Cam let his mouth drop. “What did you eat? Where did you sleep?”
“We stole most of our food or begged. I took good care of Georgie, too. Then, the police came and sent us to an orphanage that was so crowded, we slept three and four to a bed. The food was good, though.”
“I see,” Cam said, “and then you rode the orphan train, and I brought you home to be my very own children.” He smiled at them, but they didn’t return the smile.
Cam clapped his hands together. “We are going to play a little game. Do you like games?”
Annabelle nodded.
“My wife, your new mother, will arrive soon. I’m very anxious to become one happy family. I would like for you to pretend that you’ve always lived here, and that I’ve always been your father. If you can do that for me, I will take you into town to buy you all new clothes and a lot of toys. How does that sound?”
Annabelle shrugged. “I guess I can play your game, but will there be a lot more children coming? I don’t want you to have so many that we’ll be given away again.”
Cam smiled at Annabelle. “As long as you play my game, I’m fairly sure you’ll be my only children, and I promise that you can stay here as long as you'd like. I’m your father forever, now.”
He stood and paced in front of the children. “I want everyone to think you are my children from birth and not from the orphan train. I want us to be a happy family. My new wife thinks you are my real children and that your real mother died. Do you ever play make-believe?”
Annabelle nodded.
“We’re going to be such a happy family, but how you came to be here is a secret.”
Cam looked at Georgie. “How old is Georgie?”
“I think he’s almost three.”
“Does he always suck his thumb?”
“Georgie sucks it when he’s nervous or scared,” she said.
Cameron remembered that when he’d chosen the children from the line of orphans, a woman had given him papers. He hadn’t done more than give them a brief look before locking them in his desk drawer, and he supposed they included information of their births.
Cam ruffled the tow-headed boy’s head. “I’ll be a good father, Georgie.”
Hannah was shocked to read in Cameron’s letter that he had two children. Not only would she become a wife, but a mother as well. She thought about backing out since she wasn’t sure at all about marrying by proxy either. She took out her pen and paper and prepared to write Cameron a letter telling him she’d changed her mind. But before she did, Hannah gazed over at his photograph on the desk and sighed. Here was a good-looking attorney who lived in a large house with a housekeeper, and she was living in a one-room flat where she slept on a settee at night. What were her chances of marrying and becoming a mother at her age? She sighed and wrote back to Cam that she’d be delighted to meet his children, and she would agree to the proxy marriage, and she posted the letter quickly before she changed her mind again.
Three weeks later, Cameron Hart sent her the paperwork for the proxy marriage, a train ticket to Hays, and a stagecoach ticket from Hays to Hunter’s Grove.
Chapter Three
Hannah gazed at her reflection in her pocket mirror. They were approaching Hunter’s Grove, and she wanted her hair, at least, to be tidy. Her navy-blue skirt had creases from having sat for five days, and her shoes were dusty from the rustic roads. At least she’d managed to keep her white blouse clean. She tucked a few loose hairs behind her ears, patted the bun on the top of her head, and grabbed her small suitcase just as the stagecoach pulled into Hunter’s Grove.
When Cameron had told her the town was small, he hadn’t been exaggerating. The main street had a shabby-looking hotel, a blacksmith's shop, a general store, a small livery, and a building she guessed was a small bank. She didn’t see a church steeple. She thought every town had a church. There were a few small buildings around a curve in the main street, but otherwise, that was about all there was to the town.
The stagecoach stopped in front of Hunter’s Inn. There were about five people waiting for the stage, but she didn’t see Cameron. She stepped off the stage and shielded her eyes from the sun as she scanned the faces of the people in the small gathering.
“Mrs. Hart?” a man said from behind her. At first, she kept walking, but then he repeated her name louder.
Hannah had forgotten her last name was now Hart. She spun around. “Yes?”
The man removed his hat and smiled. "I’m Cam’s friend and law partner, Joseph Simmons, at your service.”
Hannah gave him a confused look. “It’s nice to meet you, but where’s Cameron?”
“He sent me to meet you since he had a court case all day. He asked me to escort you to your new home,” he said.
Joseph Simmons looked older than Cameron. Hannah guessed him to be about forty. He was dressed in an immaculate dark suit with a black string tie. Hannah had heard much about Mr. Simmons, so she didn’t hesitate to follow him to his buggy.
“Do you have more luggage?” he asked.
“Yes, a trunk. They’re unloading it now.” She pointed. “It’s the one with the blue ribbon on the handle. All of the trunks look so similar, I wanted to be sure I could spot which one was mine.”
Mr.
