Orphan Train Romance 1 - 5 (23 page)

The women were so engrossed in the job, that Anna didn’t realize lunch had come and gone.  Alex and Paul had gone into the house and made their own meal, feeding Sage and Aida in the process.  Sally had stopped a few times to care for her baby boy.  When the clothes were finally clean to her satisfaction, Anna draped them on a nearby rope to dry that had been hung for that purpose.  By this time, Sally had left with her children in order to make dinner for her own family.  Anna finally finished the last shirt right before dusk.

“Oh, I forgot all about making dinner.”  She couldn’t believe she had lost track of time and ran into the house to see if she could come up with something, Sage following behind her.  She entered the kitchen and saw that Paul was frying onions and potatoes again, but was having much better success in cooking them than Luke had the night before. 

“I’m so sorry,” She apologized.  “Let me finish…”

“It’s okay, Miss Blake,” Paul said as he continued frying the potatoes.  “We have clean clothes.  It’s worth it.”

“You can’t get everything done all on one day,” Alex said from one of the kitchen chairs.  “We have made dinner for ourselves before.  We can do it again.”

Anna sat down and suddenly felt exhausted.  She was able to finish all the clothes, but the kitchen was a mess again from the men making their own lunch and dinner.  She made a vow to herself to not become so involved in whatever she was doing that she forgot about meals again. 

She had been this way all her life.  When she got involved in a project, she would focus on it until it was done.  This trait of hers had caused a lot of grief with Mrs. Davis, who couldn’t understand why she had a hard time stopping one job in the store to work on another the minute Mrs. Davis wanted her to.  Sometimes she was so focused on what she was doing, she was not aware of other things that were going on around her. 

This trait about herself had never bothered her before, yet she could see now that she needed to make an effort to make sure Sage was always cared for and meals were ready on time. 

During the next few days, Anna was able to get most of the house cleaned.  She made sure she kept Sage with her at all times and took many small breaks to read to the child or help her build her own little ranch with her wooden blocks.  Sage was able to wear her one dress and Anna made sure she did not wear any of the men’s shirts again.  She stayed on schedule with all the meals, only forgetting lunch one time, but she was able to make something quick for the men, and it was only 30 minutes late.

It was now Sunday and she was glad she had finished the last of the cleaning that needed to be done the evening before.  She knew going into town for church was not possible because of how far away it was, but she decided to still take the day off, read out of her Bible, and spend some time with Sage.

At breakfast, she learned that Alex and Paul were not planning to work that day either.  Paul was planning to visit a woman he had his eye on who was a daughter of a rancher who lived close by.  Alex would stay home to keep an eye on things. 

After breakfast, Paul left on a horse while Anna finished the last of the dishes. 

“I noticed that Sage only has one dress,” Anna said to Alex while he sat at the table looking at a book with Sage.

“Her mother made her clothes and she has outgrown all of them except this one.”  He gestured to the faded dress. 

“Would it offend Luke if I took one of my dresses and made one for her?”

“You don’t need to do that,” Alex argued while Sage’s face lit up at the possibility of a new dress.  “I’m sure you need the ones you brought.”

“I didn’t bring a lot of dresses,” Anna admitted.  “But I did bring one that is a little small for me and is uncomfortable to wear.  The material is still in good condition.  I wouldn’t mind making a dress from it for Sage.”

“Can you really?  Do I get new dress?” Sage squealed with excitement.  “When?  Can I help?”

Anna chuckled at her eagerness at wanting to help, but she looked at Alex to make sure he liked her idea before she agreed.  She realized she probably should not have brought up the subject in front of the child.

Alex nodded his agreement, obviously seeing Sage’s eagerness for a new dress.  “If Luke has a problem with it, I will work it out with him.  We can afford to purchase material for clothes, you know.  We just don’t think about things like that, I guess.”

“But you aren’t going to be able to go to town any time soon,” Anna stated the obvious.

“No, I don’t want to leave the ranch again until Luke returns.”

“Can we start making my new dress today?” Sage asked.

“No, honey, not today.  We will start it tomorrow.  Today is Sunday.  We aren’t going to do any work.”

“Because it’s God’s day,” Sage stated and Anna was glad to see she had been at least taught a few spiritual things.

“Yes, because it’s God’s day.”

“What are we going to do, then?” the child asked.

“I have a Bible.  Maybe we can make a picnic and walk over to the group of trees near the pond and read a story out of the Bible there.”

Sage liked the idea and immediately asked if she could help make the picnic.

“Can I come too?” Alex asked Sage, although he looked at Anna as if to make sure she was fine with his request.

“Yes, we can all go together,” Sage gave her permission with a serious expression on her face, and Anna felt very giddy inside that Alex wanted to spend time with her and the child.

Anna quickly made some meat sandwiches and wrapped them in cloth.  She added a jar of milk for Sage and a jar of fresh well water for her and Alex.  She had made cookies the day before, so she added those to the picnic lunch.

She found her Bible and soon they were on their way to the grove of trees.  The trees were far enough away from the ranch house to be a novelty, but close enough to not make it too long of a walk for Sage.

They walked slowly for Sage was a normal curious child who wanted to stop and explore everything.  She picked up rocks that she felt were pretty and gave them to Alex to carry in his pockets.  She also picked many wild flowers to make her own bouquet.  Anna looked around as they walked.   The ranch had been built in a large valley, with mountains surrounding part of the land.  She couldn’t wait until she could get to the mountains to explore them.  They were so pretty and so big.  She could still see snow on the tips of them even though it was already June.  She saw fields of cattle in the distance and a few horses.

The meadow they were walking through had many wild flowers growing.  Sage gave her a handful of flowers and she marveled at the beautiful colors and varieties.  She listened as Sage chattered in her usual way. 

When they reached the trees, Anna spread a blanket out and Sage immediately announced, “I’m starving.  When are we going to eat?”

So even though it had only been a few hours since breakfast, Anna passed out the lunch she had packed.  After they enjoyed their picnic, Sage continued to run around under the trees, coming back to Anna and Alex every so often with a new treasure she had found.  She played a little bit near the pond and watched the insects that were flying around the water.  Eventually though, Sage laid down on the blanket and fell asleep.

For a while after Sage had fallen asleep, Anna and Alex sat in silence, just enjoying being out in nature and in each other’s company.  Then Alex asked Anna more of her previous life in the orphanage.  At first, she was hesitant to tell him.  No one had ever expressed interest in her childhood before except for Serena and Katrina.  However, as he continued to show interest and asked questions, she started to feel more comfortable and eventually was very open with him about her past.

“I never knew my parents.  I was found at a church when I was only a few days old.  Someone who worked at the orphanage at the time named me.  She chose Anna because it was her middle name and Blake because that was the name of the man she wanted to marry.”

“So you lived your entire childhood at the orphanage?” Alex asked.

“Until I was 12.  Then I had the opportunity to go on the train to Texas.”

“Can you tell me what it was like in the orphanage?  Or is it too hard to talk about?”

“No, it’s not hard.  It was life for me.  The children who grew up with me were my family.  Especially two girls, Katrina and Serena.  They were my age.  We were as close as sisters.”

“Where are your friends now?”

“They came with me on the train to Texas.  They were taken in by other families in the same town I was, so we were able to stay in touch.  We finished school together.  Katrina went away to be trained as a teacher for a while, but other than that, we have been together in the same town.”

“Wasn’t it hard to leave them in Texas and come here since you are so close?”

“Yes, it was, but I couldn’t keep living with Mr. and Mrs. Davis.”

“Tell me about them,” Alex invited. 

“They own a general store in Maple Grove.  They took me in, mainly so I could help in their store.”

“That doesn’t sound right.”

Anna shrugged.  “I actually didn’t mind at first.  If I had stayed at the orphanage, I would have had to leave when I was 13 years old to work either as a maid in a fancy home or somewhere else.  At least I was living in the same town as my friends.”

“And then…?”

“They were an older couple.  They had raised their own children who had each left Maple Grove to live their lives somewhere else after they married.  They all lived too far away to really visit.  Mr. Davis was kind and he would sometimes give me little gifts like candy or a book when Mrs. Davis wasn’t around.  But he also felt since I was a girl, Mrs. Davis knew more about raising me than he did, so he always deferred to her.”

“Was… was she cruel?”

“Not really cruel.  She never hurt me or anything like that.  She just wasn’t very…”

“She didn’t love you.”

Anna looked in her lap and shook her head.  She felt tears form in her eyes and quickly blinked them away.  She had learned that tears never solved any problem.  She remembered how scared she felt as she sat on the stage waiting to see who wanted her.  She knew now that she was desperately hoping someone would want to take her in their home and love her and accept her as their own.  She had never known the love of a real family.  She had the sisterly love with Serena and Katrina, but she never had the love of a family.

And now she had answered an ad to be a mail order bride, to a man who also didn’t want her.  Would she ever find someone who would accept her, love her for who she was?

Suddenly she felt anger towards Alex.  She realized that she had been feeling a growing anger towards him ever since she had arrived in Montana and learned the role he had played in getting her here.  She was used to hiding her feelings deep down inside where no one could see them.  No one ever seemed to care about how she felt.  She looked up at him and Alex looked taken back at the anger on her face.

“Why did you do this, Alex?” She asked him, letting her anger show for the first time.  “Why did you write pretending to be Luke instead of yourself?”

Alex had the grace to look regretful.  He looked over at Sage, making sure she was still asleep.  “Luke has not been happy since Pamela died.  In fact, he has been awful to live with.  The only time he seems happy is when he is with Sage.”

He shook his head and looked out towards the mountains in the distance.  “He was so happy when he brought Pamela to the ranch.  It only took a week to build his house.  He was so excited to start his life with her.  They were happy for a while.  Then Sage came along.  Pamela just wasn’t…”

Alex shook his head.  “It doesn’t matter now.  About four months ago, Luke became very angry about something.  I don’t know what set it off, but he built this big fire in the yard and burned all of Pamela’s things.  He then told us to take care of Sage and left for a shack that we have in the mountains where we stay when we want to take care of the cattle.  That is probably where he is now.  He was gone for almost a month.  After he left, Paul quickly put the fire out.  Everything was burnt except one item that he had tossed on the fire.  It had landed away from the flames and only a small part of it was scorched.  It was a shawl that Pamela had owned.  I kept it.  I think Sage should have at least one thing of her mother’s.  I will give it to her someday.”

Anna felt a deep compassion for Sage.  She seemed like a happy normal child, but she knew how hard it was to not have a mother.  Obviously, she was greatly loved by her uncles, though.  She also knew that Luke loved her, too, in his own way.

“Anyway, after he left, I was angry myself at how Luke was handling things.  We needed some supplies, so I went into town.  While I was there, I saw an ad advertising for mail order brides.  I thought how angry Luke was, how unhappy he was.  I decided, why not send away for a new wife for him?  I know now it was a dumb idea.”

Anna and Alex sat in silence for a few minutes.  “Why did you choose my letter?”

“I enjoyed your first letter.  From some of the things you said, I knew you would fit right in here on our ranch.  I could tell you would be good for Sage, that you would be able to love her even though you aren’t her mother.  At first, I tried to write as if I was Luke.  The last letter I sent to you was totally from me, however.”

Anna remembered the last letter.  She remembered thinking it seemed a little different from the others, but dismissed it as not important. The first letters were formal, but the last one was more personal.  Anna could see now that Alex had let his personality show in the letter instead of trying to be Luke.

“I deeply regret what I did.”  Alex took her hand in his as he spoke.  “I wish I could go back and do things differently.”

“What would you do differently?  Would you have chosen a different girl for him?”