Read My Heart Remembers for Free Online Page B

from Shallow Creek, thinkin’ we’d choose us a new son. Our own Titus died of the fever last winter. Me an’ the missus have missed havin’ a boy around the place.”
    Watts caught Mattie’s collar and hauled him forward. “This boy came off the train. He needs a home.”
    Maelle leaped to Watts’s side, the betrayal stinging like a slap. “He ain’t needin’ a home! He’s got one—with you!”
    Watts clamped a hand around the back of Maelle’s neck and squeezed, silencing her. “I took both of these ’cause they were all that was left, but I really only want the one. You can take the smaller boy, if you want. I was gonna leave him in the orphanage in Springfield, but it’d probably be better if he went with a family.”
    Maelle watched in mute horror as the man went down on one knee before Mattie.
    “What’s your name, boy?”
    Mattie’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his skinny neck. “Matthew Gallagher, sir.” The words came out in a hoarse, quavering whisper.
    “Matthew. Good strong Christian name.”
    The wife leaned forward, her hand stretching out to touch Mattie’s cheek. Mattie shrank away, and the woman’s fingers trembled. “Got brown eyes, just like our Titus.”
    Without another word, the man scooped Mattie into his arms. Mattie let out a squawk of protest and began to kick, reaching for Maelle. The man didn’t even seem to notice Mattie’s actions. He headed for the door, his wife and the little girls scuttling ahead of him.
    Maelle wrenched free of Watts’s grasp and charged after them. “Come back here! You canna be takin’ him! You canna be takin’ me brother!”
    The man swung Mattie into the back of a weather-worn wagon. Mattie made as if to scramble out again, but the man said in a low tone, “Stay put.” He turned and caught Maelle’s shoulders, crouching to her level. “Don’t make this harder’n it needs to be.”
    Warm tears splashed down her cheeks. “But . . . but . . . please take me, too!”
    The man gave her a shake. “Can’t afford to feed you. We can only take one. I’m sorry. I can see you’re a fine boy. But we’ll take good care o’ this’n.”
    The woman crowded close, her linked fingers beneath her chin. “Please don’t carry on. I need that little boy. Got a ache in my heart that can’t be filled no other way.”
    Maelle knocked the man’s hands away from her shoulders and swiped the tears from her cheeks. “You’ll be lovin’ me brother?” The words were more demand than question.
    The woman nodded. “Like he was my own.”
    Miserably, Maelle turned to the man who still hunkered before her. “Can I at least be sayin’ a proper good-bye?”
    Catching her beneath the arms, he lifted her into the wagon bed. Mattie sobbed as she pulled him snug against her chest. His hat fell off, and Maelle stroked his rumpled curls and murmured soothing sounds.
    Eventually she pulled back and took Mattie’s face in her hands. “Ya got the photograph, Mattie, don’t ya?” She waited for his nod. “You’ll always be rememberin’ Ma an’ Da an’ baby Molly an’ me. An’ someday I’ll be findin’ ya. We’ll be together.”
    Tears coursed down Mattie’s pale cheeks. “Ya promise me?”
    Maelle hugged him again. “I promise ya.” She choked on her words. “No matter how long it takes or how big ya get.”
    His face pressed to her neck, Mattie asked, “If I get big, how will ya be knowin’ me?”
    Maelle pulled loose and forced a smile. “By the photograph. Just as I’ll be knowin’ Molly by the Bible. An’ you’ll be knowin’ it’s me when I show ya Ma’s letters tied up in the pink ribbon.”
    Mattie nodded.
    “Be good for these people,” Maelle instructed, using her best big sister voice. “Don’t be shamin’ our da, ya hear?”
    “I’ll be good,” Mattie promised.
    Just as she had Molly, Maelle kissed her brother’s cheeks and forehead. She whispered, “I’ll always be lovin’ ya, Mattie Gallagher.”
    The man stepped to