Orphan Train Romance Series: Five Books in One! (Clean Western Historical Romances)

by Zoe Matthews

  Serena spent the rest of the day with the babies. She ate her own dinner after the babies were fed and soon they were all put to bed for the night. Mrs. Rowe gave her permission to go to bed as well. As Serena walked the short distance to the room where she slept with the older girls, she hoped she would be able to talk to Anna and Katrina before the lights were turned out.

  When Serena walked to her bed, she saw that Katrina was already there and had changed into her nightclothes. She quickly undressed, folded her gray day dress and put it at the end of her bed like they had been taught. By unspoken agreement, she and Katrina talked about other things and did not talk about the new opportunity to leave the orphanage until Anna arrived.

  “I couldn’t get away until now,” Anna said breathlessly as she finally arrived. Serena sat on her bed and watched as Anna quickly changed out her day dress. Katrina helped her fold her clothes.

  “We need to talk quickly,” Katrina said. “What do you think about what Mrs. Young told us? Do you still want to go, Serena?”

  “Yes,” Serena said firmly. “I want a family.”

  “I am really scared about going. But I think we should all go together and then probably it won’t be so bad,” Katrina said. “Maybe we can all be adopted in the same town with families that live close to each other.”

  “I agree,” Anna nodded her head. “I just hope it works out like we want it to.”

  “What if we can’t stay together?” Serena asked.

  “We will just have to make sure we do, or at least stay in touch somehow,” Katrina stated firmly.

  The next day, the three girls let Mrs. Young know they wanted to go on the train. Mrs. Young looked relieved that all three had decided to go. She promised to talk to Mrs. Carver about trying to keep the girls together, but she made sure they knew that she could not promise anything. The girls needed to understand that things might not work out exactly the way they wanted them to.

  CHAPTER 2

  Two Weeks Later

  “Children, please listen to me,” Mr. Carver called over the noise that children tend to make. He waited for a moment for things to quiet down, and then continued. “We will be arriving in Maple Grove, Texas in about ten minutes. Please make sure all your belongings are with you. Older children, please help with the younger ones.”

  Serena scooped up the young toddler she had been helping with the entire trip. The young girl was tired of traveling and had been fussing for the last few hours. She felt relieved that the train trip was almost over. In a matter of a few hours, she would know what her future was going to be.

  She made sure she had her small bundle of belongings with her. Only a few of the orphans had personal belongings. Serena’s mother had left her a locket when she dropped her off at the orphanage when she was three. The chain was broken and the clasp to keep the locket closed did not work, but the necklace was very precious to her since it was all she had of her mother. While living in the orphanage, Mrs. Young had kept the locket with Serena’s papers, but Mrs. Young had given it to her when they left. Serena kept it in her pocket for safekeeping. Throughout the entire trip, she kept putting her hand in her pocket to make sure it was still there.

  Serena felt the train slow and then stop. She tried to look out the windows at the town they were stopping in, Maple Grove, Texas, but it was difficult with all the children around her, so she temporarily gave up. After all the other passengers had left the train, Mrs. Carver led all 18 children off the train while Mr. Carver made sure everyone got off and was accounted for.

  Mr. Carver led the children to a nearby hotel to wait the few hours until it was time to go to Maple Grove’s town hall. While they walked, Serena looked around as she held the toddler in her arms. For the first time the child was quiet as she looked around at their new surroundings. They walked by many stores and buildings. One of them had good smells coming from it and Serena’s stomach growled in hunger. She noticed the store was called “The Bakery.” The only food they had eaten on the train was bread and butter, along with a few fruits and vegetables when they were available, which was not often. One time they were able to have milk and cheese. Their last meal was early that morning and it was now lunchtime. Serena hoped she would be able to eat something before she met her new family.

  “Are you as scared as I am?” Katrina asked Serena as she and Anna walked beside her.

  “Probably,” Anna answered her. “I sure hope this works out. I hope we really can find families here so we can live close together.”

  “It will work out,” Serena tried to sound confident, but deep inside she was starting to feel very scared. Throughout the entire trip, she tried to sound like she was very excited, like she just “knew” she would be adopted by wonderful people, but now that they were actually in Maple Grove, she realized that things could turn out very differently than what she wanted.

  ****

  Mr. Carver led the children into the town hall of Maple Grove, with Mrs. Carver in the back of the group to make sure everyone stayed together. Serena followed the children in front of her into a large room. There were chairs that were set up in rows and she saw many people sitting in them. There were more people than she expected in the room and she felt even more nervous. She was directed to sit in a row of chairs that had been placed on a stage, and as she sat down, she kept the toddler she had been caring for in her lap.

  It was very quiet in the room as all the children sat down. Serena noticed all the adults in the room looking them over and studying all the children very carefully. This made her even more nervous. She felt like a small bug among all the other children. What if they looked at her and found her lacking? What if no one wanted her, as had happened over and over again at the orphanage?

  A man stood up and introduced Mr. Carver. Mr. Carver then stood up and gave a speech. Serena tried to listen carefully to him, but found that she was so nervous she could not concentrate on the words and soon gave up. She reached over, grasped Anna’s hand and felt a little better when Anna squeezed in comfort.

  Suddenly names started to be called and adults came up to the stage. The toddler who was sitting on her lap was immediately taken without any word to Serena and the child started to scream in protest. As the woman walked away with her, Serena wanted to follow her and help the woman quiet the child, but in the end she didn’t dare. They had been instructed to stay in their seats until someone approached them.

  A well-dressed man and woman started to talk to her. The man introduced himself as the mayor of the town. The woman looked at her intently and then moved on, starting to talk to Katrina instead. Serena felt a distinct disappointment. She was rejected again because she wasn’t pretty. Katrina had the required blonde curly hair and blue eyes. Serena immediately knew the couple would offer Katrina a home, and sure enough, she watched as Katrina nodded her head and followed them off the stage, turning around once to wave a small goodbye to Serena and Anna.

  Serena continued to clasp Anna’s hand as they waited together. Soon, another man and woman approached them. She waited for the couple to talk to Anna but they addressed her instead.

  “Hello,” the woman spoke in a soft voice. “I am Charlotte Nelson and this is my husband, Caleb Nelson,” the woman introduced themselves. “We are looking for a young girl just like you.”

  Mr. Nelson nodded his agreement with his wife’s words. “How old are you?”

  “I am 12 years old, sir,” Serena answered, trying to keep the excitement she felt out of her voice. Were they really interested in her?

  “Just the right age,” Mr. Nelson nodded again. “We would like to offer you a home.”

  Mrs. Nelson touched her husband’s arm. His hand covered hers and Serena immediately could see the affection they had for each other. “We have three young daughters. Would you be willing to help us with them? You see, we own a bakery.”

  Mr. Nelson talked again. “I do most of the work in the bakery, but my wife here does help me with the baking that needs to be done
early in the morning.”

  “We do want you to be part of our family. However, we would need your help with our young daughters. You will still be able to go to school and church and have some free time for your friends.”

  “So I could still see Anna and Katrina?” Serena asked them as she pointed to Anna who still sat near her and then to Katrina who was standing near her new parents as they signed some papers. “I think Katrina went with the mayor.”

  She saw both Mr. and Mrs. Nelson look at each other with an unreadable expression. Mrs. Nelson then looked at Serena and nodded her head in agreement. “Of course.”

  Serena smiled for the first time. “I’ve always wanted a family. It will be nice to have sisters. How old are they?”

  She learned that the girls were young. The oldest was only four and the youngest just a baby.

  “I helped take care of the babies at the orphanage,“ Serena said as she offered a little of her background.

  Both Mr. and Mrs. Nelson smiled and looked pleased at her words. “Let’s get the paperwork completed and then we can take you to our home.”

  Serena quickly followed them off the stage, hardly daring to believe her good fortune. Not only did a couple actually want her, but she also would have little sisters.

  The next few hours were the best she had ever experienced. The papers were quickly signed. Mrs. Carver made sure she felt comfortable going with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson. She let them know that in a few months, a representative from the orphanage would be in touch to make sure things were going well.

  Mr. and Mrs. Nelson led her out of the town hall and down the street. Both of them asked her a few questions about the train ride and about her friendship with Anna and Katrina. She could tell Mrs. Nelson understood her need to stay in touch with both of her friends. The first place they showed her was the bakery. They had closed the store while they had gone to choose an orphan, so no one was in the bakery when Mr. Nelson opened it.

  Serena looked around in amazement. She saw a few small round tables and chairs where people could sit and eat. There was a large long counter with many types of breads, muffins, cookies and pastries. As she looked at the baked goods, her stomach growled again, and she covered her stomach in embarrassment. They had not been given lunch at the hotel and it had been a long time since the slice of bread and butter she had eaten for breakfast.

  Mrs. Nelson heard the noise and smiled in understanding. “Why don’t you choose something from the counter? I have lunch ready at our home, but you can eat something to tide you over.”

  “Thank you,” Serena remembered to say but stood and stared at the choices. There were so many items and she could not make up her mind.

  Finally, Mrs. Nelson pointed to a breaded item. “This is called a sweet roll. Why don’t you try that?”

  Mrs. Nelson picked it up and handed it to Serena. She inhaled the yeasty scent and then took a bite. It was the best thing she had ever tasted. It was sweet and filled with white icing and cinnamon.

  Serena sat at one of the round tables while Mr. Nelson did some work in the back of the store which Serena soon learned was a large kitchen. She hoped that she would be able to learn how to bake some of the items they sold in the store.

  When Serena had finished eating the sweet roll, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson led her out a back door of the store to a little house that had been built a few yards away.

  When they entered, she watched as Mrs. Nelson thanked a woman who had been watching her new sisters. After the woman left, she was introduced to the girls. The oldest was named Jenny. The second oldest was two years old and her name was Cora. The baby, who was only a few months old, was named Rose.

  The house was small. There was a small kitchen and sitting room with two small rooms behind them. One room was for Mr. and Mrs. Nelson and the other was for the three girls. Serena assumed she would be sharing a room with the young girls like she did at the orphanage, but she was pleasantly surprised when Mr. Nelson showed her a ladder that led to a small loft.

  “Your room is up there. It is small, but it will give you privacy and a space to call your own,” he explained as he pointed to a small room above them.

  Serena climbed the ladder to explore her new room. It was indeed small. It had a bed only large enough to hold one person. There was a small table near the bed and pegs that had been pounded in one of the walls. At the end of the bed was a very small window. She was very pleased to have her own room. Her dreams had indeed come true. She now had a family that wanted her.

  CHAPTER 3

  Nine Years Later

  Serena sighed as she watched Charlotte leave the house with her in charge in order to help Caleb in the bakery. Serena had started to call them by their first names soon after she had arrived in Maple Grove. They told her that Mr. and Mrs. Nelson made them sound like they were old.

  She had been living in Maple Grove for nine years now. She sighed again and turned to help Rose braid her hair. Life was not as she thought it would be when she came to live here. She remembered how excited she was with the idea of a family of her own.

  Charlotte and Caleb were kind to her, but she soon discovered that they had really wanted her to help with their children. She was allowed to attend school and church and she had been allowed to stay in touch with Anna and Katrina. She saw them weekly and always after church.

  Anna had been placed with the family who ran the general store, Mr. and Mrs. Davis. Although they were not cruel to her, they had not treated her like a daughter and used her to work in their store. A year ago, Anna left Maple Grove and traveled to be a mail-order bride. She married a man who ran a large cattle ranch in Montana along with his two older brothers.

  Katrina had been placed with the mayor and his wife. She had been given many advantages that neither Serena nor Anna had. She had been given a lot of clothes and toys. She also had been sent away to school after she graduated from the town school and received her teacher’s certificate. Katrina now taught the younger children at the town school.

  Serena felt like she was a glorified nanny. At first when Serena had arrived, Charlotte stayed in the home and helped her with the girls. When she saw that Serena could handle the children fine and care for their needs, Charlotte started to spend more and more time in the bakery.

  Two more children had been added to the family since Serena had arrived, Jacob and Jeff. She had long resigned herself to not getting her forever family like the one she had dreamed about for so long. She had learned too late that dreams rarely came true.

  Last fall, Anna had sent her a letter from Montana telling about her life with Alex, her new husband. It was quite a long letter that told the story of her courtship with Alex. Anna had gone to Montana to marry Alex’s older brother, Luke, but things had worked out that she had married Alex instead.

  On the last page of the letter, she explained that Paul, another brother of Alex, was interested in a mail-order bride and had asked Anna if she knew of someone who would want to come to Montana and marry him. Anna had immediately thought of Serena as being a good match for Paul. At first, Serena was very reluctant. When Anna first arrived in Montana, she discovered that things were not what she had been told they were. But eventually everything worked out and she had married Alex a few weeks later.

  Anna had also extended an offer to Katrina to be a teacher in a school the brothers were going to build for the children whose fathers worked on their ranch. By the time the letter had arrived last fall, school in Maple Grove had already started, and so Katrina did not feel she could accept the job for that school year, but she secretly accepted it for the following fall. It was now early summer and as soon as the school year ended, Katrina planned on traveling to Montana for her new teaching position. She had not told the family who took her in for fear they would try to stop her, so plans were being made secretly.

  When Serena first received Anna’s letter, she had rejected the idea of becoming a mail-order bride. She had never given Anna her opinion of her plans to
go to Montana to marry someone she had never met, but she personally felt it was not a smart idea. After she had read Anna’s first long letter, she noticed another letter which had been addressed to her from Paul.

  Paul’s letter had greatly impressed her. He talked about how nice it had been to get to know Anna and had written about some of the things he had talked about with her friend. He described the ranch and what his responsibilities were, which were to keep track of the financial end of things and to run the cattle drives every fall. He then wrote how he would like to have a wife, and if she was willing, he would send money for her to come.

  Even though Serena had enjoyed that first letter, she had been very hesitant to leave Maple Grove. Although she did not feel like Charlotte and Caleb where her parents or their children her siblings, she felt comfortable with her role among their family. She was afraid if she left what she knew for a new life, she would again be disappointed.