Chapter Seven
A week after sending her letter off to Mr. Montgomery, Susannah stood at the train station with Judith. Her train was not scheduled to depart for another twenty minutes, and they were not yet boarding.
“Oh, must you go?” Judith asked as she looked at the train and then back to Susannah. “I know that you’ve always dreamed of getting out, but must it be done this way?”
“Unfortunately, I believe it must be so,” Susannah replied. “But once I start making money, I can start writing to you. I’d hate for you to be paying for all of my letters, too, for the rest of my life. I do plan to write to you. I promise.” She managed a small smile.
“I’m glad that you at least plan to write to me,” Judith said. “I don’t think that I could live with knowing that you had left and left me no way of knowing that you were all right. You are one of the very few girls I took care of in the last decade with whom I am still in touch.”
Susannah laughed. Judith was one of the easiest people to talk to at the orphanage, but also one of the few who truly cared about everyone.
The others all wanted to do their best but were far too busy to show that they cared.
She knew they did, though. The other girls, and the ones who were there now?
She hadn’t a clue whether they knew the staff loved caring for them, no matter how rambunctious they could get.
It wasn’t what Susannah had thought she’d be doing for the rest of her life.
“Well, my train will be boarding soon,” Susannah said. “Thank you so much for coming down here with me, Judith. I don’t know whether I could have gone without anyone seeing me off.”
“You’re quite welcome, Susannah. Do you need help getting your valise onto the train?”
“No. I think I’ll be able to get it on myself,” she said. “It’s not even all that heavy. I didn’t have much to pack.”
Judith nodded as the conductor called for all to board. Susannah hugged Judith tightly before pulling away to board the train.
“Whatever happens, if you need help, you know how to reach me,” Judith called out to her as she got up on the train. “I’ll do what I can if you need help.”
Susannah smiled, waving to her as she disappeared into the train.
The offer to help if she could, as she could, if there turned out to be trouble in California, meant a lot.
She wasn’t sure that others at the orphanage would have done the same.
She felt as though she was just one cog in the machine at times, and at other times like she was part of a family.
After getting her valise into her cabin, Susannah returned to one of the train cars that had seating so that she could watch the departure and wave to Judith.
She was shocked to learn that Judith had already left, although it made sense.
She probably had other things to attend to at the orphanage.
However, that didn’t stop her from continuing to watch out the windows because what else was there to do now that she had boarded?
Considering the hour of the morning, she couldn’t be too shocked that not many people had stayed to see the train depart. The more the crowd thinned out, the better she felt about having seen Judith leave.
By the time the train left, Susannah had resigned herself to being somewhat lonely. Judith couldn’t afford to leave Washington, D.C., and Susannah had a feeling that she didn’t want to leave.
After the train had pulled well out of the train station, Susannah stood up to head back to her cabin.
She’d not slept well the night before, and she was pretty sure she would be able to get some sleep while everyone enjoyed the sights around them.
However, she didn’t get far before she bumped into another woman.
“Oh. I’m so sorry, Ma’am,” Susannah said.
“It’s my fault, honestly,” the woman said. “I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you all right, Miss?”
Getting a better look at the woman’s face, Susannah was shocked to discover that she was perhaps only a year or two older than she was. The two of them started laughing upon realizing that they were much closer in age than they had originally realized.
“I’m Susannah.”
“Claire,” the other woman introduced. “Claire Jameson. Where are you headed, Susannah?”
“Back to my cabin. I didn’t sleep well last night, and thought I might be able to sleep while everyone else admires the scenery,” she said.
“Will you be able to sleep tonight if you do that?”
Claire had a good point. She hadn’t thought much about it beforehand, but she wanted to be able to sleep well tonight, too. That meant she couldn’t take a long nap. Or one at all, depending on how well she would sleep on the train. She pursed her lips.
“That’s a good point. I’d hate to be the only one up tonight,” Susannah said.
“Why don’t you join me in the dining car for breakfast? Food may not solve everything, but it may give you enough energy to get through the morning.”
Susannah nodded. That was a reasonable assumption. With that, they both walked to the dining car.
“What brings you aboard the train, then, Claire?”
Susannah figured that if she was going to make friends, she might as well hear why Claire was on the train. Of course, she would do the same and share where she was heading.
“My father finally had enough money to send for me to join him in San Francisco,” Claire said. “You?”