Ruby Creek

By Chavah Ruth Fennel

Ruby Creek is a novel based on a girl named Ella Sweden who lived in England in the mid-1860s.
The story begins when Ella was a baby, and her parents left her at an orphanage, for they cant afford to keep her. As the years go by, Ella becomes a twelve-year-old beauty, still living in the Williamsburg Orphanage and thinking that she is an orphan. But with the help of her best friends, Annette Collins and Lillian Williamsburg, Ella discovers that her parents may still be alive. With the moral support of her friends, Ella risks everything that she holds dear to reunite her family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 9, 2010
• ISBN: 9781477164051

Chavah Ruth Fennel

Chavah (pronounced kah-vah) was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas on February 8, 2000. At a young age, her ability to write was noticed. When she was around seven years old, she took a particular interest in Maya Angelou, who is still her favorite poet today. She began homeschooling in 2008 and loved it. Chavah moved to northern California in that same year. She soon decided to become an author. One day, while she was sitting in the woods, she thought of Ruby Creek and decided that it would become her first novel. And this very story became her first published book.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Ella at the Orphanage

It was a cold rainy day in Northern England, the kind most Englishmen are accustomed to; but to Alice and Jack Sweden, this particular day was especially damp and chilling. Though they loved their little girl, they could not afford to feed themselves and their beloved child. Their only chance to keep her alive was to give her to an orphanage for girls in London. They wished they could keep her; but they knew that one day, after they’ve had a job for two or three years, they would be able to have her again if they made enough money throughout that time. So they got in their wagon and started their journey toward the orphanage. It took days for them to get to there. They traveled through a large forest that was full of dangerous animals like wolves and snakes that hid in these frightening woodlands. In towns everywhere, people said that it was the most dangerous area in the country. It was called Northern England Woods, but it was known by many as Wolves’ Territory. The young couple thought the stories were told just to scare everyone, but the townspeople were not making a foolish joke. Fortunately, the baby—whose name was Eleanor—and her parents made it to the orphanage safely. When they got there, they hid until Eleanor fell asleep. When she did, they placed her on the front steps of the orphanage, then they left in such a hurry that they forgot to leave their address, which they had written down in case something went wrong.

But they did put a red diary next to her (something to remind her of them).

When Eleanor woke up, she started crying, seeing that her parents had left her; and the elderly widow and orphanage keeper, Mrs. Williamsburg, heard the crying and went outside to see what it was. When she saw the child, she took pity on her and brought her in the orphanage.

Mrs. Williamsburg passed away of old age when Ella was three years old. Right before she died, she gave the orphanage to her grandson Jonathan Williamsburg. A few years later, he married a woman named Mary Cole; and soon after the wedding, they were ordered by the mayor, Sir William Gourde, to leave London and move the orphanage to Southampton. The mayor had seen the beautiful building and declared it to be his brand-new home.

This made Mary Williamsburg very angry because the last family member she had by blood was her father who lived sixteen miles away from London, and she used to visit him every month. He was very old and sick and refused to go to the hospital by saying that he was fine. Mrs. Williamsburg felt it was her responsibility to take care of him until he passed away. However, she could not argue with the mayor, so they moved the orphanage a half mile away from Southampton (approximately 80 miles from London).

Soon after that, Mrs. Williamsburg’s father passed, and she became ill out of sadness that she could not have been there for him for the last minute that he was alive, for she and her father were very close. As time went by, Mrs. Williamsburg was called a changed woman by all the neighbors; and she actually had changed a lot, for now she was cruel to the orphans and made them work hard like servants.

ONE YEAR LATER

Eleanor’s parents approached London in an old wagon with rattling wheels and with everyone staring at them curiously. They stopped in front of the building that the orphanage used to be in and knocked on the door. A butler with a curving mouth, curly moustache, bushy eyebrows, and dark piercing eyes opened the door and looked at the poor shaggy-dressed couple—with a questioning look in his eyes—for a few moments, then finally said:

What is it you want? he asked rudely. Eleanor’s parents exchanged surprised glances, then the mother spoke up and said, About four or five years ago, we left our little girl at this orphanage, and now we have come back to take her home.

The butler wrinkled his eyebrows and said in an unpleasant voice, This is no orphanage! This is Sir William Gourde’s home. And with that, he slammed the door shut. Eleanor’s parents heard a chuckle behind them and turned around. An old man dressed in black trousers and a black coat with a white button-up shirt under it was laughing hard. There was a time when that place was an orphanage, but it ain’t anymore. He laughed. Ella’s parents were covered in confusion. Where are you from exactly? Ella’s father asked, noticing he did not have an English accent. I’m from Tennessee, where I own myself a little piece of property. You see, I came over to these parts for my grandson’s wedding, and I have stayed here a while, he explained. You see, I… The old man kept going on but got interrupted by Eleanor’s mother. Do you happen to know exactly where this orphanage was moved to? she asked politely, even though one could understand why she was angry.

The old man sat down on an upside-down bucket to show them that he was tired, but Eleanor’s parents did not budge out of excitement over having their child back again. So the old man told all he knew. You see, a long time ago, that place, he said while pointing his gold-headed cane toward the old orphanage, used to be a place where they would keep orphans, he said. "But