Chapter 10
Nathaniel sat quietly, his gaze passing between Chloe and Bethany Sanderson, founder and owner of the orphanage. After Chloe hesitantly told her story, Bethany had thought things over for a little while before speaking.
Bethany leaned forward in her chair, hands folded in her lap. “Missus Whitfield—”
“Chloe, please,” Chloe slowly interrupted.
“All right, Chloe.” She lifted her eyebrows and sat back in the chair. “Well, I can tell you that Eliza does have a birthmark on her left shoulder blade—”
Chloe gasped, a hand covering her mouth while her eyes shone with tears.
She’d found her daughter. He couldn’t imagine what Chloe had been through over the years.
While he couldn’t understand much about why she’d left her baby at an orphanage, he also had to remember that women left on their own had very few options to make a decent living.
Based on her circumstances, placing her child in an orphanage had likely seemed, to her at least, the only way to keep her safe, protected, and cared for.
Over the past days, Nathaniel had seen for himself that Chloe was a soft-spoken woman with a difficult past. He’d learned that she too had grown up in an orphanage.
She’d had a rough time in life and while he felt badly about his brusqueness with her the other evening at the supper table, the more time he spent with her, the more he found he liked her.
While the two ladies talked, he was mentally going over the things he would need to do to make the cabin more comfortable for not only Chloe, but a six-year-old child that she might be bringing back to their home today.
He knew that both his mother and his sister liked Chloe and would welcome a child into their environment with no hesitance, but he couldn’t help but be wary.
While his mother didn’t have any boarders at the moment, chances were they would soon. The boarding house wasn’t ever empty of boarders for long. In fact—
“Sheriff?” He blinked and turned toward Bethany, her eyes filled with expectation. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“I asked if you would be willing to stay when we bring Eliza down and witness the meeting between Chloe and Eliza.” She extended her hand toward Chloe. “She’s willing to take things slow, to wait a few days before she takes Eliza away from the orphanage, to give the child time to adapt.”
He glanced at Chloe. She looked pale and nervous. “Sounds like a good idea, especially with the child’s history of being returned.” He couldn’t believe that had happened.
“Yes, I think it would be best for Eliza. She’s already suffered enough.”
While Bethany had spoken softly, Nathaniel noticed Chloe’s cheeks flush with color. Three times her child had been left behind, once by her and then twice more by other families that decided that the young girl was too much trouble.
“I agree,” he murmured and turned to Chloe.
“That will give us time to get the cabin ready for the both of you. She’s welcome to come over at any time during that waiting period, which will help her become more familiar with you and with us.
” He turned back to Bethany. “Will she be allowed to take the child off the property?”
“Of course,” Bethany smiled and turned back to Chloe. “I think it’s important that you two get to know each other not only here at the orphanage, but at the boarding house, with Dalia and Lillian.”
She paused, her gaze somber. “Remember that this isn’t just your choice, Chloe. It has to be Eliza’s too. She’s old enough to express her feelings more plainly, and she may balk. She’s made friends here. She’s been well cared for and comfortable. We enjoy having her here.”
Chloe nodded and then lowered her gaze to her hands, clasped in her lap. She finally looked back at Bethany. “I understand.”
Nathaniel watched Chloe carefully and saw the flash of worry, of doubt, and maybe even fear in her expression.
He couldn’t imagine what Chloe would do if the child denied her, but she might not have much of a choice.
Orphanages weren’t meant to keep a child forever.
The sooner they were adopted, the better.
According to Chloe, her child was six years old.
He remembered Lillian at that age. Stubborn, often contrary, and difficult.
Bethany stood and moved toward the closed door. She opened it and spoke softly to someone outside. She turned around then, watching Chloe for a moment and then gazing at him, her eyebrows raised in silent question.
He knew Bethany was curious about Chloe, and frankly, so was he. After all, she hadn’t been with them very long, but he didn’t sense any indication that Chloe was anyone other than who she presented herself to be. A mother who had made a very difficult decision.
A few minutes later, the sound of a child’s voice from outside the room prompted Chloe to stiffen in her chair. She stared at the door, her eyes wide and her hands so tightly clasped in her lap now that her knuckles had turned white.
“It’s going to be all right, Chloe,” he said. “You’re going to be just fine.”
She turned toward him, opened her mouth as if to say something, but then the door swung open.
When the child stepped into the room, he had no doubt that Eliza was hers.
The same hair, the same facial structure, the same color of eyes, even the shape of her nose was all Chloe.
He felt a huge relief flow through him for her sake.
He glanced at Chloe, blinking back tears while a tremulous smile curved her lips.
“Eliza,” Bethany said, her hand placed gently on Eliza’s back. “This is the nice lady I told you about. Her name is Chloe. And that man there in the chair, that’s the sheriff of our town. His name is Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel saw the hesitance and even a little bit of fear in Eliza’s eyes as she stepped further into the room.
She was a pretty little girl, one who’d had a hard life just as her mother had.
For the first time, he felt his heart go out to Chloe and sent a quick prayer to heaven that everything between them would work out all right.
“Hello, Eliza,” Chloe said, her eyes searching every aspect of Eliza’s face. “It’s so good to see you.”
With Bethany’s urging, Eliza stepped further into the room, glancing between Chloe and Nathaniel, obviously feeling uncertain and maybe even a little mistrustful.
“What do you say to these nice people, Eliza?” Bethany asked.
Eliza frowned for just a moment and then offered a small, tentative smile. “Hello.”
Bethany glanced at Nathaniel with a lifted eyebrow and gestured with a small tilt of her head. He wasn’t so certain he should leave just yet. Chloe might need him. He turned to Chloe and spoke softly. “You want me to stay?”
The child turned to him, her eyes searching his, then widening a little more when she saw the gun and holster at his hip. Then her gaze fastened on the tin star pinned to his shirt pocket. Then she turned back to Chloe and stared.
Chloe turned to him and gave him a small smile. “It’s okay,” she said. “Eliza and I will take a couple of minutes to get acquainted.” She turned to the child. “Is that all right with you, Eliza?”
“I suppose so,” Eliza replied quietly.
With that, Nathaniel left the room and closed the door softly behind him. He followed Bethany out of the study that she used as an office and walked with her down the hallway and onto the front porch. She turned to him.
“Sheriff,” she began. “I’m not so sure about this. She has no paperwork. She’s by herself, without a father or a man in her life to help her with the child—”
“She’ll be staying with us, with my mother and Lillian. I’m there at the house a lot too. She’ll have plenty of help.”
“It’s an unusual situation, and one that I must be honest to tell you that I’m not quite comfortable with.”
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“The child has been shunted around quite a bit, according to her history. Her mother abandoned her in Lincoln, Nebraska all those years ago and now suddenly she comes back? Why?”
Nathaniel didn’t know quite what to say to that. “Because she wants her child back? Apparently she’s been searching for a while, all the way from the Dakotas, then to Nebraska, now making her way to Texas. Why would she do that if she didn’t want the child?”
Bethany crossed her arms beneath her bosom. “What do you know of the father?”
“Not much,” Nathaniel admitted. “Chloe’s been a bit tight-lipped about that and I haven’t wanted to press her too hard. She’s got enough of a burden as it is.” He shrugged. “And here we are.”
“But about the father. Do you know who he is or where he is or if he’s even alive?”
“I don’t,” he replied. “Like I said, she’s been very hesitant to talk about it. From what I gather, he was quite … abusive.”
Bethany heaved a sigh. “Well, she seems to be telling the truth and she knew about the child’s birthmark, which stands in her favor. But I’m still not sure about this. What happens if the child’s father shows up one day?”
Nathaniel looked off into the distance, the prairie grasses blowing softly in the morning breeze.
“I guess we’ll cross that bridge if and when it comes.
” He turned back to Bethany. “Look, she’s going to be staying with my family until she gets her feet under her.
We’ll help her out with this child and maybe Chloe can find a job somewhere that can help to support them both.
Until then, let’s see how things work out between the two of them, shall we? ”
*
For the first half hour or so after leaving the orphanage, Chloe hadn’t said a word.
Nathaniel let her have her silence. Though he couldn’t deny his curiosity how things had gone between the two of them, he didn’t want to pry or intrude.
He glanced at her pale cheeks, her hands once more tightly clenched in her lap, her eyes darting everywhere but at him.
He heaved an inward sigh and breeched the silence.
“You scared?”