“In the fall there will be another baby,” she said and stumbled through an explanation of the attack, admitting that there was much she didn’t remember. It proved even more difficult to tell of the night Martin died. When she spoke of hearing the shot and turning to see Ben Roland with the Winchester, the color left her face and tears filled her eyes.
“No one else knows,” she said. “Only you, me, Oliver, Ben Roland, and Virgil. The other children must never know what happened. It has to be that way.”
Caldonia nodded and swore she would carry the secret to the grave.
“If there comes a time when one of children questions why things are as they are, they might need to know the truth and if I’m not here…”
Clasping Eliza’s hand, Caldonia said, “Don’t you worry. If any of the kids ever need anything, I’ll be here. We may not be blood family, but we’re family all the same.”
That summer Eliza sent Edward Wolff a letter. In it she explained how Martin had disappeared again, but she had no wish to find him. She went on to say that Oliver and Ben Roland were growing up quickly and had already spoken of finding work.
Other than digging coal from the mine, there is little for a young man to do here in Coal Creek, she wrote, and although you have already done so much to help our family, I find I must ask for yet another favor. She said the boys would be most appreciative if he could give them a word of advice or guidance to assist in their search for employment.
The letter told of how she’d lost her father to the mine and hoped her children would have an opportunity to pursue a better life.
Daddy died in an explosion that came without warning, but I have watched so many others die a slow and lingering death from miner’s lung, their backs bent to where they can no longer stand straight, their eyes dimmed from the long hours spend in darkness, and their soul crushed by the bleakness of such a life. There is nothing I want more than to see my children move away from here and turn their backs on this fate.
On the last page, she said the brief time they’d spent in Barrettsville had enabled her and the children to know a life far better than they would ever find in Coal Creek.
Although circumstances did not permit us to remain there, the experience planted a seed of hope in their young hearts, and for that I will be eternally grateful.
She folded the seven-page letter into an envelope and sent it off.
Eliza received a response from Edward Wolff the first week of September. He apologized for the delay in getting back to her and said he had made several inquiries on behalf of the boys.
Alexander Dalworth, a longtime friend of mine and owner of the Superior Glass Company in Wheeling, has agreed to give both Oliver and Ben Roland a try. They will start as apprentices in the manufacturing plant and be given the opportunity for advancement once they have proven themselves capable.
Enclosed were two train tickets, the address of a nearby boarding house, the location of the Superior Glass Company, and the letter of introduction they were to give to Mr. Dalworth.
He closed by saying he thought Eliza a remarkable woman, and that while Martin was no longer welcome at the Masonic Lodge she could continue to call on him for whatever assistance she might need. He signed the letter, “Your admirer and friend, Edward Wolff.”
On the day the boys left, Eliza accompanied them to the train station. She kissed them on the cheek, told them to write once they were settled, and stood with tears brimming her eyes as she waved goodbye and watched the train disappearing in the distance. This was what she’d wanted for the boys, for all of her children, and yet it left a hole in her heart.
That October Eliza gave birth to a baby boy and named him Edward for the man who had shown her such great kindness. Over the years she thought of Mr. Wolff often. At times she wished she had married just such a man, but she never sent another letter. She felt it was better that way, for Mr. Wolff was a man she could quite easily fall in love with.
In the years that followed, the Hobbs family led a quiet life. Eliza