Chapter Five

Cora

Cora couldn’t explain why she was so drawn to the child. In the two days it took to reach St. Louis, they’d stopped in several towns. While the train took on new passengers at each stop, Cora and Justin stepped off the train to explore the station.

What started as a small adventure turned into an earnest study of sweets. Each station had several carts with vendors selling their wares. Sometimes they bought a hot sandwich, sometimes a bag of nuts, but always they returned to their compartment with a small bag of candy.

Justin tried to pay for his purchases, but Cora always waved off his attempts, telling him to save his money. She teased him about his wallets, saying she’d never met a boy with three different wallets. For some reason, that made him chuckle. What was funny about a wallet collection, she couldn’t imagine.

The boy ate twice what Cora could at mealtimes, but when it came to the sweets, she noticed he took only small amounts. He was shy about the treats, despite Cora telling him he could have as much as he wanted.

“We might never have another chance to eat sweets from this particular spot, Justin. Take what you want,” she would tell him.

They wandered the streets near the train stations, exploring each town when time permitted. Justin was young, probably just eleven or so, but he was shrewd. When she stopped to buy each of them a candy apple, a beggar asked for a coin. He was limping, and when she reached for her purse, Justin stopped her, setting his hand on her arm. Later, as they returned to the station, Justin pointed out the man as he strolled into a pub across the busy street.

The boy seemed to have a sensibility about people that Cora couldn’t understand. It was an awareness, she supposed, born of necessity.

The seats in the compartment folded down to make beds. While they weren’t terribly comfortable, Cora was grateful not to be in second class where passengers had to sleep upright, in chairs. Justin didn’t seem to mind sleeping on the makeshift bed on the other side of the compartment, but he refused to take his boots off. It was as if he wanted to be ready to run away at a moment’s notice. He slept, curled up like a small wild creature, his hat pulled down over his eyes.

At night, Cora watched him sleep. She wanted to fuss over him, tuck the blanket around his narrow shoulders, or pat his shoulder as her mother would do when Cora was Justin’s age. On the second night, she gave in to the urge and patted him gently. He flinched, but reached around and set his hand over hers and smiled. On the third night, as she drifted off to sleep, he reached across the space between their bunks and returned the gesture.

When they arrived in St. Louis, Cora had to change trains. Justin followed her off the train, trailing behind the porter. The station was even busier than Boston. Looking around in awe, the boy appeared so small and vulnerable, Cora’s heart squeezed with pain.

Trains rumbled down the track, shaking the ground beneath her feet. People hurried past, scowling at others who weren’t moving fast enough. She pulled her cloak tighter and took Justin’s hand in hers.

“I’d like you to come with me the rest of the way,” she said as they approached the Texas-bound train. “I’d feel better about traveling if I didn’t have to go by myself.”

Justin squinted at her and slowly looked away to study the train. He clasped the fabric of his threadbare pants with a nervous flutter of his fingers. A cold breeze blew past, carrying a cloud of smoke from the locomotive. He shivered.

If he didn’t agree, he’d leave her, vanish into the crowd without so much as a coat. She yearned to reach out to him, fold him in her arms and never let go. She had little money, but she would gladly spend what she had to buy him clothing that fit, a coat, and perhaps even a better cap than the moth-eaten one he rarely took off.

“We can help each other, Justin. I’m going to live on a farm, or a ranch. Whatever it is they call those things in Texas. They always need another pair of hands on a ranch. David Tarrant has 25,000 acres. I’m sure he’ll be happy I’m bringing a clever and industrious boy.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded. She smiled and felt so happy, she almost hugged him, but held back.

“We’re partners now. You can be my ears and I can be your voice.”

He nodded and surprised her with a tear-filled look.

She wished she could clothe him in something better than what he wore, but didn’t want to press matters. There was no time. The train would depart soon, and she sensed that her offer might offend him, or in some way, be too much.

They boarded the train and when the porter stowed her luggage, she paid him for Justin’s ticket. The man glared at the boy, clearly disapproving of his shabby clothes. Justin didn’t notice. He sat by the window taking in the sights of the train station in the moments before departure.

After the porter left, Cora remained standing by the doorway, watching him. She’d never taken care of anyone before. When she told her brothers that she wanted to marry one day and have children, they’d laughed in her face. Both insisted she wasn’t fit to care for anything, much less a helpless baby. Here was her first chance, she decided. She’d take care of Justin… and in his sweet, childlike way, he would take care of her.

Soon after, the train pulled out of the station. Cora sat across from Justin and noted a difference in his expression. The drawn, worried look was gone. Instead, he watched the passing landscape with a brighter, hopeful look. They were heading toward their new life and she felt a stirring of excitement too. In two days’ time, they’d roll into Colter Canyon.

David wouldn’t be expecting her, but she would find him.

That evening, it began to rain. And rain. Since they couldn’t see much of anything outside, Cora took out a book, a volume of Oliver Twist. She read aloud to Justin who sat quietly, taking in every word. She wanted to ask him if he knew how to read. One day, she would ask him, and if not, she would offer to teach him.

The hour grew late. The attendant made up the beds and Cora read until Justin fell asleep. She turned down the lamp. The stormy night was black as pitch. Lightning slashed the sky and lit the countryside. Flashes illuminated fields and farms, valleys and hills.

Throughout the night, it continued to rain. The next morning, they woke to leaden skies, and, after a short reprieve, more rain.

Cora took Justin to the dining car to eat breakfast. “I feel as though we’re swimming to Texas.”

He regarded her with large, solemn eyes and nodded.

She sipped her tea and set the cup down on the saucer. “Not to worry. It’s all part of the grand adventure.”

He blinked and turned his gaze out the window. His shoulders were tense. The fretfulness had returned. Soon they would be in Colter Canyon and she’d do what she could to ease his worried mind. What sort of life had he lead up until their meeting a few days ago? She shuddered to think about a child as small as Justin alone in the world.

It might take some convincing, but she was determined that she would persuade David to give the child a home. If David didn’t want Justin, that would tell her a lot. She would refuse David. She would go her own way. What she would do in Colter Canyon, without a husband, she couldn’t fathom, but this was the best plan she could think of, for now.