Western Kisses – Old West Christmas Romances (Boxed Set) (22 page)

The more she thought about the idea of being a mail order bride, the more the idea had potential. No, she didn’t need to do it financially, but she needed to get away. She needed to do something just for herself for the first time in her life, but was being a mail order bride the way to do that?

She argued with herself as she methodically stuffed everything in crates. What kind of man would want a thirty-four year old plump wife anyway? What kind of man advertised for a mail order bride? Yes, she knew there were fewer women out West, but why wouldn’t they just travel to the East for a while to meet someone and take her back with them?

Once she’d finished crating everything, she glanced at the clock. It was time for supper, so she wandered down the stairs to the kitchen. She had kept one of the casseroles for herself and put it in the oven to heat up. She leaned against the work table, eating a cookie from the few she’d kept, imagining what kind of man would look for a wife through a mail order bride agency.

She pictured a dashing banker meeting her at the train station, his blond hair bright in the sunlight. He would know her immediately, and their eyes would meet. He’d approach her and take her into his arms…

She laughed aloud at herself. She was actually daydreaming. She hadn’t done that in years. Her mother had been firmly against it. She’d been against humming and singing while you work as well. If you had time to hum and sing, then you weren’t working hard enough. During her first year of taking care of her mother, she’d still been prone to singing while she hung out the wash, because there her mother couldn’t hear her. The habit had died off as the song had left her. She’d had no reason to sing.

She’d given up on all of her childish fantasies of happiness years ago. For some reason, her mother had been offended that Julia could be happy while her mother had been on her sick bed. She shook her head. She had a right to dream all she wanted to dream now.

She pulled her dinner out of the oven and sat at the table quietly eating. She hadn’t been allowed to eat at a table in a long time. Her mother had insisted that she carry her own food upstairs on a tray so they could eat together.

By the time she finished eating, she decided she would go see Elizabeth Miller up on Rock Creek Road. She wanted the life she’d given up for her mother back. She’d go first thing in the morning before she lost her courage. She wondered how long it would take to find a man who wanted to marry her. Hopefully not long.

~*~

The walk to Rock Creek Road only took a few minutes. When she arrived she knocked on the door and waited, somewhat impatiently, for someone to come to the door. A young man in his mid-twenties opened the door for her. “May I help you?” He was tall with blond hair and blue eyes. He fit the fantasy she’d had about the banker who ran to meet her as she stepped off the train.

“I’m here to see Miss Miller.” She straightened her hat and tried to look as if she had business at a house that was obviously owned by someone who was extremely wealthy.

“Yes, of course. Is she expecting you?”

“No, she’s not. My name is Julia Jordan.”

He nodded briefly and opened the door wide for her. “Follow me please.” He led her back along the long hallway and stopped in front of a door off to the left. Knocking once, he pushed the door open. “Miss Miller? I have a Julia Jordan here to see you.”

Julia was surprised when she saw the young woman. She didn’t even look old enough to have finished school yet! Why would a woman her age be running a mail order bride agency?

Miss Miller stepped forward and shook her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you, Miss Jordan. Are you here about my advertisement?”

“Yes, I am.”

Miss Miller nodded at the butler. “Bernard? Would you be certain that fresh tea and cookies are brought to us please?” After the door closed behind the man, she indicated the couch and took her spot behind the desk. “So tell me why you want to be a mail order bride.”

Julia had been hoping that question would not be asked of her, but she couldn’t answer it with anything less than complete honesty. “I was engaged to be married years and years ago, but my mother contracted polio. I put off the wedding for a year to take care of her, because the doctor told me within a year she would either be fully recovered or dead. I put him off for another year after that. He eventually found a wife, and they’ve had four children. I’ve been taking care of my mother for sixteen years now.” Julia sighed heavily. “She died just three days ago, and I find that I’m all alone in the world. I’m thirty-four years old and have no job interest and no marriage prospects. I just don’t want to be alone forever.”

Miss Miller nodded sympathetically. “Of course you don’t. Who would?” She turned to her desk and flipped through a stack of letters. “I have an idea of a man who might suit you very well.” She found the letter and handed it to Julia turning back to her desk while the older woman read.

Julia glanced at the letter in her hand, surprised there was a possible husband with a letter just lying there. “Dear potential bride, I’m a thirty-eight year old farmer who is seeking a wife. I moved to Kansas to make a go of farming ten years ago with my wife, but she died five years ago. I have no children. I would like a wife who doesn’t mind that I plan on farming for the rest of my life. I have no ambitions to make a lot of money. I just want to work my land. If that idea appeals to you, then you may just be the bride for me. I’d like a woman who is at least thirty. I don’t mind if she’s been married before and looks really aren’t important to me. I need a woman who wants children and isn’t afraid of hard work. If you are willing to take on a farmer in the middle of nowhere, please reply. Sincerely, Edward Allen.”

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.

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.”