The man, with a long, sharp nose and haughty air, looked down at her hand as though she were offering him a dead rat. “I need to stamp your ticket, Miss. Now.”
Rebekah’s face fell as she lowered her hand. “I don’t know what to—”
Joseph’s voice interrupted her. “I have their upgraded tickets, sir.”
Her crestfallen face softened with the sound of his voice.
Joseph stepped into the little car where Rebekah found herself and Katie to be stowed. “Peter was able to upgrade our tickets so all of us could get some real rest.” He extended a pair of tickets to the unsmiling ticket taker. “And rest you did, you fell asleep in New York City and didn’t wake up until, well, now.”
“Did we leave Peter in New York City?” Aware of how she must sound, her foggy mind refused to be tamed until she knew the whereabouts of her brother.
Katie was silent on her bunk, but stared at Joseph.
Does she care about Peter, or that he was possibly left behind? Or is she glad to be rid of my brother? She has certainly showed him no emotion, without even a kind word.
“Come on, let me help you off,” Joseph urged. “Rebekah, grab your quilting bag, and Katie, your parcel. This man is serious about us getting off the train, otherwise we’re going to ride to the next stop. Some place called Chi-car-go.” Joseph shook his head. “Which means a long way from Gasthof Village. Come on.”
He held Rebekah’s elbow as she limped by him. “It actually feels much better,” she said to herself.
Joseph answered. “Sleep is a good healer. Just like Mrs. Cheng said.”
Rebekah limped down the aisle toward the sour-faced ticket man. “When did she say that?”
“I don’t rightly remember.” Joseph helped her down the steps and onto the rickety platform that was a far cry from the luxurious one of the New York City train station. “Probably when she showed up at the train car with the packages Katie forgot.”
“I did?” Katie asked from behind them. “I thought I got it?”
“There were more.” Joseph held the door open to the depot where they’d spent their first night. “That sweet woman must have hobbled quicker than Peter runs to catch us.”
Rebekah’s heart glowed within her chest. “Love,” she said. “That’s love.”
Joseph turned her to face the window, the same window they’d looked helplessly through as they watched Katie leave with Nellie Bly. It felt like a lifetime ago. He gestured to the train and leaned close to her ear. “So is that.”
As if on cue, Peter strode down the steps, a bright smile on his face and a little boy with bright blue eyes grinning from his hip. No longer dressed in rags, a scrubbed clean little Noah glowed like the sun in the Indiana sunshine.
Rebekah’s mouth dropped open and she clapped her hands together beneath her chin. “Noah!” she cried. “Thank God, it’s Noah!”
Emotion she didn’t realize she’d stored up came pouring out through tears, and laughter, and clapping. “Joseph, it’s Noah!”
Peter turned around and extended his hand. Patty, no longer donning rags herself and also scrubbed clean, accepted it and stepped down. Her red hair flamed in the sunlight and her freckles stood out from her pale skin like beacons. “She looks like an angel,” Rebekah breathed. “And she’s cleaner than me!”
Joseph and Rebekah shared a laugh and a hug.
“They look like a happy family,” Katie said quietly. “Who is she?”
Rebekah looked at Joseph, her throat much too choked with emotion to be of much use in answering Katie or anyone. Moisture filled her eyes and wet her cheeks.
“That’s the woman, and her child, you saw eating from the trash bin, Katie.” Joseph watched as Peter and Patty shared a laugh as they pointed at things. Little Noah clapped too. “As for being a family, I think they are.”
Rebekah noticed a tear track down Katie’s cheek. “I think I’ll wait in the wagon, if you all don’t mind.” She flickered a sad smile to Rebekah. “Thank you again, for everything.”
“Don’t you want to meet Patty and Noah?” Rebekah’s happiness was fairly bursting out of her.
“Later,” Katie whispered. “I promise not to disappear.”
“The wagon’s at the livery, Katie,” Joseph offered. “We’ll be along shortly.”
“Where did she get the dress, it’s a fine dress for a fine woman,” Rebekah said as Katie turned to go.
Joseph snapped his fingers. “That’s what Katie forgot—a dress for the mysterious stranger, Mrs. Cheng said.”
Rebekah buried her face in his shoulder. “Mrs. Cheng was some sort of angel herself,” she whispered.
“Welcome back, kids!” The little owlish man appeared from a back room. “Joseph, I have your package, kept safe as promised.”
“Thank you, Calvin. Rebekah, this is Calvin. Calvin Smith. We were never properly introduced before we left.”
Rebekah extended her hand to the man who had so kindly given her the red and black cloth. “Thank you again, Mr. Smith,” Rebekah managed. “I’m sorry, I’m a bit emotional.”
He nodded and adjusted his spectacles. “The big city does that to folks.”
Rebekah chewed her lip. If you only knew.
“Calvin, I’ll pick up my parcel when I get the wagon, if that’s okay.”
“Of course, been here this long. Won’t hurt to wait another few minutes.”
Peter and Noah held open the door and Patty walked inside. She locked eyes with Rebekah and strode over to her and immediately embraced her in a hug that forced Joseph to back up a step. “I cannot believe we are really here, and out of the city!”
