Free Shadow of Deceit (Shadow #2) by Barbara Goss

see you here.”
    “My money was running low and I had to leave the boarding house.  I had no place to go.  I couldn’t return to Virginia because I’d sold the family home. There were problems with settling the estate of my late father, and my siblings and I are no longer on the best of terms,” she said. “I figured if I came here and found you, even if things didn’t work for us, you could at least point me in the direction of someone to assist me.  I didn’t know where else to go.”  She took out her handkerchief and wiped away tears that streamed down her face.
    “Don’t worry, Martha.  I belong to a church that does nothing but help people,” he said with sympathy.  “Not another tear.  I promise to get you a place to stay.”
    She pocketed her handkerchief and smiled.  “Thank you.  I didn’t know who else to turn to.  I stopped at the post office and got directions here.  However, I accidently stopped at the house down the road, and it was your brother who redirected me.  He looks a lot like you.”
    “I bet he was curious,” Caleb chuckled.  “That’s Jonas.”
    “Where do we start?” Martha asked.
    “I have a confession to make,” Caleb said.  “I answered your letter, but not until today.  You see I became betrothed to a local woman right after I answered the ad so I didn’t read your letter until recently.  However, the betrothal didn’t work out, so I answered your letter just this morning.  So it was a real shock to see you here.  Had you come a week earlier, I’d not even have recognized your name. I’d like to know more about you so that I can try and find you a temporary home.  Do you mind answering some questions?”
    “No, not at all,” she said.
    “Have you ever been married?”
    “No, but like you I was betrothed and it didn’t work out,” she folded her hands on her lap. “I lived with my father, and I cared for him during his illness.  None of the other siblings could be bothered.  My former fiancé wanted me to leave my father.  I couldn’t leave him alone in his condition.  So I broke it off and he married someone else. Unknown to me my father changed his will and left everything to me.  When my father died my siblings flocked in like vultures.  When they learned he’d changed the will, they accused me of manipulating him while he was feverish.”  She shook her head.  “I didn’t.”
    “Anyway, “ she continued.  “The small home wasn’t worth all that much, and he had very little of value.  I don’t know what my four sisters and two brothers thought he had.  But it was their resentment that pressured me into accepting the Missouri invitation so quickly. I’m afraid.  It was a bad choice. 
    “The man was drunk when I got off the train.   He yanked me to the hotel, was rude and abusive to the staff, got me a room, and then tried to—well, he tried to get personal, and I cracked him over the head with my umbrella.  That made him angrier, and hit me across the face, so I screamed and staff came, and removed him.
    “I still had some money, so I stayed at the hotel until the kind woman from the church offered me a room for half what I was paying at the hotel.  But I had to do something. I saw your letter in my suitcase, and I had no choice but to come here.  Yours was the only letter I took with me to Missouri, and to be honest, it was only because I wrote down the drunk man’s name and address on the back of your envelope that I did take it with me to Missouri.
    “I thought perhaps it was a sign, maybe from God, that I should come here and seek your help,” she said with finality in her voice.
    Caleb shook his head.  “You covered all my questions except one.  Are you a Christian?  A real Bible-carrying Christian?  Are you saved?”
    “I am,” she said.  “I was baptized in the James River when I was twelve.”
    “I know of several families that will assist you.  The first is my father and his wife.