Pioneer Love: Damaged Hearts Head West: Mail Order Bride 5 Bundle (25 page)

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I thank you deeply for being such loyal readers, and pray God’s richest blessings on you and your household.

All my love,

Voyage
of Grace
is the first book in the
Grace and Mercy Find Peace on the Prairie
Trilogy. Each book is a complete and satisfying romance following one of our courageous brides:

Book 1:
Voyage of Grace

Book 2:
Emma’s Escape

Book 3:
Traveling Mercy

Mail Order Bride

Christmas Miracle

Indiana Wake

&

Belle Fiffer

©Copyright 2015 Indiana Wake

All Rights Reserved

Chapter 1

Elizabeth stepped into the living room and admired her three daughters, Martha, Georgia, and Ruth. They were so pretty with their golden blonde hair and sky blue eyes; unlike... no, she pushed that thought aside and concentrated on her darlings. Their manners were divine and they were so refined. In fact, they were perfect and they filled her life with joy. Soon they would have the best husbands and be leaving her. A tear almost formed in her eye, but she fought it back. Her daughters were going places and that was all that mattered. As she watched them talking and laughing, there was no guilt and little thought of her fourth child. She would not even let that monster enter her mind.

As she watched her beautiful girls, they picked up the newspaper causing a smile to cross her face. With ceremony, they spread it out on the table and all bent over it, whispering to each other. Their whispers led to giggles and laughter. Elizabeth knew very well what they were reading in the newspaper, it was the Matrimonial Advertisements section. She smiled at their excitement. The girls were over the moon since they had started replying to the gentlemen’s messages, and to her utter relief all of them were getting replies.

Ruth was the first one to get a marriage proposal. It had filled Elizabeth with joy when she found out what a wealthy family her Mr. Barnstable was from. Everything was arranged and she was leaving for Louisiana soon. Before she went, she was helping her other two sisters to find the best man to respond to. Georgia already had two men willing to marry her. They were reasonable men with a decent income, but she was holding out to see if she could find a richer suitor. There was a man, Joseph, who was most suitable, but so far they hadn’t heard back from him. Maybe a letter would come, but in the meantime, Georgia was keeping her options open. Whereas Martha, young, pretty and shy Martha, still couldn’t decide whom to reply to. That was why the three sisters were tittering over the advertisements.

Elizabeth shook her head as they let loose a fit of giggles. She wondered what the poor man had put that brought her daughters such mirth. Whatever it was, he was most likely not suitable. Martha was looking down, her cheeks glowing and her eyes shocked. Elizabeth wondered about her little one. She was so shy and naïve, maybe she would have to take matters into her own hands and choose for her.

As she watched the girls, she thought back to another time when she had four daughters and such high hopes for their marriage. Anger filled her for a moment. The monster had ruined all that, but even so she couldn’t believe that her daughters had reached the age of marriage so quickly. Her heart swelled with pride and love. All three girls were beautiful and attractive. She had no doubt that Georgia and Martha would also find their suitable match soon, and would leave one after another. Then she would be alone with… no, she pushed that thought away. It didn’t bare thinking about. She left them on their own and took the steps up to her room thinking about Ruth’s upcoming departure, and what she would need to pack. Maybe she could see if there was anything special she could give each of her precious girls.

Walking along the corridor, she passed the small room. It filled her with dread and she ignored the low sound of muffled sobs that reached her ears. Even so her smile vanished and a frown appeared on her forehead. Trying to walk on, she found her eyes pulled to the room. On the bed, a figure was lying on the mattress. Its hands were hiding its face and it was crying. Biting down an angry retort, she walked on past the monster and wished for some invisibility potion. Something that she could pour down on her first-born, in fact, she wished that she had never been born.

Behind her, she heard the sobs of Lauren, her eldest daughter transition into sniffling. Burning in rage, Elizabeth stomped to her own room, not caring about the loud noise her footsteps made. She didn’t need to hide her disgust from anyone, especially not from that black blot on her family.

Lauren held her breath as she heard the footsteps stomp past. She knew she was not allowed to cry and most of the time she didn’t. But sometimes things got on top of her and that was when she would lose her faith in God and let the tears fall. But she knew how much her mother hated when she cried – or even spoke. So she took a breath and fought for control. Tomorrow would be another day. A gift from God and she must do her best to serve Him.

The footsteps stomped on and then she heard her mother’s door close. She let out a sigh and got up from the bed and rushed to her door. Quietly she closed it and secured the bolt. Then she let herself slide down the door. She brought her hand up and touched the uneven scarred skin of her face and then burst into tears again. She wanted to yell and ask; why it had to be her? Why she had to be at Beth’s place fifteen years ago? Why she had to hide behind the hay stacks for that stupid game? Why it had to catch fire? Why she had to burn in that fire? Why she was rescued when over half her body was burnt already? Why she wasn’t left in there to burn to death? The tears fell silently because she knew there was no answer to her questions. For years, she had prayed asking why. It was silly to keep asking these questions. She wasn’t getting a reply now, as she had never got a reply then.

When there were no more tears, she got up from the cold floor and went to her wash stand. Earlier she had brought up some water and she washed her tearstained face. Above the washstand, was a light silhouette of where a mirror used to hang, she did not need to see her repulsive reflection, but sometimes the glass of her window disclosed the horror within. Then she wanted to smash the glass and every mirror. If a mirror was ever in her hands, she vowed she would smash it into a million pieces. Then she would bury them where no one could ever reach.

The fire, Lauren had been a victim of was extinguished long ago, but what nobody saw was the flame that was left inside her. No one blew that out. No one knew that one flame had built a complete fire inside her. For all these years, her mother and sisters added air to that fire. They kept it alive with their cruelty and spite. Their attitude towards Lauren never let her forget that she was the beast among the beauties, and a curse on the family. She was always shown that she was no longer one of them.

Her mother was afraid that Lauren’s appearance would affect the other three as well. Because of this she had been prohibited from attending any social gatherings. She wasn’t allowed to make an appearance when guests came. She wasn’t even allowed to visit the church on a Sunday. When her sisters started courting, she was left at home. When they failed to win the hearts of the young gentlemen it was her fault. Even now when the other three were finding their matches in the Matrimonial Advertisings, Lauren was here locked up in her room and crying over her pitiful fate. Some days she dreamed of writing to one of the men. Surely God would have made a man for her, someone ugly or blind… someone that would not care about how she looked.