The Widow's Mail Order Husband (Mail Order Brides)

by Susan Leigh Carlton

  Seeing this as an opportunity, Mary seized the chance. “Do you think it will be your ranch to run some day?” she asked.

  “Well, yeah,” he said.

  “Yes,” she corrected.

  “What?” he said.

  “It’s not good manners to say yeah,” she said. “Yes is the correct way to answer to a question.”

  “Now, let me give you something to think about. Let’s suppose you want to buy a bull, and you agree to pay $100 for it. The person you are buying it from makes out a bill of sale, and asks you to make your mark. I’m assuming you won’t know how to write, since you can’t read, it isn’t likely you can write. Now, he takes your money, puts it in his pocket, and hands you a rope, the other end of which is tied to an old, broken down bull, no good to anyone.

  “You protest. “That's not the bull I bought,” you say. The slicker smiles and says “Yes it is. See right here on the bill of sale it says “I am buying the old broken down red bull”, and he points to your mark.”

  Now what are you going to do? You go to the sheriff and complain. The sheriff can read, he’s got all of those wanted posters in his office, remember? He looks at the bill and reads aloud, “I am buying the old broken down red bull.” He sees your mark, and you say “Yes, it is my mark.” He tells you, “Son, I’m afraid you’re the proud owner of an old broken down red bull.”

  Sure, you were cheated, but after all, you did agree to the purchase. Now, let’s take this same thing and apply it to numbers instead of words. You go to the store, and buy twenty-two different things. The storekeeper lists each item, then adds up the total and tells you it comes to twenty-five dollars. You can’t count, so you hold your money out to him and say “Okay”. He took five dollars too much, but you don’t know it because you can’t count. Now when you get home, you hand the bill and the change to your Paw. He can count, and he asks for the rest of the money, which of course, you don’t have. Then he looks at the list and checks it and says, “This is added wrong. That’s not the right price.” You were cheated two times on the same transaction.”

  She finished by asking the class if they understood the lesson behind the story. One boy raised his hand and said, “Yeah… Yes, I do, if you don’t want to own an old broken down red bull and pay too much for it, you better learn how to read and add.”

  The class as a whole understood the parable and laughed. Mary smiled, and said, “I hope you all get the message. An education is important in life. It’s more than just homework, it’s protection against those that would take advantage of you.”

  By the end of the first six weeks, they were sounding the letters and learning to put them together to make words. At the end of the school year, all of them had the basic reading and writing skills. Mary could now begin the preparation for the real curriculum.

  Chapter 15: Two Relationships Progress

  In addition to great strides in the classroom, Mary was seeing changes at home. Tom had learned to have fun. He and Emily could talk together; he showed interest in her activities and she basked in all of the attention she was getting from her Papa. One afternoon was indelibly etched into Mary’s memory. Tom was sitting in his chair with Emily on his lap, reading from one of her McGuffey readers. When she finished, Tom hugged her and said, “Well done, Emily.” He squeezed her, and said, “I love you, Emily Hartness.”

  “I love you too,” Papa, said Emily.

  Tears welled in Mary’s eyes. It was the first time she had heard Tom express a feeling of love for his daughter. It was genuine. About this, there was no question. She had known he loved her, but she had never heard him tell her so.

  As far as the two of them, they had progressed quite a distance themselves. Tom openly displayed his affection for her. Mary had come from a touching family and she had missed it in her years of living alone. Tom would touch her hair as he passed her chair. When she came home from school, tired from a day of standing, he would massage her shoulders as she sat in the kitchen. Rosa beamed when this happened. Her bambino, Tomas was happy again. All was well in the Hartness family.

  At breakfast one morning…

  Tom came in for his breakfast. Mary was sitting at the table, while Rosa prepared breakfast. Tom thought Mary looked a bit off her feed, but said nothing. Rosa sat a plate of huevos rancheros in front of him. Mary looked at the plate and turned a little green. “Whoops!” she said, jumped up and ran for the back door, barely making it before she spewed the coffee she had been sipping over the edge of the porch. She was still retching when Tom came out.

  “Are you all right,” he asked. “You don’t look so good.”

  There was nothing more to come out, but the retching continued. Finally, she said, “I don’t know what came over me. Just all of a sudden, I had this uncontrollable urge. Almost didn’t make it either.”

  The same thing happened three mornings running. “Senora Mary,” Rosa said with a smile on her face, “I think you are with child.”

  “I couldn’t be,” Mary said. “Well, I guess I could be, but I don’t think so.”

  Rosa smiled knowingly. “You are with child, Senora.”

  Mary told Tom what Rosa had said. “How could that be?” he asked. Then, “Oh, I understand, how it could be. We haven’t been careful lately have we?”

  Mary shook her head. “How would you feel if I am?” she asked.

  “Feel? I would be delighted. It will be nice to have another little one around here,” he said.

  “I’m really glad.,” she said. “You know, I feel as if Emily is my own little girl, but I would like to give birth,” she said.

  “We’ll have to get you checked out by the doctor,” he said.

  “I’m fine,” Mary insisted. “It’s not as if this were the first baby ever born.”

  “It is for you. You may think I’m being controlling, but I want you to be checked out by the doctor.”

  “Yes, darling,” she said, patting his cheek. “I wonder how Emily will react?”

  “Are you kidding?” She’ll love having a little brother to boss around,” she said.

  “So it’s going to be a little boy is it?”

  “Fifty fifty chance, ” she said. “I guess we’ll know when he’s born won’t we?

  Dr. Jonah Williams office in Grapevine…

  Dr. Jonah Williams graduated from Tulane Medical School in New Orlean in 1870. After his internship, the son of a prominent rancher returned to his hometown of Grapevine. Tom Hartness knew him from their days together in the Grapevine school.

  After introducing him to Mary, Tom waited outside while Dr. Williams examined Mary. He called Tom back into the examining room. “Well, Tom, as I already told Mary, it looks to me as if you are going to be a Papa again. Mary looks to be in perfect health. For the time being, I would like to check her every six weeks.” He extended his hand and congratulated Tom.

  “Jonah, when the time comes, will you deliver our baby?” Tom asked.

  “Yes, of course. When she goes into labor, send for me and I’ll be right there. Rosa is still with you isn’t she?” Doctor Williams replied.

  “Oh yes, Rosa is part of our family,” Tom replied.

  “Good, she can help take care of Mary. Good to see you again, and Mary, nice to have met you. You have a good man here. We’ve known each other since we were teenagers.”

  “Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate your care, and yes, I agree, I married a good man,” Mary said.

  On the way home…

  “Now that we know for sure, you’re going to have to take care of yourself and our new baby,” Tom said.

  “I would like for us to tell Emily right away,” Mary said.

  “We can do that,” Tom said. “I think she will be excited about it.”

  “I hope so. I want to make her a part of it from the beginning, so she feels she is still important to us.

  Tom patted her arm. “Emily is lucky to have such a caring mother. Every day you make me glad we found each other.”

 
; “I’m glad too. You’ve made me happy and given me a real purpose in life and now, you’re making me a mother. Dr. Williams was absolutely correct, you are a fine man and I’m a lucky woman. Would you mind stopping for a minute?” she asked.

  Tom grinned, knowing what was behind the request. He stopped, and took her in his arms and they shared a long kiss with the feeling of a growing love shared.

  Entering the house, Tom called out, “Emily, can you come in here? We have something to tell you.”

  When she came into the room, Tom took her on his lap, and said, “You tell her, Mary.”

  Mary’s smile expressed her thanks. “Emily, we have some really good news. You are going to be a big sister. We just found out that we are going to have a baby!”

  “When?” the little girl asked.

  “It will be in a few months,” Mary told her.

  “Will it be a boy or girl?” Emily asked.

  “We won’t know until it gets here,” Mary said.

  “How will it get here?”

  Mary said, “Well, it will grow in my belly, and the doctor will take it out.”

  Emily laughed, as if knowing her Mama was being silly. “Can I go play now?” she asked.

  “Yes, you may, after you give me a hug and a kiss,” Mary said.

  Emily hugged Mary and kissed her on the cheek, then went skipping out of the room.

  “Isn’t she a breath of fresh air?” Mary said. “Such an innocence and honesty.”

  Chapter 16: An Uneventful Pregnancy

  “You’re doing great,” were the words Dr. Williams used each visit to describe Mary’s condition. “Just keep it up, do moderate exercise, nothing overly strenuous, especially nothing that might cause you to fall.”

  Mary laughed, “I’m sure if I showed a sign of falling, Tom would throw himself underneath to break the fall. He is cautious to a fault where the baby and I are concerned.”

  “Knowing Tom, it doesn’t surprise me one bit,” the doctor said.

  Mary was seventeen weeks into her pregnancy, when she took Tom’s hand, one evening, and held it on her belly. “Did you feel that?” she asked. “It’s our baby. He’s been doing that a lot lately.”

  The next day, during an active period of movement, she called Emily. “Let me hold your hand, sweetheart.” She guided the little hand to the area where the movement was taking place. After one of the moves, she asked, “Did you feel that? Wait here’s another one. Do you feel it?”

  Emily nodded her head, not sure what was going on. Mary moved her hand around. “There it is again. That’s your baby sister or brother stretching and kicking.” Emily’s eyes opened wide. Mary lay back on the bed and pulled her gown up, revealing her belly. “Now watch,” she told Emily. When the baby moved, Mary pointed to the moving ridge on her stomach. “See, that’s the baby.”

  “I saw it,” Emily said. “I saw the baby move. Does Papa know it does that?” she asked.

  Mary answered, “He sure does. Isn’t it wonderful?”

  Emily nodded her head. Can I go play now?” she asked.

  “You go ahead,” Mary told her. Be sure to tell your Papa you saw the baby.”

  “I will,” promised Emily.

  The sixth and seventh months came and went, Mary’s belly was expanding with each passing week. By the eighth month, she was great with child. She complained to Tom, “I feel like a giant lumbering ox. I’m so clumsy, and with this belly sticking out so far, I’m always bumping into things.

  Mary and Tom went in for a visit at the beginning of her ninth month. Dr. Williams weighed her, but wouldn’t tell Tom the weight. “That’s between Mary and her doctor,” he told Tom. To the two of them, he said, “I would say anytime three weeks from now or later, we can expect labor to start.”

  “I don’t like ‘or later’, I’m ready to get this show on the road,” Mary said.

  The doctor laughed. “In my long and illustrious medical career, if I’ve learned anything, it is this, the baby will come when it is ready. You just be ready to come and get me when it starts. Rosa will be able to take care of you until I get there. That will largely entail holding your hand during a pain.

  “Now, you two scoot and let me get some work done.”

  “Sure, Doc. You just be ready, and remember, I carry a Colt.44.” He laughed and stuck out one of his massive hands, “Thanks, Jonah.”

  “You bet,” Williams replied.

  After they left the office, Mary said, “I really like him, and moreover, I trust him.”

  “I do too,” Tom said. “He’s worked hard to get where he is.”

  Three weeks later…

  Mary awoke and looked at the clock. It was three in the morning. Her back was hurting. She tried turning over in bed as much as her condition would permit. The pain went away, only to return later. When it reappeared for the third time, she shook Tom. “Tom…” She shook him again. “Tom, I think it’s started.”

  “What’s started?” he asked.

  “Our baby is on the way,” she said. “Get Rosa and go get Doctor Williams. And, Tom…?”

  “Yes?”

  “Please hurry,” she said.

  He practically leaped into his clothes, and ran down the hall, calling Rosa. She came out tying her apron. Rosa didn’t go anywhere without her apron. “Rosa, go help Mary. I’m going for the doctor.” He tore out the door. He had his horse saddled and was pounding down the road in a blink of an eye.

  He rode straight to the doctor’s house. Dr. Williams’s wife came to the door. “Tom! What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “Mary’s in labor. Get Jonah.”

  “He’s at the Warner’s, Patsy’s in labor too. They live…”

  Tom interrupted. “I know where they live. I’ll go there.” It took fifteen minutes to get there. He went to the door, and knocked. Eugene Warner answered the door, looking very frazzled.

  “Eugene, tell Jonah Mary’s in labor,” Tom said.

  “I’ll tell him, Tom, but Patsy is having a hard time,” Warner said. He left the porch and Dr. Miller came out.

  “I can’t leave here right now. Patsy’s been in labor most of the afternoon and all night. I’ll get there as soon as I can. She’ll be all right with Rosa. It’s her first, so it will probably be a long labor. Tell Mary I’ll be there as soon as I can leave Patsy. Stop by my house and ask Helen to go with you. She’s helped me with a lot of deliveries, and maybe she can help with Mary till I get there.” A scream shattered the night. “I’ve got to get back in there. I’ll leave as soon as I can safely do so.”

  As he went off the porch, Eugene Warner came back to the door. “Good luck, Tom. My prayers are with you and your wife.”

  “Thanks, Eugene, “ Tom said. “Good luck to you and Patsy.” He thundered off into the night, back to the doctor’s house.

  When he got there, he found Helen Williams holding a little black bag similar to the one carried by her husband. She was ready to go. Since the doctor had the buggy, she had their carriage out, Tom took over and finished hitching it up. “I had a feeling Jonah was going to send you back here. Where does he want me to go?” she asked.

  “My place,” Tom answered. He tied his horse loosely to the back of the carriage, gave Helen a hand up to the seat, flicked the reins and drove off at a brisk pace..

  Arriving at the Lazy H, Tom helped Helen down from the carriage seat, then led her into the house and on to the bedroom. Mary was between pains at the moment, and Tom introduced her to Helen, after telling her the doctor was tied up in an emergency, and while he would be there as soon as possible, no one knew when that would be.

  Mary said, “ The pains are ten minutes apart, and my water has broken.” As she talked, another pain hit causing her to grimace. Helen and Rosa were holding her hand. Helen said “Mary, let out a long sigh, then I want you to breathe in and out through your mouth, just like a dog. It will help with the pain. You’re going to want to push. Don’t do it, until I tell you. Resist the urge.

 
; That’s it, pant, just like a dog, not too fast now. There you go.” The pain faded and Mary began to relax.

  Tom said, “Helen, I’m going to take care of your horse. Is there anything else I can do?”

  “No, you’ve done your part. We’ll take care of her now. You just go out and wait,” Helen said.

  He went to Mary’s side and kissed her glistening cheek, “I love you honey. I wish I could bear some of the pain for you.” He left the room to take care of the horses.