Rory's Promise by Michaela MacColl, Rosemary Nichols

focused on her as she moved forward. Rory only walked fifteen feet, but the journey felt far longer than the distance she had already traveled from the Foundling.
    Little William shouted, “Hey, it's Rory!”
    Sister Eileen shushed him and watched Sister Anna nervously.
    Sister Anna looked almost like her usual self, except for the set jaw. Step by step, Rory waited for some sort of sign, a clue as to what Sister Anna might say or do. Finally she stopped in front of Sister Anna and waited. After a long moment of silence, Rory realized that Sister Anna was waiting for her to speak.
    “Hello, Sister Anna.”
    Her eyes dark with an emotion Rory couldn't quite identify, Sister Anna said, “Rory.”
    “I couldn't let Violet go alone. So I came too.” There it was. Her confession and her explanation. It was up to Sister Anna now.
    “And what about the children you were responsible for back at the Foundling?” Sister Anna asked. “Did you just abandon them?”
    Rory pinned her arms against her stomach. Sister Anna was right: Rory had thought only of Violet and left the little ones without so much as a goodbye. What kind of person could do that?
    “You lied to me!” Sister Anna said suddenly, as though the words couldn't stay inside her any longer. Now Rory recognized the look. It was betrayal. Her own face had looked the same when Sister Anna had disclosed her plans for Violet.
    Rory sucked her cheeks in to keep from crying. Had Rory pushed Sister Anna away for good? “Violet's my family. It was wrong of you to take her away,” Rory cried. “And it was wrong of you to try and make me like it!”
    Sister Anna spoke past lips tight with anger, “You have togo back to New York.”
    Violet lifted her face from Rory's skirt and shrieked. “No! Rory can't go away again!” Violet clung even tighter to Rory's legs and began to sob.
    Rory's heart was thudding louder than the steel wheels on the train tracks. She had come too far to be sent back now. Somehow she had to convince Sister Anna to let her stay. She said, “I'll just run away again. And then I'd have to get to Arizona on my own.” Rory didn't want to sound like she was threatening Sister Anna; she was just saying the truth.
    “Nevertheless, you don't belong on this train,” Sister Anna said. “At the next city we stop at, I'll make arrangements to send you home.”
    “I don't have a home. I'm an orphan!”
    “You always have a home at the Foundling,” Sister Anna said in a clipped voice that discouraged argument.
    Rory ignored the warning signs and barged ahead. “Like Violet does? How about the other fifty-six?” Before Rory could say anything else, she saw Mr. Swayne coming up the aisle. His suit had tiny, dirty handprints all over the trouser legs. He coughed to get Sister Anna's attention.
    She turned around. “Yes, Mr. Swayne?”
    “With all due respect, Sister, it won't be easy to send her back. I don't have money in my budget to be buying extra tickets. And how will I find someone reliable in a strange city to escort her?”
    Sister Anna stepped backward so she could see both Rory and Mr. Swayne. “We pay you to make the travelingarrangements. It's absolutely necessary that she returns to New York. Immediately.” Her voice was granite hard.
    “Sister?” Sister Eileen stood up from the seat where she had collapsed. Her face looked exhausted. Her complexion was pale. “Excuse me for interrupting. But as you know, Rory has a wonderful way with the little ones. They listen to her. And goodness knows we could use an extra pair of hands.”
    Rory schooled her face not to show satisfaction. She knew she'd been right from the start—none of these grownups had ever tried to take care of so many kids for so long. They needed her help. If only Sister Anna's anger and injured pride wouldn't keep her from doing the sensible thing.
    “Sister, if we let Rory stay, we're rewarding her disobedience.” Sister Anna was implacable. “It would be a terrible