Alias John Allen

Chapter 1

As soon as Sister Theresa told Audra Barkley that a new man in town had agreed to help finance the new roof they wanted to put on the old orphanage building, so they could use it to expand the number of beds they had available, Audra was thrilled. The Barkleys had agreed that if they could find money for the roof, the Barkleys would foot the bill for the work that needed to be done on the interior stairwell and the wc. Another local group had agreed to pay for refurbishing the dormitories. Everything was coming together.

"Have you met this new man, Audra?" Victoria asked at breakfast.

"No, I'll meet him today," Audra said. "His name is Luther Madison and he's originally from Virginia, that's all I know."

"But he's wealthy enough to put on a new roof?" Nick asked. "I thought most southerners lost everything in the war."

"I don't know how much money he has or how he plans to finance the roof," Audra said. "I won't find that out until the meeting today. But it's wonderful that he's stepping up to help out even though he's so new. He just moved here."

"Is he single?" Heath asked with one of his lopsided grins.

"Now, why is it you men are always trying to marry me off to the latest man in town?" Audra asked. "You wouldn't approve anyway. He's Jarrod's age."

"That's not insurmountable," Heath said. "Lots of young women marry older men."

"Not without their brothers' approval, they don't," Nick said.

"I haven't even met him, so don't marry me off yet," Audra said.

"If he's brand new in town, perhaps we should have him for dinner sometime soon," Victoria suggested.

"I'd wait a bit on that," Nick said. "At least until he shows some interest in Audra." He grinned at his sister, and then said, "Besides, Jarrod's coming back in a couple of days. This guy Madison probably ought to take us in all at once."

Jarrod had been in San Francisco for several weeks, catching up on his business there. Nick had it in the back of his head that if this Madison fellow was Jarrod's age, Jarrod ought to at least pass judgment on him before Audra decided she was really interested.

"Let me at least meet him first," Audra said. "Who knows if I'll even like him?"

"Fair enough," Victoria said. "You can tell us all about him at dinner tonight."

Nick was chewing on a thought he didn't want to say out loud. If this Madison was Jarrod's age and from Virginia, he was probably involved in the war. On the Confederate side. A lot of ex-Confederates had made their way to California – so had a lot of ex-slaves – and so far things had been pretty quiet. No war breaking out all over again. Men pretty much getting along together all right. But then there was that name Madison, too – very famous name in Virginia. And if this guy had money, that probably meant he came from the slaveholding class, probably from a family that kept slaves themselves and lost them after the war but somehow avoided losing all their wealth.

"Nick?" Audra's voice woke him up.

"Huh?" Nick asked.

"I asked if you wanted to come to town with me and meet him yourself today," Audra said. "It might not hurt to have someone who actually knows about how to replace a roof there."

"Oh, not yet, I don't think," Nick said. "I'll let you get your money situation handled. Besides, Heath and I have a lot of fence to repair where that storm wind blew through and took out the trees on the west side."

"All right," Audra said. "I'll let you all know what I think of Mr. Madison when I get home tonight, but don't plan on the wedding just yet."

"We were only teasing," Heath said.

"But there's often a lot of truth behind teasing," Audra noted.

Heath shrugged and nodded.

XXXXXXXX

Luther Madison was not a tall man, just a little taller than Audra, and he was very fit, very handsome. Brown wavy hair and blue eyes and longish sideburns. When Sister Theresa introduced him and Audra, he bowed, took Audra's hand, and kissed it. "I am pleased to meet you, Miss Barkley," he said.

"Please, call me Audra," she said. "I'm pleased to meet you too, Mr. Madison."

"Luther," he said. "I've heard a lot about your family since I arrived in Stockton. I understand you own quite a large ranch and some other enterprises."

"That's pretty well known, but frankly, Luther, I haven't heard much about you."

"Oh, well, I live pretty modestly in a small house in town," he said. "My family owns quite a bit of land in Virginia and any extra money I make in my business dealings out west here I send back to them, to help keep the family homestead going."

"Then you think you'll be going back someday?"

"Perhaps, but that decision is several years away. Right now, I'm far more interested in getting a roof on this building you want your orphans to live in."

"We can't thank you enough for helping us on this," Audra said.

"After the war, there were many orphans who needed help in Virginia," Madison said. "I know how rough it can be for the little ones. A roof doesn't seem like much to ask from a man who's managed to build his own world back up."

Audra liked the way he put that. She liked a lot of things about this man – his manners, his lovely accent, the smile that was continuously playing around his mouth. "All these children will be grateful you've helped to rebuild theirs. Now, Mr. Coleman, the bank manager, is waiting to meet with us about how we're going to finance this. Are you ready?"

Madison offered his arm. "Lead the way, Audra. I am your servant."

They left together and walked toward the business district in Stockton, chatting as they strolled. Audra told Madison about her family members, about her involvement over the years with the orphanage – "I wasn't old enough to help at the end of the war, so I'm making up for it now," she told Madison. "We've had so many children become orphaned after epidemics like the influenza a few years ago."

"It was much the same in Virginia," Madison said. "We lost many more people to disease than we did in the battles, as did the Union side. A war against disease is a much harder one to fight."

"I hate that all we seem to be able to do is pick up the pieces," Audra said, "but I guess I should be grateful in a way. Every one of my family members got the influenza during the epidemic, but we all survived."

"Tell me, who is the architect who will be doing the work on the old orphanage, aside from replacing the roof, that is?"

"Oh, my brother Jarrod has an architect who built his house in San Francisco and has repaired his office here in the past after it was damaged in an explosion. He's working on the plans for the interior – we already have the money for that."

"What about the structural repair? Is he working on that, too?"

"Structurally, the building is quite sound, according to the engineer the architect is working with," Audra said. "Some repair work is necessary, but nothing structural on the roof and nothing that will cost even as much as the roof will. The work needed, except for the roof, is mostly cosmetic and to rework the interior to redo the classrooms into dormitories and like that. The new building has plenty of classroom space. What we need are beds."

"Well," Madison said, "it sounds like you have your plans well thought out."

"Yes," Audra said. "Lately it's just been a matter of funding."

They arrived at the bank, and Madison said, "Let's see if we can take care of that," as he opened the door for Audra.

She smiled, and went in. She not only felt buoyed by how the planning and the money seemed to be coming together for the orphanage project. She liked Luther Madison. He was quite a gentleman, and he certainly seemed to care about the orphans. From his experiences in Virginia, he certainly seemed to know a lot about them. And she liked that he lived modestly and sent money home to his family. There was something noble about that, something responsible and caring.

She liked him.