Orphan Train Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 4 Read online

  “Hey, mister. Wanna eat lunch with me?”

  The small boy couldn’t have been more than five or six. Although since he looked like he hadn’t been properly fed for most of his life, it was entirely possible he was older than he looked. But the resigned look on his face as though he expected life to throw another disappointment at him, made him look ancient. And made Renton unable to refuse.

  “I would enjoy that very much, thank you for asking,” he answered politely, making the boys around him laugh and giggle like the children they were. Renton’s heart went out to them. It was coming home to him just how very unfair life truly was.

  He looked across the room briefly and saw Sophie’s intense interest. He wasn’t sure what his smile might have told her. He wasn’t completely sure what he was feeling himself. But her return smile was warm and encouraging.

  Lunch passed in a blur. He could hardly keep up with all the chatter as each little boy tried to outdo the other as they entertained him with their stories. Renton couldn’t be sure how much was truth and how much exaggeration, but if even a fraction were true, the youngsters had all led colorful, traumatic lives.

  That afternoon, he joined another one of the teachers who was focusing on physical education for the children.

  “We try to keep the children occupied as much as possible so they aren’t tempted to return to their former lives.”

  “What do you mean, their former lives? Aren’t their parents dead? There’s no going back to their former lives.” Renton was confused.

  “Most of the children, the boys especially, have spent time on the streets before coming to us at the orphanage. Most of them have been forced here after running into trouble with authorities. Very few of them were happy about winding up in an orphanage. They had made communities or families for themselves out on the streets. Most are resistant to following rules after the freedom they have experienced. Or they have dealt with terrible abuse in their past and trust no one. Either way, they resist being here for the most part. Running around and being occupied helps them to focus on the merits of being here. And keeps them from causing us too much trouble.”

  Renton hadn’t realized the children wouldn’t want to be there. Of course, it would make sense that they would rather have their families back. But if their families were dead, there wasn’t much that could be done about that. Being at the orphanage struck him as the lesser of evils. But the teacher’s explanation made sense, and Renton looked at the children and the service being provided by the orphanage in a new light. He was all the more determined to do whatever he could to help out. He nearly ran himself ragged playing with each classroom of children as they changed throughout the afternoon.

  Renton was a little embarrassed when Sophie came across him as he was gasping for air, hanging over the balustrade late that afternoon. She laughed and asked, “Have the children worn you out, Mr. Rexford?”

  “Yes!” he answered simply but he returned her grin. “I fear I did not dress properly for the exertions of the day.”

  Sophie glanced down and winced. “I don’t think your feet will appreciate what you’ve been doing.”

  “No, they don’t, but it has been worth every blister I’m sure to have.”

  “Really, Mr. Rexford? I didn’t really picture you as being the hands on type.”

  Renton was hurt by her words but thought that might explain her strange behavior. His feelings must have displayed themselves on his face because she suddenly started blushing.

  “Is that why you have been avoiding me? You don’t think I could share your interest in the orphans?” he asked.

  He watched, fascinated as the color in her cheeks deepened further. “I haven’t been avoiding you,” she protested.

  “Liar,” he said to her, keeping his voice firm even though part of him wanted to tease her for her discomfort. She was so appealing. He needed to know why she was trying to distance herself from him.

  Sophie’s eyes darted everywhere but toward his own gaze as she clearly struggled to formulate a response. Renton felt bad for making her uncomfortable, but he held silent in the hopes that she would explain herself. When tears filled her eyes, though, it was the last reaction he had expected.

  “Sophie, what is it? Surely you can tell me.”

  “I can’t,” she said, her voice wretched. Without saying anything else, she gathered her skirts and ran away.

  Despite his sore feet, Renton did his best to chase after her.

  Chapter Four

  S ophie tried to get away from Renton, but she was choking on the tears she was trying to hold back. She almost tripped over her own feet as she hurried away. The pain in his feet didn’t seem to be encumbering him over much as he quickly caught up to her. They were just outside an empty classroom when he grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

  “Sophie,” he said in a soft tone. His deep voice contained only compassion and questions, making Sophie feel all the more desperate. She had so many feelings for him, but she just couldn’t tell him the truth. She tried to get herself back under control. There was too much at stake for her to give in to her own weak emotions.

  “Sophie, my dear, you must tell me.”

  She tried to brazen it out. Sophie pulled herself together and raised her chin. There was barely a wobble in her voice as she began to speak. “You really don’t have any claims over me, Mr. Rexford. You have no right to tell me what I must or must not do. And I do not appreciate you calling me a liar.”

  His searching gaze studied her face, and Sophie fought to remain impassive. She wasn’t sure if she had been successful when his puzzled frown remained compassionate instead of withdrawing as she had hoped.

  “I thought we were friends,” he said, remaining calm and kind.

  “What made you think that, Mr. Rexford?” Sophie was hoping for a cold tone but the remaining teariness in her voice put a lie to her efforts.

  He was still holding her arm, which was a relief and a torment all at once. She was so distraught she might have sunk to the floor without his support, but his warm grasp on her arm was interfering with her efforts to be stolid and firm. He smiled, apparently not put out in the least by her efforts to distance herself from him.

  “What made me think we were friends?” He repeated her question after a few beats. “Perhaps it was the way my heart lifts every time you are near, or the way your face lights up when our eyes meet across a crowded room. Or maybe it’s the long conversations we have whenever our paths cross, as though we’re two halves of a whole. Even when we disagree our conversations are enjoyable.”

  As he was talking, Sophie’s breath caught in the back of her throat and her heart sped up. She desperately wanted to throw herself into his arms and beg him to stay her friend. But she couldn’t. She had to think of the children.

  Her heart shrank within her chest and her chin wobbled as her eyes filled with tears, but she lifted her chin and looked him right in the face as she told him, “Well, Mr. Rexford, you thought wrong. We are not friends. We cannot be friends. You are a wealthy business man. I am an orphan working at the Foundling Hospital. No friendship is possible between us. And I would ask that you unhand me so that I can carry on with my day.”

  Renton blinked and his face fell. For a moment, Sophie’s heart sank and she wanted to throw up, as she thought she had been successful in her attempts to end their fledgling relationship. His hand loosened on her arm and she was about to pull away from him. But then he tightened it and brought his other hand up to grasp her left arm. He wasn’t hurting her, but it was evident he would not be letting her go.

  “No, Sophie. I don’t believe you. I know you. And this is so unlike you that I know there must be something else going on. What did my mother say to you?”

  Sophie gasped as she felt all the color drain away from her face and she was suddenly light headed. “How do you know about that? Renton, please, you cannot say anything to her.”

  “So there is something. Out with it, Sophie. Yo
u know we’re friends. And you know I won’t let this go. Tell me what is going on.”

  She had tried so hard to be strong and it was all falling down around her feet. The tears she had been trying to hold back slipped silently down her cheeks. If she wasn’t so caught up in her own misery, she would have enjoyed the wretched look on his face as he despaired over her distress.

  “It’s bigger than us, Renton. It’s the children. All of the children. I cannot. You have to try to understand. You’ve been here all day. You’ve seen the children. I cannot allow this to be taken away.” Her words bolstered her own determination. Her spine got its steel back, and her tears dried. Sophie stepped away from his suddenly loosened grasp. It would have been funny to see his mouth gaping in shock if it wasn’t such a deadly serious situation.

  Her heart was breaking but her determination was stronger than ever. She was about to sweep from the room, running away to find somewhere private to scream and sob. But before she could leave, his hand clamped on her arm once more and he spun her to face him.

  “Are you saying my mother has threatened the orphanage? How?”

  “No, I’m not telling you anything. Please, Renton, let this go. Let me go. There’s nothing for us to pursue here.” She was prepared to beg if she had to. She just wanted to get away and nurse her emotional injuries.

  “There’s plenty for us to pursue. I wasn’t mistaken. We are friends. Maybe we could even be more than friends. I am not prepared to just let this go.”

  Sophie’s resolve hardened further and her chin raised to a stubborn level. “Any friend of mine would not jeopardize something that I hold so dear.”

  Renton’s stance softened. “Sophie, my dear, you know I won’t allow my mother to do anything to this place.”

  “How do you think you could possibly stop her? No one can force her where to put her charitable donations. The Foundling Hospital and the Children’s Aid Society are completely dependent on the munificence of others.” Sophie could feel her chin trembling with the force of her tumultuous emotions, but she held it at a firm angle. “This has been my home since I was ten years old. I depend on it. But I am a grown woman at this point. I could manage. But the little ones cannot. I cannot take the chance on my actions harming their future.”

  Renton’s stare was hard, making her squirm. “Tell me what she said to you. You owe me that at least.”

  Sophie couldn’t look him in the eye as she finally told him the truth. She knew it would be awkward for him to hear that his mother was interfering in his life in such a way. "She said if I do not cut my ties with you, she will cut her funding efforts. She said there are many charities that would be happy to cooperate with her wishes. She also told me I wasn’t to tell you so you really cannot say anything to her. Please, Renton, you must swear it to me.”

  He continued to stare hard at her. Sophie could almost see the wheels of thought turning in his head as she finally met his gaze. Slowly a gentle, beautiful smile bloomed on his face.

  “If I can find a reliable solution to the funding problem, will you stop resisting my efforts to spend time with you?”

  It seemed to Sophie as though her heart stopped for a moment before it began hammering madly within her chest. She wanted to throw herself into his arms, but she had to try to see sense.

  “You cannot give your own money, Renton. Your mother would stop you. Besides, she gets so many other people to donate. I’ve seen the ledgers. It’s too much.”

  “First of all, Sophie, darling, my mother doesn’t have any say over how I spend my money. Even without the family funds, I do quite well for myself, have no fear. But I have another idea that just might work swimmingly. So I will repeat my question. Will you, Sophie Brooks, allow me to court you with serious intention if I can solve the problem of funding for the Foundling Hospital?”

  Sophie finally allowed hope to flood into her heart. She could feel her cheeks stretching from the smile that bloomed on her face. She couldn’t speak around the emotion clogging her throat, so she nodded tentatively. Renton whooped, picked her up, and spun her around in a circle. He put her back on her feet and then quickly planted a quick kiss softly on her lips.

  She could only stare as he grinned at her. “I will return as soon as I have it all sorted,” he promised her before rushing from the room.

  With trembling fingers, Sophie covered her mouth and looked at the empty doorway through which he had disappeared. Had it all been a dream? With a shake of her head, she tried to pull her hopes back down to earth, but she couldn’t prevent her smile from remaining fixed in place as she slowly made her way down to supper.

  Chapter Five

  S ophie remained on tenterhooks for three days. The hours dragged by as she went about her duties. For two days she could barely eat, but by the third day she took herself to task. You are being absolutely ridiculous, she told her reflection as she pulled her hair back into a severe style, jabbing pins in haphazardly, trying to regain a sense of control over something in her life, even if it was merely her unruly curls. I told you not to get your hopes up. Look what it leads to. You are moping around here as though you have lost out on something. Nothing has been lost that you didn’t already have. If you do not pull yourself together, you are going to give the children the vapors. Especially the children bound for the train.

  Thus admonished, she did indeed manage to get her emotions under a semblance of control. She managed to choke down at least some of the hearty breakfast placed before her, and she was able to smile sincerely at the little girl sitting next to her at the table.

  “Are you excited about leaving on the train in a few days, Annie?”

  The child’s eyes were huge in her face as she turned her attention from her plate. “I think so, Miss Sophie.”

  Sophie actually laughed, although it was soft and brief. “Why aren’t you sure?”

  Annie scrunched her nose as she thought. “Well, I’m afeared, for one thing. I’ve never been on a train before. And none of my friends are going.”

  Sophie’s heart ached for the child. Mr. Brace was sending very few girls on this trip. “You will make lots of friends in your new home, I’m sure.”

  The little girl nodded vigorously. “I sure hope so.”

  “So what are the positive things that make you think you might be excited about it?”

  “Mrs. Parker said maybe my new family will let me have a kitten.” The blissful smile that accompanied this statement made Sophie react with another laugh, this one much more sincere.

  “That is powerful incentive for leaving, I would imagine.”

  “And it will be nice to have a mommy and daddy.” The child’s voice was wistful but not weak. Sophie was grateful the poor little girl’s hope had not been completely squashed despite the tragedies she’d endured.

  Sophie nodded and clasped the child’s hand. There wasn’t anything she could say to that. It was every orphan’s heartfelt wish to belong to a family. She, herself, was too old to be wishing for parents but as she looked around the large room, she felt this was the closest she was going to get to having a family of her own. She had two hundred little brothers and sisters. And all the staff members were like aunts and uncles for her. But she did not begrudge the children leaving on the train their opportunity to get a family of their own. Nor the opportunity to have a kitten, she thought with a wistful smile. It would have been her own dearest wish when she was younger.

  “There is nothing to fear about going on the train, though. I have been a couple of times already. It is actually rather spectacular. Before my first trip, I had never been outside of the city. You will be amazed at how vast everything feels as we ride by. We will drive through fields that feel like they go on and on for miles. And forests and streams and farms. It is really beautiful. And at night. Oh, Annie, wait until nighttime! You won’t believe your eyes when you see the stars.”

  “Really, Miss Sophie? What else will we see?”

  “Cows and sheep and horses and chicke
ns.”

  Annie wrinkled her nose again. “Won’t they be stinky?”

  Sophie giggled and so did the little girl. “Well, you won’t be able to smell the animals from the train, but I do have to tell you that the train itself is a little stinky. But when we get off the train when it stops from time to time, you won’t believe how sweet the air smells. It’s the one thing that makes me wish I was staying behind when the train heads back to the city.”

  Annie looked at her seriously for a moment, making Sophie’s heart clench for the world of experience she could see in the youngster’s gaze despite her few years of life. She was relieved when the little girl broke into a grin. “That sure sounds nice.”

  “Wait until you see it for yourself. I promise, you will love it.”

  With a grin and a wave, the child hurried off to wash her face and get ready for her classes. Watching her go, Sophie realized her own spirits had been lifted by their conversation. She was reminded of the important work she was involved in here with the orphans. If Renton never returned, it meant the funding from Mrs. Rexford was secured. She needed to keep her focus on the children and their needs. Her own were secondary at most. Thus resolved and restored to a measure of her usual cheer, she got to her feet and set about clearing up from the children. With the help of the older children whose assignment it was to help in the cafeteria that day, it wasn’t long before they had the entire room squared away.

  Sophie was just on her way to her next task when Cassandra Morley, one of the wealthy young woman who volunteered at the orphanage, approached her with a wide grin.

  “Sophie! I’ve been looking for you. There’s someone down in Mrs. Parker’s office looking for you.”

  “Good morning, Cassie! Who is it?”