Orphan Train Romance 1 - 5 (32 page)

Soon Curly had gotten rid of all the poison that he could and he washed and bandaged the wound.  He did his best to get Sam to drink some water and then left the wagon shaking his head. 

“Will he make it?” Serena asked although she was afraid of the answer.

“Don’t know,” Curly shook his head.  “I’ve seen worse.  We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“When will we know?” Serena questioned. 

“Morning,” Curly answered and walked away to get a shovel to bury the bloody bandages and mess he had made.

Serena sat next to Sam through the rest of the afternoon and only left to help with the evening meal.  Paul kept John with him until bedtime and the boy seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting from the other cowboys.  By this time, everyone had heard about John, and some of them stopped by to give the child food or some other present.  By the time it was dark, John had been given a carved horse out of wood a man had quickly made and a ball someone had brought.

One man had given Serena a set of small cowboy boots.  “I got these for my son, but John probably needs them more right now,” the man explained when Serena asked where they had come from.  Evidently, the man had ordered them from a boot maker in a nearby town and had picked them up a few days before.  Serena sincerely thanked him and promised to return them if she was able to.

That night John slept between them and Serena tried to not let herself think what it would be like if the boy really was theirs.  She had started to love the sweet little boy.  Even though she knew that logically they would likely find his family, deep inside she was starting to think about what they would do if they could not find his parents.  She knew she would want to keep him and raise him as her own. 

She had overheard some of the men speculate that if they could not find the boy’s family, that Paul would likely drop the child off at a Children’s Home in Bozeman.  Serena knew she would never allow that to happen.  No child should have to grow up in an orphanage.  All children should have a family to love and care for them. 

The last few days of the cattle drive went by smoothly.  Miraculously, Sam recovered from his snakebite and a few days later, although he was still weak, he was able to get back on his horse to finish the duties he had been hired to do.  She had not seen Judd again since Paul would not allow him to eat in camp when she was near.  Paul sent Judd’s meals with some of the other cowboys to be eaten away from the others.  John continued to follow her around, although he spent some time each day with Paul on his horse. 

The day before they were due to arrive in Bozeman, a group of Indians entered the camp during breakfast.  They seemed to be friendly, although Serena could not tell for sure since she had never seen these type of Indians before.  They entered the camp quietly and when Paul saw them, he immediately instructed Serena to get in the chuck wagon with John until they were gone.  He seemed relieved when Serena did not argue and did as he asked. 

While she was in the wagon with John, she played little finger games with the child to keep him quiet.  She tried to listen to what was going on outside, but could not hear much.  She could hear Paul’s voice every once in a while, along with Curly’s, but she could not hear what was being said.  After what seemed to be a long time, but it was only about 30 minutes, Paul stuck his head in the opening of the chuck wagon and pulled John out. 

“They’re gone.  You can come out now.”  Paul helped her out of the wagon and set John on the ground.

“What happened?” Serena asked. 

“Nothing.  Most Indians are friendly nowadays.  I gave them a cow and they gladly left.”

“You just gave them a cow?” Serena questioned, surprised that he would choose to do that when it meant he would not get money on the sale of that cow. 

“Keeps the peace,” Paul explained.  “I would rather do that than have them steal one.”

When they finally arrived in Bozeman, Paul gave Serena some money and told her to find a nearby hotel.  He would stay with the cattle one more night and then they would stay in Bozeman for a few days finalizing the sell of the cattle and purchasing some much-needed supplies that they could not get in Pine Valley.  He told her they would be heading back to the ranch in two days.

Serena wanted to argue with Paul about being left in a hotel, but she then realized it was the best thing to do for John.  In the end, she kept silent and followed his instructions. 

She spent the rest of the day in the hotel room.  She knew that Paul was going to ask the sheriff about the possibility of any missing children.  She had not talked to Paul yet about keeping the boy if they could not find his parents.  Serena hoped she would be able to talk to him about it soon, but she also knew he had a lot of responsibilities with the care of the cattle and the selling of them.  She knew she would need to be patient. 

Later that evening, Paul arrived to have dinner with them and Serena was glad to see him.  She was starting to become very bored.

John had gone to bed by this time for the night, so Paul ordered room service for them both.

Serena decided to take this opportunity to talk about John’s future.  “Were you able to talk to sheriff?” she asked him as they waited for their dinner to be delivered.

Paul nodded his head.  “No one has reported a missing child, as far as he knows.”

“Well, we will just have to take him back with us,” Serena announced. 

“Now, Serena,” Paul started to argue.  “Don’t you think it would be better if we left the child at the Children’s Home?  Maybe his parents are looking for him and they would find him there easier than with us.”

“No child should have to be raised in an orphanage,” Serena stated firmly.  She felt very strongly about this.  She refused to leave John behind like that.

“I know that you lived in one,” Paul said.  “But this would be different.  Most likely, it would be temporary.”

“And what if it isn’t?” Serena questioned.  “There is no guarantee he will be found or if he even still has parents.  We really don’t know what happened to him or why we found him like we did.  What if something happened to his parents?”

****

Paul sighed and ran his hand through the top of his hair at Serena’s words.  He was discovering that having a wife was sometimes difficult.  Serena was very strong-willed and did her best to convince others to think as she wanted, yet he also had seen that she was very loving and cared for others.  She did a great job caring for John and Sam when he was ill.  Serena did little things to make his own life easier such as making sure he had a plate of food the minute he arrived to camp for each meal.  She made sure he always had enough and was not hungry when he was done.  One night, Curly had made some apple cobbler.  She had saved a large bowl of it for him and gave it to him later that evening since he hadn’t made it back in time when the dessert had been served. 

She was polite to all the cowboys and even to the other woman that had joined them, even though she had been very rude and patronizing to Serena.

Paul was not regretting his choice in a bride, but he did wonder what it would be like not to have to argue through every decision that needed to be made.

“Can I tell you something about my childhood?” Serena asked and Paul nodded although he felt surprised at her request.  He had thought she had told him everything about her life in the orphanage.

There was a knock on the door and Paul opened it to accept the meal of fried chicken, potatoes, gravy, and peas that he had ordered.  There were also yeasty rolls and a large piece of chocolate cake to be shared.

After they had arranged the food on a small table in the hotel room, said a prayer over the food and then started eating, Serena repeated her question.

“Yes, I would like to know everything about your childhood,” Paul responded around a bite of juicy fried chicken.

“My mother was an actress who acted in Shakespearean plays.  She raised me until I was three years old.  At that time, she had been given an opportunity to act in some plays in Europe.  She decided to go and left me in the New York orphanage since her new director would not allow her to bring a child with her to Europe.

“I think it was supposed to be a temporary situation.  I don’t remember much about her, but I do know she came to visit me once about a year after she left me there.  She paid for my care there.  Since I was not officially an orphan, I was not given the opportunity to be adopted by a new family.  I had a mother.  When I was five years old, all contact stopped from her.  No one knows what happened.  Six months later my status was moved from having a mother to being abandoned, but by then it was too late.  Most people who want to adopt a child want a young child or even a baby.  I was too old.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Paul responded with sympathy.  He knew she had had a very different life than he had as a child.  He had never doubted his parents loved him.  He had always been wanted and he had two brothers.  They had inherited a large ranch, enabling him to live the type of life he loved.  He could not imagine having to live most of his life in an orphanage wondering what was going to happen to him.

“It wasn’t too bad, living in the orphanage,” Serena continued to explain between bites of her dinner.  “Anna and Katrina made it bearable.  We truly see each other as sisters.  Anna had been at the orphanage the longest.  She was abandoned as a baby.  Katrina came to live there when she was six years old.  We have been together ever since.”

“How were you treated in the orphanage?” Paul asked because he had heard horror stories of life in orphanages.

“The women who ran it were strict.  We sometimes had barely enough to eat.  I remember many nights going to bed hungry.  But we weren’t abused.  Our needs were met the best they could be, yet we were not loved.  No one is loved in an orphanage.”

Paul winced at her words.  He knew where this conversation was going and he knew she was going to fight to keep John with them instead of taking him to the city orphanage.

Serena was looking off in the distance.  “All I ever wanted was a family to call my own.  A mom and a dad who wanted me.”

“What about the family that took you in Texas?  Didn’t they become your family?”

“Not really,” Serena shook her head.  “They had three younger children and I really think they took me so I could help them with their kids.  They owned a bakery in town and ran it together.  I spent most of my free time helping them with their kids.” 

She conveniently had forgotten how things were better with the Nelsons the last few months she was there.  She had believed for so long she was not very important to them that she still continued to believe it.

“I’m sorry,” Paul said again.  He was not sure what else to say. 

Serena shrugged.  “They were kind to me.  They didn’t over work me or anything like that.  My needs were met.  I was allowed to go to school and church.  Circumstances worked out that Anna and Katrina were taken in with families in the same town, so we were able to stay together.  They just never became the family I always wanted.  Maybe by the time I was taken in by them, I was too old.  I don’t know.

“I am not telling you this for your sympathy.  I have learned that life happens a certain way no matter what you do.  I just don’t want to leave John behind in an orphanage.  I think we should leave messages around the city at different businesses that we have him and then take him with us back to the ranch.  We can care for him adequately.  If his parents are looking for him, they will know we have him and they can come to us to get him.”

Serena stopped talking as if choosing her next words carefully.  “If we can’t find his parents, I would like to keep him and raise him as our own.”

Paul was not surprised at Serena’s words, especially since he now knew her whole history.  She had never had a family and she did not want John to have the same experience.  He found himself nodding at her suggestion in agreement.  They would keep John for now.

Serena smiled in delight and reached over to hug him.  “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.  Paul pulled his head back to look at her and realized the feelings he had throughout the cattle drive had developed into a deep love for her.  He then bent to kiss her like he never had before.