Mail Order Matron (Brides of Beckham Book 9) (2 page)

Julia leaned back in her chair and thought about the words she’d just read.  She definitely wasn’t afraid of hard work.  If he didn’t care about looks, then her waist being larger than was fashionable wouldn’t bother him.  She had been isolated with just her mother for company for so long, she didn’t think living in the middle of nowhere would bother her.  She shrugged.  He’d do.

She looked up at Miss Miller.  “Yes, I think he’ll do nicely.”

The younger woman smiled.  “I’m so glad!”  She pulled a blank piece of paper from her desk, along with a pen and ink, and handed them to Julia.  “Please write him a letter telling him a bit about yourself.  I’ll send it out, and we’ll go from there.”

Julia frowned.  She’d really hoped she’d be sent out much sooner than that.  “How long does the whole process take?”

“It can take months.  First, we need to get a letter back from him, which will include train tickets and a small amount of spending money, if he’s interested.  Then we’ll make sure you have what you need, and you’ll be off.”  Miss Miller smiled sweetly.  “My sister was a mail order bride over a year ago.  She’s extremely happy with her placement.”

Julia nodded to indicate she’d heard before dipping her pen in the ink and quickly writing out a letter in her perfect script.  Once she was done, she folded it carefully and handed it to the other woman.  “How will you inform me when you’ve received a response from Mr. Allen?”

“Give me your address, and I’ll walk over once I receive one.”  Elizabeth wrote down the other woman’s address with a smile.

“Thank you.”  Julia wasn’t sure if she should leave or wait a moment before going.

The door opened, and Bernard came back carrying a tray laden with cookies and tea.  He set them down on the small table in front of the sofa.  “Thank you, Bernard,” Elizabeth said before turning back to Julia.  “Would you care for some tea and cookies?”

“Thank you,” Julia replied.  She wasn’t really hungry, but she reached for a cookie anyway, while Miss Miller poured tea for them both.  As they ate, they talked about the weather, and the way things are usually done with mail order brides.  Elizabeth had a lot of insight into how things worked, not only because she’d run the mail order bride business for a year, but because her sister had been a mail order bride.

“You never know what will happen when you step foot off that train.  Our agency has sent out sisters to marry brothers, and they ended up each marrying the wrong brother.  When my sister arrived, her fiancé had died, and she married his brother.  Anything can happen.  We’ve never had a bride go out and not be met at the station, though, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

By the time Julia left, she felt as if she knew pretty well all the things that could go awry in a mail order match up.  She didn’t want to wait a month or longer before leaving Beckham, more for fear she’d lose her courage than anything else, but she didn’t see where she had a choice.  She walked home and resumed her task of packing her mother’s things.  There was a charity that would come get them all in the morning.

Chapter Two

Edward rode his horse into town as he had each week for the past year.  Would anyone ever answer his letter to be his bride?  He’d gotten a quick response from the woman running the agency a year before, but she’d simply said that she would be working on finding the perfect wife for him. 

He went into the mercantile in Abernathy, Kansas with no real hopes of finding a letter waiting for him.  He’d keep up the weekly rides for another month, but then he had to get back to his normal routine.  He was wasting too much time as it was.

John, the man who ran the mercantile, looked up.  “I have something for you.”

Edward eyed him.  “New nails?”

John laughed.  “I have that letter you’ve been waiting for.  Beckham, Massachusetts, right?”

Edward rushed to the counter and held his hand out.  He hated that the other man had looked at the return address on his letter, but he’d been there looking for it so obsessively, he couldn’t really blame him.  Once he had the letter, he grunted his thanks and hurried outside to read it.  If this woman would work, he’d mail out train tickets before he left town.

He quickly read the letter she’d sent.

“Dear Edward, You sound like exactly what I’m looking for.  I’ve spent the past sixteen years caring for my invalid mother and gave up my only chance at marriage to do so.  She has passed away, and I find I’m alone in the world.  I’m a hard worker and have extensive experience cleaning house and cooking.  I’ve also spent a lot of time gardening and canning.  I can sew and mind children.  I would love to have children of my own someday.  I would be content to move to a small farm in Kansas to be a farmer’s wife if it included the ability to have children and be a wife.  I am short and a bit plumper than is fashionable.  I hope you’ll consider me.  Yours, Julia Jordan.”

Edward read over the letter again, before nodding to himself.  He was so pleased to receive a letter that he wasn’t about to be picky.  Walking to the train station, he purchased a ticket that would leave Beckham, Massachusetts in two weeks and arrive there in Abernathy a few days later.  He went back to the mercantile and borrowed paper and pen from John, quickly scrawling, “I’d be honored to have you as my wife.  Enclosed is a train ticket for your trip here, and some money for your travels.  Yours, Edward.”

He then wrote a quick letter and addressed it to the mail order bride agency, enclosing the necessary amount to pay for their services, even though it had taken them a year to find him a bride.

When he was finished addressing them, he handed both to John.  “Thank you.”  He could see the speculation on the other man’s face, but said nothing more as he turned and headed back out to the farm.  Finally, he’d have a bride.  No more beans for every meal.  No more washing his own dishes when there simply wasn’t another clean pot to cook in.  He couldn’t wait.

On his way home he stopped at Leah’s grave and knelt down carefully explaining what he’d done.  He felt like he’d given it enough time since her death so it wasn’t a betrayal, but that didn’t make it easier for him.  He had been deeply in love with his wife, and although he didn’t love this Julia, marrying her did still seem like it was wrong.  He sighed.  If only Leah had been stronger and able to withstand the prairie without giving in to melancholy. 

*****

Julia spent the time waiting for a letter crating up everything in the small house.  She knew there was no guarantee that Edward would choose her, but she had decided that no matter what happened with him, she was leaving Beckham.  She needed a fresh start, and she could get it by selling her parents’ house and moving on. 

She was standing in her small kitchen looking around at what she had left when she heard a knock on the door.  She had a list of things for sale up at the general store, and it was probably someone coming to look at what she had.  She opened the door and stepped to one side, embarrassed that Elizabeth Miller would see her small home when she lived in a mansion.  “Come in.”

Elizabeth stepped inside and looked around.  “Wow, you’re getting ready to go, aren’t you?”  She held out a letter and waited as Julia took it, her eyes lighting up with excitement. 

“You didn’t open it?” she asked, surprised.

Elizabeth shut the door behind her.  “May I sit?” she asked.  At Julia’s nod, she sat at the small table.  “The letter is addressed to you in care of me.  I’m not going to open your mail.”

Julia sat across from Elizabeth and carefully opened the letter.  As she read the words, she slowly smiled with relief.  She held up the train tickets for Elizabeth to see.  “He wants me to come.”

“Of course he does!”  Elizabeth smiled happily.  “When do you leave?”

Julia looked down at the date on the tickets.  “Tomorrow!  He should have given me a little more time.”

Elizabeth looked at the date on the letter.  “No, the mail was just slow.  He gave you a full two weeks for the letter to be delivered before you leave.  That should have been enough time.”  She stood up.  “What more do you need to do?  Are you packed and ready?”  She rolled up her sleeves.

“Mostly.  I still have to sell my table and chairs and my stove.  The beds upstairs.  The house sold last week, but they’re giving me a month to leave.”

“I’ll take the table, chairs, and stove.  I can be the one to deal with those things, and I’ll forward the money on.  Are you packed?”

Julia shook her head.  “No, but I’ve purchased everything you said I’d need.  I can pack tonight with no problem.”  She shrugged.  “I don’t think there’s much left to do.”

Elizabeth nodded.  “Let me help you pack.  Are your things in your room?”

Julia was surprised that the society woman would be willing to help her pack, but she didn’t say anything about it, and instead, led her to the stairs and her upstairs bedroom.  “Right through here.”

Elizabeth helped her carefully fold her things and pack them.  “What will you wear to marry?”

Julia held up a dress she’d set aside.  “I’ll pack this on top, and if he gives me time to change clothes before we marry, that’s what I’ll wear.”

“Most men find a way for you to bathe and change, but not all.  If it doesn’t happen, don’t think less of him.”

“I thought that was probably the case.  If he lives in the country, we’ll have to marry in town before we head to his farm.  You don’t think he’ll want to spend a night in town, do you?”

Elizabeth shook her head emphatically.  “If he’s like most farmers, he’ll need to get home to see to his livestock.  Just driving to town is a hardship.”

“Sounds like you know a lot about farmers,” Julia said as she folded the last of her underclothes to put in the pile.

Elizabeth shrugged.  “My father is a farmer.  I know more than I care to about the lifestyle.”

Julia frowned at the younger girl.  “If your father is a farmer, how did you end up living in that mansion?”

Elizabeth briefly explained.  “After my sister moved to Texas to marry, I was the oldest child, and I understood then why she was always so frustrated with our younger siblings.  When I ran into the former owner of the mail order bride business in town, we talked.  Last year, when she decided to become a mail order bride herself, I saw her in the post office, and she invited me to have lunch with her.  I thought she wanted me to be a bride, but instead, she asked me to take over the agency.”

“Do you enjoy running a business?”  Julia wasn’t sure she would ever be able to be a businesswoman.  She actually enjoyed keeping house.

“I do.  I wanted to get away from my family, but my plan was to become a teacher.  This suits me far better.  I can still see my family when I choose, but I can stay in town when I want to be away from them.”

“Is your family that bad?”

Elizabeth laughed softly.  “My younger brothers and sisters have been nicknamed ‘the demon horde’ by the good people of our church.  They’re not exactly people you’d want to spend time with.”

Julia laughed.  “Oh, my!  No, I don’t think I would.”

They chatted as they finished the packing.  Before she left, Elizabeth asked, “What time does your train leave tomorrow?”

“Eleven in the morning.”

“I’ll meet you there if you don’t mind.”

Julia was surprised.  She hadn’t expected anyone to be there to see her off.  “I’d like that a lot.”

After she closed the door, Julia smiled to herself.  How odd that she’d find someone she liked as much as she liked Elizabeth.  She had made an incorrect assumption about the other girl and never would have allowed her into her life if not for her business with her.  The girl was just like she was in so many ways, though.

At the train station, Elizabeth took Julia’s hand in hers.  “I need you to promise me one thing before you leave.”

Julia frowned.  “What’s that?”

“Promise me that if Edward doesn’t treat you well, you’ll come back to Beckham.  Or go anywhere really, since you do have some money of your own.  I just don’t want you to stay in a bad situation.”

“I won’t.”  She’d been mistreated enough by her mother.  There was no way she was going to stay in a bad situation with a man.

When her train was called, she hugged her friend, thankful to have a place to come back to if everything didn’t work out well.  “Thank you!”

“Don’t forget to write and let me know how you are!”

Chapter Three

It was noon on a Monday afternoon in late September when Julia’s train pulled into the tiny station in Abernathy, Kansas.  She was tired and more than a little grumpy after sitting up in a train for four days straight while traveling.  It was certainly better than traveling by horse and buggy, because it was faster, but the constant motion of the train had left her sick to her stomach most of the trip. 

She stepped off the train and stood on the platform waiting, wondering how she was going to recognize Edward.  Only two other people got off the train, and one was a man, so it shouldn’t be terribly difficult for him to find her.

She stood quietly waiting, hoping he would hurry.  Her train had arrived an hour early, which she was told was unheard of.  She finally sat down in the waiting area of the train station, as if she were waiting for another train to arrive.  She hoped he hadn’t forgotten her.

When Edward arrived in town ten minutes before the train was due, he immediately went to the mercantile.  Trains were always late, and he wanted to get a fair amount of supplies before he picked up his new bride. 

When he was finished, he was surprised to see no crowd waiting and the train already in the station.  He rushed to the platform, but there was no one there.  Finally, he went to the waiting area, hoping to find his new wife and saw her sitting quietly looking quite forlorn.  He didn’t introduce himself right away, but looked at her, learning her.  She had blond hair and blue eyes.  She looked like she’d been a beauty when she was younger, but years and hard work had taken their toll.  She wasn’t ugly, but she certainly wasn’t the sort of woman a man fell at the feet of, which suited him just fine.

He walked to stand in front of her, feeling a bit self-conscious.  Her eyes drifted up to his.  “Miss Jordan?” he asked.

She breathed a sigh of relief.  It was very obvious to him that she thought he’d left her there.  “Edward?”

He nodded once briefly.  “Yes.”  He leaned down and took the carpet bag at her feet.  “Is this all you brought?”

She shook her head.  “There’s a trunk over against the wall.”

They walked over together, and he found someone to help him get it onto the back of the wagon.  Once that was accomplished, he helped her onto the wagon seat, pleased that she hadn’t complained about waiting for him.  “I was planning on going straight to the preacher’s house.  He said he’d marry us anytime this afternoon.”

Julia nodded, staring straight ahead.  It suddenly hit her at that moment that in a few hours, she’d be sharing a bed with this man who was a total stranger.  He’d expect her to lie under him and let him do—
things
to her that she’d never done.  Would she be able to allow herself to do that?  Or would she run away screaming into the night?

He pulled up in front of the minister’s house and helped her down.  “Do you think the minister’s wife will let me change into a different dress?  I made a pretty one for our wedding.”

Edward frowned.  He didn’t want to waste the time it would take for her to change clothes and make herself pretty for their wedding, but he knew that like most women, those things were probably important to her, and he didn’t want to tell her no.  Not when they’d just met a few minutes before.  “Can you do it quickly?  It’s a long drive out to the farm, and I still need to do the evening chores.”

She nodded.  “I’ll be fast about it.”  She wished he hadn’t felt the need to make sure she hurried, but she understood that his animals were his livelihood.

He helped her down and carried her bag to the house for her.  When he knocked on the door a young woman, in her late twenties opened it.  “May I help you?”

“Pastor Johnson promised he’d marry my fiancé and me today.  Is he in?”

“Oh, yes, of course!”  She stepped aside so they could enter the house. 

“Would you mind if my bride took a little time to change first?” he asked.

The woman nodded.  “That would be fine.”  She smiled at Julia.  “Just come this way.  You can change in my room.”  She led the way to a small bedroom.  “Would you like for me to redo your hair for you?”

Julia nodded.  She didn’t really need the help, but she certainly wouldn’t turn it away.  She knew she hadn’t slept more than ten hours during the four days she’d been traveling, and she was exhausted. 

She changed quickly with the other woman’s help, and then she sat down while her hair was fixed.  Julia tried to keep her head up, but all she wanted to do was sleep.  She forced herself to focus on her soon-to-be-husband.  She catalogued his features.  He certainly wasn’t someone she’d call handsome.  He had dark hair and brown eyes.  She’d imagined a man with blond hair.  He wore a straw hat that he’d only taken off when they’d entered the tiny house, letting her see his hair was all pushed down where the hat had been. 

He was definitely acceptable to her, though.  It’s not like there were other men beating down her door for the privilege of marrying her.  Once her hair was finished, she stood up, tucking the dress she’d taken off back into her bag knowing he’d want to leave as soon as the knot was officially tied.

Back in the parlor, Edward waited with the pastor, tapping his foot impatiently.  She’d said she’d hurry.  How long did it take to change your dress?

When she came out, her hair looked like it had just been fixed, and her dress was much nicer than the first.  Not that it really mattered to him. 

Julia rushed to Edward’s side, facing the pastor with him.  The service was short and sweet.  Every wedding she’d ever been to had taken at least an hour, but hers only took a few minutes.  When he lowered his head to kiss her, it felt strange.  She’d only ever been kissed by one man in her life, and having another touch her seemed strange. 

After the ceremony, he shook hands with the minister and handed him some money.  He took her carpet bag and escorted her to the wagon.  After helping her up, he ran around to the other side, slightly annoyed with her for taking so long to get ready.  “We’re going to have to hurry to get home.  That took longer than I’d expected.”

She couldn’t believe he’d complained that she changed out of a dress she’d worn for over four days.  “I’m sorry if you think it took longer than it should have.  I’d been wearing the same clothes since leaving Massachusetts and was feeling like something that just climbed out from beneath a rock.”  She faced straight ahead as she said the words, refusing to look at him.

He sighed.  “Let’s not start our marriage off on the wrong foot.  Tell me about your family.  Were you an only child?”

She shook her head.  “No, I wasn’t.  I had a brother, but he died of polio at the same time as my father, and that’s when Mother was afflicted as well.  I’ve been nursing Mother since 1870.”

He stared at her in disbelief.  “Sixteen years?  That’s a long time to be devoted to someone.”

She shrugged. “She was my mother.  She died in her sleep just days before I answered your letter.  I had to get away from the house I’d grown up in.  Away from all the people who knew me.”

“What was your mother like?” he asked, hoping he could draw out the conversation and learn something about the stranger he’d just agreed to love, honor, and cherish.

Julia thought about that.  “Before she was ill, she was wonderful.  She taught me so much about how to be a good wife.  She spent as much time as she could with me every day.  After, she changed.  Part of it was losing her husband and son so close together, but part was simply being bedridden.  She had always been active, going on long walks and spending time outdoors.  After, she couldn’t really be moved.  I tried to get her to move downstairs, where I could help her into a wheeled chair and take her outside, but she refused.  She became a recluse after that and expected me to do the same.”

“She didn’t let you have friends?”

“No, she didn’t.  I was engaged to be married when my family fell ill.  The doctor isn’t certain how it skipped me, but I’m thankful it did.  Within a month, we knew that she needed me to care for her.  My fiancé agreed to wait for a year, but one year became two, and then he moved on.  He couldn’t keep waiting.  He’s married to a sweet girl we grew up with, and they have four children together.”  She shrugged as if she didn’t care that he’d moved on, but she still did. 

“I’m sorry.”

She shook her head.  “I’m fine.  It was a long time ago.  His oldest boy is thirteen now.”  She stared ahead for a moment.  “What about your wife?”

“We were married young.  I was twenty, and she was eighteen.  We never had any children.  When we moved here eleven years ago, we were going to make a fresh start.  We’d lived in New York City, and we both had to work all day in factories there to survive.  We decided to take advantage of The Homestead Act of '62 and move out here where we could have land.”  He sighed.  “I loved working the land, but she hated feeling like she was isolated from the world.  She wasn’t happy from the day we moved here.  Six years ago, she caught fever, and I couldn’t get her to a doctor in time.”

“I’m sorry.”  She knew the words were inadequate, but she had no others for him.  She wanted to let him know that she truly understood the grief that came with losing someone you loved, but how?

“I’m sure it was almost a relief for her to get off this prairie. As much as I love it is just how much she hated it.”  He didn’t look at her as he spoke about his dead wife.  

She nodded.  “I won’t try to take her place.”

He turned to her then.  “You are taking her place in some ways, but I’m happy that you understand I’ll always love her.”

“I do.”  She didn’t add that she still loved Joseph.  They’d do fine together if neither of them ever expected anything else from the other.

They drove the rest of the way in silence.  She wanted to talk to him, but had no idea what to say.  He was a virtual stranger to her, and she was going to his house as his wife.  What had she been thinking?  Nothing had forced her to do this.  By her own actions, she was here, and she was going to have to make the most of it.

She hadn’t seen a house in at least thirty minutes when he pulled onto a dirt road and stopped in front of a small house.  It wasn’t small enough to call a cabin, but it wasn’t much bigger.  She could tell he’d added on to it at least once, so maybe he would again as their family grew.

He helped her down from the wagon and carried her trunk inside, while she carried her carpet bag.  He put the trunk in front of the bed in the small bedroom.  Everything else was in the main room.  There was a cook stove with a work table on one wall, along with a small basin and a water pump.  She was relieved that she’d have water in the house and wouldn’t have to carry it from a well.

There was a table that he’d obviously made himself and four chairs surrounding it.  Dirty red and white checkered curtains hung at the windows, and she decided washing them would be one of the first things she did.  The place needed a good fall cleaning soon. 

She eyed the pile of dishes in the sink, wondering how long they’d been there.  Would she be able to handle the amount of work that would come with just getting this house into shape?  She sighed heavily, exhausted.  Today, she couldn’t, but after a good night’s sleep, she was sure she’d be ready to put a dent in it.

She walked into the tiny bedroom as he was leaving, accidentally brushing up against him and jumping back, her cheeks turning bright red.  “Sorry,” he mumbled.  “I need to go milk the cow.”  He said nothing else as he hurried to the door to see to his evening chores.

She stared down at the dirty quilt and dirty sheets on the bed.  She’d brought with her a quilt she’d pieced herself over the long years taking care of her mother.  She also had a set of sheets, and she immediately stripped the bed and put her own clean things onto it.  She wasn’t sleeping in filth if she didn’t have to. 

She looked through the kitchen and sighed at the lack of food.  How did he expect her to cook when the only things he had on hand were milk, eggs, and beans? 

The door opened, and he brought her the milk.  “I’ll get the rest of the supplies from the wagon.”

“Supplies?  You bought supplies?”

He chuckled.  “You think I’m going to get married just so I can keep eating beans and scrambled eggs for every meal?  I got lots of supplies for you.  Had a good harvest this year.”

He carried in barrels of food.  And she peeked into each one as he set it down.  She sighed with relief.  There was sugar, brown sugar, lard, flour, and canned goods in a huge crate.  He even had some different meats for her to use.  “Wonderful.  I’ll be able to feed us well on all this.”

He gave her a half smile.  “I also enjoy hunting.  As long as there are animals to hunt, we’ll have a steady supply of meat all winter.”

She looked through what she had to work with and mentally calculated the time.  “Would you mind if I just did pancakes and bacon for supper, and tomorrow I’ll start cooking?  I don’t really have time to do anything else tonight.”

He shook his head.  “I still have some chores to do, but I knew you’d need food if you were going to cook.”  He left without another word.

She ran to the door to call after him.  “I’ll have supper ready in an hour!”

He raised a hand to indicate he’d heard her as he walked away.  She turned to the kitchen and rolled up her sleeves.  The dishes had to be done before she could even think about cooking.