Wanted

Chapter 46

The woman seemed nice as she stood there looking down at him with an empathetic smile. She hid her hands in the front pocket of her white apron after she had shaken the marshal's and Mr Harris' hands.

John knew that this didn't have to mean anything. Mrs Edwards seemed nice at first too and people often wanted to look benevolent in front of people like Mr Harris. They assumed Mr Harris to be self-less and a good person just because he worked for a charity. John didn't think Mr Harris was all that charitable himself. He was no better than the marshal. They were both just doing their job.

When she opened the door, she had seemed surprised at first, like someone who had been waiting for an order for a long time but then forgotten all about it because it arrived much later than expected. She caught herself quickly though and brought the small party into her sizable kitchen and apologised for not bringing them into their parlour, as she called their good room. She had to keep an eye on her husband' supper, she explained. He was out pricing a job with their son. She didn't want the food to burn.

It was Friday. It smelt like fish. Had he been hungry, he wouldn't have minded.

Mr Harris did the introductions and told John to take off his cap and shake her hand when she came forward to greet him. John was glad she shook his hand gently. His shoulder was still quite sore and pretty useless.

There was not much he could tell her about John, Mr Harris told her. His surname was Finnegan and he was 12 years old. He didn't know his exact date of birth, he told her apologetically. Neither did he know anything about John's parents but promised to write back to the agency in New York for more information.

He didn't tell her anything about where they got John from, nothing about Walls' ranch, nor about Jeremiah. He didn't say anything about the Indians that were living there too, nor about the ridiculous claim by the doctor, that he had been kidnapped and that they were trying to turn him into an Indian. He didn't tell her about how sick John had been on the journey, nor the injuries he had from being attacked by the cat. He didn't tell her about Edwards, not about the Blacksmith and nothing about the two farms he'd been on previously with his little brothers.

Of course, Mr Harris couldn't have known about John's father who drowned not that far from where they were now, but Mc Manus seemed to have known a whole lot more about him than John had liked, and he had assumed he would have shared that information with the local representatives when he left him with the Blacksmith that time, so that John was wondering if Mr Harris withheld the information on purpose or if he really knew that little about him.

All he did tell the woman, whose name he learnt was Mrs McCarthy, was that John had come in on one of those trains that brought the orphans out West, to good Christian homes like hers and that he was instructed to bring the boy directly to them, by 'judge's orders', he concluded importantly. 

He offered to stay until her husband arrived or come back later if that was what she'd prefer. He needed to go through the list of their responsibilities with Mr McCarthy and get him to sign the contract.

Mrs McCarthy politely told him that this was not necessary. He could tell her instead and she would sign the contract herself as well.

"Are you sure, ma'm?" Mr Harris asked, and added, "It'd be no trouble to wait or come back."

The woman raised an eyebrow at him in a way that reminded John of Jeremiah. "Quite sure, Mr Harris. Where do I sign?" she simply replied.

When they were finished, she made a point of telling the marshal and not Mr Harris to pass on her regards to her brother, the Judge who signed the order, when he'd next see him. John could see Mr Harris purse his lips in annoyance while the marshal reciprocated her friendly smile.