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  The Matron

  Book One in Orlan Orphans

  By Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright 2015 Kirsten Osbourne

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

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  Cassie Morgan has to take fifteen young ladies all the way to Texas from New York, but she is unsure if it's a good idea to be driven there by a rugged cowboy. How will she keep her heart intact?

  When Valentino Hayes is offered the job of driving a bus full of orphans to Texas, he jumps at the chance to find his long lost brother. Now to convince the beautiful Mrs. Morgan to permit it. Will the trip to Texas be more than they expected?

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  Chapter One

  Cassie Morgan stared at the man in front of her, trembling with anger. "So you've decided that the girls aren't allowed to stay here? How could you do that? This is their home!" The man had no right to enter what had been her office for the past fifteen years and tell her she had to leave.

  "I've already explained, Mrs. Morgan. The church doesn't believe that girls and boys should be housed under the same roof if they're not related by blood. We're willing to allow the girls under twelve to stay here until we're able to find them good families, but the older girls must go. Why, when I arrived I saw one of the older girls flirting with one of the boys right here in this house. I was aghast!" John Dare shook his head disgustedly. "That will not be happening under my watch."

  Cassie sat back in her seat facing the desk she usually sat behind. The town could no longer afford to run the orphanage, so they'd asked a church known for its good deeds to take over the finances. The church had sent in their own man to 'work with' Cassie during the time of transition. In other words, they'd sent him there to help her get rid of the older girls and go far away with them. "But where will we go?"

  "I've hired a man to take you and the girls to Nowhere in a bus. I'm surprised he's not here yet." He glanced toward the window as if expecting the man to show up at any moment.

  "Nowhere? He's going to take us to the middle of nowhere and leave us? How do you expect us to survive?" Cassie knew she wasn't being forced to go with the children, but she'd been running the orphanage since her husband had died when she was only twenty-one. They were as much her family as if she'd given birth to them.

  Mr. Dare sighed, shaking his head. "You don't understand, Mrs. Morgan. I'm sending you all to Nowhere, Texas. The church has purchased a house there, and you'll be raising the girls in that house."

  Cassie's eyes widened. "Texas?" Wasn't Texas still overrun with heathens? Could she keep the girls safe?

  "Yes, Texas. Nowhere is a small town. It's the perfect place to raise girls. There are fewer women than men in Texas so the girls can easily be married off. They have been taught to cook and keep house, haven't they?" Mr. Dare eyed her as if he expected her to have neglected even the simplest things the girls should be able to do. Why did he assume the worst of her?

  "Well, of course, they have, but Texas?" She had no desire to travel all the way to Texas. "Why can't we go by train?" She had never been on a bus or a train, but she'd heard trains were much more comfortable.

  "There is a train station in town, but it'll be much more cost effective if you and the girls take a bus. You can camp on the side of the road along the way. It will be an adventure." He said 'adventure' with such a bored voice she knew even he didn't believe the words.

  Cassie shook her head immediately. "But food? How will I feed the girls? Will the church be sending money to help finance the orphanage there?" She couldn't just move to a new town and start asking for money and food for her girls. The townspeople had done much of the funding of the orphanage over the years.

  "You'll be sent a small monthly stipend, of course. Mr. Hayes has been told to purchase enough supplies for the trip. You'll leave first thing in the morning."

  "Tomorrow? But I can't possibly have fifteen girls ready to travel by tomorrow morning!" How was she even going to be able to tell them? They would all be devastated.

  Mr. Dare shrugged. "I really don't see that you have a choice in the matter." He looked up at a knock on the doorjamb. The door had been left open for their conversation 'for propriety sake.' "May I help you?"

  Cassie turned to see a man in his early thirties stride into the room. He was handsome in a rugged way, and she followed him with her eyes. He was tall with dark hair and beautiful eyes. They were mesmerizing. Most people with hair as black as his had brown eyes, but his were a slate gray.

  "I'm Valentino Hayes. I'm here to take some people to Texas." His voice was so deep it was almost gravelly. Cassie felt her stomach flutter at his words.

  "Mrs. Morgan will be traveling with you." Mr. Dare nodded at Cassie.

  When the man turned to her, Cassie stared up at him in wonder. He had to be the tallest man she'd ever seen. Of course, she was a tall woman herself, so she wasn't intimidated a bit. She did wish he'd sit down, though. Maybe she was a little intimidated.

  "Why're you going to Texas, Mrs. Morgan?" He leaned back onto her desk and crossed his arms over his chest as if he had all day to talk to her about the trip.

  Cassie wondered what this man had been told about his task. Ten years ago she'd have been too shy to talk to him, but years of experience with teenage boys had changed her. "Because I'm being forced to. I've been the matron of this orphanage for fifteen years now, and I've just been informed that I can keep my position, but only if I take all the girls aged twelve and older and relocate with them to Texas."

  Tino's eyes narrowed. All women? Why, he'd go insane in about an hour. No one had said a word to him about taking a bunch of ladies. He'd thought he was transporting men, or at least a mix of women and men. Of course, there was something compelling about the woman in front of him. Maybe he could help her somehow.

  He turned back to Mr. Dare. "I think you hired the wrong man. I don't transport women. Especially women who are being sent away against their will." His voice was hard and with his size, he knew he could overwhelm the man. Maybe intimidation would work in his favor.

  Mr. Dare rose to his feet. "Oh? What about the money we gave you for the job?"

  Tino frowned. "I've already purchased the supplies. I'll give you the money you paid me, plus the supplies." He hooked his thumbs in his belt, waiting for the other man to answer him. He needed the money to follow the new leads, but that didn't matter. He could always make more.

  Mr. Dare shrugged. "I suppose that's all right." He looked at Cassie who was still seated in the chair across from her old desk. "Mrs. Morgan? Inform the girls that as of tomorrow morning all of you will be homeless. You may have the supplies Mr. Hayes purchased to live on."

  Tino looked at Mrs. Morgan who was sitting in her chair nibbling her lip nervously. She seemed like a good woman. "Is there anywhere you can go?" he asked. He couldn't let them stay in the cold. Why, if he had a home of his own, he'd invite her to go with him, but he'd been traveling his entire adult life. Searching...

  She shook her head. "There's nowhere for us." She'd sold off the house she shared with her husband years before, and it had been a tiny one bedroom house anyway. There was no way she could fit fifteen girls in it. Her parents were dead. She had no one but the children, and nothing that wasn't in the house there. No, she had no choice but
to go to Texas.

  Tino sighed disgustedly. "Fine. I'll take them." He couldn't believe he was going to be making a two week drive with a bunch of women. Lord help him. If he'd wanted a woman around all the time, he'd have married one. If he ever stayed in one place for more than a month, he might just do that anyway. "We leave at dawn. Be ready."

  Cassie wanted to cry with relief. She didn't want to go to Texas, but her girls needed a home. "We'll be waiting." She watched as he walked out the door before jumping to her feet. "I guess I'd better go tell the girls that they're about to move to Texas, and they need to pack their things." She had nothing more to say to the man. She hoped she never set eyes on him again. He may be doing what he'd been told by the church, but he could have handled it in a kinder way. Somehow, she was certain he had a big role to play in the decision to send them away being made in the first place.

  Without another word, she strode from the room and up the long staircase to the girls' rooms. There were two sections upstairs, one for the older girls, and one for the boys. She called all the girls into one of the two rooms they shared.

  With much giggling and silliness, the girls settled on the beds and looked at her. Cassie had a heavy heart. The girls were sweet as candy, and she loved every one of them. Ruby worried her the most. She and David, one of the other orphans, had been courting, and she knew Ruby would be sad to have to leave.

  "I have some bad news for you, and I need you to help me with a bad situation."

  All giggling stopped and the girls grew serious. "Are we being kicked out?" Opal, Ruby's twin, asked in a whisper. Opal had always been intuitive, understanding things the others didn't. "Doesn't the church want us here?"

  Cassie thought about the best way to break the news to them, and after a moment, decided the blunt truth was the best. She'd always tried to tell all of the children the truth about everything. "No, they really don't. They've decided they want this to be a boys' home. All of the younger girls will be found homes with good families, but you and me? We're going to be leaving tomorrow on a bus bound for Nowhere, Texas. There's a house the church has purchased there, and that's where we'll live."

  Ruby jumped to her feet, her eyes filled with tears. "I'm not going! I've lived here my whole life!" She threw her hands up in the air. "What about David?"

  Cassie stepped forward and enveloped the girl in her arms. "I know, sweetheart. It's here or get kicked out with nowhere to go." She hated the idea of tearing the girls from their home, but the alternative was so much worse.

  Opal stood and walked to her sister, wrapping her arm around her as soon as Cassie released her. "We'll be together. We can make it work."

  Katie, a tiny blond who was the youngest girl in the room, spoke up then. "Texas is so far. How long will it take us to get there?"

  Cassie frowned. "I believe our driver said two weeks. We'll be taking a bus." She sighed. "I'm sorry girls. I tried to talk Mr. Dare out of making us go, but his mind was set." She looked over the sad faces of all the girls in the room. Fifteen girls, plus herself, would be leaving their home against their will the following day. All in the name of doing God's will. "I really am sorry. I wish I could make things different."

  Evelyn, the only girl other than the twins who was seventeen, got to her feet and faced the others. "We have a lot of work to do, friends. It's time we got started. We all know how to work hard, and we're going to be ready come morning."

  Cassie watched as Evelyn assigned all the girls specific tasks to prepare for the trip. She was a natural born leader, and she made Cassie's heart fill with pride watching her. Evelyn was special to her. She had come as a quiet, shy three year old and was the first child to arrive after Cassie had taken over. It hadn't been easy to get the young girl out of her shell, but once she had, she'd blossomed into a beautiful young lady.

  Yes, the girls were in good hands with Evelyn directing them. She quietly left the room, heading down the stairs to pack up her own things. On her way down, she glanced at the clock over the mantle. It was already six in the evening. They only had twelve hours to get everything done. She hoped they could make it.

  Chapter Two

  It wasn't quite light out when she and the girls stood in front of the orphanage the following morning, waiting for Mr. Hayes to arrive with his bus. They'd read about buses, but really? None of them had ever even seen one. She kept telling herself it would be a great adventure.

  The older boys had woken to help them carry their things down the stairs, and they all stood waiting with them. Several of the girls were leaving their brothers and younger sisters behind them, but there was no choice. Tearful goodbyes were said. Ruby clung to David as if she'd refuse to leave at the last minute, but they both knew they couldn't make it on their own just yet.

  When the bus pulled up in front of the orphanage, the boys carried the trunks to it and loaded it while Mr. Hayes got out and shook his head, mumbling something under his breath about traveling with 'a bunch of women.' Cassie ignored him as she said goodbye to the boys, hugging each of them in turn.

  "I'm going to miss all of you," she said after she'd hugged Ethan, the oldest of the boys, goodbye. "I hope we'll all be reunited again someday." She brushed a tear from her eye as she climbed aboard the bus and took a seat at the front.

  "Everyone set?" Tino asked, realizing it was an emotional time and not wanting to be too intrusive. When there was no response, he shifted into gear and pulled the bus onto the dirt road that led to the orphanage.

  Cassie had never been in a motor vehicle before, and the shaking of the bus frightened her a bit. She knew none of her girls had ever traveled this way either, though, so she kept her feelings hidden. They'd been traveling for almost an hour before she said anything to the driver. Most of the girls had fallen back to sleep as soon as the vehicle started moving. It was no wonder, because they'd been up half the night not wanting to miss even a moment of their last night at home.

  "How often will we stop for nature breaks, Mr. Hayes?" She needed to know the man would take her girls' needs into consideration during the long journey.

  "Just call me Tino. I'm not big on formalities." And he wanted to hear his name on her lips. Why he wasn't certain, but he had to hear it.

  Cassie bit her lip for a moment. Was it proper? They'd be together for two weeks on a bus with fifteen girls. That wasn't proper, so what did it matter if they were on a first name basis? "I'm Cassie." She knew the church would never approve of them using first names for each other, but she didn't care. The church wasn't happy with her anyway, although she didn't know why.

  "Well, Cassie, I'll stop whenever you ladies need to stop, but I brought provisions for fourteen days. If we're on the road for longer than that, we're going to have to stop and buy food, and I'm guessing you don't have a whole lot of money with you." He had the money the church had given him, and he could use a small portion of it, but most of it needed to help him with his search.

  Cassie didn't have much money anywhere. Every extra dime she'd made had been poured back into the orphanage. There had always been repairs needed, and the children had needed new clothes. What right did she have to keep the money that could be helping them? "Will we be stopping for lunch?"

  "We're going to have to. I need to eat too, and there's no way I can steer this thing and eat at the same time. I figure we'll drive as soon as it's daylight every day and stop when it's dark. We'll take an hour for lunch." He paused. He hadn't thought about cooking. She didn't expect him to do that did she? "You'll do the cooking, won't you?"

  "Yes, of course. The girls and I will cook." She enjoyed cooking, and although she'd never done it over a campfire, she was certain it wouldn't be a problem. "What would you have done if I'd said 'no?'"

  He shrugged. "Eaten a whole lot of nothing for two weeks, probably. Not that there will be any fancy meals from the provisions I purchased. I found a list of things that people used to buy for the Oregon Trail and stocked up on those things."

  Cassie smiled.
"I've seen those lists. I hope you didn't buy that much." She envisioned piles and piles of food and other supplies. Things they certainly wouldn't be able to go through during a two week trip.

  "Not quite, but I knew I'd be traveling for at least two weeks with around twenty people. I bought a lot." He was glad now that he had. "Now that I know your situation, I think you should keep anything that's left to help feed you and the girls. I'm not sure how much support you'll be getting from a church that kicked all of you out."

  "I'm worried about that. We'll make do, though. I really think they chose to send us out West thinking we'd get the girls married off faster, and they wouldn't be a burden on the church for as long." She kept her voice low, hoping none of the girls would hear her. They all appeared to be sleeping, so she continued. "Mr. Dare alluded to that fact while I was in my office with him."

  "Your office? I thought that was his office?" The more Tino heard about the situation, the angrier he became.

  Cassie made a face. "It was my office until about forty-five minutes before you arrived. He walked in and let me know what was expected of me. I was given no choice in anything."

  "How long have you worked there?" Tino couldn't imagine being expected to change his entire world the way she was. Sure, he had never really put down roots anywhere, but she obviously had, and she should be able to keep those roots firmly in the dirt if that's what she wanted to do.

  "Since my husband died fifteen years ago," she said softly. She still missed Stanley, even after all the years. She'd been away from him longer than she'd ever had him in her life.

  "You must have married young." He wouldn't have guessed her to be much over thirty. He hoped he was wrong, because marrying that young just wasn't right.

  "I was twenty. He died less than a year after we married."

  "I'm sorry to hear that."