Grace inhaled a deep, soothing breath. Her mind drifted back to when she’d officially brought her sister and Andy home. It seemed so long ago now, even though it had only been two years.
She shuddered at the memory of the day Harlan Randall had found her, and threatened to take away all the happiness she’d found with Levi. No charges had been filed against Levi for Randall’s death. The doctor had confirmed that the man was dying of the final stage of the pox, and the sheriff had agreed that Levi had killed him in self-defense.
An investigation had been launched by the Children’s Aid Society, and six girls that were working at Randall’s bordello, who had been former orphans, were removed. Those who weren’t of age, had been sent back to the orphanage in New York. Two of the girls had been too old to go back, and Grace and Levi had brought them to Elk Lodge, where Grace, Laura, and Sally had taken them under their wings and taught them how to read and write, sewing and other domestic skills. Both girls had found respectable employment in the territory.
Father Aldren had denied any involvement with Harlan Randall, and there had been no proof against him. The Children’s Aid Society had removed all girls from his care as a precaution, and placed them with other orphanages. The last Grace had heard, he had gone back to New York, and was no longer involved with the orphan charities.
Whenever a group of orphans came through the area, Levi had offered to take in some of the older boys, and teach them the woodworking trade in exchange for help around the homestead. Boys had come and gone over the last two years, some staying on longer than others. On occasion, a runaway had sought refuge with them. Apparently word had gotten around that there was always a warm bunk for an orphan willing to work for a meal at the Colter homestead.
“Are you ready to call it a day? It’s getting a might cold out here.” Levi reached for her hand.
Snow started falling from the sky in gentle flurries.
“I remember a time when you’d stay out in weather worse than this all night,” Grace teased.
Levi grinned. “That’s all behind me now. I don’t have a need to go out into the cold anymore. The girl I married stopped insisting on running away from me during a mountain storm.”
Grace smiled coyly at him. “If you ever do get chilled to the bone, I won’t stop you from changing into warmer clothes.”
Levi scooped her into his arms. “I won’t need clothes, Mrs. Colter. You do just fine at warming me up.”
Laughing, he carried her into the house, while behind them, the snow continued to fall.
Thank you for purchasing and reading IN HIS ARMS. I hope you enjoyed it. If you missed the first two books in the series, please click on the following titles.
IN HIS EYES
IN HIS TOUCH
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Also by Peggy L Henderson
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Yellowstone Romance Series:
(in recommended reading order)
Yellowstone Heart Song
A Yellowstone Christmas (novella)
Yellowstone Redemption
A Yellowstone Homecoming (novella)
Yellowstone Awakening
Yellowstone Dawn
Yellowstone Deception
A Yellowstone Promise (novella)
A Yellowstone Season of Giving (short story)
Teton Romance Trilogy
Teton Sunrise
Teton Splendor
Teton Sunset
Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series
Come Home to Me
Ain’t No Angel
Diamond in the Dust
Blemished Brides
(Western Historical Romance)
In His Eyes
In His Touch
In His Arms
In His Kiss (coming soon)
Dear Reader
I hope you enjoyed IN HIS ARMS, the third book in the Blemished Brides Series. There is so much history to be found with the Orphan Train movement, which gave me the creative freedom to come up with my own circumstances for my characters.
The number of orphans or children of poor and destitute families continued to climb from early colonial days well into the nineteenth century. Private charities were established to care for these children, and the New York Orphan Asylum Society was one of the first private children’s charities, formed in 1806. It required that children be placed as soon as they received basic education.
By 1854, the first annual report by the Children’s Aid Society reported that there were at least 10,000 vagrant children in New York. Publicly funded programs failed to adequately deal with these orphans, which gave rise to over 100 private charities between 1850 and 1860. Many of these charities placed these children into indentured servitude for boys by the age of 12 and girls by the age of 14. Due to the lack of jobs in the eastern states, charities began sending the children to rural areas in the west where child labor was needed. This soon became known as the Orphan Train Movement, a phrase first used in 1854.
These children could be placed anywhere, with no geographical restrictions. The participating charities would ask the families who received the children to sign an agreement that the child would be accepted into the family, but there was generally very little enforcement or oversight.
Committees were formed in towns where the orphan trains would stop, and advertisements would be placed in local newspapers announcing the children. Prospective families could specify what child they were looking for ahead of time.
The children were usually placed into two groups - those who were selected for adoption and those who were not. Selected children went home with their families. The others got back on the train and rode to the next stop. Siblings were often separated from each other and, in many cases, never saw each other again.
The orphan train movement ended in 1929, partly due to labor no longer being needed in the west, and railroad expansion in the US was finished and most railroads no longer subsidized the charities for moving the children.
Venereal Disease was a common hazard for prostitutes in the nineteenth century. Syphilis was one of several sexually transmitted diseases around the time. There are four stages of syphilis. The primary stage occurs about 2-4 weeks after infection, in which there is the appearance of a chancre sore at the point of contact. In the second stage, a rash develops, which could look like measles, or chicken pox. This is how the disease received it’s common name – Pox. In the latent stage, all symptoms might disappear completely, while the final (tertiary) stage is the most damaging. It can occur anywhere from 10-30 years after first infection. It affects the central nervous system, the heart and other organs, and causes dementia and insanity.
As always, a huge thanks to my editor, Barbara Ouradnik, and my superb beta readers – Heather Belleguelle, Shirl Deems, Lisa Wiebe Bynum, Sonja Carroll, Becky Fetzer, and Kathie Hamilton,
And to my son, Collin, for his graphic arts skills to create the cover for this book.
Find out more about me and my stories here:
www.peggylhenderson.com
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In His Arms: Blemished Brides Book 3 Page 18