The Year is 1901...

"Oh come on, love, it would only be for tonight." The woman clinging to my arm tells me. The perfume she wears is overpowering, making me want to gag, but, that isn't as bad as the smell of alcohol on her breath. "You gotta help me, it's pouring out and I've nowhere to go! If you let me, I can repay you in whatever way you choose..."

The hand that isn't grasping my bicep makes a grab from my crotch and I quickly, but gently, push her off of me. "Ma'am, I'm very sorry that you have nowhere to go tonight, truly, but, you must understand that I cannot take you back to my home. Now, I'd happily give you some money so that you may go somewhere and—"

My words are cut off by the cry of a young child. I look away from the woman and towards where I heard the noise. I turn back around, prepared to give the woman some money for a night at an inn, but she has vanished. Seeing that she is no longer there, I make my way to the cry of the child. Only a block down do I find the abandoned basket, which contains a child no older than one. The rain, which has been pouring for the last twenty of so minutes, has soaked through the wool blanket that is wrapped around the infant. Without hesitation, I remove my coat, and wrap the young child, who I now discover to be a girl, in the fabric. With one hand I hold the little one and with the other I carry the basket that contained her. It doesn't take long for us to arrive at my home.

"Maxwell!" I call out, placing the basket by the now closed front door. Moments later my butler walks into the room. Astonishment crosses his features as he notices the girl in my arms. "I was on my way home when I heard her crying, she was abandoned and I couldn't just leave her there. Would you please go get some fresh blankets from the laundry room? I will be in my bathroom, drying her off, thank you."

With a nod, I make my way up the stairs and to the bathroom. Once in the room, I place the young girl down and remove the coat from around her. She's shivering and I fear she'll catch a cold from being out in the rain for so long. Not long after I begin to remove the water from her with towels, Maxwell comes into the room with the blankets.

"Thank you, Maxwell."

"Of course, sir."

Half an hour later, the young girl is wrapped in a warm blanket and asleep in my arms. She looks so peaceful, and somehow, in an odd way, this seems right.

"What do you plan to do about this, sir?" Maxwell asks me, standing in the entrance of my bedroom. "Should we take the child to the orphanage?"

I don't look away from the child. There is something about her that is so special. I can't pinpoint it, but I know that I can't send her away to an orphanage. "We shall keep her here and I shall raise her," I respond. "In the morning we will go get everything an infant requires, we will create a bedroom for her, and she shall live with us."

"But what about her parents?"

"They left her, Maxwell. She wasn't just lost, she was abandoned." I can't imagine why though. The girl yawns and opens her dark brown eyes. A small smile appears upon my face as I see her looking up at me. "She is mine now."

(A/N: Hello everyone, I've decided that I would give this another try. I truly miss writing and hearing from all of you. It fills me with such joy to see how my stories have helped some of you or brought smiles to your faces. I thank those who have supported me and told me how much they've liked my stories, and I hope this will be a good start. Thank you again. -Alanna.)