The Hungry Heart Fulfilled (The Hunger of the Heart Series Book 3) by Shannon Farrell

ship.”
    Charlie smiled
    weakly.
     
     
Adrian’s face fell
    as he listened to
    the boy reminiscing about their times together on the Atlantic
    crossing, but
    then recovered his composure, and declared, “Well, I can’t
    leave you here on
    your own, with no one to look after you. Do you think you’re well
    enough to come in the carriage
    with me to go
    and see Emer?”
     
     
“Oh yes, please! But I wouldn’t want
    to be a burden to
    her.”
     
     
“No burden at all.   There will be
    plenty of people to
    look after you at the home, and I’m sure she will be delighted
    to see you.”
     
     
“I’m called
    Charlie, sir, and thank
    you for your kindness.”
     
     
“I’m Adrian. Charlie, yes, I
    remember hearing tales
    about you and Fred,” Adrian said as he gathered up the boy in
    his arms, and
    carried him down to the carriage.
     
     
“Aye, poor Fred,
    God rest him.”
     
     
“Poor you, for by
    the looks of
    things, you haven’t fared well,” Adrian observed kindly,
    before settling him
    into the seat.
     
     
“I was out west
    with some of the
    other men, looking for work
    logging and such like, but the winter was bitter, and I ended
    up at Emer’s sister
    Brona’s house, frozen in, and we nearly all starved.
     
     
’Tis a poor piece of ground he has for
    farming, though it's
    a large enough holding.
    Michael’d
    be better off with livestock, but of course he can’t afford
    any, and the
    winters here are nothing like Ireland.
     
     
We had some terrible hard times, sir, yes, sir, but
    don’t tell Emer I
    said so. She
    will only worry.”
     
     
“Emer still has a
    sister?” Adrian
    asked in surprise.
     
     
“That’s right, two
    in fact, but they
    got married and left the family. I
    think it was pretty rotten of them leaving Emer to do
    everything for her family
    and friends on Grosse Ile.
    I was
    sorry she crept away in the night before I had a chance to say
    goodbye,”
    Charlie sighed.
     
     
Then his head
    lolled weakly against
    the side of the carriage, and he began to doze.
     
     
“Don’t worry
    Charlie, you’ll soon be
    all together again. You
    just have
    to concentrate on getting well,” Adrian said pityingly as he
    tucked the
    skeletal boy in with one of his traveling rugs.
     
     
Adrian’s carriage
    then crossed the
    river on the ferry, and drove on through the night towards
    Emer’s house.
     
     
Just as they were
    nearing the
    orphanage, he saw Madeleine Lyndon running through the woods,
    the hem of her
    bright pink gown luminous in the moonlight.
     
     
“Good lord. Causing trouble
    again, I have no
    doubt,” Adrian muttered to himself, having heard all about the
    party at the
    Hearsts the night before from Myrtle.
     
     
Charlie also saw
    the woman. “Friend
    of yours, is she sir? For
    a moment I thought she was a
    ghost.”
     
     
“What a novel idea,
    pink phantoms,”
    Adrian teased, ruffling the boy’s hair. “We’re nearly there now.
    Are you all right?”
     
     
“Fine, I just can’t
    wait to see
    Emer, that’s all.”
     
     
“Don’t let yourself
    become unduly
    excited. You
    need to take my
    medicines, and plenty of water, and concentrate on getting
    well.”
     
     
“I will, Doctor," Charlie promised, "cuz I got
    something to
    live for now.”
     
     
Adrian lifted the
    boy out of the
    carriage, and brought him straight in the front door, where
    Emer and Sissy were
    waiting to greet the doctor.
     
     
Emer stared for a
    few seconds at his
    burden, and exclaimed happily, “Charlie! Oh here, bring him into the
    library, and put him on the
    sofa. Where did
    you find him? What’s
    wrong with him?”
     
     
“One thing at a
    time, Emer. He
    has cholera. I
    was with Dalton trying to trace the
    source of the infection, and this young man recognised Dalton,
    and told me he
    was a former shipmate of yours from the Pegasus . I couldn’t
    leave him in that slum, and
    so I thought he would be better off here,” Adrian explained as