Caleb sat quietly on the cart and stewed over his choices. The mystery of his family had always been very important to him. He had always wondered just why he was left behind, or what might have led up to the events placing him in that orphanage. The answers sat so very close to him now. Or at least a very good lead. They were just down the road in a farmhouse. He needed to know more.

"Caleb?" Edward kept his face low to the ground, as if nibbling stray grass. His voice was so quiet the boy nearly missed it. "What are you planning to do?"

Caleb licked his lips as he tried to formulate a reply. What would he do? "I will do the right thing."

"What's that?"

Caleb sighed. "I don't know. I suppose talk to Sarah. I mean, grandmother. If she doesn't think we can take the time to talk to him now, then after we save Lydia, I'll come back myself to find him. I don't think he'll mind if I have to delay our visit. But if he can tell me about my parents, I must see him." He paused, then sheepishly added. "I do hope that Sarah thinks we have the time, though. I would like to know now."

Edward nudged him affectionately. "So do I."

~~~~

Sarah returned to the cart as the market began to dwindle. She did not think she would find any more useful information today. What they had would have to be enough. "Calvin, start packing up. I think we're just about done here." She sighed heavily as she began to stack the books they had not sold back together. "Doesn't look like too much went, did it. I suppose books like these are not the most common market commodity. We'll have to see if there's a shop around here that might be willing to take some of them off our hands."

Caleb nodded absently as he began loading books back into his cart. "Before we decide what to do for the night, grandma, I need to talk to you, please. There was a man here earlier that I was speaking with, and I want your opinion on what he said."

Sarah felt a frown cross her face as she looked over at the young boy beside her. "Is this a good conversation or a bad one?"

"Good, I think." Caleb hesitated, wondering exactly how he could clue her into what it was about without giving them away. After a moment he tentatively added, "he called me by dad's name." If it weren't for the slight hitch in Sara's breath, Caleb might have believed that she had not heard him. He peeked over at the stern woman just in time to see her nod once in acceptance. He relaxed, knowing that they would have a chance to talk things over before he lost his chance completely. One way or another, he needed to figure out a plan for how he would speak with this man.