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To Find Her Place

Page 34

by Susan Anne Mason


  In addition, he had no qualms about her working as a caseworker at the Children’s Aid office three days a week. She never dreamed she could have a career and a family too. But her husband understood how important it was for her to help troubled children find a permanent home, a place for them to belong and to be loved. Now that they had Shannon, Jane had taken a leave of absence until the little girl started school in the fall. Then Jane would happily resume her position again.

  The late-afternoon sun was still high in the sky as they headed toward the trees, dappling the apple blossoms with filtered light. Garrett picked a grassy spot with a good view of the blooms, laid out the blanket, and set the basket down.

  “I think we’re in for a bumper crop of apples this year,” he said as he waited for her to get comfortable beside him. “Just look at all those blossoms.”

  Indeed, it was more beautiful than a painting with the sea of pink and white flowers surrounding them. Jane was so thankful Garrett’s brother-in-law Jack had decided to continue living with the Wilders to help Ben and Sarah with the farm. It relieved a huge burden from Garrett and allowed him to concentrate on his job and his own family without any guilt. Still, Jane knew how much the place meant to her husband, and they spent as much time with her in-laws as they could.

  She glanced up at the endless blue sky above. Every now and then, a breeze shook a few petals loose to fall gently down on them, like nature’s own confetti.

  Garrett brushed a few stray petals from her hair, his hand lingering against her cheek. “You’ve made me happier than I ever dreamed possible, Jane. I thank God every day for bringing me to the Children’s Aid doorstep—and to you.”

  Tears rose in her eyes. “I thank Him for the same thing. For you, for Martin, and now for Shannon. I can’t help but think that if it weren’t for Martin running away that night, I might have made the biggest mistake of my life.”

  His fingers caressed her cheek. “That’s all behind us now.”

  She let out a soft sigh. “Once I followed my heart, everything happened as it was meant to. As God intended.”

  Garrett leaned over and kissed her tenderly once more. And there, among the apple blossoms, sheltered in her husband’s arms, Jane knew she’d found her perfect place at last.

  A Note from the Author

  Dear Friends,

  In researching the Toronto Children’s Aid Society, the setting where most of this book took place, I had help from a wonderful resource, a book called A Legacy of Caring: A History of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto by John McCullagh. I read this book several times during the creation of To Find Her Place. Most of my renderings of the CAS were true to historical detail; however, I did take author’s license in some cases to enhance my story. I would like to clarify some of these areas and ask any historians to forgive the liberties I took in telling Jane and Garrett’s story.

  Mr. Robert Mills was indeed the Managing Director of the Toronto Children’s Aid from 1923 to 1947. To my knowledge, the real Mr. Mills did not suffer from any heart condition, nor did he undergo heart surgery. I used this fiction to serve the purpose of my story. In reality, Mr. Mills resigned from his position in December 1947 and went on to enjoy a decade of retirement. One of Bob Mills’s greatest contributions to the society was the stabilization of its finances and the guarantee of funding for its programs. He also worked in tandem with Vera Moberly to create the foster care system for both infants and older children. Mr. Mills was described as “a child welfare pioneer, whose compassion, integrity and insight contributed to making Toronto a better place for children.” Without consciously doing so, these are the exact qualities I gave Garrett Wilder.

  While the Children’s Aid Society did depend on volunteers in many areas, including the bookkeeping, there was never to my knowledge any instance of money skimming. This was strictly fictional, as was the instance of an unwed mother paying a caseworker to give her baby a better placement. In no way was it my intention to cast any aspersions on the sanctity of this institution.

  Many of the recommendations Garrett made to the board members were actual practices that Mr. Mills instituted during his time at the Children’s Aid. The space limitations I described during Garrett’s tour of the offices were very real, as were the host of difficulties created by World War II. The real Children’s Aid office on Isabella Street was a very plain, almost industrial-looking building. I am so grateful to the Bethany House team for making the Children’s Aid building on the cover such a beautiful-looking structure.

  The staffing of the Toronto CAS was far more extensive than portrayed in this book. I purposely kept it simple in order not to clutter the story with too many characters. This is how Mr. McCullagh describes the agency: “In 1939, the field staff consisted of a supervisor and 9 workers in child protection, a supervisor and 23 workers in child placement (adoption), a full-time physician and psychologist, and 2 workers in the clothing room to outfit the children. The clerical staff consisted of an office manager, 8 stenographers, a bookkeeper, and a switchboard operator.” This was not including the volunteers. And the statistic Garrett quoted about the caseworkers seeing over two hundred families a day was indeed true!

  It was difficult to find information on the exact adoption criteria the Toronto CAS held for determining who would be deemed worthy of adopting a child, be it an infant or an older child. From what I could tell, adoption by an unmarried person wasn’t strictly forbidden; however, it seemed that this rarely, if ever, occurred. I took the liberty of putting my own spin on this subject.

  The other tidbit I wanted to share with you was my inspiration for the Wilder farm. Huttonville is a real town near my home. As a child, we went there every fall to pick apples in the beautiful orchard. I remember with great fondness the tractor ride to the orchard, and the joy of picking the apples and eating the crisp fruit right off the tree. It was such fun to add the orchard scenes with Garrett and Jane and the children and to relive these treasured memories from my childhood. Sadly, the two main orchards in Huttonville have been sold to developers who plan to build houses there. This was my small way of immortalizing those farms, and I hope you enjoyed the time in the Wilder orchard as much as I did.

  Best regards,

  Susan

  Acknowledgments

  Jane and Garrett’s story turned out to be a lot more difficult to write than I imagined! Perhaps it was because I was dealing with the history of such a renowned institution as the Children’s Aid Society. But through prayer, perseverance, and some great editing, I managed to get it done.

  Thank you once again to David Long and Jen Veilleux, my editors at Bethany House, whose advice helped to make this story shine. And thank you to the entire team at Bethany House, who work so hard on our behalf, especially during the trying times of the pandemic.

  I’d like to thank my agent, Natasha Kern, for all her support and kindness, and for giving her all to her job despite any hardships in her personal life. I appreciate your dedication!

  My gratitude goes to my dear friend and critique partner, Sally Bayless, who gives me such great advice and helps me meet my deadlines. And, as always, thank you to my family for their love and encouragement.

  Lastly, thank you to my wonderful readers and influencers. I appreciate you all so much, especially those who take the time to leave reviews and who help promote my books. It means so much to have your support!

  Blessings and best wishes,

  Susan

  To learn more about my books, please check out my website at www.susanannemason.net.

  Susan Anne Mason describes her writing style as “romance sprinkled with faith.” She loves incorporating inspirational messages of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness into her stories. Irish Meadows, her first historical romance, won the Fiction from the Heartland contest sponsored by the Mid-American Romance Authors chapter of RWA. Susan lives outside Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and two adult children. She loves red wine and chocolate and is not partial to
snow, even though she’s Canadian. Learn more about Susan and her books at www.susanannemason.net.

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  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Half Title Page

  Books by Susan Anne Mason

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Contents

  Epigraph

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  3

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  5

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  34

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  39

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  43

  Epilogue

  A Note from the Author

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Back Ads

  Back Cover

  List of Pages

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