“I’ll have to see some kind of legal document that shows Miss Keevers is your responsibility.”
Hannah smiled. “That’s not a problem.” She got up and crossed to the credenza under the window. She opened the bottom drawer and rummaged through a stack of papers until she found the one she wanted. “This should be sufficient.” She walked over and handed the yellowed, aging document to Robert Levine. “It’s the court order giving me custody of Sarah when her father abandoned her.” She gave a little laugh. “Of course, in a couple of weeks, there’ll be a wedding certificate.”
Robert accepted the paper and looked it over quickly. He shrugged. “This looks in order to me.” He opened his case and pulled out some more papers and laid them on the table. “I’ll need you to sign that you’re accepting on Sarah’s behalf, Miss Rivers.” He gazed up at Raymond. “She’s still the guardian since the marriage hasn’t taken place yet.”
Hannah sat down at her desk and pulled out a bottle of ink and a quill pen. She pulled the papers close and read through them carefully, then dipped the pen in the ink and signed her name with a flourish.
Robert looked up at Raymond. “I’ll need you to sign below her name as a witness to her signature.”
Hannah handed the pen to Raymond and watched as he signed his own name. “Is that it?”
Robert took the paper back and looked it over carefully before sliding it back in his case. Then, he pulled out a stack of bank notes wrapped in small bundles. He placed them on the desk. “Please count it carefully, and then sign here that the count was accurate.”
It took Hannah several minutes to count the money with her shaking hands. “It’s all here.” She reached for the pen and carefully signed the receipt.
Robert glanced at her signature and then put the document back in his case. He stood and held his hand out to Raymond. “Please give Miss Keevers my wish for a long and happy marriage.” He tipped his head at Hannah. “Pleasure to have met you, Miss Rivers.”
“Likewise, Mr. Levine.” Hannah turned to Raymond. “Show our guest out, Mr. Estes.” She watched as Raymond escorted the young man from the room, and then pulled a string from around her neck. She took the key she carried with her at all times and opened the desk drawer. Smiling, she let the bank notes fan over her fingers before dropping them into the deep drawer.
“Don’t we need to take that much money to the bank?” Raymond was leaning against the door frame watching her.
“Absolutely not! It would raise too much suspicion and someone might want to know where the money came from.” She locked the drawer and stuffed the key back down the front of her dress. “Besides, it should be perfectly safe here. Nobody in their right mind would break in and try to rob an orphanage, and no one but you and I will know it’s here.”
He pointed to the papers on her desk. “Shouldn’t you have locked them up with the money?”
“No, we’re going to destroy them so nobody will ever get to see them.” She ripped the papers in two, and then ripped them once again. “Get Zeke to do his chores early and make sure he empties all the trash receptacles into the kitchen fireplace.” She dropped the torn pieces into a bucket beside her desk.
“Don’t need to call the boy. I can do it.”
“No, I want you to head over to the livery and rent a buggy we can take south to deliver the Mathers boy. I want to get an early start, and maybe spend an extra day there to do some shopping.”
Raymond turned toward the door. “Okay, I’ll see to it.”
“Raymond, hold up.” She waited for him to turn back around. “Send Sarah in to see me. I need to discuss her responsibilities while we’re away.”
Raymond nodded once, and then disappeared down the hall. She could hear him calling Zeke’s name.
* * * *
Zeke stayed perfectly still when Mr. Raymond walked down the hall yelling out his name. He didn’t want to be caught hiding in the closet. He’d get a whipping for sure if they caught him snooping. He hadn’t meant to hear anything bad. He’d seen the fancy man drive up, and he wanted to be close, so he’d be the first boy the man saw if he was in the market for a son. Now, he had to get to Sarah and let her know what was going on. They were trying to steal from her, and everybody knew stealing was just plain wrong.
He waited a moment to make sure the coast was clear, and then quickly left the closet and raced after Mr. Raymond. “Here I am, Sir. What can I do for you?” He winced when the large man grabbed him by the shoulder.
“What have you been up to, boy?”
“Nothing, Sir. I’ve been picking up trash outside. I’d just come through the front door when I heard you calling me.”
Raymond studied him for a moment and then nodded. “Good, lad. Miss Rivers wants you to gather up all the trash downstairs and dump it into the kitchen fireplace post haste.”
“Post what, Sir?”
Raymond sighed. “It means right now, Zeke.”
The boy smiled. “Yes, Sir.” He turned to go and Raymond grabbed his arm.
“Make sure you get the receptacle in Miss Rivers’s office first.”
“Yes, Sir.” Zeke hurried off to pick up the bucket in Miss Rivers’s office. He peeked around the door and breathed a sigh of relief when he found the room empty. He glanced at the desk, and then looked around cautiously before trying the drawer handle. It was locked and wouldn’t budge. He glanced into the trash and spotted the torn pieces of paper lying on top. He grabbed up the bucket and headed for the kitchen.
When he got to the back of the house, he peeked around the corner. He could see Sarah on the back steps talking to Miss Mary Carson. She would come a couple of times a week to help Sarah with the cooking and cleaning. He looked back over his shoulder to make sure no one was there, and then pulled the torn sheets out of the pail and stuffed them inside his shirt. He calmly walked over and poured the rest of the trash into the fire.
“Excellent, Ezekiel.”
He turned around and came face-to-face with Miss Rivers.
“Now, be a good boy and put the bucket back in my office and empty all the others, upstairs and downstairs.”
Zeke swallowed against the lump in his throat and nodded. “Yes, Miss Rivers.” He took a deep breath and then rushed from the room.
* * * *
Sarah took another dried sheet down from the line and began folding it. She felt the heaviness in her heart lift and she smiled. Miss Rivers and Mr. Estes would be leaving the day after tomorrow, and they would be gone for two whole days. It would be so wonderful to be without all their starchy rules for once.
“Sarah!”
Sarah looked up as Zeke came barreling out of the house.
“Sarah, you won’t believe it, you just won’t.”
“Calm down, Zeke.” The boy was so excited she could barely understand him. “Whatever has you in such a tizzy?”
“Miss Sarah, you’re rich.”
She laughed. “What on earth are you talking about, boy?”
Zeke grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the large tree. He glanced all around and then brought her closer, urging her to bend down. His voice dropped to almost a whisper. “I heard ’em, Miss Sarah. You’re rich and they’re gonna steal it from ya.”
Sarah pulled the boy closer. He was so excited he was trembling. “Zeke, calm down and tell me what you’re babbling about.”
Zeke took an exaggerated deep breath and then frowned. “I didn’t mean to be listening to Miss Rivers’s business, truly I didn’t.” He dropped his gaze down. “I was hiding in the front closet and heard her conversation with that lawyer man.”
Sarah tilted his chin up until she could look into his eyes. “What lawyer man, Zeke. Start at the beginning.”
“There was this fancy carriage that pulled up out front. I was out there picking up trash like I’m supposed to. Anyway, he was obviously a rich man, so I thought if he was looking for a son, I wanted to be the first one he got a good look at. So, I snuck in and hid in the front closet
. I figured I would hear when he was ready to come out, and I could be in the hall doing something to make a good impression.”
“So, who was the man, Zeke?”
Zeke’s eyes got big, and his smiled widened. “He was a lawyer man from New York.” His head cocked sideways. “What’s a lawyer man, Sarah?”
She sighed. “It’s something to do with the law, I guess. Did you hear him say what he wanted?”
“He wanted to talk to you, Miss Sarah. He had a bunch of money to give you.”
“Zeke, you must have misunderstood what you heard.”
“No, Sarah, I swear I didn’t.” He moved in closer and told her everything he’d heard while hiding in the closet. “Miss Sarah, you’re rich now, you don’t have to stay here anymore.”
Sarah frowned, and then sighed wistfully. “You must have heard wrong, Zeke. I don’t have any grandfathers.”
Zeke peeked around the tree and then glanced around the yard.
“What are you doing?” Sarah watched as the small boy began running his hand down the front of his shirt.
“I’m sorry they’re torn.” Zeke pulled a handful of torn bits of paper from his shirt and handed them to Sarah, his face a solemn mask. “Maybe you can put them back together and see I’m telling you the truth.”
“Oh, Zeke.” She hugged his thin body close. “I never said you weren’t being truthful. You probably just didn’t understand what you heard.”
A large, round tear rolled down his dirty cheek. “Can you put these back together so you can read ’em?”
Sarah settled back against the tree and put her legs out in front of her. She spread her skirt out flat and then looked at the stack of papers. They were still in pretty big pieces, so she began matching up the edges. It took several long minutes before she had enough of the pieces matched to begin to read the writing. She’d only deciphered a small portion when she caught her breath. She raised her gaze to Zeke and blinked twice. “You’re telling me there’s really five thousand dollars in Miss Rivers’s office that belongs to me?”
Zeke nodded without saying a word.
“And she told that lawyer feller that I was going to marry Mr. Estes?”
Again, Zeke nodded without making a sound.
“What am I gonna do?”
Zeke grabbed the sleeve of her blouse and shook it. “You’re gonna git out of here, that’s what you’re gonna do.” He sighed and gave her arm a little thump. “There ain’t nothing you can’t do now, Miss Sarah.”
Sarah sniffed, and blinked back her tears. She smiled and grabbed onto Zeke’s hand. “You’re right, I’m gonna git out of here.” The light in Zeke’s eyes faded at her words. She smiled, and gripped his hand more firmly. “And, I’m gonna take you with me.”
Zeke’s breath caught, and more tears found their way down his cheeks. “You mean it? You’d really take me with you?”
Sarah pulled him closer and gave him another hug. “I mean it, Zeke. You, me, Daniel, and Jonathan are going to leave this place and never look back.”
He pushed away and narrowed his eyes. “How we gonna do that?”
“It’s easy. Miss Rivers and Mr. Estes are leaving the day after tomorrow to take William to his new parents. They plan on being gone for two whole days, and they’re leaving me in charge. That’s plenty of time for us to get far enough away that they’ll never find us.”
“What about your money, Sarah?”
“I’ll get it out of her desk.”
“But it’s locked.”
“No matter.” She pointed to the papers all jumbled on her lap. “These here papers say it belongs to me and I’m taking it.” She scooped up the torn documents and stood up, smoothing out her skirt as she stood. “I want you to get the other boys together and meet me in the attic after dinner so we can make plans.” It was the one place she could be assured Miss Rivers wouldn’t catch them. The old woman wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere that dusty and dirty.
“Okay, Sarah. I’ll make sure we’re all there.”
“Good, now you go on and get your chores done. We don’t want to do anything to upset Miss Rivers or Mr. Estes for the next couple of days. We wanna make sure they leave out of here the day after tomorrow.” Zeke smiled and then scurried away. She glanced around and then folded the torn sheets and stuffed them down in her corset for safe keeping. “How am I gonna get those kids out of St. Louis?” The money might be hers, but she didn’t have any rights to those boys. She loved all the children at the home, but Zeke, Daniel, and Jonathan seemed to incur Miss River’s wrath more than any of the other children. She’d do anything to save those three from their rough treatment. “I’ll take ’em out West. Nobody’ll look for us in Indian territory.”
“Sarah, you better get a move on, girl.”
Sarah looked up at Mary Carson. The dear lady came two days a week to help with the baking. “I’ll be right there, Miss Carson.”
“You’d better hurry, dear. Miss Rivers has been asking if your chores are finished and it’s time to start on dinner.”
Sarah sighed and picked up the basket of folded laundry. “I’m on my way, Miss Carson.”
* * * *
“Shhh, you don’t want us to get caught, do you?”
Sarah looked up as she crawled into the attic space. Zeke was standing over Daniel, shaking his finger in the older boy’s face. “All of you, be quiet,” she admonished.
“Is it true, Miss Sarah?” Daniel sat down and pulled his little brother closer. “Are you taking us out of here?”
Sarah crawled over and sat in front of the three boys. She reached over and took Daniel’s hand in one of hers. “Yes, it’s true. I’m going to get us all out of here.” She let go of his hand and watched him closely. “That is, if you want to come with me. Do you?”
Jonathan turned toward his brother and put his hand on his shoulder. “Please, Daniel, can we go, too? I wanna go with Miss Sarah.”
Daniel put his arm around Jonathan and gave him a shaky smile. “Sure, Jonathan, we can go with her. I don’t wanna stay here either.” He looked at Sarah and grinned. “How you gonna git us away from here, Miss Sarah?”
“We’re going to have to be really careful, Daniel. Once we leave, we’ll be fugitives.”
“Foo-gee-tives? What’s that, Miss Sarah?” Jonathan gave her a puzzled frown.
Zeke moved closer and sat down next to Jonathan. “It means the law’s gonna be after us. Ain’t that right, Miss Sarah?”
Sarah sighed. “Zeke’s right, if we’re not careful, the law might come looking for us. Technically, I don’t have the right to take you boys away from here.”
“Can’t you just adopt us, so we could be a family?” asked Daniel.
Sarah shook her head. “No, I can’t adopt you because I’m not married. They only let married couples adopt children.”
“That’s not fair,” complained Jonathan. “You’d make a good ma.”
“Thank you, Jonathan.” She moved a little closer and lowered her voice. “I’ve come up with an idea of how to get us out of St. Louis but you’re not gonna like it.”
Zeke snorted. “We’d like any idea that gets us away from ole Miss Rivers. What ya want us to do?”
Sarah took a deep breath. “The authorities will be looking for a woman traveling with three boys once Miss Rivers lets them know we’ve run off.” She looked at each boy carefully. “They won’t be looking for a man traveling with his three little sisters.” She watched as the idea worked its way into their understanding.
Jonathan’s brow drew up. “What man are you talking about, Miss Sarah?”
Daniel groaned. “She’s talking about us, stupid.”
“Don’t call me stupid.” Jonathan punched his brother on the leg.
“Boys, settle down.” Sarah grabbed the end of her braid and twisted it nervously between her fingers. “I’m going to dress up like a man.”
“Why would you wanna dress like a man?” Zeke asked.
“It’ll be saf
er for me to travel as a man.” She shrugged. “Besides, men have all the advantages. I’ll be able to get us a place to live and settle in a lot easier if folks think they’re dealing with a man.”
Zeke frowned. “So you’ll be a man traveling with your little boys?”
“No, stupid.” Daniel growled. “She’ll be a man traveling with her three little girls. She means to dress us up like a bunch of silly girls.”
“No way,” Zeke cried. “You’re not dressing me up in no frilly girl’s clothes.”
“Me, neither.” Jonathan crossed his small arms across his chest.
Sarah leaned back and brushed her hands across her thighs. “Okay, if that’s the way you want it. You’ll just have to stay here, then. If they catch me traveling with three boys they could put me in jail, and I can’t risk that.”
The boys exchanged glances, and then Jonathan looked up. “Would we have to wear petticoats?”
Sarah smothered her laugh behind her hand. “No, I think we can get by with just dresses and bonnets to cover your heads. You can even wear your pants under the dresses.” When they still look doubtful she chuckled. “It won’t be forever. We’ll take the train to Jefferson City. Once we get there, you can all change back to being little boys. We can buy a wagon and head west to some small town we can settle in. Preferably someplace really small where the people are friendly and they don’t get much traffic riding through.”
“Will you go back to being a girl once we get to Jefferson City?” asked Daniel.
“No, it’ll be better for all of us if I stay a man for awhile. If I can buy us a small spread of our own, maybe a little farm, I can go back to being Miss Sarah, at least when we’re alone on our own place.”
The boys were quiet for a moment and then Daniel took a deep breath. “Okay, we’re going with you. When are we leaving?”
Martine, Missy - Star Wishes (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 2