“You’ve just been given the day off,” Seth told her. “I’ll help Miss Kelly with the boys.”
Aggie’s chin stubbornly jutted out, and she stood as tall as she could. “The boys mind what I tell them,” she said. “You’re not one of us. They won’t listen to you.”
Seth stood his ground. “I offered my help, and Miss Kelly accepted,” he told Aggie.
Quickly Frances stepped forward and began to brush Aggie’s hair gently. “Goodness knows, there’s a great deal to do, and I’m glad to get as much help as I can. I’d like Aggie to continue with her job of waking the boys and taking them to the privy when the train stops. She handles the younger children well. Reverend Diller, I’d appreciate it if you’d help me carry fresh milk from the depot to the train.”
Tossing a smug look back at Seth, Aggie began waking the boys.
Frances quietly told Seth, “Being my assistant means a great deal to Aggie.”
“I didn’t think she’d care so much. She’s a young girl.”
“She’s leaving an unhappy childhood in an orphan asylum and is traveling into a future that frightens her. She knows she may find someone to love her, or she may not. Anything that helps Aggie to feel a little bit special is important to her … and to me.”
“Sorry,” Seth said. “I only wanted to help you. I didn’t think these things mattered to a child.”
“You were once a child, Seth,” Frances said as she started up the aisle. “Think about your own childhood and how you felt about what was happening to you. Try to remember.”
The stop for wood and water was a short one. Frances, thankful that Seth had taken care of buying fresh milk, helped the last child aboard just as the engineer pulled two long blasts on the whistle.
All the children were wide awake now and hungry, so Frances lost no time in dividing the milk and thick slices of bread among them.
As soon as their stomachs were full, the car became a noisier, livelier place. Some of the children tried to lean from the windows for a better look at the countryside. Questions flew through the air along with the small flecks of soot that dotted clothes and faces.
“Look at that white house with two chimneys! It’s so big. How many families do you think live in that house?” Lucy Griggs asked.
David Howard leaned forward and squinted. “Will we live in houses like that?”
“Naw. They’re for swells,” Eddie said. “But I don’t see tenements. Where are the tenements?”
“Look!” Jack Greer shouted. “There’s cows. Where do the cows sleep at night? Do they have a house?”
“Horses have names,” Emily Averill said. “Do chickens have names?”
“When are we going to get to the people who’ll choose us? How long will it take?” Aggie asked.
“We’ll arrive at the first stop in eastern Missouri tomorrow. It’s a town called Harwood,” Frances said.
Suddenly, it seemed, the children remembered why they were on the train. The car fell quiet as everyone became absorbed in his or her own thoughts.
Lucy reached into the aisle and tugged at Frances’s skirt. “Will you help me find a family?” she asked.
“Of course,” Frances said. She slid into the seat beside Lucy and held her hand.
“I want a special family,” Lucy said, “with a mother and a father and a little sister for me to love. I’ve always wanted to have a little sister.”
“Lucy, dear,” Frances began hesitantly, “if people already have a child, they may not come to find another.”
Lucy’s eyes shone. “Oh, yes, they will! You see, their little girl will want a big sister. She’ll be looking for me.” She held out Baby and said, “I’m going to share my doll with my little sister.”
Frances hugged Lucy to her, unable to answer.
Ten-year-old Harry Stowe suddenly popped into the aisle next to her. Throwing quick glances back to where he’d been sitting with his brother, he lowered his voice and asked, “Can I talk to you?”
“Of course,” Frances said. “I’m listening.”
“Adam hangs on to me all the time. He’s been doing that ever since Mama and Papa died.”
Frances nodded as Harry went on. “If somebody takes Adam and somebody else takes me, I don’t know what will happen to him.” Tears flooded Harry’s eyes as he added, “I don’t know what will happen to me.”
Frances put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Harry, I’ll do my best to keep the two of you together, but I can’t make any promises.”