A Cowboy for Christmas (2 page)

When the wagon finally reached town and pulled to a stop in front of the orphanage, Danny felt a little better. He would soon be with Nick. He climbed down from the wagon and hurried inside where it was warm. He’d just come through
the door when he was pulled aside by Miss Parker, one of the staff.

“The headmistress needs to see you. Give your coat to one of the other boys and come with me.”

“Why does she want to see me?” Danny looked up at the elderly, white-haired woman in surprise. Only boys who were in trouble were taken to the office.

“I have no idea, young man. Let’s go.” Her tone was stern.

Danny took off his coat and handed it to Tommy, who stood back with the other boys watching warily as Miss Parker led him away. They knew it was serious when you were taken to see the headmistress.

“I wonder what he did,” Tommy said.

“I don’t know,” another boy returned, “but I’m real glad I’m not Danny right now.”

The rest of the boys hurried toward the room where they all slept so they could get cleaned up before it was time to say their evening prayers and then eat dinner.

Miss Helen looked up from her desk when the knock came at her office door. She’d heard the wagon pull up in front of the building and had been anxiously awaiting this moment. What she had to do next wasn’t going to be easy, but there was no avoiding it.

“Come in,” she called.

The door opened and Miss Parker brought in young Daniel Roland to stand before her desk.

“Thank you, Miss Parker.” Miss Helen waited until the other woman had left and closed the door before continuing. “Daniel, I need to speak with you.”

Her tone was icy, and he wondered what was wrong. He’d worked hard that day, so he was sure no one had complained about him. He watched her warily, not sure what to expect. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I have some news for you.”

A surge of hope shot through Danny. Maybe she’d gotten word from his father! Surely, since it was almost Christmas, he was finally coming back for them. It would be the perfect present to be living as a family again. His excitement grew as he waited for Miss Helen to begin.

“I’m not sure how you’re going to handle it,” she started.

The momentary happiness was replaced by a dark sense of dread.

“What is it?” he managed to choke out, fearing what was to come next.

“It’s your brother.”

“Nick?” Sudden panic filled Danny. “What about him? What’s wrong? Was he hurt? Where is he?”

She hastened to reassure him. “No, your brother hasn’t been injured. In fact, it’s good news—for him. Today Nick was adopted by a wonderful family. He left this morning.”

Nick was gone?

He’d been adopted?

Danny just stared at her. “I don’t understand. Nick’s
my
brother. He’s
my family
.”

“Nick is with a new family now and just in time for the holidays.” Miss Helen was tense as she awaited his reaction. The family who had adopted Nick couldn’t afford to take both brothers, and they’d wanted a younger boy. She wasn’t about to tell Danny about how his brother had been acting when they took him away. The sound of Nick’s sobbing would stay with her for some time, but she knew in the long run that this was the chance for a better life for him.

“No!” Danny cried. He couldn’t believe it. In a moment of pure desperation and panic, he ran from her office to find Nick. When he reached the boys’ sleeping room, he found that the small chest where Nick had kept his few possessions, and it was then the reality of what had happened overwhelmed him. He sank down on the edge of the small bed and stared blindly down at the chest.

It was empty.

Now Danny had nothing, no one . . .

“Daniel—”

Danny looked up to find Miss Helen standing in the doorway.

“Who adopted him? I’m going after him!”

“No, you’re not,” she countered.

“Yes, I am! I’m going to bring him back! He should be here with me. I can take care of him.”
He ran across the room, intent on finding out where his brother had been taken.

Miss Helen blocked the doorway, refusing to let him out into the hallway. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying right here.”

“I can’t stay here! I have to get Nick!” All the emotions he’d been trying to control overwhelmed him.

“The Miller family isn’t from the area. They left town this morning.” She didn’t give him any more information than that. She knew how headstrong Danny could be, and she didn’t want him to think he could go find his brother and bring him back. “Maybe when Nick is older he’ll get in touch with you, but for now, you’re staying here—and that’s final.”

Danny was filled with rage. “No!”

He tried to run past her, wanting to race from the orphanage and search for Nick.

Miss Helen had known this wouldn’t be easy. Being separated from his brother so suddenly after already having lost his mother and father had to be traumatic for him, but she would not tolerate any trouble from him. Danny was known for being stubborn and occasionally defiant. She ruled with an iron hand, and the boys who didn’t obey her suffered the consequences. She grabbed him by the arm to stop him. “Did you hear me, young man? I said you will be staying here and behaving yourself.”

Danny struggled to break away, but her hold was too strong.

“I think you need a little time in ‘the cell’ to calm down,” she declared. She hauled him out into the hall and down to the small, dark, windowless room that was hardly bigger than a closet. She unlocked the door and put him inside.

“If you behave yourself, I may let you out at bedtime.”

With that, she turned and stalked out, locking the door behind her.

Danny leaned back against the wall and sank down to the floor. Only after he heard her move off did he finally give in to his heartbreak and begin to cry.

He was alone now.

Really alone.

Nick was gone.

Danny didn’t know why this had happened to him. He tried to pray, but suddenly found himself wondering if there was any point. He’d lost everything—his mother, his father, and now his brother. He didn’t understand why God had let this happen.

It was some time later when Danny finally managed to pull himself together. In anger and disgust, he wiped away his tears and faced his future. There was no going back. The past was just that—it was past—it was over.

In that moment, Danny realized he had no
choice. He had to grow up now and become a man. It wasn’t going to be easy, but nothing in his life had been easy since his mother’s death, and he couldn’t see how anything would get better in the future.

A fierce resolution filled Danny. He had promised Nick he would protect him and keep him safe when their father had abandoned them, and he meant to do just that. Somehow, he was going to find his brother. He had made a promise to him and he was going to keep it.

It was after dinner when Miss Parker came to let him out of the closet. She had not brought him any food, and he didn’t say a word. He just returned to the sleeping room. The other boys watched him with open curiosity, but he didn’t speak to them. He got cleaned up and changed into his pajamas and went to bed, pulling the covers up high.

Miss Parker came to check on them and then put out the lamp so they would go to sleep. Once she was sure they were all bedded down and quiet, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

“Danny . . .”

Danny heard the whisper and recognized that it was Tommy. “Go away.”

“No, Danny, here.” The young boy poked him in the shoulder.

Irritated, Danny threw his covers off and rolled over, ready for trouble, only to discover the young
boy had somehow managed to sneak a piece of bread out of the dining room.

“I brought it for you.” Tommy held the bread out to him. “I thought you might be hungry after working all day and not getting any dinner.” He liked Danny and had looked up to him for the way he took care of his brother. He’d always wished he had a big brother just like him.

“Thanks.” Danny was truly touched by his unexpected act of kindness. If Tommy had gotten caught sneaking food out of the dining room, he would have been punished. Danny took the offered bread and began to eat it.

“I’m gonna miss Nick,” Tommy said. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Danny knew Nick and Tommy had played together whenever they could. “Neither can I,” he told him.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment and then Tommy went on to bed, knowing he’d get in trouble if anyone caught him up and moving around.

Danny finished eating the bread and then lay back down. He pretended to be sleeping, but, in truth, he was waiting until he was sure everyone was asleep. Only then did he risk making his escape. With great stealth, he gathered his few belongings. He took the pillowcase off his pillow and used it to stow his things. Very quietly he climbed out the window and dropped to the alleyway below.

He couldn’t stay at the orphanage.

Not anymore.

He wasn’t sure how he was going to do it, but he was going after his brother, and once he’d found him, they would leave this town and never come back.

Filled with resolve, Danny moved off into the night to begin his search.

The following morning, the boys were shocked when they woke up to find Danny gone. When Miss Helen learned that he’d disappeared, she immediately sent some of the adults out to try to find him, but Tommy and the other orphans had a feeling they would never see Danny again.

It was one week later, on Christmas Eve, when Tommy was awakened by the sound of a pebble hitting the window to the bedroom there in the orphanage. Excitement filled him for a moment, for he believed he might be hearing Santa and his reindeer, but then another pebble hit the window and he knew it wasn’t Santa coming to the orphanage.

Tommy crept from his bed to push the curtain aside and look out into the dark alley. Since he knew it wasn’t Santa, he hoped it would be Danny coming back. He’d missed the older boy.

“Tommy!” came Nick’s hushed call when his friend appeared in the window.

“Nick?” He recognized Nick’s voice and was shocked to see him hiding in the alley.

“Get Danny for me!”

“Danny? I can’t!”

“Why not?” Nick came out of his hiding place and moved closer. He wanted so much to see his brother. He needed to be with Danny.

“Danny’s not here!” Tommy called back.

Their conversation woke some of the other boys, who came to join Tommy at the window. “What’s going on?” one asked.

“It’s Nick. He’s back, looking for Danny,” he told them quietly.

“What do you mean Danny’s not here?” Nick was shocked by the news. “Did he get adopted, too?”

“Wait there,” Tommy told him, and he started to sneak out of the sleeping room.

“What are you doing?” one of the older boys asked, knowing he would get in trouble.

“I gotta go talk to Nick. I gotta tell him what happened.”

With that, Tommy left the room, and after putting on his coat, he moved silently down the hall to slip out the back door. He found Nick waiting for him and saw several of the other boys hanging out the window watching them.

“Why did you come back?” Tommy asked. “You got adopted.”

Nick looked miserable. “I ran away. I had to. The Millers were nice enough, but Danny’s my family, and he always will be. It’s Christmas—I want to be with my brother. Where is he?”

“When Danny found out you were gone, he ran away. He snuck off that first night after you were adopted, and we haven’t seen him since. I’m sure he was going after you. Miss Helen even had some people searching the streets for him, but they never found him. Nobody knows where he went.”

Nick stared at his friend in complete misery. The home he’d been taken to was a good one. The couple who’d adopted him were kind, God-fearing people who’d treated him well, but he needed his brother. He was lost without Danny. He didn’t know what to do now. It had taken him three days to make it back to the orphanage. And now to find Danny gone . . .

“What is going on out here?” Miss Helen demanded as she came out of the building with several of the older boys who’d gone to get her.

Nick and Tommy were scared, but they knew better than to try to run away.

Nick spoke up. “It’s my fault.” With shoulders slumped, he went to face the headmistress. “Tommy didn’t do anything, Miss Helen. It’s me, Nick.”

“Nick?” She was shocked to find the young boy standing there before her in the middle of the night. “What are you doing here? You should be with the Millers.”

“I ran away.”

“But your family . . .” She could only imagine
what his adoptive parents were going through right then, worrying about him.

“Danny is my family, Miss Helen.“

Miss Helen ordered Tommy and all the other boys to go back inside to bed. Then she took Nick to her office and forced him to sit in the chair before her desk. This was Christmas Eve. Things were supposed to be quiet and peaceful, and now she had to deal with this.

“What do you think you’re doing, running away like this?”

“I can’t go back to the Millers without my brother.” Nick knew she was furious, but right then he didn’t care. Nothing mattered but being with Danny.

“You have to,” she said. “As I’m sure Tommy told you, Danny is gone. He ran away the same day you left for your new home.”

“Where did he go?” He looked up at her in agony, worrying about his brother. “Didn’t he leave a note or something?”

“No. We have no idea where he disappeared to. We looked for him for several days, but found no trace of him.”

“Danny’s got to be here somewhere.” All he could think about was his poor brother alone, hungry, and cold on the dark, scary city streets.

“He’s gone, Nick, and I don’t believe he’s coming back.”

“He’s probably still out there looking for me.”

“Whatever the case, I need to return you to your new parents. I’m sure they’re worried sick about you. They love you so much. Why, they’re probably on their way back here, looking for you right now.”

Nick wanted to just get up right then and run away from the orphanage. He wanted to take off and search for his brother, but there was little hope that he would ever find Danny on his own, not after so many days had already passed. A great and heavy sorrow filled his heart, but he knew he couldn’t give up. To satisfy Miss Helen, he answered, “Yes, ma’am.”