Disclaimer: These characters/story do not belong to me. They belong to S. Meyer and C. M. Hake.
Chapter 1
Ellis Island
The Cullen brothers stood shoulder to shoulder along the ship's rail as the Anchoria cut through choppy water. The Statue of Liberty towered over the ship, but her welcome felt empty since Da wasn't beside them to see the sight.
Emmett nudged Edward, "I think she has the biggest feet I've ever seen." The joke lightened the tension among the boys.
All around them, folks craned to see the sight. Mothers clutched their children, and men stood taller. Opportunity. Freedom. They had saved and scraped and some nearly starved to pay for the voyage to America.
"Ellis Island," a sailor announced through the megaphone, "First -class passengers, remain on board. We will assist you with your luggage. Second-class, gather your belongings and prepare to disembark."
Edward shot a look to a woman coughing into a handkerchief. "Remember what I told you." Americans didn't want diseased immigrants. Processing newcomers allowed officials to turn back those they determined unfit. Da knew that, but he still insisted on making the trip.
"We're healthy as horses," Emmett said as he turned to go below. "I'm going to get our gear."
Jasper shifted sideways, "I'll come along."
Edward didn't say anything. He'd promised Da that they'd stay together, and he'd meant it. From now on, he'd be sure to keep the remnants of his family intact. They walked past the bunks to the berth they'd shared with so many others.
Emmett and Jasper knelt and pulled Jasper's trunk from beneath the bunk. Filled with cobbler's tool, it weighed a ton, but Jasper shouldered it with ease.
Edward reached beneath the trunk to feel for a package he'd secured there when they'd boarded. "Is it still there?" Emmett whispered.
"Aye." Edward untied the corners and carefully reclaimed his supply of medical instruments and medication.. Theft below decks had been a problem, and he was careful to protect these things from sticky fingers. "I'll put this in my bag now."
A physician's bag, a cobbler's trunk, and three suitcases. The Cullen brothers carried all their possessions off the ship and onto American soil. Workers herded them through lines and into a large wooden building.
Noise rose up within the building, and Jasper turned to his brothers. "All these different tongues, how are they supposed to process us? 'Tis like the Tower of Babel."
"How many do you hear?" Emmett had an uncanny ability to understand languages. "Four, five at least. Could be more. Two sound like Latin so probably Spanish and Portuguese." He shrugged.
The three men spent time in what looked a great deal like a livestock pen. Toddlers fussed and older folk slumped over wooden benches. Women went one way; men went another. Edward watched as each man underwent an examination. Those sensitive to light or with runny, red eyes received a mark on their coats. Those with consumption did as well.
"Destination?" The stocky man at the desk looked to Jasper for an answer.
"Texas," Emmett replied. He pulled Peter's letter from his vest pocket and laid it on the desk. Peter had enclosed a note with the letter, stating that New York would be filled with immigrants. Officials would be pleased that they were not staying in the area.
"I can see that you're brothers," that man gave them a wide smile. "Black Irish?"
"Scots," they said in unison.
"Brawny ones at that." The man scribbled something on a document still smiling at their answer.
Edward wondered how someone in the midst of this madness could manage to stay cheerful. Perhaps the news that they were headed away pleased him.
"What trades do you boast?" Emmett pointed at each of them in turn, "Doctor, cobbler, miner."
"Make yourselves useful then. America needs men of productivity." He stamped the documents and ushered them forward.
"Now what?" Jasper frowned. "This business of keeping our belongings somewhere dinna settle well with me."
A large man with a fringe of orange hair called them. He'd gathered several others around him, "Immigration Society!" He called loudly.
"There we are then." The lilt in his voice sounded wonderfully familiar. "America's a great land, but I need to be warnin' ye that many man waits across the harbor. They'll make promises to take what little ye've left, but 'tis little to no help you'll get in return. If you ken where ye be headed, we'll help transport you there at minimal cost and no fuss."
The brothers glanced at each other and stepped closer.
"Minimal cost and less fuss turned out to be an honest assessment," Edward said as he tucked his medical bag beneath the train bench and sat.
Emmett chuckled, "It bewilders me how you recall every last word a body says." One side of Edward's mouth lifted and he winked, "I can read their thoughts."
"How long's the trip?" Jasper folded his arms across his chest and took stock of the others in the seats, "Three days."
Edward watched the other passengers to. Long ago he learned he watched people just as closely as Jasper, but they saw very different things. From his perspective, he saw strained breathing, unhealthy complexions, and guarded moves, Jasper's focus fell upon eyes and hands because he'd learned to measure the ability to help or harm. Together they would evaluate their fellow passengers and exchange comments about things that struck as important.
Emmett, on the other hand, slouched so he'd be at eye level with a little boy. They'd struck up a conversation, and once the train moved forward, he had wrapped his arm around the lad's shoulder and rested his head against Emmett's ribs. The lad fell asleep in a few moments, and the mama gave Emmett a look of tired gratitude.
"Well?" Edward didn't look at Jasper when he asked.
"Right of the hairy man with a red jacket-man's armed. Behind us four rows are two Poles with fight in their eyes."
"That's all?" He chanced a glance at Emmett and gave a slow, easy grin.
"Aye." Jasper pulled his hat over his eyes and stretched his legs out. "I could whip all three of 'em without breaking a sweat, and you could wash the scratches off my hands." His chin dipped then, and before long he slumbered.
Edward couldn't sleep. As the train chugged across the nation. The clack-clack-clack didn't make him sleepy. It energized him.
Three days of stopping here and there, of changing trains, of going through big cities, around great stretches of nothing but land. From what Edward saw, America offered what every man craved; an opportunity to make something of himself.
In Scotland, the zinc mine was played out. Emmett would have faced the humiliation of having no earnings. Folks couldn't spend money on shoes when their families were starving, so Jasper had a drop in demand. Even Edward found he'd been paid far less by patients.
This was a fresh start.
They'd have a meager beginning, but that didn't trouble him, or his brothers, one bit. Motivated, strong men could forge a new life. Besides, they had one another. In the end, that's what mattered most.
