Shadow of Love: Love Changes Everything! Book 5 (The Shadow Series) Read online

  Shadow of

  Love

  Barbara Goss

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this book is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage system without express written permission from the author.

  Copyright © 2016 Barbara Goss

  All Rights Reserved

  Kindle Edition

  Cover design by: Samantha Fury

  Characters:

  The Armstrong Family

  Father – George

  Stepmother- Phoebe

  Children: Jonas (Ivy); Caleb (Julia)

  Jonas and Ivy (Zoe and Joanna)

  Caleb and Julie (no children)

  The Jeffries Family

  Father - Hiram

  Mother- Lavinia

  Children: Ivy (Jonas); Violet (Miles); Rose (Quinn)

  The Iversons

  Father - Calvin

  Mother - Pearl

  Quinn (Rose) and Peggy

  Eliza and Jeremy- out of state

  The Crofts

  Julia (Caleb)

  Miles (Violet)

  Billy (Anna)

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  The End

  Chapter 1

  Louisiana Forester stepped off the train in Abilene, Kansas. She brushed dust from her worn gray, cotton dress, and rubbed the dirt from her worn boots on the back of her stocking-clad legs. Louisiana looked up and down the dusty street, shielding her eyes from the bright mid-morning sun. She squinted in order to read the signs on the building fronts. She figured someone in this small town must know Hattie Forester, if that was still her name. She walked into a building labeled M & L Dry Goods Store. Once her eyes adjusted to the dimness after coming in from the bright sunshine, she approached the middle-aged man behind the wooden counter.

  “I’m looking for Hattie Forester,” she said.

  “So is everyone in these parts,” he said, as he straightened a display on the counter before him.

  “Excuse me?” Louisiana asked.

  “She fled some time ago once her gambling debts had finally caught up with her.” He raised his eyebrows, “Are you a friend of hers? If so, I wouldn’t go around advertising it, because she has plenty of enemies here in Abilene.”

  Louisiana thought fast, something she’d gotten used to, being on her own since she turned thirteen. Her mother had been a “window waver” on the docks of New Orleans. She and Anna had lived from day to day in a two-room flat over a warehouse. Sometimes her mother wouldn’t come home for days. Anna would have to always think, and think fast to survive—telling the truth was not one of her survival tools.

  “Actually, she owes me money, too” Louisiana finally said to the man. “So, if she isn’t in Abilene, I might as well move on.” Louisiana threw her small bundle, containing her earthly possessions over her shoulder, and went out into the street.

  Now what? She thought.

  Louisiana, who went by the name of Anna, never had a father—at least, not one that her mother could identify. Her mother had died a few months ago, and she had no family left except for her mother’s sister, Hattie. Anna had sold all of her mother’s belongings and bought a train ticket, with the hope of finding Hattie, her only other family member. Anna had dreams while on the train that Hattie had perhaps married the man she’d run off with, and had a house full of children, and would be only too happy to welcome Anna into her home.

  Well, that dream just went up in smoke.

  She scuffed along the wooden walkway, with her mind churning out a plan. She had little money left. She’d been so sure she’d have a home with her aunt.

  This town didn’t bustle like New Orleans. It seemed dead in comparison. The walkways and streets seemed nearly deserted. Anna’s stomach growled. She couldn’t remember when it was that she’d eaten last. She wandered down the other side of the street, looking for something or someone that would give her an idea of what to do next.

  Anna came upon a deserted building with boarded windows and doors. She sat on the lopsided steps to think. She looked up at the slightly tilted building with its gray paint peeling from its wooden facade, and wondered if there was a way she might be able to get inside. At least that way she'd have some shelter until she was able to think of a plan.

  She walked around the building, testing the boards on the windows, fumbling with the planks until she finally found a loose board. She yanked on it, and almost got it down, but it remained handing by a single, huge nail, and refused to budge. She kept pulling, despite the wooden splinters scraping her hands.

  “What are you doing?”

  Anna spun around at the sound of the woman’s angry voice.

  “Well?” the woman asked, with a frown. “Who are you, and what are you doing?”

  Anna thought her to be a middle-aged woman, wearing about as much makeup as her mother had. She would have reminded Anna of her mother except that this woman was more heavily set, and so tall she practically towered over Anna. Dressed all in purple with a matching feathered hat, the woman stood with her hands on her hips scowling at Anna.

  Anna stood there, tongue-tied. What could she possibly say? She was caught trying to break into a building. All she could do was to simply stare at the woman and shrug, since there wasn’t a whole lot she could say as she'd been caught red-handed. She was embarrassed, but not afraid. She’d grown up on the streets, and had developed a pretty tough skin over the years.

  “Come here,” the woman said, a bit more kindly. Her eyes seemed to scrutinize Anna from top to bottom.

  Anna moved to stand before the imposing figure of a woman.

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Louisiana. ”

  “I didn’t ask where you were from, I asked for your name.”

  “My name is Louisiana, but I’m called Anna, Anna Burke”

  “How old are you?” the woman asked.

  “Twenty,” Anna lied. “How old are you?”

  “Thirty-five.”

  Anna gave her a knowing smile.

  The flashily dressed woman grinned back. “My name is Lucy and I run the boarding house over there.” She nodded toward a large, well-kept, two-story house at the end of the street.

  Anna stared at the lovely, yellow house, with flowerbeds and flowering window boxes under every window.

  “Do you have family or friends here in Abilene?” Lucy asked.

  “I lived with my aunt, but she recently died, so I’m on my own. I couldn’t pay the rent on her house, so I’m out on the street,” Anna said, hoping that Lucy would be sympathetic and offer her a room at her boarding house.

  “You look sixteen, Louisiana,” Lucy said, eying her carefully.

  “Seventeen, but my birthday is next week. And I prefer Anna,” she sai
d. She hated to be called Louisiana. “And you look more like forty.”

  “I’m nearly fifty, but thank you,” Lucy said with a smile that made the skin near her eyes wrinkle. “Well, you’re in luck! I just happen to have a vacancy at my boarding house. Can you clean?”

  Anna nodded. “I did all the cleaning where I came from.”

  “If you can do some cleaning and odd jobs for me, I’ll consider the rent paid,” Lucy said. “How does that sound?”

  “And meals?” Anna felt her stomach lurch again with hunger.

  “Certainly. Come with me Miss Louisiana.” Lucy led Anna to the lovely, flowery, yellow house at the end of the street.

  Lucy showed Anna to a small but clean room, and then told her to wait, and to make herself comfortable.

  Anna peered around the room. Against one wall stood an old four-poster, with a faded, multi-colored quilt covering it. On another wall stood a scratched dresser, with a round, faded mirror over it. Over the bed was a painting of two naked cupids hugging. The mattress squeaked as she sat down on the bed to await Lucy.

  Lucy returned with a tray of food, and Anna’s mouth nearly watered. She gobbled down a bowl of stew, and gulped down two glasses of milk.

  “Now,” Lucy said, “I’ll show you around.”

  Downstairs, at the very rear of the house she was led to a large kitchen, complete with a corpulent cook. She could see the small backyard through the screened door, and noticed multi-colored women’s apparel flapping away on the clothesline.

  They walked toward the front of the house and passed through a dining room and a small sitting room—the door to her bedroom opened into this room. At the very front of the house was a large, fashionably furnished parlor. The room was decorated in red, black, and gold, and it took Anna’s breath away. As they walked through, Anna viewed beautiful, frilly-shaded lamps, and black wallpaper embossed with golden hearts. The three sofas in the room were red and gold tapestry. To the far right was a Mahogany, curved staircase, as wide as a carriage, with large, carved, newel posts.

  They proceeded up the stairway.

  At the top of the stairs her eyes were drawn to the long, wide hallway with closed doors on both sides of the hall.

  “These are the boarder’s rooms. You will clean each one daily, and make the beds. We have a woman who does the laundry, but collecting it for her will be your job,” Lucy said.

  Anna huddled beneath her quilt that night, listening to the sounds of the town through her open window. She heard music wafting in from the saloons, laughter, and sometimes even a fight breaking out. Inside the boarding house, things weren’t quiet, either. All the boarders seemed to be young women, and she heard male visitors coming and going.

  The thought suddenly occurred to her exactly what type of house it must be. Well, she’d not stay long. She’d figure out what her next move would be in a day or two. The last thing she wanted was to live an unhappy, worthless life like her mother had.

  Anna spent the next few days scrubbing floors, washing dishes, ironing dresses, and dusting. She caught Lucy watching her, often. Anna wondered if she was checking on her work. She still had no idea as to what she should do next. She needed a job that paid money so she could take a train… somewhere. She sometimes cried herself to sleep; for she’d finally found herself in a situation she couldn’t finagle her way out of.

  After about four days, Lucy approached her.

  “You’re doing a fine job. How would you like to step up to a job that pays your rent as well as puts some money into your pocket?”

  “I’m not going to work upstairs,” she said positively. “My mother died from doing that.”

  “We are very careful here. We make sure everyone is clean,” Lucy said. “There is good money to be made. Some nights you can make as much as twenty dollars.”

  “Really?” Anna felt tempted. She thought if she did “it” just a few times, she’d have enough money to leave Abilene, go back to New Orleans, and look for some honest work. If she was going to be alone in a city, it might as well be one with which she was familiar.

  “Have you ever…” Lucy hesitated, twitching her red lips as she tried to think of the right word.

  “No.” Anna knew what she was trying to ask. She’d never lain with a man before. That kind of intimacy scared her after seeing what it did to her mother and she had to watch her die a slow and painful death.

  “That's perfect! You can make twice that much the first night on the job, if that's the case!” Lucy exclaimed.

  “Really?” Anna thought this might be her only way out of a bad situation. “Does it hurt?”

  Lucy laughed. “No, it’s rather enjoyable, actually. All the girls seem to like it.”

  Anna thought hard about Lucy’s offer as she went about her duties. As she cleaned the rooms of the “boarders” she got to know some of the women. They all seemed happy and cheerful, so they must enjoy what they were doing. This puzzled Anna, because her mother had never been happy.

  Lucy approached Anna the following day. “So, have you made up your mind?”

  “I want to, really I do. I need the money, but I need more time; I’m still afraid.”

  “I’ll give you all the time you need, but there’ll be no pay for cleaning, since that’s your room and board.”

  One of the upstairs women Anna got to know while she cleaned was Mae. When she swept under Mae’s bed, she brushed out a piece of black underclothing.

  “Oops,” Mae said, as she came into the room. “I wondered where that went. Things got a bit wild last night.”

  “Are you happy doing this sort of work?” Anna asked.

  “Happy? Sure, why?” Mae said, sitting down on the bed.

  “Lucy wants me to work up here, but I’ve never…you know. I’m thinking about it, but I’m a bit afraid.”

  “If you have no other options, like me, then you might as well do it. After the first few customers, you’ll become used to it, and even enjoy it if you get a good looking, gentle bloke,” Mae said with a laugh.

  “Do the men treat you well?” she asked, remembering how the men had treated her mother rudely and sometimes even roughly.

  “Every so often you get a guy who likes it rough, but Lucy is pretty good at knowing which girl to give that type to. And it’s not me, that’s for sure,” Mae said. “So what scares you about making an easy living?”

  “My mother did what you do, and she died from a disease she caught from a customer. I saw men come, sweet-talk her, and then leave and never come back. I saw and heard a lot of things that scared me. Sometimes, when she asked for her money, they refused, and even knocked her around, and called her vile names. I hated it, especially when some of her customers, started to come after me.”

  Mae shook her head sympathetically. “Well, one of the perks of being in Lucy’s house is that she protects us. She doesn’t let any riff-raff in, either. I’ve never been mistreated—oh, except for that once, but Lucy threw him out on his ear, and barred him.”

  “I think you should tell Lucy you’ll do it. I’ll help you through it.” Mae said, patting her hand.

  “Thank you,” Anna said. “I just need to earn enough money for a train ticket.”

  Chapter 2

  Billy Croft stepped off the train and walked the short distance to Quinn Iverson’s livery. Quinn greeted him warmly.

  “You’re looking good. I swear you’re a foot taller,” Quinn said.

  “Not taller, probably thinner, though. The food at the seminary left a lot to be desired,” Billy said. “You look a lot happier since I saw you last. I think Julia mentioned you and Rose got married, and now have a little son. Congratulations.”

  Quinn’s chest seemed to swell with pride. “Yes sir, I’m a happy family man, now.”

  “I need a horse,” Billy said. “I want to visit my sister, and then I need to visit some churches to look for a job.”

  “Hey!” Quinn exclaimed. “Reverend Martin’s leaving us, and his position will ne
ed to be filled, very shortly. You should apply.”

  “You aren’t putting me on, are you? Seriously?” Billy’s heart pounded in his chest. “This could be the fastest answer to my prayers, yet.”

  “A very nice home goes with the job,” Quinn said. “And the pay is more than fair. Talk to Jonas and Caleb—they’re both elders, and will be sitting on the panel to select the next minister.”

  “And Caleb’s my brother-in-law!” Billy said. “This has to be God’s doing. I can’t believe all these doors are opening for me. It must mean it's meant to be.”

  Billy Croft knocked on the door of his sister, Julia, and her husband, Caleb’s, house. He was excited, since he hadn’t seen either of them for over two years. Rather than come home for holidays, he’d stayed and worked at the lumberyard near the college. Caleb and Julia had paid for his tuition at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis Missouri, but he only earned enough for personal expenses, and to start a nest egg for when he finally graduated, which he planned to use to carry him over until he found a position.

  Julia opened the door and squealed with delight when she recognized the visitor. She threw her arms around him, almost knocking him down the steps in the process, and Billy had to grab the porch railing to stay on his feet.

  “Billy!”

  “It’s good to see you, sis. How are you? Where’s Caleb?”

  “Caleb took a horse into town to be shoed. He’ll be so surprised to see you. You’ll stay for supper?”

  “Sure. I was hoping you’d ask.” He smiled. She looked as beautiful as ever. “Has Caleb been taking good care of you?”

  “The best. I hope you’ll someday find what we have, Billy. We’re still so much in love, and our Miles has the perfect wife; you’ll love Violet. We’ve surely been blessed. Though, God has not yet gifted us with a baby, we did adopt a young man who’ll you’ll soon meet.”

  “I didn’t know. You never wrote about it,” Billy said.