New York Orphan (Tales of Flynn and Reilly Book 1)

by Rosemary J. Kind

  Sarah’s disappointment was evident. “Oh, Joe, is that all it is? I thought you were going to…”

  “All? All!” Joe’s face flushed red. “How can you say, ‘Is that all it is?’, when my brother has to go away to war?” He got up from his seat and took up his coat. “Excuse me, Miss Ellie, I’m needed elsewhere.” And with that, Joe strode toward the door.

  Sarah got up and rushed to him. “Oh, Joe, stop. I didn’t mean…”

  “I’ve no mind to what you meant, Sarah. Now leave me be. Good day to you.” And with that he marched from the room, leaving Ellie and Molly in dumb silence whilst Sarah burst into a flood of tears.

  “But I thought he was going to ask me to marry him,” she managed to get out through the sobs. “Now he’s gone and I don’t know when I shall see him again.”

  Molly wrapped her arms around her friend.

  “You weren’t to know that’s what he’d be saying,” Miss Ellie said in a gentle voice. “I’m sure he’ll come around.”

  “Miss Ellie,” Molly said, “if it’s all the same to you, I could go and talk to him tomorrow and explain.”

  “That would be very kind of you. I’m sure this will all be sorted in no time. Either that or I could talk to Mrs Spencer, but I think it will be best dealt with by you young people.”

  Molly set to find Joe after church on the Sunday. Sarah, who had not slept the night before, had stayed home and made Molly promise to return with news just as soon as she could. Molly enjoyed the walk to the store in the spring sunshine, though it seemed strange to be calling there on a day when the store was closed. She knocked at the door to the living quarters and waited.

  It was Henry who answered the door. She had seen him a few times since the dance nearly eighteen months previously, but they had not been alone together in that time.

  She looked up at the tall young man and blushed. “I’m sorry to trouble you, but it was Joe I was looking for.”

  Henry smiled at the sight of her and he stood taller. “He’s away up at the orchard. I’ll walk up there if you don’t mind the company.”

  “Thank you.”

  They walked in silence for the first part of the walk, then Molly said, “I’m sorry to hear you have to go off to war.”

  “I don’t mind owning I’m not keen to go. I never was much of fighter and I hadn’t reckoned on becoming one now. It’s Ma I’m worried for.”

  “That’s what Joe said yesterday, before he and Sarah had a misunderstanding. Oh, it was so stupid.” Molly suddenly found herself telling Henry the whole story. “… And now I’m to try to make things right for her with Joe. She didn’t mean anything by what she said. It was just…”

  “Molly…” Henry had stopped and was facing her, his face earnest. “Molly, while I’m gone will you write to me and be my sweetheart?”

  Molly looked up into his face and had no idea what to say. She hardly knew him, but he was Joe’s brother and Joe was a good sort. She could see no real harm in saying ‘yes’, and if it brought him comfort while he was away then that had to be good. “Yes,” she said, “I’ll write to you.”

  He took her hands in his. “Oh, Molly, I’m so pleased. I’ve been wanting to ask you if I might see you for ever so long, but…” He shrugged in a way that showed he had not yet fully left boyhood behind, and Molly melted.

  She’d almost forgotten the purpose of her visit by the time they came to the orchard and, as it was, she was grateful for Henry’s presence as he set about the explanation to Joe before Molly could begin.

  The colour drained from Joe’s face as his brother explained. He sat down heavily on a log and ran his hand through his hair, leaving it part way through as his mouth opened and closed again.

  It was the way Henry ended the story which quite sealed the steps Joe decided on taking. “Why, if you did ask her and she were to say ‘yes’, just think how happy it would make Ma. Sarah could move into the house and help in the store so that Ma would barely notice I was gone.”

  Joe nodded slowly. “I’d like some time on my own to do some thinking, if it’s all the same to the two of you.”

  Molly nodded and, with her arm linked through his, led Henry back towards the town. She’d done all she could and now needed to await the outcome.

  Chapter 14

  So fare thee well father, and mother adieu.

  My sisters and brothers, fare thee well unto you;

  I am going to America, my fortune to try,

  When I think of Bunclody, sure I'm ready to die.

  Bunclody, Traditional

  Ben did return the following harvest and the ones after that, and Duke greeted him with pleasure but never strayed far from Daniel’s side. Daniel told the older man of all the happenings, including the beatings and the privation, and for those short times it felt good to have a friend. He was too young for the draft and Ben too old, but he reckoned Jed and Rick might be called.

  Ben shook his head sadly as he answered the youth. “They’s essential labour and won’t have to go, unless they volunteer.”

  Daniel felt his heart sink. He’d kept himself going with the thought that the end of them being around was in sight. With the knowledge that this was not the case, his hope was gone. “I don’t reckon I can bide here another season if they won’t be away.”

  “You could always away to fight yourself. The Boss can’t stop you going then.”

  Daniel looked down at the ground, remembering his days on the streets. “I’m no fighter. I’m sure if I had to I could kill a man, but not for Mr Lincoln, who I don’t even know. I’d do it for those I loved… but there ain’t many of them left as are known to me.” He felt a tear escape, and tracked his sleeve across his face. He took a deep breath and shook his head back, his untidy hair falling away from his face. “Would you help me to get away from here, Ben? If I were to run, would you help me to plan it?”

  An iron-like resolve had come over Daniel as he’d thought of Molly and his past days. He’d wallowed too long feeling sorry for himself and it was clear there was no one but him could do anything about it. He was nearly eighteen and almost a man – surely Hawksworth would let him go this time. Hawksworth could get himself another young slave, for surely once Daniel came of age he’d have to be paid and have a choice in where he worked. It was only a few months away, but an urgency had entered Daniel and he was desperate to respond.

  Ben was studying him carefully. “Are you sure it’s what you want?”

  Daniel nodded.

  “You’ll not be able to take Duke. With a dog at your feet you’ll be found too soon.”

  “But Duke can stay with you, now you’re back. You need his company too.”

  “Sure I do, lad, but he chose your company over mine. He’ll not take the loss of you well.”

  Daniel scratched Duke’s ear and sighed. “I’ve got to do it, Ben. My life is slipping away here and there’s people I must be looking for.”

  Ben gave a despairing shake of his head and looked away. “Then I’ll help you, but it won’t be easy.”

  Daniel felt a weight lift at the decision made. He would never be truly alive while he lived here. He’d no idea where Pierceton was and no amount of questions to Ben or Mrs Hawksworth had shed any light on the matter. Dowagiac was on the railroad, he knew that and presumed the same must be true of Pierceton. He’d go in search of Tom and maybe he’d know where Molly was.

  As the harvest time wore on, Daniel spent what time he could with Ben, planning for his leaving. He’d agreed he wouldn’t go until the work was nearly done and Ben was in a position to follow not long behind. They were sure the old man’s life would become harder once Daniel had departed and neither of them wanted the risk of anything being taken out on Duke.

  Between them they’d made a rough bag from some sacking left lying in the corner of the barn. It would hold the few things Daniel had to carry with him. Ben had whittled a small bowl from an old piece of wood. It would serve for drinking and food, when he could find an
ything. Daniel had kept back a small stone jar from a mealtime when a celebration had come their way. He’d hidden it with his Bible under the floorboard which had been the protector of his meagre gains.

  “You’ll have to head through the town if you’re to get anywhere. T’other way goes nowhere of any use. You need to get to the railroad and the town’s the only place round here you’ll do that. Hide up in a wagon and hope it goes some place useful.” Ben gave Daniel all the advice he could, but his own experience was limited and he’d never travelled the distances that Daniel now sought to go. “It won’t be safe to buy a ticket. This place has eyes everywhere. Soon as they know you’ve gone there’ll be folks looking for you, and none of ’em good ’uns.”

  That much Daniel had assumed. He knew not to trust anyone until he was a long way from the farm. As the time drew near, he kept back what biscuits and meal he could do without, though there was precious little to get him through a working day. At this time of year there should be some scraps of harvested produce left back in the fields, so he hoped he wouldn’t starve before he could find his way. He thought it best to hide up somewhere for a day or two, rather than risk being seen in the open, but he knew there’d be search parties, so nowhere was safe.

  This time he would go before dawn on Sunday, with part of a night’s sleep to bolster him and in hopes there’d be no other travellers on the road at that hour. He’d keep to the fields and rest as soon as it was light. With half the town hung-over, he might manage at least a head start before being followed.

  It was the chosen Saturday at last. Ben and Daniel were alone and the time was near.

  “I want you to take this.” Ben thrust a small packet at Daniel. “It’s not much, but it will get you a little along the way.”

  Daniel frowned and looked inside the packet. He let out a gasp. “I can’t. You need it.”

  “You’ve helped me out and not been paid. By rights, that money’s as much yours as mine. It’s half of what I’ve got. I’ll be fine with what remains.”

  Daniel looked deep into the old man’s eyes and wrestled with words that wouldn’t come. “Thank you. I wish I could take you with me.”

  Ben smiled. “Then you’d be found before you’d gone half the distance. I’ll be all right here. I’ll have Duke for company.”

  The dog snuffled his hand and moved to sit closer to Ben’s feet. It was as if he could sense that his relationship with the two men was changing once again and that his future rested with his former master.

  “Take care of him,” said Daniel. They were needless words, he knew, but he had no idea how to convey the gratitude he was feeling and was lost for something meaningful to say.

  “I will,” Ben replied. “Now away to sleep, and Daniel… good luck.” He clapped Daniel on the shoulder as he got up and moved to his bunk.

  Tonight Daniel would sleep with his belongings close and his boots ready to put on.

  The sun was far from rising when Daniel swung his legs down from the bunk and landed almost noiselessly on the extra straw he’d spread around that part of the barn floor. He stilled his breathing and listened to the sounds of the night. He’d heard the revellers come home and thought there was little real chance of waking them, but still it was a risk he didn’t want to take. He felt a nose snuffle the leg of his trousers and reached down to give Duke’s head one last pat. Then he lifted his boots and carried them out to the back of the barn, the side furthest from the house, before stooping to pull them on. He paused for one final check that everything was carefully stowed, then slung his small pack across his shoulder and made for the edge of the fields.

  This side had yet to be harvested, which would make it easy to follow the line of the corn and know his direction in the almost complete dark of the moonless night. As his eyes adjusted, the starlight provided some outline to the shapes ahead, but when the clouds passed across the sky, all was black. Once he moved to other land that he didn’t know he would need at least a slither of moon, the pre-dawn light or the gloaming to guide him on his way.

  He kept close to the corn as he went, waving his stick ahead of him lest he walk into an outgrowing branch and cause injury. His steps were steady and rhythmic as he heard them tread lightly on the packed earth. Ben had rehearsed him carefully on where he needed to go for the disused barn, and he planned to shelter there for a day or two. As he walked, Daniel couldn’t help but wonder if he might be better to make straight for the railroad and find some place to hide there until he felt safe enough to move on.

  His decision was made for him. As he was nearing the barn he heard more than just the night sounds of the animal world. He stopped and breathed slow and even, quietening his body and freeing his senses. There was no mistaking the sound of human snoring coming from the other side of the wall.

  He wondered at his misfortune of another seeking shelter in the same place on the one night that he had planned to use it. From the sounds, he suspected that this man needed shelter from the wrath of a wife, following a drunken night in the town. There was nothing else for it; Daniel would have to make for the railroad. He had perhaps no more than an hour before the day would be all but light, and no time to lose if he were going to conceal himself without risk of being found before his journey had yet begun.

  Duke woke Ben as he usually did, a couple of hours after Daniel had left. The old man sighed as he faced the day, knowing it would be a little less safe and a lot less companionable than the day previous. He threw cold water over his sleep-ridden face and prepared for a day’s work like any other. He knew better than to expect Jed or Rick to appear at the start of a Sunday and somehow, though it was not his business to know why, this never seemed to trouble Hawksworth. Ben shook his head at the thought and went to collect his vitals before his work began. His hope was to do the work of two men, to delay the point that Daniel’s absence was noticed.

  Once out in the fields, Ben worked as hard as his tired bones would allow, stripping cob after cob from the stems as he made his way along the field. He wondered if he could go unnoticed and stay in the field through lunch, but as it was, events ran faster than his planning and a shout went up late morning that summoned all of them back to the yard. Jed and Rick looked barely past sleep as they stood there, apparently as bewildered at the call as Ben. Hawksworth stood before them, belt in hand, a look of menace playing across his mean features.

  “And which one of you is the thief?” He glared first at one, then another, his gaze boring through them. His eyes narrowed. “Flynn?”

  Ben searched for words to cover for his friend but found none that wouldn’t be exposed within minutes. Sadly, he shook his head and answered truthfully, but without proffering information. “I don’t know, Mr Hawksworth, sir.”

  Hawksworth whipped around. “You don’t know! Then I guess we’ve found our thief.”

  Ben cringed at the prospect of Daniel being searched for as a thief rather than merely a deserter from his post.

  Hawksworth stopped in front of him and brought his belt down on the palm of his own hand in a gesture intended to threaten. “And when –”

  Hawksworth had not got much of his sentence out when Mrs Hawksworth came running out to them. “It wasn’t Daniel.” She panted out the words as she caught her breath. “I know it wasn’t Daniel.”

  Hawksworth reeled round and caught her across the cheek with the leather end of the belt. “Silence, woman. You know no such thing.”

  She put her hand to her cheek and she had tears in her eyes as she answered with a defiance that Ben in that moment admired.

  “I do know. I saw him.” Her face was red as she pointed at Jed. “He took the money, last night when you all came back.”

  This time it was the buckle end that caught across Mrs Hawksworth’s face, and blood immediately started to flow from the gash it caused. She put her hand to the wound.

  “You saw no such thing, woman. You were abed when we came in and if you go on protecting the boy there will be many more where th
at came from.”

  She held her apron up to the wound to stem the bleeding and, with a further moment’s hesitation and tears dripping from her cheeks, she turned and hurried back to the house.

  Hawksworth loomed over Ben. “Where is the boy?”

  Ben stood his ground and looked back at the man. He held his gaze as he answered honestly, “I don’t know… sir.” Sure, he’d suggested Daniel hide in the old barn, but he knew the boy would make his own mind up and besides, he’d no way of knowing how far he’d have got by now.

  Hawksworth made as though he were going to strike the old man, but thought better of it and brought his quivering arm back to his side. Ben prayed that Duke would have the good sense to stay hidden in the barn. Now was not the time for the little dog to come to the attention of a man so intense that anything was possible.

  “Rick, you come with me in the cart and we’ll go look for him. Jed…” Hawksworth hesitated. “… You stay back here and hold him if he returns. And you…” He snarled, turning back to Ben. “You need to do the work of all four of the men!” He cracked the belt down against the gravel of the yard and then turned on his heel back to the house.

  Ben stood a while, listening. He heard a scream that only a woman could make and screwed up his eyes as if he thought that might shut it out. Would that he were a younger man and able to defend those who needed him. He pulled himself together and headed towards the barn. As soon as he was near enough, but away on the field side, he gave a low whistle to call Duke to him. The dog came out limping and Ben flinched, knowing one of the brothers had got to him first. He knew better than to show concern until he was out of sight of the yard, and headed straight to the field he’d been working that morning.

  Once he was there he dropped to the ground and ran his hands over Duke’s small frame. Duke flinched as Ben felt his side, and he knew it was a boot that had touched it most recently. Thank God, he thought, for Duke’s sake as well as his own, the wound would heal and was no more than bruising… this time. He wanted the harvest finished quickly now so they could be away from this place, and this time he had no plans to return.