A Home for Her Heart Read Online Free Page B

here. You’ll be welcomed.”
    The young woman turned the card over in her hand. “Heaton House.”
    “Yes. It’s where we live. And our landlady takes in temporary boarders from time to time.”
    There was a knock on the door and John said, “It’s me, Elizabeth. I have the receipt.”
    “That’s our friend, John Talbot. He got a receipt for you from the landlord.”
    Lacy opened the door and John handed her a piece of paper. “Keep that with you.”
    She looked at the paper. “I really don’t know what to say.”
    “Thank you is enough,” Elizabeth said. “And keep that receipt handy in case you need proof that your rent has been paid.”
    The woman nodded as Elizabeth and Millicent headed out the door. Just as they were about to leave, John turned to the woman. “You wouldn’t happen to know who owns the building, do you?”
    She shook her head. “No. The only person we ever see is Mr. Brown and then only when we pay the rent or he comes to collect. He’s not here half the time. Can never find him when we need anything.”
    “Is it always in this condition?”
    She sighed. “It is. I— Thank you again. I’ll try to repay you one day.”
    “Keep safe and lock this door,” John said.
    “Yes, I will.”
    Elizabeth led the way back downstairs, wondering if the other two were as glad to get out of there as she was. She could hear the click of Millicent taking pictures along the way and hoped they would be good enough to use in the Delineator or the Tribune.
    Once they were back outside, all three took deep, cleansing breaths—or they would be if the neighborhood had any clean air in it. It appeared that in spite of efforts to clean up the tenements, there was still much to be done.
    “Do we want to find the next building?” Elizabeth asked.
    “Maybe we should save that for another day?” Millicent suggested. “That was awful. I had no idea what it was like inside these buildings.”
    John looked from one to the other. “We can come another time. What do you think, Elizabeth?”
    She nodded. She had no desire to go into another building as bad as this one today. “Yes, let’s save it for another day.”
    It was a quiet walk to the trolley stop. Elizabeth didn’t know about the others, but her heart was heavy at the conditions they’d seen and it made her admire Kathleen even more. “When I think of Kathleen and her family living in similar surroundings, my heart breaks all over again for her. I am so happy she and Luke have found each other.”
    “I knew she’d lived in the tenements, but I never knew what kind of environment that meant until now,” Millicent said.
    “Her building wasn’t quite as bad as the one we just saw, but the living conditions aren’t good in any of them. Some of the landlords are better than others, though.”
    Millicent sighed and shook her head. “What a shame. I’m going to get off at Michael’s office and develop these photos. Hopefully I got some you can use. I’ll bring them back with me.”
    Mrs. Heaton’s son, Michael, had cleared out a large storage closet near his office in the building he owned and was letting Millicent use it for a darkroom until she could afford to set up her business elsewhere.
    “That’d be great, Millicent,” John said.
    “Yes, and thank you. You were a great help today.” Elizabeth couldn’t deny she had been.
    The trolley stopped a block away from Michael’s office and Millicent stepped into the aisle.
    “Do you want us to wait for you?” Elizabeth asked.
    “No need to. I’ll see you both later.” She gave a little wave and hurried down the aisle.
    John had been sitting across the aisle, but he quickly moved to the empty seat beside Elizabeth, filling the seat up much more than Millicent had. Elizabeth caught her breath as his shoulder touched hers when he leaned near to say, “I think she did get some good shots. Hopefully we’ll be able to use one or two for our articles.”
    “I hope so.”
    “Although