Harrison pictured what would certainly have happened to Mary Rose and blanched in reaction.
"I got to her in time, and that's all that matters. We thought she was a boy. We named her Sidney."
"She knows everything, doesn't she?" Harrison asked.
"Oh, yes, she knows how we found her. We've never kept any secrets from her. She knows all about us too."
Harrison smiled. "Now I understand why she was so upset when Cole called her Sidney."
"Yes," Cole said. "It's a reminder to her that she isn't any better than anyone else. She is though. She's pure of heart and noble and…"
Cole's voice belied his stony expression.
Adam cleared his throat and continued on. "We made a pact late that night to do the best we could for her. We didn't think she would make it if we took her to one of the city's orphanages. Travis was the only one who knew for certain no one was searching for him. We all became Claybornes and headed west. It took us a long, long time to get here and build a home."
"But we did it," Cole said. "Now that I think about it, I guess maybe Mary Rose's father helped us."
"How?" Harrison asked.
" Douglas took the money from the woman who threw the basket away. He was real good picking pockets. The money financed our way for a long time. Whoever took the baby must have stolen the money too."
"How old were all of you?"
Travis answered him. "I was really just nine, going on ten, but I told everyone I was close to eleven. I was afraid they wouldn't take me if I was too young. I wanted them to think I could hold my own in a fight. Douglas and I knew what it was like living in an orphanage. We weren't going back. I guess I was smart enough to realize I needed protection. Adam was big and mean-looking to me, and so I chose to hound him day and night until he finally let me stay with him. He was thirteen. Douglas and Cole were eleven years old."
"You were children," Harrison said. "Yet even so, didn't it occur to you that the baby might have been stolen?"
"Why would such a thought occur to us?" Cole asked. "We just figured her mother or father didn't want her any longer."
"You believed they threw her away? How could you possibly believe such a thing?"
Cole and Douglas looked at each other, then turned to Harrison again.
"Why not?" Douglas asked. "We were."
Cole couldn't understand Harrison 's incredulity. "How do you think the city got glutted with so many children? Do you really think they all just got lost? The authorities knew the truth. Every once in a while, they'd grab as many of them as they could, put them on trains, and send them away. None of them knew where the trains were headed."
Douglas let out a sigh. "No one wanted them," he said. "And no one wanted the three of us. Adam was different. His mother had sent him away to keep him safe. She didn't abandon him."
"I don't know if my mother would have thrown me out or not," Cole remarked. His voice was devoid of emotion now. "I heard she was a nice woman. She died giving me life. Her name was Mary, and I figured I could repay her by handing her name down to our Mary Rose. Adam had the same idea about Mama Rose. Douglas decided we should combine the names."
"What about your father, Cole? Do you know anything about him?" Harrison asked.
"He kept me around for a while. Eventually he started to favor whiskey and gin more. He tried to sell me. I heard him negotiating for two bottles and I took off."
Harrison was too stunned to speak. He couldn't imagine such bleak lives. And then he began to see the wonder in it all.
He saw the brothers in a completely different light. His admiration and his respect were evident in his expression.
They had done the impossible and had flourished in spite of the odds.
"You are all men of courage."
Douglas wouldn't accept Harrison 's approbation. He shook his head.
"No, we're just men doing the best we can. We were all scared little boys back then who wanted to see that Mary Rose had someone to care about her. None of us really believed she'd make it. I didn't think any of us would. Still, she deserved a shot at life, didn't she?"
"It couldn't have been easy."
"Changing her drawers was a real bitch." Cole smiled when he made the comment.
"How did you know her real birth date? Mary Rose told me she had papers. What are they?"
"There were two papers tucked in the envelope with the money," Douglas explained. "Adam has them in the library. One of the papers has a lot of numbers scribbled on it. The other paper looks like a page from a book. Across the top was a baby girl's date of birth. Her weight and measurement were written down too."
"The page is from the family Bible."
"It is?"
"Yes," Harrison said. "Two pages were torn out. One was returned with the ransom note. It was proof they really had Victoria. Her full name was written on the bottom line."
"I told my brothers about the papers, but we were more curious about the money then. Adam was the only one who could read. He looked the papers over and told us what the words were. We kept the papers in the basket for years. We only saved them so that Mary Rose would have something from her past."
"Who taught you how to read?" Harrison asked Douglas.
"Adam taught all of us."
"Do you know who strangled the nursemaid?" Cole asked.
"No," Harrison said. "But Elliott never believed she acted alone. She wasn't smart enough to plan a kidnapping. She was also extremely timid. The woman had to have had an accomplice."
"Maybe he's dead now," Douglas said.
"It could have been a woman," Harrison reasoned.
"It was a man."
"How do you know?"
"I saw him."
Harrison sent his drink careening. He didn't even notice what he had done.
"You saw him?" His voice shook with emotion.
Douglas nodded. "I guess it's my turn to explain, isn't it?" he said. "A man got out of an expensive-looking carriage. There was a crest on the door. He wore a black cloak, like the kind rich men wear to the opera. He wore a hat with the rim pulled down over his forehead. I still saw his face. He stood right under the streetlamp and turned to look in my direction. He didn't see me though. He must have thought he'd heard a noise and that's why he turned.
Anyway, I got a good look at him. Do you want me to describe him to you?"
"How could you possibly remember? You were twelve years old, Douglas. Our memories become twisted and confused over the years. It was a long time ago."
"Tell him about your cut, Cole," Douglas suggested. The brother smiled. "We were around fifteen years old, weren't we, Douglas? I was still stupid then. I went charging into someone else's business, thinking I could swipe some animal skins. We needed coats for the winter. I figured I'd get some. I was real quiet, wasn't I, Douglas?"
"Not quiet enough, Cole."
"There must have been twenty renegades in their camp. They'd been plaguing the area, stealing and killing and burning people out, for quite a spell. Everyone was afraid of them. I was too, but I wanted the skins and I figured I had to take them, no matter how afraid I was. Every damned one of them lit out after me. I got cut across my belly. It hurt like the fires of hell. I remember the pain all right. Adam had to sew me up. Mary Rose cried while he worked on me."
"She held your hand, remember?" Travis said. Cole smiled. He remembered. "She thought it would help me to hold on to her. She was around three or four back then and as sweet and sassy as they come."
"How did you ever get away from the Indians?" Harrison asked. "I didn't do it on my own. I was busy running and then fighting for my life, and I didn't get a look at the one who cut me. Douglas did though. He was riding toward me with his shotgun up and ready. He saw the faces of the two who held me down and the third who cut me. The bastard was going to cut my guts out. Douglas started shooting just in the nick of time, and they took off running to get their guns."