Renee Ryan - Charity House Courtship

Laney skipped up the steps. “We did it, Katherine.” She pulled her friend into a fierce hug. “Our worries are finally over.”

“You got the money? He gave you all of it?” Katherine pulled back and searched Laney’s face. “All five hundred dollars? How did you convince him?”

“The details aren’t important.”

Stepping farther back, Katherine scanned Laney from head to toe. “What happened to Sally’s dress?”

“Plans changed.” Laney held up the gold silk bundle. “I had to switch clothes at the last minute.”

Katherine planted her balled fists on her hips. “You didn’t do anything unlawful, did you?”

“Of course not.”

The truth, up to a point. She’d only allowed Dupree to think she’d planned to conduct a shameful act with Judge Greene. Her actions had been misleading, but not criminal.

Considering how Katherine would worry herself sick if she knew the full story, Laney decided to keep the details of her encounter with Dupree to herself. “I have in my possession the money we need to save Charity House. Now stop with the questions and enjoy our moment of triumph.”

“Oh, I’m thrilled. But why won’t you look me in the eye? I’m almost twenty. Plenty old enough to handle whatever it is you’re hiding from me.”

Laney squared her shoulders. But to her chagrin, she couldn’t hold Katherine’s gaze longer than a second or two. It was no use pretending all was well. She was going to have to tell her friend at least part of what had occurred this evening. “Don’t start making judgments before you hear the whole story.”

“Oh, Laney, what did you do?”

“Only what was necessary.”

“No, I’m sure you did more, as always. Look at this place.” She wound her hand in a circle. “It’s a mansion. Orphanages are usually full of filth, misery and despair, especially for the likes of us, the unwanted children of prostitutes.”

Uncomfortable with the turn in conversation, Laney grimaced. “I didn’t do anything special.”

“No, you just made a dream come true for children who have lived without hope most of their lives. You are a good, Christian woman with a big heart, Laney O’Connor.”

If only that were true. “Don’t make me out to be more than I am. When my mother moved us to Mattie’s brothel, I couldn’t get out fast enough. I didn’t want to go it alone, so I took the rest of the children with me. That’s selfish, not noble.”

“Keep telling yourself that, but I know how hard you’ve worked to make Charity House a reality. You wouldn’t intentionally jeopardize it by...” Katherine’s voice trailed off. “Are you sure everything’s all right?”

Laney looked over her shoulder, praying she’d done enough to ensure Dupree hadn’t followed her. She’d darted up, down and across several streets, then doubled back three more times.

But just in case...

“Let’s head inside for the rest of this conversation.”

Frowning, Katherine allowed Laney to hook their arms together. “We’re going to keep Charity House, right?”

The quick flash of terror in the younger woman’s eyes, the same one Laney saw every time she looked in the mirror, called to the part of her that would do anything to save the orphanage. Unfortunately, her efforts never proved enough. Oh, she provided a home, material luxuries, and even love, but she had yet to figure out a way to erase the one thing the orphans all shared.

Uncertainty.

Mistrust and fear lived in all their gazes, in their very souls. It was one thing to teach the children about Christ’s love, quite another for them to accept the Lord in their hearts, fully, and without reservation.

If only it were easier for them to believe they mattered, truly mattered, as precious children of God. But their pasts didn’t allow for a straightforward, trouble-free path to salvation. The choice to believe was an individual matter, one Laney couldn’t settle for anyone but herself, despite her desire to do so for the children in her care.

When she’d stared into Dupree’s eyes, Laney had seen a similar restlessness and need for peace.

Could that have been why she’d come so close to sharing her troubles with him? Because something deep within her had recognized a hurting soul like her own?

No. Ridiculous, dangerous thinking. Clearly, she’d lost her perspective. Thanks to the harsh reality of life as the daughter of a prostitute who’d killed herself with too much laudanum, Laney knew better than to rely on a man, any man. After witnessing her mother’s choice of lifestyle and eventual destruction, how could Laney toss away her caution after one evening in the company of Marc Dupree?

A breeze kicked up, rustling the bushes lining the porch. The ominous quiver in her heart urged Laney to pull Katherine toward the house. “Inside. Quick.”

“Why the urgency?” Katherine looked behind her. “Laney? Are you in trouble?”

Concentrating on hustling the other woman inside the house, Laney tugged harder. “Quickly, Katherine. Quickly.”

Once in the front parlor, with the dark night firmly locked outside where it belonged, Laney tossed Sally’s dress on a blue velvet couch. Katherine moved through the room lighting candles. Laney waited, savoring the moment of serenity passing through her. How she loved the soft, warm glow of real candlelight.

Katherine lit the last candle, turned and centered her gaze on Laney’s bare feet. “What happened to your shoes?”

Waving her hand in a dismissive gesture, Laney moved deeper in the room. “Nothing to concern yourself over.”

“Perhaps it’s time you shared the details of your evening with me.”

Laney worked her reticule free from her wrist then handed over the bag. “This is all you need to know.”

Fingers shaking, Katherine opened the satchel and caught her breath inside an audible gasp.

“It’s real,” Laney said with a smile.

Almost reverently, Katherine touched the money with a delicate caress, as though afraid it would disappear if she handled it improperly. “Oh, Laney.” Unshed tears pooled in her eyes. “Our troubles are truly over.”

Drawing closer, Laney peered inside the reticule as well. Why didn’t she feel the same joy she heard in Katherine’s voice? Perhaps because she’d come so close to losing it all. She hadn’t been prepared for Marc Dupree. Or her strange reaction to him. Or the inexplicable need to profess her situation and ask for his assistance, no matter how fleeting.

A thousand ripples of unease churned in her stomach, reminding her of the weakness she’d discovered in herself tonight, the unthinkable wish to rely on a man, a man with impossible standards she could never hope to meet.

“All right, Laney. What happened? You might as well tell me whatever it is you’re hiding behind that scowl.”

Sighing, she lowered to a brocade settee and gave up pretending everything had gone as planned. “I went to the Hotel Dupree to meet Judge Greene at the agreed upon time...”

She stopped midsentence, unsure how to continue. How could she tell Katherine about Marc Dupree and their strange run-in? “I don’t know if you should hear this, Katherine. You’re not like the rest of us.”

“Of course I am.”

“No, you’re not.” Laney softened her words with a smile. “Your mother only turned to prostitution after your father died. She never made you live among it. That alone makes you different. You’re also formally educated. You went to that prestigious school back East. What was it called?”

“Miss Lindsay’s Select School for Young Ladies.” Katherine sat beside Laney and set the reticule between them. “But that was my past. I’m here now, as much a part of Charity House as the rest of the orphans.”