A Ready-Made Texas Family by Angel Moore

Author:Angel Moore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-11-02T14:03:20+00:00

Chapter Ten

Charlotte dropped her hand from Nathan’s arm and went as quickly as she could to her parents’ room.

“What is it?” Nathan’s voice followed her.

“Just a minute.” She called the words over her shoulder and looked at her parents’ belongings that Dennis had brought. She opened the box first. He’d said it contained the items her parents had with them. Her mother’s reticule and her father’s watch were inside. She opened the valises next. She rummaged through the first two without stopping to treasure the scent of her mother on the dresses and nightgown. The third one held her father’s things. She turned it upside down, and the clothes tumbled onto the bed. “It has to be here.”

Nathan asked again. “What is it, Charlotte? Are you okay?”

She turned to look at him. He still stood near the lobby door, but she could see him through the open door of her parents’ room. “Yes.” Her tone was clipped, but she wouldn’t give up her search. She dropped the valise onto the bed and picked up each article of clothing to shake and toss aside. “I’m looking for Pa’s notes. He wouldn’t have left them in Dallas. They must be here.”

Nothing. She’d looked through everything in his case.

“It’s not here.” She sank onto the side of the bed. “He must have been carrying it in his hands when the train wrecked. It was probably lost amid the wreckage.”

Nathan pointed at her mother’s valises. “What about those?”

“Those are Momma’s.”

“Perhaps he had her put them there.”

“I looked.”

He indicated the piles of clothes on the bed. “You seem to have searched your father’s valise more thoroughly. Give it another look.”

She gave a deep sigh. “I don’t know what good it will do, but—” She dumped the contents of the first valise and went through each item carefully. “Nothing.”

The second case was heavier but not as large. She turned it upside down and shook it. “I don’t see anything here, either.” She rummaged through the clothes anyway.

“What about inside the case? Perhaps it lodged in the bottom when you turned it over.” Nathan’s voice held hope.

She didn’t know if the hope was for her sake or the hotel’s. The result would be the same if he was right.

Charlotte looked in the bottom of both of her mother’s valises and found nothing. When she picked up her father’s valise she heard a thump and turned to Nathan. “Could it be?” She stuck her hand into the bottom of the valise and pulled out her father’s leather journal.

Excitement filled her. “It’s here!”

She raced into the parlor and threw her arms around Nathan’s neck. He stumbled backward from the force of her approach, and his papers fluttered to the floor in disarray. He wrapped his arms around her waist and steadied her. The gentle strength of his embrace invited her to relax against him. The need for relief from the constant weight of her burdens begged her to stay in his arms.

But she couldn’t. Nathan worked for her. He

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