Promise of Home by P. Creeden

Author:P. Creeden [Creeden, P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-10T05:00:00+00:00

Julia found an empty bench seat and gestured to offer Savannah to sit next to her, but Mary and Alice also wanted to sit in the bench seat, so the four of them were to share a bench that was better designed for two adults. Laughter bubbled up as she eyed the small amount of space left to her as the other three crowded together by the window. Mary turned toward her. “This is Alice and me’s first time on a train. We’ve never traveled like this before. Have you been on a train, Miss Julia? Wait. Of course, you have. You came all the way from Connecticut, didn’t you? There’s no chance you rode a stagecoach all the way from there, is there?”

She nodded, but before Julia could sit on the bench, George tugged her hand. “Where do I sit, Miss Julia.”

Mary wasn’t the only child excited on the train. Julia could feel the buzz of excitement through all the children. The volume of the train car evident in the vibrations she felt on her skin. It wasn’t quite as loud as the piano in church, but almost as loud as when the choir would sing without accompaniment. Her hair stood on end at the feeling. She hadn’t felt this way anywhere except in the church on Sunday, and it was a bit overwhelming. She gestured toward the scant few inches of space on the bench with the girls. “Would you like to sit here, George?”

George’s wide, sad eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Yes!”

He jumped toward the seat and plopped down in it next to Alice.

A wee bit of disappointment washed over Julia as her seat was taken so quickly. Now where would she sit? She glanced toward the bench behind the children and found it occupied. Then she glanced to the one on the other side of the walkway and found it had two children sitting in it as well. When her eyes finally landed on the seat directly in front of the children, she found a pair of bright blue eyes smiling up at her from Mr. Baker’s soft face. He stood and gestured toward the seat beside him. “Feel free to take a seat, Miss Julia.”

Julia swallowed down the lump forming in her throat and hoped that her own spittle might settle down the butterflies in her stomach as they churned as well. She nodded toward Mr. Baker and sat down slowly. “Thank you.”

She found herself scooting as close to the edge nearest the walkway as possible, avoiding any contact with the man. He didn’t exactly make her feel uncomfortable. Quite the opposite in fact. She feared how he made her feel both comfortable and safe. She feared it because just like any semblance of home she’d had in all her life, those feelings were often fragile and easily taken away. She didn’t want to get used to them. She didn’t want to need them. She didn’t want to be happy with Mr. Baker, only to have him reject and leave her, the way her mother did.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.