The Orphan Collector: A Heroic Novel of Survival During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Finn and Pia return to St. Vincent’s to learn more about Bernice. Mother Joe is still at the orphanage but does not believe their story about Nurse Wallis. Feeling defeated, they leave, but on the way out, Rebecca stops Pia. Rebecca explains that she has been working at the orphanage since she left the Hudsons’ and offers to help. Pia asks if she knows Nurse Wallis, and Rebecca explains that it was she who took her baby, Cooper, and gave him to the Hudsons. When Rebecca asked where her baby was, Nurse Wallis said she would tell her if she took the rattle there. Rebecca agreed. Pia asks if she remembers where she picked up the rattle from Nurse Wallis and then if Rebecca will take them there.

Nurse Wallis’s apartment is in a nice part of town, and Pia wonders if she could afford a place like this by selling babies. Rebecca points to the apartment building, explaining that when she came to pick up the rattle, Nurse Wallis was outside with an older couple and two young boys, whom the nurse kissed goodbye. Pia questions Rebecca about the boys and is hopeful that they are her brothers. She remembers that Nurse Wallis mentioned losing a son, but not that she had other children.

At the apartment, Nurse Wallis opens the door. Pia pushes her way into the apartment despite Nurse Wallis’s efforts to keep her out. Pia demands to know where her brothers are, searching for them frantically but finding no sign of children in the apartment. Nurse Wallis denies all of Pia’s accusations, insisting that she didn’t do anything wrong. Finally, Nurse Wallis says that Pia is too late; the twins died of tuberculosis, and Nurse Wallis got rid of all their belongings. Searching the apartment while Finn holds Nurse Wallis back, Pia finally finds what she is looking for: the ledger, which is full of names, dates, and ages and indicates whether Nurse Wallis sold the children in town or sent them away by train. Nurse Wallis kicks Finn and gets free. She grabs the ledger from Pia and throws it in the fire. Angry, Pia attacks Nurse Wallis, who grabs a knife. Finn shouts for Rebecca to get help, but Pia stops her: She can feel that Nurse Wallis is about to die. She explains that if Nurse Wallis tells them the truth, they will help her. Nurse Wallis tells them she put the twins on a train, but Pia doesn’t believe her. Nurse Wallis becomes more confused, her head starts to hurt, and her left arm hangs at her side. Unsure what is going on, Finn runs to get help. Nurse Wallis continues to refuse Pia’s offers of help and dies before giving Pia any information.

Finn returns with a police officer, and Rebecca and Pia pretend that Rebecca was feeling lightheaded but has recovered to keep the officer from seeing Nurse Wallis’s body. The officer leaves, and Pia explains that Nurse Wallis is dead. They search her apartment for any trace of Ollie and Max but find none. Rebecca leaves for work, and Finn questions Pia about how she knew that Nurse Wallis’s head hurt. Pia promises to tell him later.

Not ready to give up looking for her brothers, Pia knocks on the neighbor’s door. An elderly man answers. Pia has a feeling that he knows something about Nurse Wallis, but he doesn’t want to tell them. Pia asks if his wife knows anything. Finally, the couple admits that Nurse Wallis ruined their lives by sending the boys away. They spent lots of time with them, thought of them as grandchildren, and didn’t know how a mother could give her children away so easily. Pia asks if they know where the boys are, and the couple agrees to tell them.

The couple—the Pattersons—explain that one day, Nurse Wallis came home panicked, talking about how she couldn’t take care of the boys anymore and was going to send them on an orphan train. The Pattersons begged her not to, and they offered her money for the twins, but she refused. When they doubled their offer, Nurse Wallis still wouldn’t give them the children but did promise not to send the twins out of the city. Devastated, Pia thinks the Pattersons don’t know where the boys are after all, but that is not the case.

Pia is hopeful that Ben and Louise Patterson will be able to keep the promise they made to bring Ollie and Max to the Hudsons’ house. Finn and Pia tell Dr. and Mrs. Hudson everything, and they call the orphanages asking them to be more vigilant about who takes their children. An autopsy confirms that Nurse Wallis died of a brain hemorrhage. The Pattersons pay for the funeral, and Pia wonders how they could forgive Nurse Wallis, knowing what she did.

Pia tells Finn about her sixth sense, and he isn’t frightened. On the contrary, he thinks Pia is “special.” The doorbell rings, but it is Rebecca, whom the Hudsons have allowed to see Cooper on his birthday and holidays. Pia is still nervous that the Pattersons will show up without the twins. Finally, the doorbell rings, and the Pattersons appear on the doorstep with a young couple and the twins, who have “matching sets of cobalt-blue eyes. Mutti’s eyes” (378). Pia wants to hug and kiss them but knows it is too soon. Their mother, Prudence, introduces the twins to their big sister Pia invites them all in.