Orphan Train Romance Series: Five Books in One! (Clean Western Historical Romances)

by Zoe Matthews

Amanda sat at the kitchen table trying to fight tears from her eyes. She had learned to love Craig. She loved how good he was to the kids. He treated both children the same, not favoring one over the other. He was a good father and she knew his hesitation was not because he didn’t love Grace and didn’t want her leg fixed. She wished her money wasn’t coming between them in their marriage.

  I’ll just have to really watch Grace and do my best to keep her quiet until she can have the surgery in the fall, Amanda thought. When this is all over, I am going to divide the money and put it in a trust fund for the children. That way it will no longer be my money, but will be Jeremy and Grace’s money. Maybe Craig will feel better about it then.

  ***

  Jeremy crept slowly back to his bed. He had gotten up because he was thirsty and wanted a drink of water. He heard Amanda and Craig talking in the kitchen and heard Grace’s name, so he stood in the hallway to listen. What he heard scared him. He heard his new parents talking about her leg, how bad it was and how expensive it would be to fix, so they had to wait a long time until they earned the money.

  Jeremy crept back to his bed and crawled in under the covers and curled up into a ball. He knew it cost a lot of money to adopt them. Craig and Amanda had spent a lot of money the day they agreed to be his and Grace’s parents. He felt really bad and knew he needed to do something. Maybe he could help tons around the farm, get up early when his new dad did, and work until the sun went down. Maybe that would help. Jeremy thought about the money Craig was giving him for the little work he had done around the farm. It wasn’t much, but maybe it would be enough to help Grace, at least a little bit.

  Then suddenly Jeremy knew what he needed to do. He did not want to be a burden on this new family. He loved it here on the farm and really wanted to stay, but maybe if he used his money he had earned, got on the train and went back to the orphanage, there would be extra money to get Grace’s leg fixed. They could take the clothes back to the store that was purchased for him and his harmonica. They would only need to feed Grace. That could give them extra money to get Grace’s leg fixed.

  ****

  The next morning, Amanda woke up right after Craig left their bed to start the day. She washed her face with the water that was sitting on the bureau in a large bowl and brushed her hair. She braided it and rolled it up into her usual bun in the back of her head. She put on a yellow and blue flowered dress and left her room.

  She opened Jeremy’s bedroom door quietly and peeked inside. She could see that he was still asleep, buried under his covers like usual. Amanda chuckled to herself. She didn’t know how he could sleep under blankets that way since it had been so hot lately. She next checked Grace’s room and saw that she was also quietly sleeping, with her curly blond hair spread out all over her pillow. Grace’s new kitten was curled up at the foot of her bed and lifted her head up briefly to see who had disturbed her sleep.

  She walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen to help Lily get breakfast ready.

  “Good morning,” Amanda greeted Lily.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Parker,” Lily repeated. “We get rain today, maybe. Good for crops.”

  “Yes, it would be nice to get a rainstorm. It should cool things off a bit, too. It’s been so hot this week,” Amanda replied.

  Both women worked together frying bacon, making pancakes, and scrambled eggs, talking together as they worked.

  Amanda looked at the clock and knew Craig and John would be coming in soon for the morning meal. She promised herself that she would greet Craig as if she wasn’t angry. She remembered her promise to herself to make sure Grace didn’t walk too much. She stopped and listened carefully to the floor above, making sure she didn’t hear any little footsteps. Grace had tried to leave her room and go down the stairs on her own before.

  All of the sudden Craig rushed in. “Where’s Jeremy?” he demanded the women.

  “Why, he’s up in his bed. I checked on him before I came down to help fix breakfast,” Amanda said.

  “Apache is missing. I can’t find him anywhere. He was there last night when I checked the animals.”

  “Would someone have stolen him?” Amanda wondered.

  “I doubt it. If someone wanted to take him, they would have likely taken the other horses also.”

  Both Amanda and Craig looked at each other, both coming to the same horrible conclusion together.

  “Jeremy!” The both yelled as they raced up the stairs. Craig beat her to Jeremy’s room first and he ran inside.

  “See, he is under the covers asleep, just like I saw him when I checked on him earlier.” Amanda explained pointing to the mound on the bed, but Craig walked over and pulled the covers off the bed. There lay a rolled up blanket and pillows instead of Jeremy.

  “Make sure Grace is still in her bed,” Craig ordered as he left the room to see for himself.

  They both ran into Grace’s room and she was sitting up in bed rubbing her eyes sleepily. “Is it breakfast time?” she asked them.

  “In a little while,” Craig answered. “Do you know where Jeremy is?”

  Grace shook her head and started to climb out of bed. “I’ll help find him.”

  Amanda stopped her. “Let’s get you dressed first. Maybe daddy will find him before we’re done.” She tried to speak as calm as she could, but she looked at Craig and her eyes were frightened.

  “Maybe he is in the barn or somewhere around the farm and I just didn’t see him,” Craig said as he rushed out of Grace’s room. “I’ll go look around.”

  Amanda helped Grace dress quickly and carried her down to the kitchen.

  “Lily will give you something to eat,” Amanda told Grace. “I am going to see if they found Jeremy yet.”

  “I want Jeremy to eat with me,” Grace whined.

  “We’ll find him soon and then he can eat with you.” Amanda looked at Lily. “Can you watch her for me?”

  “Yes, we eat breakfast together,” Lily smiled at Grace, then looked at Amanda with concern in her eyes. “John looking for Jeremy, too.”

  Amanda nodded her appreciation and ran outside. She could not see Craig or John. She called Jeremy’s and Craig’s name a few times, then gave up and returned to the house. She had an awful feeling inside, like something was very wrong. It was not like Jeremy to just disappear like this. Where would he go?

  Amanda went back upstairs into Jeremy’s room looking for clues. She looked at the table next this his bed and saw the cup that had held Jeremy’s few coins he had earned was tipped over and the money was gone. It looked like he had indeed run away.

  Then she saw the paper. It was on the floor half way hidden under Jeremy’s bed. It looked like it had writing on it. She picked it up and read, “I am going to go back to the orphanage. Take care of Grace for me.”

  Clutching the paper, Amanda ran down the stairs and back outside, yelling for Craig as she did. She ran to the barn and right up to Craig as he swung himself on top of a horse.

  “I found a note,” she explained breathlessly and thrust it at him. He read it quickly and then handed it back. “Where did he get the idea we didn’t want him? Why would he want to go back to the orphanage?” Amanda asked.

  “We need to find him to get those questions,” Craig said. “Maybe he went to town, to the train station. I’ll head there now.”

  “I want to go with you,” Amanda demanded. Craig looked like he was going to refuse, but she looked at him deep in his eyes. “He is my son, too.”

  Craig nodded his agreement that she could come. “Get on the horse that I saddled for John.” Craig got off his horse, went to talk to John for a moment, then came over and started to help Amanda onto the horse’s back. Before he lifted her up, they looked at each other for a moment. He quickly gave her a strong hug and wiped the tears from her eyes. “We’ll find him Amanda, don’t worry.”

  She nodded her head and allowed Craig to help her onto the horse. They were both soon riding towards Maple Grove.

  Chapter 1
4

  Amanda and Craig rode to the train station as fast as they could. When they got there, they did not see a train, but they immediately saw the missing Apache, his reins tied to a post, and a little boy sitting on a bench nearby.

  Amanda pointed, “There he is!”

  Amanda got off her horse by herself and ran over to Jeremy and hugged him. “We have been looking all over for you, “she exclaimed, wiping tears from her eyes. “Why would you want to leave? I thought you were happy living with us.”

  Craig sat down on the bench next to Jeremy. The boy looked down at his shoes and didn’t say anything.

  “We need to know the reason so we can fix it,” Craig told him.

  “I heard you guys arguing last night about Grace’s leg,” Jeremy finally said. “You don’t have the money to fix it and the surgery will have to wait until you can get the money. I figured if I left and went back to the orphanage, you could use the money you spend on me and could get her leg fixed sooner. You could sell the clothes you bought me and the harmonica. You would only have to feed Grace and so you could save that money, too.”

  “You were going to go all the way to New York by yourself?” Amanda asked. “Don’t you know how dangerous that would be?”

  “How were you going to pay for the train?” Craig asked the boy. Jeremy opened his fist and showed them the few coins he had earned. “I was going to use this, but the station master said it wasn’t enough.” He reached over and placed the coins into Craig’s hand. “Maybe you can use this money to help get Grace’s leg fixed.”

  “Oh, Jeremy,” Amanda hugged him again. “If only you had talked to us instead of running away.”

  “Running away doesn’t solve problems, son,” Craig said. Then his eyes widened with recognition as he realized that was what he was doing, running from Amanda instead of being willing to talk to her about the money and working out a solution together. He looked at Amanda with an apology in his eyes.

  “I didn’t think to talk to you about it,” Jeremy admitted. “I heard you say you didn’t want to talk about it anymore.” He looked at Craig as he said this.

  “Well, I was wrong.” Craig looked at Amanda, hoping she would understand what he was trying to say. “We are a family now, all four of us. We need to work out our problems and concerns together.”

  Amanda smiled at Craig and then looked at Jeremy. “We will be getting Grace’s leg fixed. We just need to wait until the fall. You can help us by keeping Grace from walking too much and…”

  “No,” Craig interrupted as he made an instant decision. “Did you know that your new mom is a widow, Jeremy?” The boy shook his head. “Well, when her first husband died, he had a lot of money and he gave it to her. She wants to use some of that money to get Grace’s leg fixed. What do you think about that?”

  “Truly?” Jeremy looked at Amanda hopefully. “We can get her leg fixed and I can still stay with you?”

  “Yes,” Amanda agreed joyfully and threw her arms around Craig. Then she turned to her son. “But Jeremy, even if we didn’t have that money, we still want you with us. You are an important part of our family. Please promise us you will never run away again.”

  Jeremy promised them both. After a few more hugs and wiping away tears, they got on their horses and started on their way back to their farm.

  When they arrived at the farm, Lily ran out of the house and started to fuss over Jeremy, insisting he come inside and eat a huge breakfast. She led him inside the house. Craig took the reins of all three horses and walked to the barn to take care for them. Amanda followed him inside.

  “Did you mean what you told Jeremy?” Amanda asked him.

  “Yes I did,” Craig answered her as he began to remove a saddle from one of the horses. “While Jeremy was talking, I began to see I was letting my pride in taking care of my family get in the way of what was really important, getting Grace’s leg fixed.” He swung the saddle into its place on a stable wall, then turned to Amanda and pulled her close to him.

  “What you said last night is true. We are partners in this marriage. I have had a hard time thinking that you had a better life with your first husband. I can’t provide for you like he could have.”

  “It’s true that I did have a good life with David. I loved him very much.” Amanda reached up to touch his face. “But I have a good life here, too. The money he left me means nothing to me. In fact, I believe that God wants us to use it for Grace, and if there is anything left over, we can use it for the children’s education. I will agree to just use it if we need it for the children. I will allow you to provide for me as my husband.”

  These were the words that Craig wanted to hear and he crushed her to him. He felt so grateful that she was his wife. “I love you,” he told her and then kissed her in a way that told her of his love for her. As he kissed her, Amanda realized that before she had married Craig, she had been buried in the past, believing she would never love again. Craig had shown her differently.

  “Oh, Craig, I love you too.” Amanda kissed him back.

  ****

  4 Weeks Later

  Amanda and Craig were sitting in the hospital room beside Grace’s bed while she slept. The doctor had just left the room after telling them that the surgery had gone well. After her leg had healed from the surgery, she should be able to walk with only a slight limp and with little to no pain. Grace would be in the hospital for several days and would need to exercise and strengthen her leg, but Amanda planned on learning how to do the exercises for Grace so they could do them at home.

  “I am so glad that the surgery is over and it went well,” Amanda said as she reached over to hold Craig’s hand.

  “So am I,” Craig agreed. “I am glad we did the surgery now. From what the doctor said, it wouldn’t have been a good idea to wait until fall.”

  “I have some news for you,” Amanda smiled at him. “How would you like to have a larger family?”

  “What do you mean? Do you want to adopt another child?” Craig questioned her.

  “No, I think this would happen the natural way.” She waited to see if Craig figured out what she meant.

  As her words sunk in, his face lit up. “Are you going to have a child?”

  “Yes, probably sometime early next spring,” Amanda confirmed. “I wasn’t sure how you would feel about it. We have never talked about more children. I didn’t think I could have children since I was married so long to David and never became pregnant.”

  “I love the idea of more children.” Craig pulled Amanda close. “After all, we have all those rooms in the house to fill.”

  THE END

  THE PROMISE OF

  A FAMILY

  Written by Zoe Matthews

  Copyright © 2014

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

  _________________________________________

  PREFACE

  Children who were placed through orphan trains with new families were usually encouraged to completely break ties with their past.

  In some cases, parents who gave up their children still were able to keep track of them. They would temporarily transfer care or share the child. They did not totally give them up.

  Sometimes older children were very angry that they had been placed through the orphan trains, especially those who were aware they still had other living relatives, even if their parents were dead. They might still have had aunts, uncles or grandparents that they believed could have taken them.

  On the day the train came into the town, people would gather at a central place and “choose” a child they would be willing to raise, clothe and educate. Some of these placements became permanent, with the child becoming an actual part o
f their new family. Others did not work out so well and the child would only stay until he/she was old enough to be on their own.

  CHAPTER 1

  Lydia Brown walked up the stairs from the kitchen to go to her father’s bedroom. He had requested that she come speak with him right after lunch. He had been sick in bed for the last few weeks, but was not getting better. He had been slowly wasting away for the last month and was starting to complain about pain in his abdomen. Lydia had been praying fervently that her father would get well and be able to work with her again in their tailor shop. Lydia had been working in their shop since she finished school when she was 16 years old and she treasured the times working with her father.