by Jody Hedlund
Their father had planted spies? Who? Mr. Gray? One of the construction crew supervisors? Whatever the case, apparently his father was well aware of everything that had happened during the six months.
“Whatever you heard was wrong,” Bradford said. “I assure you, I never intended to cheat.”
“Setting fire to one of Thornton’s buildings and having Elise locked into the warehouse is blatant cheating, and there’s no other word for it.” Father’s voice rose with irritation.
Bradford’s mouth froze around further denial.
Locked Elise into a warehouse? With a burst of rage, Thornton glanced at Elise. If his father’s statement was true, Thornton didn’t know what he’d do to Bradford, but it wouldn’t be pretty. She shook her head to caution him against any aggression and wrapped both hands around his arm to keep him in place. “I’m fine. I’m here.”
“I can’t let a cheater and a deceiver have control of the company,” Father was saying.
“I was just doing what needed to be done,” Bradford said rapidly. “You can’t tell me that you never hurt individuals for the greater good of the company.”
“I’m not proud of everything I’ve done,” Father said. “I may have been callous and uncaring and prideful. But I never purposefully set out to cheat or hurt anyone.”
“All right,” Bradford said smoothly. “If that’s the way you want things run, then I promise I won’t do it again.”
Father shook his head and again cut Bradford off with an irritated wave. “I’d always known that Thornton operated with a different code of integrity, that he’d make the better leader. Yet I wasn’t sure whether he’d ever grow a backbone and see it.”
Father’s words knocked into Thornton like the striking of a gong, hitting him in his gut and taking his breath away. When his father’s eyes met his, they were as hard and uncompromising as always, but there was something there Thornton hadn’t seen before. Respect.
“But you did it,” his father said softly. “You stopped trying to be your brother and became yourself instead.”
Thornton nodded. The nod was apparently all Father needed. He closed his eyes and fell back into the pillows, exhaustion lining his face.
“Let’s go,” Thornton said, moving toward the door and tugging Elise with him. “Father needs to rest.”
“Who wins?” Bradford asked, his tone barely concealing his anger.
“It doesn’t matter,” Thornton said.
“Thornton wins.” The words were strong and clear, in the voice of the man their father had once been. But even as he spoke them, Thornton could see they would likely be among his last. The fire slipped from his body, the life from his face.
The doctor rushed toward the bed, pushing aside Bradford and issuing commands for everyone to vacate the room and allow Mr. Quincy to rest. Somehow Thornton found himself back in the sitting room outside his father’s chamber. Elise stood next to him, quietly holding his hand. Bradford was nowhere to be seen.
They were alone for the moment, but Thornton knew it wouldn’t be long before word once again spread that his father was dying. Friends and family and employees would arrive to stand vigil with him as they had last time.
“Are you okay?” Elise asked softly.
Was he? His mind scrambled over all that had just transpired, the conversation, the revelations. And the respect. His father’s respect.
“Yes.” He tried the word and knew it was true. “I’m okay.” Even though his father was dying, and even though he was now estranged from his brother, he truly was okay. He’d done the right thing.
“I love you, Thornton Quincy.”
He cocked his head and pretended he hadn’t heard her. “Hmmm?”
“I love you.”
“I can’t hear you,” he teased, even as he wrapped her in his arms.
She smiled up at him. “Then let me show you.”
He bent his head and happily obliged.
Author’s Note
Many of us have long been fascinated by the era of the Orphan Trains and the heartrending stories of the homeless and helpless young orphans who were taken from the streets of New York and other eastern cities and shipped west by the dozens. We’re familiar with stories of those scared orphans who were placed out in what was thought to be a more wholesome, healthy environment of the newly settled Midwestern states. Some of the orphans found happy lives, getting adopted into loving families. Others experienced great abuse and heartache in their new homes.
In 1854, Charles Loring Brace was credited with starting the Children’s Aid Society, which led the Orphan Train movement. Appalled by the conditions of the impoverished slums that were overflowing with immigrants, Brace wanted to find a way to save the children. Throughout the nineteenth century, between twenty and thirty percent of children became orphans before the age of fifteen. Brace believed that moving them out of the degenerative nature of the slums and into proper Christian homes would be a way to help shape their moral natures and curb the tide of evil and crime that had become rampant within the inner-city communities.
While stories of the orphans who rode the trains have been told, and rightly so, the stories of the women who were involved in the movement are not as well known. One of the things I like to do when telling my stories is to focus on women who have been overlooked by the pages of history. I consider it a great privilege to bring forgotten women to life for new generations of readers. Thus throughout this series I’ll be focusing each book on a different aspect of the Orphan Train movement, particularly from the perspectives of women who experienced riding the trains in one form or another.
For this first book in the series, I based the story around the placing out of women that happened in 1857 as a result of a financial crisis and economic panic in the autumn of that year. Women laborers were already at a disadvantage with poor working conditions and low wages. In September of 1857, estimates of New York unemployment ran as high as forty percent. Female employment was cut by almost half. With prostitution already a main source of income for many women, the recession drove even more to taking desperate measures, and the number of women in prison rose as well.
To meet the growing crisis, the Children’s Aid Society in New York, along with organizations in other cities that were already sending children west, decided to set up special placement offices to find jobs for seamstresses and trade girls in the West. The associations wanted only women of “good character,” and they were required to provide references. If the women met the qualifications, they were sent on trains to towns throughout the Midwest, in particular central Illinois where the demand for cheap labor was prevalent. They were presented to employers as “helpless females left without the means of support.” Placement of these women continued until the spring of 1858.
It is my hope through this book to give readers a glimpse into the disadvantage of women during this era by showing Elise Neumann’s struggle in New York and the heartache and problems that arose after she left her family behind so that she might start a new life in the Midwest. It wasn’t easy for these women, and not everyone had a happy ending like Elise. Unfortunately, Fanny’s story was based on a true incident of employers taking advantage of and hurting their new workers.
Another of my hopes in telling this story is to leave you with the reminder that God is walking with you in whatever dark valley you’re going through. Often, like Elise, we tend to pull away from God and let the bitterness of our circumstances drive us into a cave of isolation, self-blame, and heartache. But God wants us to realize that even if we pull away from Him, He’s still there walking by our side, waiting for us to reach out our hands and grab hold of Him. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He’s there waiting.
Will you take hold of His hand today? Maybe you won’t climb out of your valley. Maybe you won’t find release from the disappointments and problems that have come your way. But He’s there to walk next to you, comfort you, and guide you each step of the difficult journey.
&nbs
p; Jody Hedlund is the award-winning author of multiple novels, including the BEACONS OF HOPE series as well as Captured by Love, Rebellious Heart, and A Noble Groom. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Taylor University and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, both in social work. Jody lives in Michigan with her husband and five children. Learn more at JodyHedlund.com.
Books by Jody Hedlund
The Preacher’s Bride
The Doctor’s Lady
Unending Devotion
A Noble Groom
Rebellious Heart
Captured by Love
BEACONS OF HOPE
Out of the Storm: A BEACONS OF HOPE Novella
Love Unexpected
Hearts Made Whole
Undaunted Hope
ORPHAN TRAIN
An Awakened Heart: An ORPHAN TRAIN Novella
With You Always
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