Page 10 of Conveniently Wed
She forced herself back to the conversation at hand.
Maybe God was finally listening to her prayers. The circuit judge seemed to be fair, although he didn’t seem entirely sympathetic to her side of things.
“So this girl is in fact an orphan, is that right?” He looked to Fran for confirmation.
Fran nodded. She desperately wished it wasn’t true. Her parents’ deaths and then her brother Daniel’s desertion had started the downward spiral for her and Emma. Now it was on Fran’s shoulders to protect the both of them.
“This orphan lied about her age and thus received the benefit from the orphanage and the Children’s Help Association of food, clothing…” The man’s lip curled in a slight sneer as he looked at her worn dress.
Fran felt the same way about the simple—and cheaply made—gray frock she’d been given when she and Emma had been accepted into the orphan train program. It was plain, with no adornments, and the color did nothing for her complexion. Its only redeeming quality had been that it was clean.
“Did she defraud the program in any other way?”
“No, sir,” the matron said.
“Are you able to pay back these costs, small though they may be?” he asked Fran.
“No. I have no money to speak of.”
“And why did you lie? Why come west and risk being separated from your sister?”
Tears sprang to Fran’s eyes at the thought. She blinked them away. This was no place to break down.
She’d known it was possible they might be forced to separate, but by some blessing, no one had inquired about taking on either of them.
Again, her eyes found the burly cowboy—he really was a bear of a man—but he quickly looked away.
“It is a matter of a rather sensitive nature. I will tell you. But…in a more private setting.”
She wasn’t oblivious to the curious stares of the other passengers and the people passing by on the streets of the small town called Bear Creek.
The judge considered her, his gaze taking her measure.
She wouldn’t lie again. She might’ve been forced to fudge her age to stay with Emma at the orphanage, but she had been taught since early youth that lying was wrong. If matters hadn’t been so desperate, she would never have done it in the first place.
“Suffice it to say, if I had had another choice, I wouldn’t have lied.”
The judge tapped one long index finger against his chin. “You know, I believe you.”
Her heart thumped once. In anticipation or fear, she didn’t know.
“I can’t jail this young lady. The amount she needs to repay is so miniscule that it would not be worth my time prosecuting or holding her.”
The matron protested, voice going even louder. Fran didn’t hear what she said over the rushing in her ears. Emma threw shaking arms around Fran and they embraced, squeezing tight.
“However, I can’t just let you go, miss.”
Fran’s hopes crashed around her feet at the judge’s words. She froze, Emma murmuring her dismay beside her.
“Your sister is still a ward of the Children’s Help Association until she’s placed out. Even though you’re of age, they likely can’t release her to you because you have no way of supporting yourself.”
“I’ll get a job,” Fran said quickly. “I was planning to work. I’m good with figures, and I’m a quick learner.”
The judge sighed. “After all these dramatics…” He sent a stern look at the matron, who was frowning, still clearly upset that her claims had been dismissed. “In a town this small, Ican guarantee that everyone now knows your business and that you’ve lied and been made a spectacle of. Not a lot of folks around here want to risk hiring someone with a reputation like that.”
Her stomach swooped low. She tasted bitter disappointment. So then, what was she supposed to do?
The four cowboys were getting ready to leave. She could tell by their shifting feet. In desperation, she said the first thing she could think of. “What about Jonas White?”
