Chapter 5

When morning came, it was decided that Vin would be left in charge of JD, while Chris slept, and the other brothers carried out their assigned tasks. It was a big responsibility for a seven-year-old to take on, but his brothers knew Vin could handle it. Vin might be young, but his time fending for himself on the streets of Boston before he met Chris and Buck at the orphanage, had made him pretty resilient. Still, knowing Chris would be close by in case trouble arose, made the others feel a bit easier about leaving Vin and JD.

"I'm going to get us tickets on the earliest train heading west out of Boston," Josiah informed his brothers as he extracted a number of bills from the envelope of money Chris had found the evening before, " It might be as soon as tonight, so we all need to get our jobs done and get back here."

He handed Ezra, Buck, and Nathan a couple of bills before tucking the rest in his pocket, and returning the envelope to its hiding place.

"It shouldn't take me too long at the apothecary's," Nathan said as he took the money Josiah held out to him, "I'll head straight here as soon as I'm done."

"I'll hit the gunsmith's shop and obtain guns for you, Nathan, Ezra, and I before I go by Miss Mona's."

"Give Madame Ramona our sincere goodbyes, but curb your amorous tendencies and don't let any of Mona's courtesans distract you with their feminine wiles and keep you from completing your task of obtaining vital child rearing information from Mona,"

"I promise I'll keep it in my pants and make my goodbyes short and sleep," Buck grinned at him.

Ezra rolled his eyes while the others laughed.

"No stopping for a friendly game of cards or dice Ezra," Josiah admonished his Southern brother, "We need your nest egg money, along with what I just gave you, to cover whatever Mrs. Brown thinks we'll need for JD, as well as the supplies we need to start our journey west."

"Rest assured brothers, I have no intention of doing anything other than procuring the necessary items needed for us to properly care for JD, and see us off on our grand adventure," Ezra assured them.

"You have the list we made out?" Nathan asked him.

"I've got it right here, "Ezra patted his pants pocket.

"Can we have some candy for the trip?" Vin piped up from where he sat next to JD's basket.

All the brothers looked at Nathan. While Josiah was the oldest, and usually had the last word on important decisions, it was Nathan who cared for their health. Vin had a notorious sweet tooth and their healer brother was hard pressed to keep from overindulging in sweets.

He smiled at Vin's hopeful face, "I reckon Ezra can but a few sweets and penny candy for us to take on our trip."

Vin beamed at him, "Thanks Nathan."

"Nobody's going anywhere if the lot of you don't move off already and let me get some sleep," Chris growled from his pallet in the corner of their enclosure.

Grins broke out on the faces of his brothers. Chris was as mean as a grizzly when he was tired. Josiah and Nathan spoke a few words of advice to Vin on his caring of JD in their absence, before all four brothers departed to carry out their individual tasks.