by Zoe Matthews
They took their time going back to the ranch. Alex had arranged with the hotel to pack a lunch and so they enjoyed sandwiches and fruit near a small creek. They talked for a long time and got to know each other even better.
When they finally returned to the ranch, Alex swung off the horse and then helped her down. But he wasn’t looking at her when he helped her from the horse. He was looking off in the distance with a look of amazement on his face and Anna turned to see what he was staring at.
It was a house. The house that Alex had started for his own, but had never finished. It was only half done when they had left the day before and now it looked like it was completely finished.
“Welcome home, brother,” Paul said to Alex as they walked towards it.
“You finished my house?” Alex said with excitement. “Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
“We couldn’t let you come back without having your own home,” Luke explained. Anna soon learned that Luke and Paul had hurried back the day before, and with the help of some of the hired hands they finished Alex’s house for them just before they had arrived.
“Would you like to see the inside?” Luke asked Anna almost shyly and she nodded, then laughed out loud as Alex swung her in his arms. He carried her into the small home.
It was a one-room house. There was one small window near the door. A bed stood in one corner of the room with a small table and two chairs nearby. On the other side was a stove to be used for heat. It was small, but it was her home, hers and Alex’s, and she loved it.
Anna quickly gave Luke and Paul a hug to thank them for the wonderful gift. Soon they left and she was alone with Alex. He reached for her and gazed down at her as if she was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him. He cupped her chin as he slowly kissed her as if she was the most precious person in the world to him.
For the first time in her life, she felt wanted, totally and completely. She loved Alex very much. She came to Montana expecting one type of life, and she got another. Sometimes life does not go as you might expect it would, like you planned it to, but sometimes the new life turns out even better.
THE END
BIG SPRING RANCH BRIDES:
SERENA
(Orphan Train Romance Series, Book 4)
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 and used fictitiously.
PREFACE
During the period that the orphan trains operated (between 1850 and 1930), there were many reasons why there were so many orphaned children who lived in large cities like New York. Many of their parents were first generation immigrants from European countries, coming to America in hopes for a better life. It did not always work out the way they dreamed it would. Parents would die of illnesses (like typhoid, tuberculosis, and yellow fever). Mothers died giving birth and sometimes the fathers did not have a steady job and could not work and care for the children the mothers had left behind. Some parents died because of accidents in factories where they worked and where conditions were not ideal.
Sometimes parents would kick older children out because they had too many mouths to feed. These children were not true orphans because one or more parents were still alive. Their parents would either abandon them or voluntarily release their children for placement in hopes they would have a better life in an orphanage (at least in an orphanage, they would be fed) or in the Midwest (where most of the orphan trains traveled) than what they could give them.
CHAPTER 1
Serena sat in her school class in the New York orphanage where she had lived since she was three years old. She struggled to keep her mind on her history lesson, but her mind wandered to the conversation she had had with her teacher right before class had started. Mrs. Wilson had informed Serena that the director of the orphanage, Mrs. Young, wanted to meet with her in her office right after the noon meal. The thoughts of what she might be told filled her with dread.
She wondered what Mrs. Young wanted to talk to her about. She was very afraid that she was going to be told that she would need to leave the orphanage soon. It was a rule that when the children turned 13 years old, they would need to leave the orphanage and find a job in the city. Most children that left usually found a position where they were an apprentice to someone or to learn a trade. Girls were often sent to be maids to rich people. Serena would be turning 13 in a few weeks and she knew her days were numbered at the orphanage. She was actually surprised that Mrs. Young had not talked to her before now about her options. She had been expected to be called to the office any day for the past few months.
The main reason she did not want to leave the orphanage was because she would not be able to be with her best friends, Anna and Katrina. She was very close to them and she felt like they were sisters to her. All three of them were the same age, and so they all would be old enough to leave the orphanage soon. She was very afraid that when she left, she would never see her friends again. She knew it would be almost impossible to stay in touch with them.
She hoped if she had to work for a rich family that she would be able to help with the children. She loved children, especially babies. Each child in the orphanage over the age of ten had a job to do and hers was to help with the babies. She loved to take care of them, to feed them bottles, dress them, and play with them. Most of the time babies that were sent to live at the orphanage did not stay very long, especially if they had blonde hair and blue eyes. If a married couple wanted to adopt a child, they almost always chose a baby. Many couples tried to choose a baby that looked like them. She had seen many babies that she had helped care for be adopted and it always made her feel sad when they left. Yet, she also felt happy for them that they were able to get a new family. It was her greatest wish that she find a family.
Serena had been in the orphanage since she was three years old. She had only a few memories of her mother and no memories of her father. Mrs. Young had told her that her mother had been an actress. Serena had lived with her as she traveled from city to city, state to state, with a group of people who put on Shakespearean plays.
When Serena was three years old, her mother had the opportunity to travel to Europe and perform there with a new acting group. The new director would not allow her to take Serena with her, so her mother placed her in the orphanage. According to Mrs. Young, it was supposed to be a temporary situation, and her mother had sent money to the orphanage regularly to pay for her care for the first few years. She had even visited once, though Serena did not remember the visit. When Serena was five years old, the money and letters from her mother suddenly stopped and eventually her status was changed to being abandoned.
She never really missed her mother since she did not have any memories of her, but she missed the idea of having her own family. Because her mother stayed in contact with the orphanage until she was five years old, she never had a chance to be adopted. Most couples who wanted to adopt, wanted a baby, or at least someone younger than five years old. She also did not have the right looks. She had brown hair that she had heard a worker at the orphanage once describe as “dishwater brown.” Her eyes were also brown and she was small for her age.
Ever since she had heard the truth about her mother and her history, Serena refused to talk about her past with anyone. Sometimes, late at night when she was in bed and all the girls around her had fallen asleep, she would pretend that the reason her mother had decided to stop visiting and stop paying for her care was so Serena could have a chance at a better life with a new family.
Serena tried to pull her thoughts away from the coming conversation and did her best to focus on her history lesson and then her math problems, but it
was impossible. All she could think about was what she was going to learn in a few hours.
Finally, it was time to go to lunch. Serena walked quickly to the cafeteria and sat down by her friends, Anna and Katrina. Even though it was against the rules to talk during meals, Serena quickly learned that Anna and Katrina were also supposed to meet with Mrs. Young after the noon meal. She started to feel better about the meeting with the director because she knew Anna and Katrina would also be there. Maybe Mrs. Young had found a position in a rich family’s home where all three would be able to work together. On the other hand, maybe Mrs. Young was going to offer them positions in the orphanage.
****
After they had quickly eaten, Serena stacked her bowl to be washed on a long table and left the cafeteria with Anna and Katrina. They walked down a long hall towards the director’s office. Anna and Katrina were silent as they walked, but Serena chattered like she usually did when she was nervous.
“I wonder what Mrs. Young wants to talk to us about. I hope she tells us we can stay together here in the orphanage. I wouldn’t mind, would you? Anna could keep working in the kitchen. Katrina, you could keep helping the younger children with their schoolwork, and I could still take care of the babies.
“Mrs. Wilson wasn’t as grouchy today like she usually is during class today. I wonder why. Do you know why?” Serena continued to chatter, not really expecting an answer from her friends.
Both Anna and Katrina shook their heads, although neither of them knew what Serena was talking about.
“Well, usually she yells at Joey when he won’t sit still, but today he was fidgeting around all over the place in his chair, and she didn’t say a word.”
Serena kept up her chatter until suddenly they were standing in front of the closed door of the office. She heard Anna take a deep breath.
‘I’ll knock,” Serena volunteered quietly and hit the wooden door a few times with her clenched fist.
“Come in,” Mrs. Young called. Anna opened the door and slowly entered the office. Serena and Katrina followed. Serena saw Mrs. Young stand as they entered. She also saw a heavyset woman who was sitting in a chair near Mrs. Young’s desk.
“Hello, girls,” Mrs. Young greeted them with a thin smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Come in and let me introduce you to Mrs. Carver.” She gestured to the girls and indicated they should move closer to her desk.
“These are the girls I was telling you about,” Mrs. Young spoke to the woman. “This is Anna, Serena and Katrina.” She pointed to each girl as she said their names. “Girls, this is Mrs. Carver. Why don’t we all sit down and I will let you know why I wanted to talk to you.”
Serena sat down in one of the chairs that were in front of Mrs. Young’s desk and her friends did the same. She slipped her hand into Anna’s and Anna grasped it tightly.
“Mrs. Carver and her husband are planning a trip. They want to take some of the children from this orphanage and take them on a train ride to a town in the state of Texas,” Mrs. Young said as she pushed some papers around on her desk, not looking at anyone as she spoke. “They want to take some older children as well as younger ones. When the train reaches Texas, it will stop in stations of various small towns. All the children on the train will be given an opportunity to be placed with families that live in these towns. The idea is if a family agrees to take a child, they will treat them as part of their family. They will be able to continue their education and have an opportunity to have a family life.
“I am sure you girls know you will need to leave the orphanage soon. I want to give you the opportunity to go with Mr. and Mrs. Carver and have a chance at a new life.”
At first, Serena could not believe what she was hearing. Did Mrs. Young mean she would finally have a chance to be adopted into a family?
“Do you mean we could have a family?” she asked, making sure she understood.
“We can’t promise that the people who offer you a home will be like a family, Serena,” Mrs. Young responded.
Serena barely heard Mrs. Young’s response. “I want to go,” she said loudly, making sure everyone in the room heard her.
“Do we have to decide right now?” Katrina asked with apprehension. Serena knew Katrina hated any type of change in her life and did her best to avoid them.
“No, but we would like you to decide by tomorrow evening,” Mrs. Carver requested gently. “You girls are old enough to decide for yourselves which direction you want your life to go, but we would need to know soon because we can only take a certain number of children. If you decide to not come, we would need time to extend this offer to some other children.”
“When will we leave?” Serena asked. She wanted to make sure she had all the information.
“One week from today,” Mrs. Young said firmly. “If you don’t have any more questions, you girls may continue your duties,” she said, dismissing them.
Serena could tell Anna wanted to ask more questions, but because Mrs. Young had stood as she said her last words, Serena knew she was not encouraging any.
Anna opened her mouth as if to ask a question, but Serena stood up and dragged Anna out of the room, with Katrina following. It would not be good to irritate Mrs. Young. She might change her mind about allowing them to go.
“Wow,” Katrina breathed as the three girls walked down the hallway. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I want to go,” Serena said unnecessarily. She felt very excited that she would have this last chance to find a family. She knew if she did not go, she would be sent away from the orphanage in a few weeks. She would much rather go on this train to Texas. She just knew there was a mom and dad who wanted someone just like her.
“We need to go to our classes,” Anna said. “Let’s see if we can talk about this later.”
They went their separate ways. Anna headed towards the classroom for her afternoon classes. Katrina went to help some younger children with their schoolwork and Serena went up to the second floor to help with the babies.
Serena walked up the flight of stairs and went into the nursery. At the moment, there were six babies to care for. The woman who cared for them most of the time, Mrs. Rowe, looked up from feeding a baby and smiled at Serena when she entered. Serena knew what was expected of her and reached into the nearest crib. She lifted out a baby girl in order to change her diaper.
For the next hour, she helped Mrs. Rowe with the care of the babies. Eventually all of them were taking a nap or playing quietly in their cribs and Mrs. Rowe sat down in a chair for a rest.
Serena loved this room. If she had her choice, she would spend her entire day there, every day. She did not have any interest in school classes. She felt that since she would have to leave the orphanage soon anyway, she was wasting her time trying to learn math problems or history stories.
She loved working with Mrs. Rowe. Sometimes late at night when she couldn’t sleep, she would imagine that Mrs. Rowe loved her so much, she would want to adopt her. However, she also knew this would never happen. Mrs. Rowe had been married before, but her husband had died, and that was why she was working at the orphanage. She already had a grown daughter and son. Serena knew Mrs. Rowe would never adopt her. Serena never told Mrs. Rowe about her wish even though she told her almost everything else that went on in her life.
“How has your day been?” Mrs. Rowe asked as she sat back in her chair. Serena was used to this question since Mrs. Rowe asked it every day. Serena always made sure she had something to tell her.
“Fine, I guess, “ Serena sat down on the floor and started to pick up the few toys the babies had to play with that had been scattered on the floor. “I was asked to go to Mrs. Young’s office today.”
Mrs. Rowe did not look surprised at this news. “What did she want to talk to you about?”
“She also talked to Anna and Katrina,” Serena explained. “She told us a woman named Mrs. Carver wants to take some of us from the orphanage on a train to Texas to be adopted by families.”
> Mrs. Rowe nodded. “Mrs. Young told me about this opportunity a few days ago. I suggested she give you three girls a chance to go, since you are almost old enough to leave us.”
Serena tried to dampen her excitement, but could not. “I want to go. I told Mrs. Young already.”
“I think you have made a wise decision,” Mrs. Rowe praised her.
“I will finally get the family I have always wanted.”
Mrs. Rowe looked concerned at her words. “I feel I need to warn you that you might not find a family like you have dreamed about. I hope you will be happy with whomever wants to offer you a home. This is a great opportunity. You will be able to continue your education. You will not have to work for someone while you are still so young. You will be able to have a better life than you would have if you stay here in New York.”
Serena nodded, but she had stopped listening to Mrs. Rowe. She just knew she was going to find her forever family.