think this over.

With love, Gene."

He would rise early the next morning and put the note in the hollow tree, so he undressed and went to bed with unusual peace of mind. Although he had never let Laura Mae know it, he had worried a great deal about having to go away and leave her to be unhappy in her home.

Laura Mae lay thinking, unable to go to sleep. She thought of her father hating Gene and recalled the second whipping her father gave her because of Phil and Martha.

She remembered going to the basketball game with Phil and Sulphide Springs. Now she must go to live with her aunt. The same aunt that had come for years. She remembered the fishing by the creek with Gene. Finally, she went to sleep.