The Charlotte Series: Book 3: The Pretender's Gold

SECTION XIV-ORPHANS 34

Chapter 34

Five days ago, in Texas

Summer was weary to her bones, which incidentally also ached with a ferocity she had yet endured. She wanted to frown. Or to complain. Or in moments when the train jolted particularly hard over some uneven rail, she wanted to cry.

But she would do none of those things. She could not. Not when Autumn was being so terribly brave.

And especially after Dorcas confided in her this morning. The consensus seemed to be that little Autumn was being so terribly brave precisely because Summer was being so brave.

Brave.

That was a misnomer! However, in the eyes of the child she was given to raise, Summer was a very brave person. Since her special walking canes had been lost, Summer needed to lean heavily on someone to walk. Autumn seemed to think it the very height of good character that Summer never mentioned her lost canes.

Summer wanted to point out there was no use worrying over the lost canes. Stuart could easily carry her but she could not bear the thought of being carried about in public like...

Well, it simply was not done. And so she walked. Although, she'd reached the point where walk was not an accurate verb. Her progress was more...marked than a mere walk. Her limp was so severe, she practically hopped. And she was so incredibly slow, she imagined an infant might crawl faster!

But Summer could not argue the point.

She would not take that small thing away from Autumn. Not when the child had already lost so much! It simply would not do to whimper or cry, at least not in Autumn's presence.

The conductor's bellow reached her from some other car on the train.

CO-WEN SPRINGS*. CO-WEN SPRINGS TEX-AS. NEXT STOP. COW-EN SPRINGS.

Summer might have smiled at the funny way he spoke, as if he could only shout one syllable at a time.

She might have.

But she didn't.

With a sigh she attempted to shift (discreetly of course) in order to find a slightly less painful position.

It was no use. She'd been on this abominable journey for so long that she suspected it would take a month of Sundays all together before the aching would desist.

A gentle tug on her sleeve brought a genuine smile to her countenance as she turned toward Autumn.

"Yes dear?"

"I know we just got off the train a little bit ago but please can we get off at this stop? I'm trying so hard to be good and sit proper like Mama said I should sit on the train, but I-" Her voice trailed off as her chin dropped.

"You what, dear?" Summer asked softly.

"Papa called it the wiggles. He said it was terrible bad and the only thing to cure it was walking around." She shrugged and continued to speak to the floor. "But the last time I walked around on the train..."

"Say no more." Summer put in after a moment of silence. "I was actually hoping that I might get off and stretch my legs a bit, but I didn't want to bother anyone."

"But you're not a bother!" Autumn exclaimed as her head shot up to stare at Summer.

Summer felt the back of her eyes burn as she beheld the open adoration on Autumn's face.