Cowboy Wastelands

Chapter 1

Chapter One

1864

CHARLOTTE

There's nothing like the smell of dust in the morning. I kicked at the ground, sending the dried up dirt flying up. My friend Henrietta waved her fan in front of her face and gave a dainty little cough as the dust reached her nostrils.

"Must you do that, Charlotte?" Henrietta snapped at me. "You'll get both of our dresses all dirty."

I scoffed at her, looking pointedly at the vast expanse of dirt that surrounded us on all sides. She lifted her nose haughtily in the air giving me a sound of disapproval. I resisted rolling my eyes at her and instead decided to change the subject to something she could talk about all day. Around people of high society like Henrietta, I much prefer to listen than to talk, despite being high society myself.

"So I hear that Mr. Williams has returned yesterday. Do you suppose he will stop by at your house?"

"Mr. Williams! Oh my, I never heard word that he returned! I must hurry back home in case he calls on me and I'm not there! I will see you later Charlotte."

Henrietta lifted her skirts and jogged back to her home, leaving me with nothing to do in this little town. I quite like living in the quiet streets of Tall Ridge, but I've never known anything else. Growing up I had always imagined myself as a cowboy much to the disappointment of my father, and I sought adventure where ever I could find it. But now as a nineteen year old woman who's been in the same place all of her life, I have long given up on finding adventure. I'm doomed to live a boring life with a boring husband and boring friends.

With nothing else to do, I made my way back home. As soon as I stepped inside, I was greeted by my father and a well dressed man late in his thirties. My father and I looked nothing alike with his brown hair and my golden blonde hair, his green eyes and my brown ones. I was the spitting image of my mother who'd died when I was ten.

"Charlotte, meet Mr. Vickers, a newcomer to town." my father grinned.

I gave Mr. Vickers my hand which he kissed gently. I refrained from snatching my hand back and wiping it on my dress but I knew I'd get a sound smacking from my father if I did so. I knew immediately that he was another one of the men my father planned to marry me off to but I'd always managed to get my way out of it and this time wouldn't be any different.

"Are you joining us for dinner, Mr. Vickers?" I asked sweetly.

"I am. Your father and I have business to discuss." he replied.

Business indeed. I am and always have been just another one of his business ventures. We've always been well off but my father is a greedy man and will do whatever it takes to get more money, even if it means selling off his only child to a wealthy man.

"What would you like for dinner father?" I asked, turning to my father.

"Just go cook something, woman!" he ordered, shooing me away with his hands. "Mr. Vickers and I have things to discuss."

I jumped when his hand grasped onto my arm, just when I turned around to go to the kitchen.

"Don't mess this one up, Charlotte. You remember what happened last time you scared off another man." he warned me quietly.

I nodded my head in silent understanding, too scared to meet my father's eyes. He let me go and I ran off to the kitchen to prepare dinner for three. I remember the last time I scared off a suitor perfectly. After he had left my father had beat me until I was forced to stay indoors for two weeks until I healed. Nobody could know about my father's brutality or he'd throw me from the house and I'd probably starve to death out there in the endless dirt.