Betsy--#8--Orlan Orphans Read online

  Betsy

  Orlan Orphans Book 8

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Unlimited Dreams

  Copyright © 2017 by Kirsten Osbourne

  Unlimited Dreams Publishing

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Erin Dameron Hill/ EDH Graphics

  Book design by Sara Benedict

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Visit my website at www.kirstenandmorganna.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Kirsten Osbourne

  Introduction

  Betsy Sanders loves her life. She has a wonderful and often boisterous family. She has a job for a man who makes her a bit crazy, but it’s good honest work, and she makes a decent wage. When a new man starts working for the auction house, she feels immediately drawn to him.

  Charles Brooks has been left with the burden of four younger siblings to raise. When he begins working for the local auction house, he’s interested in getting to know the young lady who works there better. He hires her to help him with his home and younger siblings in an attempt to draw closer to her. His siblings immediately love her. Will Betsy’s fear of getting too close too fast keep them apart? Or will Charles be able to convince her she’s a necessary part of his life?

  Chapter 1

  Betsy Sanders hurried along down the main street of Nowhere, TX, holding her skirt up so she wouldn’t trip. She hated to be late for work.

  When she finally arrived at the town auction house, she rushed around to the back and unlatched the gate. She pushed open the large black door and rushed into the building.

  “It’s nearly half-past eight.” Mr. Fitzsimmons, the proprietor, pushed up his glasses and pressed his lips together.

  “I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” Betsy flushed with embarrassment. She had been helping her mother, Edna Petunia, bake a chocolate cake that the family would enjoy for dessert that evening.

  After marrying at an advanced age, Edna Petunia and her husband, Cletus Sanders, had adopted fifteen orphans when they’d arrived in Nowhere from New York. Although there should have been a home waiting for the girls in Nowhere, a mix-up had meant they’d arrived in Texas without a roof over their heads. Thankfully, Edna Petunia had convinced her husband to take the girls in.

  Since then, life hadn’t been the same for Betsy or her sisters. They lived in a beautiful, spacious home. They had nice clothes and shoes to wear. They had hot meals and delicious baked goods available whenever they wanted. Best of all, they had two devoted—if overprotective—parents who would do anything for them. Although Edna Petunia hadn’t given birth to them, she loved all the girls just as fiercely as if they were her own, and strived to make sure their lives were filled with joy.

  When they’d come to Texas five years ago, they’d all lived under the same roof at the house Cletus had inherited from his parents. In recent years, some of the older girls had married and now lived with their husbands—and children, in some cases—in other houses in and around Nowhere.

  As Betsy grabbed a mop and a pail from the cleaning closet, she imagined herself one day getting married and moving out of the house. It was hard to even dream about. She knew she wanted to find a man who was special to her and have his children. But she was shy and quiet and never able to talk to the few men she came across that she wasn’t related to. It was even difficult for her to speak to old, crotchety Mr. Fitzsimmons—and there was no way he would ever be special to her.

  Cletus said it was simply a matter of confidence, and she only needed to practice talking to men more. But the fact was, there weren’t that many eligible young men in Nowhere that were available for Betsy to practice talking to.

  For the time being, that suited her just fine. She was busy doing chores around the house, working at the auction house, and helping her sisters out with her growing nieces and nephews. This left very little time for anything else.

  As Betsy mopped the floor, Mr. Fitzsimmons sniffed and coughed. She knew that meant he thought she should scrub harder. He came over to watch her work, and Betsy saw that he was nodding in approval, even though he still wore a frown on his face.

  “You’ll need to clean out the alcove in the back.” No matter what Mr. Fitzsimmons said, he always sounded disapproving. Betsy tried not to let it affect her. “My new apprentice will need to use it. He’ll be here every weekday at nine o’clock.”

  Betsy nodded. “Yes, sir.” She wrung the excess water out of the mop into the pail and brushed the dry mop across the floor. Next, she took the mop and pail into the alcove, just outside the room where the auctions took place.

  Betsy stared at the messy space. It was filled with stacks of dusty boxes and chairs. She decided to dust first, then mop. Betsy carefully took down the top chair, got an old rag, and started to clean it off. She knew she needed to work fast or Mr. Fitzsimmons would be upset.

  Before she could start mopping, there was a loud knock at the front entrance.

  “Betsy, the door!” Mr. Fitzsimmons bellowed from the auction floor. Betsy hurried through the hall to the front entrance.

  She unlocked the door and pulled it open. Standing before her was the most attractive man she’d ever seen. He was dressed in a brown tailored suit and shiny new cowboy boots. He took off his Stetson and held it at his chest — which Betsy noticed was broad and strong.

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance, miss. I’m Charles Brooks, and I’m here to see Mr. Fitzsimmons.”

  Betsy could not speak. Her mind raced frantically, but no words came from her lips. Her cheeks burned a bright red color. Charles smiled, and she saw he had a mouth full of perfectly even, white teeth.

  “Are you all right?” Charles kept smiling, but he also furrowed his brow to show his concern. The woman in front of him was a beauty, there was no doubt about it. She seemed much too shy to realize how her looks affected others. Her beauty shone through, despite her plain clothing and the layer of dust that seemed to cover her from head to toe. Aside from the dust, he could get used to a view like her.

  Mr. Fitzsimmons barreled into the entrance.

  “Don’t just stand there, Betsy—get back to work!” Mr. Fitzsimmons pumped Charles Brooks’ hand enthusiastically. “Welcome, welcome. Very glad to have you here.”

  Betsy wanted to crawl into a hole and die from embarrassment, but she took a deep breath and went back to the alcove instead. There was plenty more to clean, and this Mr. Brooks would need a place to sit sooner or later.

  She couldn’t hear what Mr. Fitzsimmons was saying, but he led Charles into the auction room, where the bidding took place from one to five o’clock each weekday. She busied herself with mopping the alcove area. When she was finished, she set out a chair and dusted the desk so the new man would have a place to sit and work. She wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to be doing, but she knew
he would at least need a desk and some writing space.

  “Your name is Betsy?”

  Betsy nearly jumped. Charles Brooks was standing almost right next to her, and Mr. Fitzsimmons was nowhere to be found. She looked up at the clock on the wall. It was nearly lunchtime. She normally walked down to the mercantile only a few blocks away to eat lunch with one of her older sisters. Ruby’s husband, Lewis, ran the mercantile, and Ruby was always happy to spend time with her sisters.

  She nodded, feeling her cheeks flush again. She knew she was normally speechless in front of men, but this was a little ridiculous.

  “Can you talk?” A mixture of concern and sympathy crossed over Charles’s face.

  She nodded again.

  “Okay. Just not to me?”

  Betsy willed her body to cooperate with her mind. “Yes, sir. I can speak just fine.”

  “Oh, good! I was worried it would be awfully quiet in here if you couldn’t talk.” Charles looked around the alcove. “I take it this is my desk. Thank you for setting it all up for me.”

  Betsy glowed, pleased at his compliment. She loved hearing his approving tone. “It was no problem.”

  “Well, I appreciate it all the same. I believe this means I owe you a kindness in the future.” Charles looked Betsy straight in the eyes as he spoke, and Betsy was overtaken with a feeling she’d never had before. Her entire insides felt like they were on fire, and she had a sudden need to be as close to Charles as possible.

  Charles saw Betsy’s eyes glaze over and her body start to shift slightly to her left. He grabbed her arm to steady her. “Are you all right?”

  Betsy blinked her eyes rapidly. Strong, handsome Charles Brooks was holding her arm! She felt sparks of excitement shoot throughout her body.

  “I’m fine.” Betsy stared at the ground. It was too hard to look back into Charles’s gaze. Every time she looked up at him, she felt like he could tell everything she was thinking.

  “Well, Betsy, I’m looking forward to working with you.”

  Betsy smiled and took her cleaning supplies into the auction hall. It was mostly clean, but she liked to dust before lunch. She knew if she didn’t, Mr. Fitzsimmons would find something wrong and complain about it later.

  Charles took his lunch at the desk in the alcove. As the clock approached one, he and Mr. Fitzsimmons went into the auction hall. Nowhere residents began to trickle in and take their seats. Each of them had a paddle that they would use to bid during the auction.

  Betsy rarely paid attention to the auctions themselves. Today was different, though. She watched as Mr. Fitzsimmons introduced Charles, and the younger man took the stand to conduct the auction. Charles seemed confident and knowledgeable, even though she knew it was his first time.

  Betsy spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the windows from the inside, glad that she could still hear bits of conversation from inside the auction hall.

  “Going once, going twice—”

  “—To the man in the third row!”

  “She’s a beaut, I must admit—”

  “One-of-a-kind, antique, cherry walnut—”

  Betsy sighed. She couldn’t wait to see what treasures were in store for her that evening. After all the buyers had left, she dusted off everything that was still left in the hall. She loved her job because she saw new things every day.

  At five o’clock, Mr. Fitzsimmons went over the money they’d collected with Charles, wrote out a deposit slip, and took it to the bank. He asked Betsy to make sure she closed up when she left. Betsy nodded. Mr. Fitzsimmons always reminded her, although she never needed to be told.

  “What time do you usually leave?” Charles walked over to the windows to stand by Betsy. She could feel her heart beating faster.

  “I leave by five-thirty, usually.” Betsy was proud she was able to get out an entire sentence. Charles looked amused.

  “And where do you live?”

  “I live here in Nowhere.”

  “With your husband, I suppose?”

  Betsy’s face felt like it was on fire when she heard this question. She shook her head. Charles grinned. It seemed like he was enjoying the fact that he made her so uncomfortable.

  Betsy took a deep breath. “If you’ll excuse me, I do have chores to attend to.”

  “I’m sure you do. But I’d like to show you something before you go.” Charles had a mischievous expression on his face.

  Betsy had a bad feeling about this. She was curious about what Charles might have to show her, but she also knew Mr. Fitzsimmons would be furious if the place wasn’t completely spotless tomorrow morning.

  “Please?” Charles begged her with his eyes. “It will only take a few moments.”

  “Well, all right.” Betsy grudgingly followed him as he stepped back into the auction hall. She tried not to think about all the dust she already saw on the furniture, art frames, and machines. Charles led her through the tables of items that would be up for auction the following day. When they came to the end of one of the rows, he stopped and pointed.

  It was the most beautiful teapot Betsy had ever seen. It was porcelain with blue details, and it came with not only the pot, but also a kettle and four teacups.

  “We got this in just today. I think it’ll bring a fortune. It’s a genuine antique.” Charles held the teapot so Betsy could touch it. She put out a finger nervously.

  “It’s beautiful.” She admired the simple yet elegant pattern. “I love it.”

  “I thought you might like it. It reminded me of the design on your dress.”

  Betsy blushed. He had noticed her dress? Her sister Penny had sewn it for her, and it was one of her favorites. The thought that a man like Charles Brooks would notice the details on a shy nobody like herself was hard to believe.

  “My sister made it for me.” Betsy felt like she was starting to get more comfortable talking to him. It wasn’t so bad, because he nodded and smiled at her encouragingly.

  “Ah, you have a sister. I think that’s the first detail about your life that you’ve shared with me.”

  “I actually have fourteen sisters.”

  “Okay…you’re going to have to explain that!” Charles laughed.

  “I never knew my parents. They died when I was small, and I lived with fourteen other girls in an orphanage in New York.”

  “New York! How’d you end up all the way in Nowhere?”

  “A few years ago, the church that ran the orphanage felt it was wrong for boys and girls to live together under one roof. Our matron at the time traveled with us. We took a bus here to Texas, and we were supposed to live in a new home.” Betsy felt shy when she mentioned the ‘under one roof’ part, but made herself keep going.

  “What happened?”

  “There was no house ready and waiting for us. But we were very lucky. A newlywed couple, Edna Petunia and Cletus Sanders, decided to adopt all of us.”

  “Oh! You’re one of the Sanders sisters!” Charles laughed in recognition.

  “You know of us?”

  “I think everyone in the town of Nowhere has at least heard of you. I’ve met your sister who works at the mercantile, too.”

  “Yes, that’s Ruby!”

  “You don’t suppose they’d want to take on a few more orphans, would they?” Charles’s words had to be a joke, but his face was serious.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I’m an orphan like you. And I have three younger brothers – Matthew, Samuel, and David, and one younger sister, Amy. I’m their only caretaker, now that my parents are gone. And I’m not any good at it.” For the first time since she had met him, Charles’s cheerful, happy expression was gone. In its place was a sullen frown.

  “What’s wrong?” The words were out of Betsy’s mouth before she even realized she was speaking.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not a parent. Our house is a mess, I can’t cook, and they don’t ever listen to me.”

  “How old are they?”

  “Mat
thew is the oldest. He’s ten. Sammy is nine, David is seven, and Amy is five.” Charles spoke of his siblings proudly, and Betsy could tell that he cared for them deeply.

  “I don’t have children myself, obviously. But a few of my sisters do. And I know from visiting them that it’s hard work. You can’t let yourself get down about it. Your brothers and sister are lucky to have you.”

  Charles smiled. “That’s kind of you to say. But you should see where we live. It’s messier than a hog’s stall. The mess isn’t the worst part, though. I don’t know how to be a parent to my brothers and sister. They think of me as their brother.”

  “That must be very difficult. When did your parents pass?”

  “It’s been less than a year. So we’re all still struggling with it.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that.” Betsy couldn’t imagine the pain of losing Edna Petunia and Cletus. Her birth parents had died when she was just a baby, which sheltered her from feeling grief when she thought about them. It was sad that they were dead, but she couldn’t remember anything from when they were alive.

  “Hey, I have an idea.” Charles’s smile returned to his handsome face.

  “What’s that?”

  “What if you came to the house after work a few days each week to help clean up around the house? It would be a huge help to me.”

  Betsy took a deep breath. She wanted to spend more time with Charles, but she was busy with her work at the auction house, and she barely knew him. “I need to think on it.”

  “Of course. I understand.”

  Charles collected his things and put his hat back on before he left for the day. “Can I walk you home, Betsy?”

  Betsy couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her face. She reminded herself that she had just met the man in front of her, and didn’t know a thing about him. “I’m fine today. But you have a good evening. I’ll give you my answer tomorrow.”