Their union had a bleak start. Shivering miserably on the depot platform in the freezing rain, the woman folded and refolded his tattered letter. Angered, he thought of driving on when he saw her cradling a small child and holding the hand of a grimy toddler, a few tattered bundles at her feet. In her letter, she’d not mentioned the little ones, though with all fairness, the marriage was only one of need on both parts. He hadn’t promised her anything either, so after hesitating, he was mollified by the thought that the little fellows served as proof she wasn’t barren. Hurriedly, married minutes later at the preacher’s house, he apologized for the weather as they shivered the two hours home in his open wagon and was surprised to learn the woman didn’t speak or understand English. Maybe that wasn’t so bad for a man accustomed to his own company.
Burning with fever by the time they got to his homestead, his unknown wife was dead by the next sundown, leaving him with little ones he had no taste for. Barely reaching his knee, they toddled mutely in perpetual soggy diapers, uttering gibberish only they understood. As soon as he could, he buried his quilt-wrapped wife and headed back to dusty Talphus, Texas to rid himself of burden of her orphaned little ones. The church or the town would have to do for them. Loading them in a snug in a bed of hay, wrapped in a ragged quilt, hay heaped over them. he pitied and grieved for them on the long trip back to town, knowing the hard life they faced. Stopping several times to make sure they were warmly covered, he was relieved to find them pink and warm.
He hardened his heart against them, knowing only too well the life they faced. He’d never known family, just been passed from hand to hand. He grieved knowing that was their lot, but deception had landed them with him and a lone-farmer could hardly be expected to shoulder the brats of a deadwoman he’d never even shared a bed with.
Oh my…….
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I know.
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I love this story!
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So glad you let me know.
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I’m glad I went back and found the first part. This is heartrending. —- Suzanne
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I jsut started the second part and came back here to find the beginning. I’m hooked.
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Oh, good. I’ve thought all day about where to go tomorrow.
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What a sad and tragic story,
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I hope I keep you guessing.
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I love your writing Linda. You draw me right into the story 💖💖
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Oh dear. I’m invested.
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Oh good. Come back tomorrow.
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Well…….you’ve got my attention. See you tomorrow!! 😪
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Hope I don’t disappoint. This one is working me hard.
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Please let him go back for the babies!!!
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Check in tomorrow.
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Wow
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Those poor children. So sad.
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It looks rough.
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yikes
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A tearjerker first thing Monday morning. Sad. I hope he had a change of heart and kept them as they both needed a family. ❤ ❤ ❤
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More to come.
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Awwwwe…
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How sad
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Heartbreaking. Talk about a hard knock life. I can only imagine what happened to them all.
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This story is working me hard.
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Very hard life.
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Fiction or fact ? Knowing you, this could be another of those endless stories of your extended family…. sad nevertheless.
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This one is fiction. I stretchong a little. More to come in this serial.
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Good start 🙂
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Thanks.
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I hope somewhere along the line the wagon turned around before it reached the town. He sounds like a hard but good man.
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Unbelievable and so terrible!
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My God, how terrible
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It is.
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