*****
Kristen stared at Sally Anderson in disbelief. Really? She’d called these women out here to be mail order brides for ministers? Or were the ministers really the mail order husbands? She didn’t know. Mail Order Ministers seemed to be the best way to describe them all. She listened to the mumbling around her. Did she even want to marry a minister?
A small voice inside her insisted, “Yes.” She’d always had a strong relationship with God and wanted to serve him any way she could. Maybe this was his plan for her.
While two of the others got up and left, she stayed to listen to what Sally Anderson had to say. After all, she may find herself a wonderful husband by staying around. Of course, she could also end up married to a man who just wanted a maid and wanted to control her, but she could do that if she left as well. She’d stay and take her chances.
After the meeting, she talked to another young woman at the back of the room. “I’m Kristen.”
The other woman was a petite blond with sparkling blue eyes. Her dress was old and a bit tattered, but it was clean. “I’m Ida.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Kristen looked around to see if anyone was listening before lowering her voice. “Do you think you’ll do it?” After she’d explained why they were there, Sally Anderson had announced that she would hold a two day seminar on how to be a good minister’s wife.
Ida nodded slowly. “I don’t really have a choice. My parents can’t afford to support me any longer.” She sighed. “I know Mrs. Anderson, and she suggested I come here tonight to find a husband.”
“Well, we’ll do it together then.” She shrugged. “I don’t have a real reason to do it, but I’m just feeling very restless. There are no men here I’m interested in, and I love the idea of seeing other places.”
Ida wrinkled her nose. “Leaving my parents is scary for me, but I’ll do it if I have to. I need to.”
“Well, the seminar will be Monday and Tuesday.” She gestured to the sign-up sheet on the refreshment table. “Shall we sign our names that we’re attending?” Kristen was practically bouncing up and down excitedly. This was just what she needed.
Ida nodded slowly, but waited for Kristen to go first. She was obviously nervous about the whole idea.
Kristen read over the required information. “Name, birthdate, church, and address.” No problem. She knew her minister would have nothing but good things to say about her. She quickly scribbled her answers to the questions and moved out of the way for Ida to do the same.
“Which way is it to your house?” she asked Ida who pointed in the opposite direction from which she needed to go. “Well, I’ll see you Monday morning then.” She smiled at the other girl. “I’m glad we’re doing this together.”
She walked home quickly through the quiet streets. She wasn’t nervous, but she knew her mother wouldn’t want her to be on the streets any longer than absolutely necessary. Sure enough, when she arrived home, her entire family was sitting in the parlor waiting for her. She hurried into the kitchen to wash her hands before talking to them.
Ingrid stood at the door. “Well? What was the meeting about?”
Kristen didn’t want to admit it to her mother, knowing she’d disapprove, but she wasn’t going to hide anything. “I’ll tell everyone together.” She walked into the parlor and took her seat beside her sister on the sofa. “It was a meeting about a seminar the president of the seminary’s wife is going to have on Monday and Tuesday.”
“Seminar?” Ingrid wrinkled her nose. “About what?”
“To teach women how to be good minister’s wives.” Kristen bit her lip while she waited for her mother’s reaction.
“Minister’s wives? They’re going to try to marry you to a seminary student?” Ingrid looked hopeful. She wouldn’t have a problem with Kristen marrying a seminary student.
Kristen shook her head slowly. “The graduates are lonely. We’d be sent to ministers who have already been placed in other parts of Texas. Kind of like a mail order bride program, but in my head it’s more of a mail order minister thing.”
“So you’d leave Dallas?” Ingrid frowned, obviously not liking that idea at all.
“I’d leave Dallas, but I’d stay in Texas. I’d still be close enough to visit.” Unless she went somewhere far, like El Paso or Galveston, but she didn’t say that out loud.
“Absolutely not. You are not going to this seminar.” Ingrid shook her head to emphasize her decision.
Kristen sighed. “I’m an adult now, Mama. I think this would be good for me.”
Laura looked at Kristen. “And I’d get my own room!”
Kristen grinned. “And she’d get her own room!” She winked at Laura. The sisters were close, but they each wished they had more privacy at times.
Kristen’s father, Dirk, smiled at her. “It’s time for Kristen to do something. You want her all the time to marry. Let her marry a good Christian man.”
Ingrid sighed. “You do what your father says.” She stood up and left the room, leaving no one in any doubt of how she felt about everything.
Kristen jumped up and ran to her father, throwing her arms around him. “Thank you, Papa!”
Dirk patted her head awkwardly, always uncertain of what to do when one of his daughters showed him affection physically. “You just be good, Kristen.”
Chapter Two
Bride of Paradise: Book 1 in Mail Order Ministers Page 5
