Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Madeline and the children hurried down the street. “Let’s go into the mercantile,” she told them and pointed to the building with the big sign on the front. Violet stuck close by her while they looked at material for her new dresses while Elijah wandered through the aisles looking at the goods. When Madeline suggested a pretty blue print, the girl got quite excited and began to clap.

The shopkeeper stuck his head around the corner from where he was stocking shelves. “Can I help you folks with anything?” he asked, his voice pleasant.

“Hello. We’re looking at new material for dresses. Do you happen to know anyone with a sewing mechanism?”

He thought for a minute. “The dress shop up the street has one of them Singer sewing machines. I ordered it for her earlier this year. She bought it for ten dollars. I can order you one of those if you’d like?”

Madeline thought hard for a moment then shook her head. “I think I better wait on that,” she told him. “I will take a few yards of this lovely blue material when you have a moment.”

They purchased the material, along with needles, thread and some buttons that Madeline thought would be needed. She wanted to teach Violet how to sew, but she also wanted to keep her hands busy and learn some of the things that no one was willing to teach her.

When the shop owner handed over her purchase, she took it and turned to look for Elijah. He was standing in the front of the store staring out the window. When she approached him, Madeline thought he was looking outside, but she was wrong. He stared at the sign that was taped to the window. A hardened face stared from the poster and underneath it said WANTED FOR BANK ROBBERY.

“Elijah? I believe that poster is for adults, not children. Come along now.” She wasn’t going to point out to him that the man in the photo was an outlaw. She began to worry. Perhaps they needed to have a long talk sooner than later.

As they walked along the boarded walk, many of the townsfolk stopped and introduced themselves. A woman who said her name was Sam invited the children to stop by her bookshop for a treat and story time.

After agreeing to stop in next week, they hurried to the dress shop. Madeline and Violet picked out a pretty hat to match the dress material she just bought, then bought another ready-made dress from the rack. She also bought a pair of slippers, a new pair of shoes and lots of ribbon for Violet’s hair. She wanted the girl to feel pretty and feel special.

“I never had so many things before,” she told Madeline with a hug. “Thank you.”

“It’s been my pleasure. Now, we need to collect Elijah and head to the house. The shop owner will be delivering some flour and food items and I’d like to get them put away before supper.”

As they walked towards the house, Madeline spotted a bakery. “Wait! We must visit right now!” She counted her money and decided they had enough to treat themselves to a delicious dessert.

Violet jumped up and down. Even Elijah perked up a bit from the sullen look he had earlier.

“Can I get a cookie?” he asked.

“Let’s see what they have first, then we’ll decide.”

They went inside to the counter to look at the display. Elijah slapped the palms of his hands on his cheeks. “There’s so much here I don’t know what to choose!”

Violet bounced. “I know! I know! Robert brings me here all the time. I want one of those!” She pointed to a shelf with cupcakes that were topped with cream. “I want one of those!”

Elijah’s eyes got huge. “Can I have one too?” he asked.

A pretty woman with a crisp white apron came through the back and gave the children a big smile. “Hello. I bet you want a cupcake, don’t you Violet?”

Violet jumped up and down, nodding.

“Who may you be?” she asked Elijah.

“I’m Elijah. Can I have one too?”

The woman reached inside the display case and placed a cupcake on a plate for each of them. “I’ll set them on the table for you both if you’d like to sit down to eat your sweets.”

While the woman took the cupcakes to where the children were sitting, Madeline chose two cupcakes with icing and berries on top. “May I have them to take home, please?”

“Sure. I’ll put them in a box for you. I’m Amy, by the way. I own the bake shop.”

“I’m new here. My name is Madeline Emmett.”

“I’ve heard that you are the new caretaker for Violet.” A knowing smile crossed the woman’s face. “Everyone is talking about it,” she told Madeline.

“Oh? I hope they are saying good things.”

Amy shook her head. “They’re betting on how long it takes you to find the first ride out of Cooper’s Ridge.” She laughed.

Madeline giggled. “I’ve helped run an orphanage with a few dozen children. Taking care of Violet is not hard at all.”

“I, for one, am glad to hear this. I’ve had to redirect Violet home a few times this month.”

“She was probably looking for more sweets. This bakery smells delicious!”

“Thank you. I’ve been so busy since I opened the shop that I haven’t had time to visit with anyone. Forgive me for not welcoming you to Cooper’s Ridge properly. Would you like to bring your young man around sometime to meet Timothy? He’s in school right now, but after school he loves to come here and work for a few hours. He’s going to grow up and take over this place.” She said it with such love and adoration.

“Is Timothy your son?” Madeline probably should make it clear that Elijah was an orphan from the train looking for a family. Perhaps she knew of one that needed a child.

“He is my brother, but everyone thought he was an orphan boy. You see, my family were outlaws and we came here to hide from them. So now the outlaws are no longer a threat and we found a home here and this wonderful bakery. I love Cooper’s Ridge.”

“Your family are outlaws?” Elijah left his chair and stood right beside Madeline. She had no idea he had heard them talking.

Amy looked over at Madeline, who wasn’t sure what to say. This was a first, she thought to herself, then nodded. “You can tell him the truth.”

Maybe if he heard first hand that outlaws weren’t all great, he’d stop idolizing them. Of course, she had to help in that area since she was the one who had made the whole mess with outlaws to begin with.

Amy shook her finger at Elijah. “Young man, outlaws can be very, very bad men.”

Elijah frowned. “I’m going to be an outlaw and I’m not bad.”

Madeline watched as Amy leaned over the pastry display. “I can tell you stories about outlaws that will have you hiding under your covers at night. Now, go finish your cupcake and remember one thing; outlaws here in Cooper’s Ridge are redeemed. They’ve put away their bad ways and turned into good citizens. No one here is an outlaw any more.”

Elijah looked confused. “Outlaws have to do something bad, then something good?”

“That’s not exactly how it works, Elijah. We’ll talk about outlaws later this evening.” Madeline knew she had to tell him the truth tonight. It was time.

“Can we talk about outlaws instead of other stories? Can Violet listen too?”

“Finish your cupcake, Elijah.”

She waited until he went back to the table, then lowered her voice. “Thank you, Amy. I’m afraid at the orphanage I told him some stories that weren’t true at all about outlaws.”

Amy waved her hand in response. “If anyone understands protecting a child, it’s me. Make sure to come by again. We can have coffee sometime soon.”

Madeline gathered the children and all their purchases and headed back to the house. When they got there, the groceries she had ordered at the mercantile were sitting neatly on her porch. “Let’s get all of our things inside.”

The children helped and they put everything away. Since it was still early afternoon and the children had a cupcake instead of their noonday meal, she decided to skip the meal and clean out the pantry.

Elijah headed straight to his room while Violet helped clean the kitchen until she became distracted. “Can I go see if Elijah wants to go outside?

“That will be nice for the both of you. I can make some lemonade if you’d like and have it in the backyard. I bought fresh lemons at the mercantile.”

“Yes! I love lemonade.” Violet ran up the stairs to find Elijah, who followed on her heels. They both tried to get through the back door at the same time, trying to see who could squeeze through first. It was hilarious watching them and Madeline couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the two.

She took them some freshly made lemonade, then began to clean the kitchen shelves and rearrange them. Madeline had bought what she needed to cook meals with and set about organizing. After working for some time, she checked on the children, who were still outside running all over the yard.

It was soon time to start supper even though Mr. Adams wasn’t planning to be home until later. She wanted to keep a regular schedule, so she pulled down a large pot and filled it with water to cook off the chicken she had bought earlier. After getting that done, she began to make dough for her chicken and dumplings. They had it a lot at the orphanage, so Madeline often helped in the kitchen.

The next time she peered out the window, she didn’t see the children. There were a few trees out there, but she dried her hands and opened the back door. To her surprise they were behind one of the trees, almost as if they were hiding there for a reason.

Madeline was careful to tip-toe across the yard, getting closer to the tree. The children were whispering at first, but when she peeked around the tree her heart flew into her mouth. “Elijah! Violet! What are the two of you doing? There’s chocolate everywhere! And where did you get chocolate for heaven’s sake?”

Elijah’s eyes widened. His cheeks were puffed out and his mouth and chin were covered in chocolate. Violet just started laughing. Her mouth opened and her teeth were covered in the dark, sugary sweet. Big globs hung in her mouth.

Madeline didn’t recall buying them any chocolate. Her worst fear came to the surface. “Where did you get the chocolate?”

When she saw Elijah’s guilt-ridden face, the disappointment had to show clearly on her own. “Elijah, did you steal chocolate at the mercantile?”

He hung his head and nodded. “Isn’t that what outlaws do.”

“Oh, dear.” She let out a huge sigh. This was partially her fault and yet she had to teach him that he can’t steal. “What you did was not a good thing. Do you remember what you were told about outlaws in this town?”

He nodded. “They aren’t bad any more.”

“That’s right. They’ve turned the other cheek and are redeemed. I’m afraid you will have to go to the mercantile tomorrow and admit the truth of what you did. It’s up to the shop owner to decide how to deal with this.”

“Then will I be redeemed too?”

What was she supposed to say? Maybe? Yes? No? Madeline wanted to kick herself in the foot for the stories she had told him. They were all innocent but she never thought anything about it then. Now that they were actually in the west, she realized that she had not done him justice by telling stories.

“My belly hurts,” he told Madeline.

“You ate too much chocolate. I’m afraid you will feel ill for some time until it gets out of your system.”

“I want more chocolate,” Violet told her. She was jumping around, then began to run all over the yard calling for Elijah to chase her. He shook his head.

“Can I go to my room?” he asked.

“You need to clean your face and hands first,” she told him. “Go on in the kitchen. I’ll get Violet.”

Elijah went back inside while Madeline tried to catch up with Violet, who was very hyper and trying to evade Madeline whenever she got close. She was laughing and calling out.

When Violet realized that Elijah went inside, she started running towards the door. “Wait up, Violet. Don’t go inside yet.”

Madeline was concerned. The girl was extremely sensitive to the chocolate and was behaving quite erratic. She had seen this before and it worried her. “Violet, did you hear me? Wait up.”

It was too late. The teen had gone inside and tried to get Elijah to run around the room except he was feeling sick.

When Madeline came through the door, Violet was standing at the counter and picked up the bowl of flour she had set there. She reached in the bowl, picked up a handful of flour and threw it in the air towards Elijah. He ducked and ran out of the room up the stairs.

“Don’t you dare follow him!” she warned Violet, who turned towards Madeline. She began backing out of the room.

“Violet? Bring the bowl of flour back to the kitchen, right now, please?”

Violet shook her head, still laughing. She didn’t understand that it was no longer funny. “Elijah and I want to play.”

Each step Madeline took towards her, Violet took a step back. She was getting closer to the hallway and Madeline knew once she got there, both Violet and the bowl of flour would go flying up the stairs to Elijah’s room.

Madeline vaguely heard the front door open and close but she was concentrating so hard on keeping Violet from taking the bowl that she didn’t realize someone was coming up behind Violet.

“I’m afraid if you don’t give me the bowl, Violet, I’m going to have to take it from you.”

“No!”

“Yes, let me have the bowl.” Madeline was close enough now she reached out and put a hand on the edge. “Would you like to help make dumplings?” she asked Violet, trying to redirect her.

From the look on her face, she knew Violet was about ready to comply when a harsh voice spoke up from behind. “What’s going on here!”

Violet screamed. Madeline gasped. The bowl flew out of both of their hands and the contents went everywhere. Mostly it went in one direction. When the flour cloud cleared, Madeline was horrified to find Mr. Adams had been floured from the hair on his head to the tips of his worn boots.

Dear Lord, don’t let me lose this job!