Their mother was beginning to look a little haggard, although Ella thought she was doing a wonderful job with so many children under the age of ten. When the train moved into a tunnel that would go through a very long mountain, the children became anxious.
“Mama, how long is it going to be dark out there?”
“Are we in a mountain, mama? Is the mountain going to come down and trap us in here?”
“The mountain is going to collapse! We’re going to be trapped!”
“Now see, Robert, you’ve gone and frightened your little sister. No, Penny, the mountain isn’t going to collapse. We’re going to be fine. Everything will be fine. This is a strong tunnel. Don’t you worry now.”
“Excuse me.” Ella sat forward and said quietly. “I see your children are anxious. I would love to read to them to calm them down if you don’t object.”
“If you would like to, I would be very appreciative.” Their mother sounded extremely relieved. “I’m Rachel. These are my children, Joseph, Robert, and Penelope. They are, as you can see, very tired at the moment. A good story would do them some good. What do you have to read to them?”
Ella reached into her sewing bag, where she had tucked both of her newer books. She decided that Alice’s Adventures would be more appropriate for the small children than the Sherlock Holmes story. It was full of imagination and colorful characters. She had enjoyed it so much, she wanted to share it with them.
“Have you seen this book before?” The children had settled down and were watching what she was doing, curiously. All three shook their heads.
“What’s it about?” Robert asked. She grinned at him.
“It’s about a little girl who follows a white rabbit into the woods and then falls down a hole, and when she wakes up, she’s in a brand new place with talking animals and everything!”
“I want to hear it!” The little boy demanded.
She nodded. “And so you shall.”
She opened the book and read to them until they had to get off at their stop in Arizona. They stayed still and quiet the whole time, intrigued by the story. Their mother was even able to shut her eyes for a few minutes. Ella marveled at the way she seemed to sleep sitting up without her children even noticing.
She received three small hugs before the family departed and the mother and grandparents looked at her with grateful eyes, thanking her for keeping them entertained almost the entire way to their new home. She was left with a satisfying feeling of accomplishment.
She continued reading once she had the car to herself. It didn’t matter if she’d only finished the book a few weeks ago. She still enjoyed it.
Ella was distracted from the book with wandering thoughts of what this man and his four small sons would be like. According to the one and only letter she had received in response to her own initial correspondence answering the ad, his name was Andrew Robinson. He worked in a carpentry shop in town. She couldn’t tell whether he owned the business or was an employee there. He said that his ranch was big enough for all of them to live in comfortably and that he’d been having some trouble finding someone who was willing to take care of so many small boys. His request was for her to be kind to them, understanding and compassionate to their troubles.
He sounded nice and reasonably intelligent. She only noticed a few errors in his grammar and spelling. She hoped that the boys she would be raising were well-educated or on their way to being so. If they weren’t, she would be glad to help out. A good education, as far as she was concerned, was one of the cornerstones to growing up to be a successful adult. It was what she had taught her younger brothers, and they seemed to be much the better for it.
She caught herself staring at the pages on her book instead of actually reading the words. She smiled. It was going to be a brand new life for her. A brand new life.
When the train pulled into the station, Ella was ready to get off. She had been sitting there for hours, only getting up once to go to the dining car and get a few pieces of fruit. She was craving an orange, but they didn’t have one.
She picked up her sewing bag once the train was at a complete stop and the attendant opened the door.
“This is Elko?” she confirmed with the attendant, who just nodded and smiled at her. She could see the appreciative look on his face and felt a bit flattered. She didn’t feel young and pretty. She felt like an old mother.
She stepped down onto the wooden platform and looked both ways. There were quite a few people around her, more than she expected. Families were seeing other family members off on whatever trip they were making to their wherever destinations. She felt like her bag was heavy all of a sudden and felt a little overheated.