Page 1 of Mail-Order Bride Secret
1
This was going to change things. And not for the better. A slow, persistent pounding began in the back of Madeline Danby’s head. She moved her eighteen-month-old son, Jonathan, to her hip and stared at the children before her as the hammering increased.
“Ma’am,” the conductor said again, perhaps assuming she hadn’t heard or understood him previously. “I found these two hiding in the baggage car. They say they belong to you. Is that true?”
She might have said that for the most part they belonged to no one but there was a man back in Kellom, Ohio, who claimed to be their guardian. Not that he seemed to care where they went or what they did.
Her shoulders came up. Struggling to focus, sheshifted her gaze past the conductor. The stale, smoke-laden air offered no satisfaction to her starving lungs. How was she to send them back to Kellom alone and unsupervised? Would their guardian object if she took the twins with her? Of more importance, would the cowboy she’d agreed to marry change his mind if she showed up with three children rather than the one she’d told him she had?
Otis did his best to look fierce. Ivy blinked furiously but still, tears tracked down her dirty cheeks.
“Ma’am, if they’re with you, you need to pay for their tickets.” Did the kindly tone of the conductor’s voice mean he would let them travel with her rather than put the eight-year-olds off at the next stop? Alone? Vulnerable to any sort of evil?
“Please, take us with you.” Ivy’s thin voice quavered.
The fear in Ivy’s voice brought a tightness to Madeline’s throat and a rush of memories. She understood what it was like to face an uncertain and frightening future. She’d been older, more capable. These were children. Alone. She couldn’t say no. As soon as her decision was made, the hammering in her head eased. Madeline pulled out her purse. Paying for the pair left a serious dent in her funds. They would need food and the twins required something other than the dirty clothes they currently wore.
“Here’s a sack they had with them.” The conductorhanded her a tattered canvas bag. She couldn’t guess what it held nor where they’d procured it. The pair had learned to live by their wits and that sometimes meant stealing. Mostly to keep from starving.
After thanking the man, she settled the twins on the empty bench facing her and studied them.
“Play,” Jonathan demanded, squirming to get down and join his friends. The twins had been helpful the last few months, amusing Jonathan so he wasn’t underfoot as she washed dishes in the kitchen of the restaurant. The arrangement served them all well. Madeline had the twins to help with her son and she could feed the pair and keep them out of trouble. But even with their help, it grew increasingly difficult to keep her son from getting under foot. Once she’d almost spilled hot water on him. Another time, the cook had stumbled on him and almost fell. It was only a matter of time before the owner of the establishment would fire her.
The passing scenery caught her attention. Autumn had colored the leaves bright yellow and dull orange though many of the trees were bare-limbed. Nights were cold as she’d already discovered. Now she had to keep two more little bodies warm. Her gaze shifted to the stove at the end of the rail car. The kind conductor would light a fire if the temperature dropped enough but most of the passengers wore heavy coats. She again studied the boy and girl before her, wearing onlythin sweaters over their clothes. Ivy’s dress had seen more than its share of days and Otis had on a battered pair of bib-front overalls that didn’t cover his ankles.
While working, Madeline had done her best to find clothing for the twins. Miz Allie, the friendly cook, had offered garments that Madeline made over for the pair.
“Where are the things I sewed for you?” she asked. She’d recently completed a dress for Ivy and trousers and a shirt for Otis.
“In there.” Ivy pointed to the bag. “We didn’t want to ruin them.”
Madeline checked the contents of the dusty sack. Besides the items she’d recently made for them she found little else. How did these children think they would survive? She shivered as she thought how they might have fallen into unkind hands.
“Let’s get you tidied up then we’ll eat.” She’d wash out their garments and hang them to dry during the night. They could sleep under the blanket she’d brought for herself. She guided them to the back of the car where she scrubbed their faces and hands and smoothed down Otis’s brown hair. Back at the seat, she brushed Ivy’s paler brown hair and braided it. “We’ll save your clean clothes for when we arrive.” If they were somewhat presentable, she might hope for a favorable response from the cowboy—her prospective groom.
Finished with their tidying up, she opened her sack of food. She’d planned for it to last the entire trip but with two more hungry mouths, she’d have to purchase more before they reached their destination. Worry tightened her throat.
The three children ate biscuits and cheese. They would have eaten every cookie she’d packed except she rationed them. She ate only enough to keep up her strength. They all drank from the canteen she’d filled at their last stop. She would do her best to provide her own supply of water not wanting them to drink from the common bucket where everyone used the same dipper and put it back in the pail.
“We’re going to a new home, aren’t we?” Ivy’s voice and eyes were full of hope.
“That’s the plan.” They’d overheard enough of her talks with Miz Allie to know that was the case. She did her best to keep her tone and expression bland but arriving with two extra children might be reason enough for Wally Edwards to change his mind about his offer of marriage.
Her insides twisted with an unwelcome yet familiar nervous pain. Maybe some day she would get used to having her life thrust in unexpected directions.
Weary and bored, the children fell asleep.
Ignoring the others traveling on the train, Madeline shifted her back to the interior of the car and rested her head against the seat. The twins lay withtheir heads at either end of their bench, their legs curled up. In repose, they looked sweet and innocent. No one would guess by studying them that they’d learned and experienced things no child that age should. Before she’d let them stay in the back room of the restaurant with her and Jonny, she’d witnessed them begging and taking food from unsuspecting people. Before she’d made them several pieces of clothing, they’d worn nothing more than rags.
They deserved a home and love. With a decisive nod, she came to a conclusion. She’d give them both even if it cost her the plan that brought her west.
The train brakes squealed. The car jerked to a halt. Steam whooshed down the tracks and billowed around the dusty window.
Blinking herself awake, Madeline straightened.
“Two-hour stop here,” the conductor announced as he made his way down the aisle.
The twins sat up, rubbing their eyes before they pressed to the window.
