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  Katie

  Orlan Orphans Book 15

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright © 2018 by Kirsten Osbourne

  All rights reserved.

  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 written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Prologue

  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

  Prologue

  Aaron Cavett looked both ways down the corridor, then inserted his key into the lock and slipped into his office. As he shut the door behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief. He walked to his desk, pulled open the lowest drawer, and pulled out his lunch sack.

  It had been an exceedingly long Wednesday at the Robert Ballinger Institution for Boys, the orphanage and school at which Aaron presided as headmaster. He pulled out the ham sandwich he had hastily packed that morning.

  As he opened his mouth to take a bite, there was a loud banging on the door.

  Aaron sighed, set the sandwich down, and stood up, opening the door.

  “Headmaster Cavett! Headmaster Cavett! You won’t believe what I found by the pond!” Jacob Piper, one of Aaron’s youngest pupils, squealed. “Come quick!”

  “Quickly,” Aaron corrected. He looked wistfully at his sandwich sitting on his desk, but followed Jacob dutifully. “You still owe me one page on how your actions yesterday affected your fellow students, Jacob.”

  Although he was only six years old, Jacob was extremely intelligent. However, his quick wits were more likely to get him into trouble at the Robert Ballinger Institution for Boys, where Aaron served as Headmaster. Aaron did his best to see that Jacob stayed focused on his schoolwork.

  Outside, Jacob took hold of Aaron’s hand and tugged him toward the pond on the outskirts of the school’s property, near the woods. Aaron shivered and wished he had thought to bring his coat. “Hurry, Jacob. I have work to do.”

  Aaron made it a point not to choose favorites, but it was difficult not to have a soft spot for Jacob. He was precocious and funny, and despite his proclivity to find himself in trouble, Aaron knew the boy had a good heart.

  Jacob pointed to a rustling near the edge of the pond. “Look! Look!”

  Aaron peered at the spot where he’d seen movement. “What is it?”

  Jacob bent down and plunged his hand into a pile of leaves. When his arm emerged, he held a skinny frog, its legs protruding from his hand. “It’s my new pet! His name is Freddy!”

  Aaron shook his head sternly. “Jacob! You know pets are not permitted on the grounds. Put that poor creature back and let’s get back inside. We’ll both catch cold in this weather.”

  Jacob looked up at Aaron, eyes beseeching. “Please, Headmaster? I’ll take care of him and feed him and take him for walks.”

  “I don’t think frogs—” Aaron began.

  “Headmaster, you’re always saying I need to focus. I think having a pet would make me focus. And you could take him away from me if I misbehaved. Please, Headmaster Cavett? Please?” Jacob begged.

  Aaron fought the urge to laugh. It would be highly inappropriate, given his position as headmaster. He needed to lay down the law. But something inside him made him want to go easy on Jacob. And the boy did have a point. Aaron welcomed anything that would help the boy focus on his lessons.

  Aaron pursed his lips. “I’m not sure.”

  “The code of conduct says no dogs, cats, fish, rabbits, or turtles are permitted,” Jacob pointed out. “Frogs are not mentioned.”

  Aaron sighed. Ever since he’d taught Jacob to read, the boy read anything he could get his hands on—and somehow, it always ended up coming back to haunt Aaron. “Fine, Jacob. You may keep him for now. We’ll assess later this week whether or not you can keep him.”

  “Oh, thank you, Headmaster Cavett! You’re my favorite Headmaster of all time!” Jacob jumped up and down, still holding the squirming frog. “Oh, Freddy, we’ll be best friends!”

  “Back inside before we freeze to death, Jacob,” Aaron instructed.

  Jacob could tell that his headmaster meant business, so he followed him back into the imposing brick building.

  As they passed through the halls, Aaron noticed something strange. The halls were empty. The boys should have been returning from their lunch break and re-entering their classrooms. He quickened his pace, looking into every classroom to check.

  As he turned to explore another corridor, a gangly body flew into him.

  Aaron gasped and staggered back. He took a deep breath and straightened himself, frowning. “No running in the hallways!”

  Jenkins, one of the oldest boys, stood up straight and looked Aaron in the eye. “Yes, sir. I’m very sorry, sir. I wanted to make sure I could take my books with me to Texas!”

  “Texas?” Aaron furrowed his brow, feeling exhausted. What kind of new prank were the boys up to? His stomach growled, and he remembered his forgotten ham sandwich.

  “Mr. Ballinger just told us that he sold the building, sir. We’re being sent to a different orphanage, one in Texas. We have to pack by nightfall!” Jenkins said, panting for breath.

  “Jenkins, now is not the time for jokes or lies,” Aaron chided.

  “Oh, I’m not joking, sir. You can ask Mr. Ballinger himself. Here he comes. I’m off to pack, sir! I don’t want the bus to leave me behind!” As Aaron watched Jenkins speed away, he noticed Lazarus Ballinger creeping toward the exit.

  “Mr. Ballinger!” Aaron called, running toward the older man.

  Lazarus turned around and let out a loud exhale which shook his thunderous body. “Headmaster Cavett.”

  Lazarus Ballinger’s father, Robert, had started the Institution for Boys three decades earlier. In addition to being a school, it was also a home for orphaned boys and young men. Robert had been a loving and generous man, and the school had flourished under his attention. Since Robert had died and left the business to his son, Lazarus, however, things had changed. Lazarus was obsessed with money. He forced the orphans to work to earn their keep, but everyone suspected that he pocketed the leftover payments.

  Aaron didn’t like Lazarus, but he was technically his boss. Still, what Jenkins had said didn’t make any sense. “Jenkins said you sold the building. Is that true?”

  Lazarus frowned. “Yes. I arranged for the orphans to be sent to another home for boys in Texas. Cost me far too much, but there’s a bus that will be arriving this evening to take you all there.”

  “Me, too?” Aaron asked, baffled.

  Lazarus sighed, looking at the watch on his rotund arm. “The boys need a chaperone. Obviously, it’s you.”

  “And my job?” Aaron felt his head start to spin. Was this Lazarus’s way of telling him he had been let go?

  “You’re a good employee, Aaron. I’ll find a job for you in one of my other businesses when you come back,” Lazarus assured. “Good day.”

  Lazarus trudged down the hallway, leaving Aaron standing, his jaw agape.

  Jacob ran past Aaron. “Headmaster Cavett! We’d better get moving. You don’t want the bus to leave without you, do you?”

  Chapter One

  Katie Sanders hummed to herself as she corrected quizzes at her desk. The students had clearly been paying attention to Miss Carroll, the schoolteacher in Nowhere’s one-room schoolhouse. Katie was relieved that she would get to share a positive result
with the students. She hated breaking the news when the students didn’t pass their quizzes. It always made her feel guilty, like she was letting them down.

  Apart from that, Katie loved her job at the schoolhouse. She had worked there ever since her sister Theresa had married and adopted infant twins. Katie was now the only one of her sisters who was unmarried and living at home with their adoptive parents, Edna Petunia and Cletus Sanders.

  Katie, Theresa, and the others had grown up in Orlan, New York. One day, the church board that ran the orphanage ruled that it was not appropriate for girls and boys to live under the same roof. They put the fifteen female orphans on a bus with their matron, Cassie Morgan, and traveled to Texas.

  When they arrived in the small town of Nowhere, they learned that there had been a mix-up—there was no home for girls in town. Fortunately, Edna Petunia and Cletus Sanders, a couple who’d married late in life and had no biological children, had been willing to take in all fifteen girls. Edna Petunia and Cletus lived comfortably in a large house and their means meant that none of the girls ever wanted for anything as they grew up.

  Edna Petunia and Cletus made sure that each of the girls earned her keep. Before they married, the girls were responsible for working either inside or outside the home. Katie had been content doing chores around the house and helping Edna Petunia prepare meals, but now that she had a job outside of the house, she realized what she had been missing for all those years.

  Katie watched through the window as the children played in the afternoon sun. She loved working at the school and shaping young minds. The children she worked with were smart, curious, and kind. She felt honored to help teach them their lessons. Miss Carroll was sweet and kind, too. Katie loved working with her.

  The only real thing missing in Katie’s life was a suitor. She had watched and waited patiently as each of her older sisters had married one by one. Even though there were a few sisters whose personalities made the family question if they’d ever get married, each sister had found a man who complemented her perfectly. Prim and righteous Sarah Jane had married the town pastor, Micah. Bookish Gertrude had hit it off with freewheeling Jedediah, proprietor of a traveling book wagon. Even by-the-book Hope had settled down with Stephen Bennett, one of the town’s two doctors.

  Katie sighed as she thought about her sisters and their husbands. Would her time ever come? Single men in Nowhere were as scarce as snow in Texas. They weren’t typically found, and even when they were, they were few and far between.

  Katie dreamed of getting married as her sisters had. She envisioned a big church wedding, with a flowing dress, beautiful flowers, and her family by her side. The only thing she couldn’t picture was the groom. There were simply not enough eligible young men in Nowhere. When Katie complained about this to her adoptive mother, Edna Petunia waved her away and said her time would come. But Katie was starting to question whether Edna Petunia was right about that.

  Still, Katie loved her life in Nowhere. It was so much more interesting and exciting than her childhood in the orphanage in New York. Although Katie had always been a happy child, she had craved a family of her own. Now, thanks to Edna Petunia and Cletus’s love and her sisters’ marriages and children, she had that. Even if she never married, she had felt lucky to have experienced the joy of a tight-knit, supportive family.

  Miss Carroll cleared her throat. “Recess is over.”

  Katie smiled at Miss Carroll and stood to walk outside the schoolhouse. “Time to come back inside, children!”

  The students began scurrying into the classroom.

  In the distance, Katie saw a bus approaching the school. She frowned. All of the students were present. She went inside the classroom, where Miss Carroll was about to start the lesson. “Are you expecting any deliveries or visitors today?”

  Miss Carroll shook her head. “No. Why?”

  Katie pointed at the window. “There’s a bus on its way here!”

  The children raced from their seats to the window to look.

  “Children!” Miss Carroll scolded, but she walked to the window, too.

  The bus drew closer.

  “Who could that be?” Katie wondered out loud.

  “Back to your seats,” Miss Carroll instructed, and the children begrudgingly returned to their desks. Miss Carroll walked over to Katie and lowered her voice. “Will you please find out who they are and what they want?”

  Katie nodded and went outside the schoolhouse. The bus pulled to a stop a few feet away, and young men and boys began filing out one by one, dragging large trunks and suitcases.

  Katie looked around in confusion as the boys streamed around her, laughing and shouting.

  A small boy of no more than six with merry eyes walked up to Katie. “Excuse me, Miss, can you show me to the bunks, please?” He carried a bag that was nearly larger than he was as well as a hat box with holes poked in it.

  “There are no bunks here,” Katie replied gently. “This is a school.”

  The boy laughed. “I know that! It just looks smaller than our old school.”

  Finally, a tall, handsome man strode in front of Katie. He peeled off his gloves and looked around inquisitively. “I’m Aaron Cavett, the headmaster. Is the dormitory in this building, too?”

  Katie felt her heart leap into her throat, pounding faster than ever before. She couldn’t string words together to form a complete sentence. All she could do was stare. “Dormitory?”

  Aaron sighed and looked pointedly at the small structure. “The only address I was given was for this school house. If the living quarters are elsewhere, we’ll need to discuss it with the bus driver. He hasn’t been paid for an additional destination.” He turned to the bus, where the driver waited. “Can you please stay until we get things straightened out?”

  The bus driver grunted in response.

  Katie finally collected her wits. “Excuse me, Mr. Cavett, but what are you referring to?”

  Some of the boys had stacked suitcases and trunks in a large heap and were beginning to climb on them. Aaron put a hand up and looked them all in the eyes, and they stopped immediately. Katie was impressed at his easy command of the group. Aaron turned his attention back to Katie. “This is the group of orphans who will be living and studying here.”

  The more Aaron spoke, the more befuddled Katie became. “What group of orphans?”

  “This group of orphans,” Aaron said, clearly frustrated. “Who’s in charge here?”

  Miss Carroll came outside. “Is there a problem? What are all these boys doing here in the middle of the day?”

  “I’m Aaron Cavett,” Aaron said impatiently. “Headmaster of the former Robert Ballinger Institution for Boys in New York. My employer, Lazarus Ballinger, made arrangements for our young men to transfer to your school. I understand that you also run an orphanage, with dormitories for the boys on the premises. I just can’t seem to understand where they might be.” Again, Aaron looked around, seeming unimpressed with the small building.

  Miss Carroll shook her head. “Mr. Cavett, I’m afraid there’s been some type of mistake. This is a school house, but we do not have dormitories on site. There’s no orphanage in this town.”

  Just then, the bus driver grew tired of waiting. He started the engine and drove the bus off into the distance. Aaron’s face went white as a sheet. He looked around at all of the boys. “What am I to do with all of these boys?”

  Chapter Two

  “Order!” Cletus Sanders shouted, pounding his gavel on his desk. More than half of Nowhere’s residents were crowded into town hall, debating what to do about the abandoned orphans.

  In a corner of the room, Aaron shook his head wearily. He hadn’t slept for days, and there was no sign of a resolution. He had no idea where he and the boys would be staying that evening. He had left them at the schoolhouse under Miss Carroll and Katie’s attention while he had walked to the town hall to discuss the situation with the residents of Nowhere.

  He didn’t understand, b
ut somehow word had spread throughout the town in less than an hour that a busload of orphans had materialized. He had tried to get a message to Lazarus Ballinger to get to the bottom of the predicament, but Mr. Ballinger was unreachable. Typical, Aaron thought to himself. Mr. Ballinger never wanted to assume responsibility.

  As best he could tell, someone in Mr. Ballinger’s office had talked to a man in Oklahoma who had a cousin in Nowhere who ran an orphanage. That was what Aaron understood to be true, but clearly, the message had been distorted somewhere along the line.

  The end result was that Aaron and fifteen boys ranging from six to sixteen were now stranded in Nowhere with no money, no place to stay, and no means of transportation. Aaron couldn’t believe he had so blindly accepted Mr. Ballinger’s order to get onto the bus with the boys. He blamed himself for not fighting back against Mr. Ballinger’s request. If they had never gotten on that bus, Aaron would have probably lost his job, but at least they wouldn’t be stuck in Texas.

  “There’s simply no room in that school house,” Gerald Sibley, the town banker, pointed out. “We should split them up and they can work to earn their keep.”

  A gray-haired woman stood up and put her hands on her hips. “That’s no way to welcome a bus full of bastards into our town!”

  A murmur rippled through the crowd. “Who is that?” Aaron whispered to the woman sitting next to him.

  The woman grinned at him. “That’s Edna Petunia Sanders. She’s Cletus’s wife—and my adoptive mother. I’m Ruby Darcy, pleased to meet you.”

  “Aaron Cavett. Sanders—any relation to the young woman at the school? I thought she said her name was Sanders, too,” Aaron recalled.

  Ruby’s mouth stretched into an even wider grin. “That would be my youngest sister, Katie Sanders. The sweetest of the whole bunch!”