A Time to Love (16 page)

The next day he stopped at the post office on his way home, dropped the two letters in the box, then went to the counter to pick up his mail.

“Only one piece of mail today, Mr. Barrett,” said the postal clerk as he handed him an envelope.

“Thanks, Rob.”

Blake paused to look at the letter in his hand. The penmanship was beautiful. It was from a Miss Linda Forrest in Boston, Massachusetts. I
wonder if the rest of her matches her handwriting,
he thought.

When he climbed into his carriage, the sun was slanting low in the west.
Why wait? Let’s see about Miss Linda Forrest.

Blake unfolded the letter and again was struck with the beauty of the handwriting. He was impressed with Linda Forrest’s sweet way with words and her clear-cut testimony of salvation.

Something clicked in his mind.

He read it again, this time more slowly. A warm feeling came over him as he felt this young woman’s love for the Lord, and he could tell she was fully dedicated to serving Him.

Blake had supper at the Borahs’ cafe, then went home. His loneliness was magnified by the big house around him. He went to the library, fired a lamp, and sat down in his big overstuffed chair to read Linda Forrest’s letter again.

And again.

“Lord,” he said, “this sounds like a very sweet Christian young lady. She’s a few years younger than I, but the age span isn’t all that much. I feel I should write back to her. I’ll give You time to put peace in my heart if I’m to do that.”

The next evening, Blake had perfect peace about writing back to Linda. In his letter, he told her he had passed up several inquiries and had recently written to two young ladies. Linda’s letter, however, impressed him most of all. He told her about his church and the avenues of service to the Lord it offered him. He told her a little more about his bank work, but still didn’t mention that he was the wealthy owner of the Pacific Bank and Trust Company. He asked that she write back if she was still interested and tell him more about herself.

In the larger eastern cities in 1877, the United States mail was delivered to businesses and residences five days a week.

On a cool day in late September, Linda Forrest was applying a feather duster to the furniture while her mother visited new neighbors who had moved in down the street.

She was in the parlor when she heard footsteps on the front porch. It was the time of day when the mail usually came, and she laid down the duster and tiptoed to the front window of the parlor. One peek through the lace curtains told her it was Mr. Gladstone, the postman.

The postman hummed a tune Linda didn’t recognize as he stuffed mail into the box then went his way down the street. She waited till she
knew he would be several doors down, then opened the door, grabbed the mail, and hurried back inside.

She began sifting through the envelopes, and her heart almost stopped when she saw one addressed to her. The name in the corner was Blake Barrett, and the address was 420 Vine Street in Sacramento.

She laid the other mail on a chair in the hallway and dashed to her room with Barrett’s letter. Her pulse raced as she read his encouraging words. Hastily she took out paper and pen, prayed for help in making her reply, and dipped the pen in the inkwell.

Since Blake Barrett wanted to know more about her, she told of being a Sunday school teacher and of singing in the choir. She didn’t feel she was being untruthful, for that’s what she had been actively doing up until June 9, and would still be doing if Lewis had not jilted her. She also told him interesting things from her childhood and gave him information about her wonderful parents.

When Adrienne returned from her visit, Linda took Blake Barrett’s letter to her and asked her to read it. Adrienne was impressed by the tone of the letter. When Nolan came home, he read it and remarked that Barrett seemed to be a levelheaded young man and a gentleman.

Linda let her parents read her reply, and though it was very possibly going to take her away from them, they felt she had done well in composing the letter and told her they were sure Mr. Barrett would like what he read.

That evening the Stanfords came by to check on Linda and were glad to see her looking happy as they stepped through the door.

The Forrests had asked them to come and talk to Linda shortly after she had read the ad by Blake Barrett in the
Boston Herald.
Both Stanfords had agreed at the time that Barrett sounded like a solid, well-grounded Christian.

When the Stanfords saw Linda’s eyes, the pastor said, “What’s happened, Linda? I can tell you’re elated about something.”

“I got a letter from Blake Barrett in Sacramento!”

“Oh? How does it sound?”

“Very promising,” Nolan answered for her. “Linda, would you care if Pastor and Doris read Blake’s letter?”

“Of course not. We’re relying very much on their advice. I’ll go get it.”

When Linda returned with Blake’s letter, she found the Stanfords seated in the parlor with her parents. She placed the envelope in the pastor’s hand and said, “I want to know what you think. Both of you.”

The Stanfords read the letter at the same time. When they had finished the pastor said, “There’s no question that this young man knows the Lord and is sincere in seeking God’s will for his life.”

“I agree,” Doris said.

Pastor Stanford turned to the Linda and said, “You will recall that when we came at your parents’ request and talked to you about this mail order bride idea and read Blake Barrett’s ad, I told you then that I felt it would be all right for you to pursue it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Doris and I have talked about this a lot. And we’ve prayed much about it. We’ve been very concerned about your reclusion as time has passed.”

“Yes, Pastor.”

“We understand your deep embarrassment, and though we’d like to see you overcome it and go on with your life right here in Boston, we also realize that the Lord may want to take you elsewhere so you can get on with your life. I like what I know about Blake Barrett. It appears that he wants a godly wife and is diligently seeking the Lord’s help in finding her.”

“One impressive thing in this letter,” Doris said, “is that this young man isn’t trying to hurry anything. He says that he wants to provide you an apartment in someone’s home, or a room at a boardinghouse, to give both of you time to get acquainted. He states that if for any reason you want to call the whole thing off, he’ll understand and pay your way back to Boston. The young man has his head on straight. God may just be in this.”

Adrienne had long since given her blessing to Linda’s pursuit of the
mail order bride idea, but she still felt a strong sense of protection of her daughter that made her say, “Pastor, you have no doubt that the Lord would lead in this manner to bring two young people together and eventually have them marry? Should she even consider the possibility of marrying a man she’s never met?”

Stanford smiled. “If God is in it, Adrienne, of course she should marry him, in spite of the fact that she’s never met him before. And as for Linda and Blake not knowing each other before she goes to possibly become his bride, the same thing happened under God’s leadership with Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis 24. They had never met, but when the man of God brought Rebekah to Isaac, he loved her and married her.”

Adrienne and Nolan looked at each other and smiled.

“I hadn’t thought of Isaac and Rebekah in the light of Linda’s situation with Blake, Pastor,” said Adrienne.

“We talked about it after we were here the other night,” Doris said. “Isaac and Rebekah had not so much as exchanged letters. Yet the Lord had them picked out for each other, and when they met, they knew it.”

“I will say one word of caution,” said the pastor. “Linda must be very careful to make sure Blake is the man God has chosen for her. But if the Lord brings them together, then all will be well.”

“Pastor,” Linda said, “I’ve already written a reply to the letter you just read. Based on what all of you have just said, I’m going to mail it.”

L
ESS THAN TWO WEEKS AFTER MAILING
her second letter to Blake Barrett, Linda Forrest was making herself a new dress in the sewing room when she heard her mother at the front door of the house, talking to someone.

A moment later, Adrienne came into the sewing room with an envelope in her hand.

Linda’s eyes widened. “Is … is it from Blake?”

“It sure is, honey.” Adrienne turned to leave. “I’ll let you read it in private.”

“It’s all right, Mom,” Linda said quickly. “Stay here.”

Adrienne leaned against the door frame. “Okay. You go ahead and read it, and you can tell me what he says if you want.”

Linda hastily opened the envelope, took out the four-page letter, and began to read.

After only a few lines, she giggled.

“What’s so funny?”

“He’s telling about some things he did as a boy. When he was ten years old, there was a girl who sat in the desk just ahead of him at school. She had carrot red hair that was always in long pigtails. She was older than him, and she continually gave him a bad time. One day, he’d had all he could take. He took the lid off the inkwell in his desk and dipped one of her pigtails in the ink. The girl ran up to the teacher and showed her the jet black tip of her pigtail. Blake got a whipping in front of the whole class, and the teacher sent a note home with him for his parents, telling them what he did. It was to be returned with both parents’ signatures. He had no choice but to deliver it. When his parents
learned what he’d done, he got a real whipping from his father!”

Adrienne was pleased to see her daughter laugh. Blake Barrett had already put some happiness back into her life.

Linda laughed even harder as she read more tales from the life of young Mr. Barrett and shared them with her mother, and Adrienne found herself laughing with her.

Linda read a few more lines out loud, then paused for a moment and said, “Blake’s mother is dead, Mom. He says she was saved after she married his father, and she led Blake to the Lord when he was nine. His father is dead, too, but he died lost.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

Linda read on silently and stopped suddenly, saying, “Oh, bless his heart.”

“What, honey?”

“Listen to this. ‘Linda, forgive me if I’m wrong, but I detect that you are possibly going through some kind of heartache. Please tell me if I’m right. And if I am, would you share it with me?’”

Adrienne smiled. “You haven’t written anything about Lewis, have you?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, bless his heart, indeed. Honey, this is some young man. He’s so perceptive that he senses the deep hurt you’re carrying, just by reading between the lines of your letters. I like that in him. I’m sure your father will, too.”

Linda read further and commented to her mother that Blake said he was glad to hear some of the interesting things that happened in her childhood, and that her parents sounded like wonderful people. He hoped one day to meet them.

That evening when Nolan arrived home, Linda gave him Blake’s letter to read while she and her mother looked on. As Adrienne predicted, Nolan was impressed with Blake’s keen discernment of Linda’s heartache, though she had told him nothing about being jilted on her wedding day.

“So what do you think, Daddy? In my next letter, shall I tell Blake about what Lewis and Janet did?”

“Most definitely,” Nolan said. “If the Lord leads you two together, Blake will have to be told about it. Why not tell him now?”

“Then I’ll write him tonight and tell him the whole thing.”

Again, in less than two weeks, a reply came from Blake. Linda excitedly opened the envelope at the kitchen table. Adrienne stood by the cupboard and watched while her daughter began to read.

When she had read the first paragraph, Linda looked up at her mother. “He says he’s not surprised at the source of my heartache. He thought that’s what it might have been. But he’s surprised at the way it happened … on the very day of the wedding.”

She read on, and her eyes filled with tears.

Adrienne’s brow furrowed. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Nothing, Mom. It’s just that Blake is so tender and kind. He says his heart goes out to me, and if the Lord should lead us together, he’ll do everything he can to help heal my broken heart. Oh, Mom, he’s so special. He has such a kind and tender way with words.”

Again, she looked up and said, “He says he thinks it’s time we exchange photographs. He asks if I will send one right away. He’ll do the same. Mom, I don’t have anything recent. I can’t go out on the streets to a photographer; I might meet someone I know. What should I do?”

Adrienne laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m going shopping with Frances tomorrow. While we’re downtown, I’ll go to one of the photography studios and hire a photographer to come to the house.”

Linda gave her mom a hug and went to her room with the letter in hand. She sat down in her overstuffed chair and read the letter again. Blake Barrett seemed to be everything a woman could want in a husband. However, she struggled against the deep scars in her heart left by Lewis Carter. Would she be able to trust Blake? Or any man, for that matter? If she married Blake, would she always live in fear that the day would come when he’d reject her for another woman?

She wrestled with it for a while, then told herself that just because
Lewis had turned out to be a hypocrite didn’t mean Blake would. She felt that she was moving in the right direction by corresponding with Blake, but she knew if things developed seriously between the two of them, she would enter the relationship with some fear. Her scars went deep, and she couldn’t help the emotions they dredged up.

When two weeks had passed, another letter came from Blake. He had received Linda’s latest letter, along with her photograph. He commented that she was more beautiful than he had imagined, and added that her letters showed him she was just as beautiful on the inside. He explained that the photograph he’d sent was one taken when he graduated from college. Though a few years had passed since then, he assured her he still looked very much the same.