Rustlers and Ribbons

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Sherri sniffed. She wiped at her face with a trembling hand, then nodded. “Yes, I suppose I have.”

  “Then what’s stopping you from living it, Miss Stucki?”

  Sherri blinked, then her eyes widened. “You mean, stay here, in this time?”

  The reverend nodded. “With the man you love. The one who has given you everything you’ve always wanted.”

  She shook her head. Her heart pounded faster. It had never occurred to her that she could simply stay in this time. Was she ready for such a change in her life?

  “I can do that?”

  The reverend nodded. He laughed. “Yes, Miss Stucki. Alexander Walker needed a woman like you to put him back on the right path, and to realize that he can love again. And you needed him to fulfill your dreams. Together, you both have a life that you’ve always wanted.”

  Sherri frowned as comprehension dawned. “This was the plan all along? You set us both up, didn’t you?”

  The reverend simply smiled. “I trust you have no further need of me.”

  “No, I just have to find Alexander.”

  The reverend stepped back and pointed. “I believe your young man had a change of heart, as well.”

  Sherri looked up. A horse and rider rode into camp at a fast gallop. He came to a skidding halt in front of her and leapt from his horse. In the next instant, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Sherri’s heart burst to life with happiness. She clung to him, kissing him back with every ounce of love she had.

  “You came back,” she rasped against his cheek when they finally broke apart.

  “I don’t run from the things that matter most to me. I ran out of anger, but I realized that what you told me is the truth.”

  “You believe me?” She stared up at him with wide eyes.

  He nodded. His gaze went to the reverend, who stood a few feet away. “Yes, I believe you.”

  “And I have everything I’ve always wanted right here. I was crazy not to have realized it for myself.”

  “Does that mean you agree to stay here and marry me?”

  Sherri smiled. She clasped his face between her hands. “I will, and we can live together in your mountains or wherever you want.”

  “What about your family in your own time?”

  Sherri shook her head. “All my life, I was given things to make up for the fact that they never paid attention to me. I know they loved me, but I’ve found my happiness right here. We could search for a millennium and not find the kind of love we found in each other.”

  Alexander kissed her again. When they both looked up, the reverend was no longer there.

  Dear Reader

  Peggy L Henderson is an award-winning, best-selling western historical and time travel romance author of the Yellowstone Romance Series, Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series, Teton Romance Trilogy, and the Blemished Brides and Wilderness Brides Western Historical Romance Series. When she’s not writing about Yellowstone, the Tetons, or the old west, she’s out hiking the trails, spending time with her family and pets, or catching up on much-needed sleep. She is happily married to her high school sweetheart. Along with her husband and two sons, she divides her time between Southern California and Yellowstone National Park.

  Peggy will be making her permanent home in Yellowstone National Park in spring of 2018, living her dream, and penning more novels set in this wonderful place. Find all her books on her Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/1QhIzXX

  To stay up to date with her characters and future book releases, specials, and extras, please join her fans list

  MAIL ORDER MILLUNNIUM was written with special permission from Kirsten Osbourne, author of the Brides of Beckham Series, and crosses over with Peggy’s Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series, as well as her Teton Romance Series. Several characters from various other books by Peggy were mentioned in this story as well. Alexander Walker is the son of Joseph and Sophie Walker, the main characters in TETON SPLENDOR, while the “Reverend Johnson” grants second chances to those who have lost their way and are in need of love in the SECOND CHANCES TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE SERIES. The first in the series, COME HOME TO ME, gives a lengthier account of life on the Oregon Trail than I was able to explore in Mail Oder Millennium.

  Note: While this novella can be rated PG, most of my other books fall in the PG13 category.

  A Special Thank You goes to the real Sherri Stucki for allowing me to use her name for the heroine in this story.

  Mail Order Brides of Cold Water Creek

  Josie

  Margery Scott

  Chapter 1

  Chicago, 1880

  Josie Parker’s heartbeat stuttered at the news. “But I have nowhere to go.”

  Mrs. Norton, the woman in charge of the Good Samaritan Children’s Home, peered at her over the top of her spectacles which always sat near the end of her nose. Josie had wondered sometimes how the woman managed to keep them from falling off, but in the years she’d been at the orphanage in Chicago, she’d never seen it happen.

  “I’m sorry, Josephine,” Mrs. Norton said, “but you know those are the rules. You can’t stay here once you’re eighteen, and that will be in two weeks. I assumed you’d already made plans for your future.”

  The sympathy in Mrs. Norton’s voice undid her. Tears welled up in her eyes. “No,” she sputtered. “I … I kept hoping there was some way I could stay here … I’ve never lived anywhere but here …”

  “That’s not possible, dear. There are so many young children who need care that we can’t allow grown women to take up the space.”

  “I … I don’t know what to do,” she muttered. “I don’t really know how to do anything.”

  Mrs. Norton got up and rounded her desk to sit in the chair beside Josie’s. She took her hand. “You’re a smart girl,” she said. “You can cook, you can sew, and even though I disapproved, you have skills very few women have. Although where you’d be permitted to use them, I don’t know,” she added with a short chuckle.

  That much was true, Josie thought. She would be a good wife one day, even if she did prefer doing “man’s work.” She’d spent so much time with Hank, the orphanage’s handyman, that he’d come to rely on her for help over the years. He’d taught her how to build furniture, how to repair a leaky roof and she’d even worked alongside him put in the pipes to bring water into the house so they didn’t have to go outside in the middle of winter to fetch water from the well.

  None of that would be of any use now, though. It was highly unlikely she’d find that kind of employment anywhere in Chicago. Just a few months before, her best friend, Sally, had left the orphanage and hadn’t been able to find work. She’d come back to visit a few times since then and had told her what she was doing to survive. It had made Josie cringe at the thought.

  Josie had found that when reality was too painful to deal with, she could distance herself by focusing on something else. She needed to do that now.

  She slid a glance at the painting on the wall behind Mrs. Norton’s desk. Majestic mountains rose into a bright blue sky. “Where is that, Mrs. Norton?” she asked. “It’s so beautiful.”

  “I believe that particular scene is in Montana.”

  “I’d like to see the mountains in person one day. And the ocean … and the Pyramids … and Paris, and …”

  “Josephine!” Mrs. Norton’s voice interrupted Josie’s wayward thoughts. “There is one other solution, if you’re willing.”

  Josie was willing to do just about anything, since the only future she saw for herself was becoming like Sally, selling herself at one of the brothels near the waterfront. “What is it?”

  “An acquaintance of mine runs an agency,” Mrs. Norton began.

  “An employment agency?”

  Mrs. Norton shook her head. “Not exactly. It’s a matrimonial agency,” she went on. “Men in the west are anxious to marry, but there aren’t enough women there so she arranges marriages for them.”

  Josie was intrigued. “Out west?�
�� That would mean she’d be able to travel, to see some of the country outside Chicago.

  “Yes. Of course, you’d be expected to cook and clean and take care of your husband, and … to perform your wifely duties,” she went on. “All of them.”

  While Sally had told her what happened between men and women and how babies came to be, she’d never gone into detail. Josie had been aghast at the few descriptions Sally had offered, and she couldn’t imagine why any woman would marry and willingly subject herself to such treatment.

  “In return,” Mrs. Norton went on, “you would have a home and eventually, children.”

  A home of her own. Josie had never known her family, and her only home had been the orphanage for as far back as she could remember.

  She would have to submit to her husband, but surely submitting to one man would be better than submitting to a different man every night – or more than one man, if what Sally told her was true.

  The words stuck in Josie’s throat, but she couldn’t see any other options. “I’ll do it.”

  “Wonderful.” Mrs. Norton rose. “I’ll get in touch with Mrs. Stuart immediately and make arrangements for you to go and see her. I’m sure she’ll be able to find you the perfect husband.”

  Josie’s knees quaked more than Mr. Kalinack’s newborn colt as she climbed the stairs to the second floor of the brick office building in downtown Chicago. She’d had to walk for three miles to reach the matrimonial agency, and even though she was used to exercise, her feet ached and perspiration trickled down her back.

  She’d never been so far away from the orphanage before, but Mrs. Norton’s directions had made the building easy to find.

  A long corridor stretched out in both directions when she reached the top of the stairs. Not knowing which way to go, she silently recited a rhyme which always helped her decide between two options. She turned to the right and slowly walked down the corridor, pausing to read the sign on each door.

  Near the end of the corridor, she found the door she’d been looking for – Stuart Matrimonial Agency.

  She tucked a few strands of hair that had come loose from her hairpins under her hat. She ran her hands down the skirt of her green cotton Sunday dress to smooth out any wrinkles and dislodge any dust from her walk downtown. The dress was well-worn and didn’t fit properly, but it was the best she had, so it would have to do.

  Then, taking in a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped inside.

  A woman with grey-streaked hair was sitting at a large wooden desk. She waved Josie to a chair facing her. “My name is Helen Stuart,” she said with a smile. “You’re Josephine Parker, I presume.”

  Josie detected a slight accent in the woman’s voice. Scottish? Irish? She didn’t know, and really, it didn’t matter. At least the woman seemed friendly enough, but Josie’s throat was so dry she couldn’t speak.

  “Mrs. Norton told me you’d like to become a mail-order bride, preferably somewhere in the mountains,” the woman said, sliding a sheet of paper across the desk toward Josie. “I do have a husband for you in Montana if you’re willing.”

  Josie’s heart hammered in her chest. “I am,” she squeaked.

  “Good. Read his letter and if you still agree, you can write to him and tell him when you’ll be arriving. He has already sent a train ticket as well as stagecoach fare which will take you to Coldwater Creek.”

  Less than a half hour later, Josie left Mrs. Stuart’s office, her head spinning.

  As she began the long walk back to the orphanage, tears filled her eyes. In less than a month, she’d be leaving everything and everyone she’d ever known.

  Six weeks later, Josie carefully descended the stagecoach steps in Coldwater Creek, Montana. The driver set her small trunk beside her, tipped his hat and strolled away.

  What she’d expected the town to look like, she couldn’t say. She did know this wasn’t it. False-fronted shops and businesses lined both sides of a dirt street. Men in wagons and on horseback rode by, while only a few women hurried about, intent on their errands.

  A soft smile tugged at her lips. It seemed Mrs. Norton had been right when she’d told Josie that men far outnumbered women in the west. Before Josie had left Chicago, she’d asked Sally to come with her. Sally had refused since she had no husband to come to, but did say that if Josie’s marriage was a good one, she’d go and see the woman at the matrimonial agency herself.

  Josie glanced around, her gaze searching for the man she was supposed to marry. Where was he? Surely he intended to meet her, didn’t he? If this was how he planned to treat her, she’d soon find herself another man to marry instead, since the woman at the matrimonial agency had assured her she’d have her pick of men in Montana.

  She didn’t pay much attention to the young woman walking toward her. She looked to be about Josie’s age, and was wearing a robin’s-egg blue dress dotted with white flowers and a matching blue feathery hat perched on her ebony hair.

  Josie turned away to avoid staring, expecting the woman to pass her and continue on her way.

  “Miss Parker?”

  Josie spun around to face the woman. “Yes,” she replied, returning her smile and noticing her dark blue eyes for the first time.

  “I’m Nora Thompson,” she said. “Cooper’s sister.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you, Miss Thompson,” Josie said, holding out her hand.

  The woman took it. “Please, call me Nora since we’re going to be family. May I call you Josephine?”

  “If you must,” she replied with a wry grin, “but most people call me Josie.”

  “Then Josie it is.”

  Josie’s gaze wandered to the street around them. “Where is Cooper? Has something happened to him?”

  Nora’s smile faded. “No, no. He’s fine.”

  “I expected him to come and meet me—”

  “Yes … well, that’s why … I mean there’s something I need to tell you.”

  Josie’s stomach lurched. Whenever someone said those words, it was never good news.

  Nora took a step toward a bench against the wall in front of the Wells Fargo office. “Please, let’s sit down and I’ll explain.”

  Josie followed her and perched on the edge of the bench. She set her reticule on her lap and clasped her hands together on top. “What is it?”

  “I have a confession to make,” Nora began. A flush crept into her cheeks. “Cooper didn’t write the letter. I did.”

  Josie sucked in a breath. Her fingers flew to her lips. “What?”

  “I’m sorry,” Nora said.

  “But … but he knows you wrote it, doesn’t he?”

  “Well … not exactly. I did tell him he should get a mail-order bride because I wouldn’t be around forever, and he didn’t refuse.”

  “But he didn’t agree either, I assume.”

  Nora shook her head.

  Josie’s heart skipped a beat as the reality of the situation she’d found herself in hit her. The man she expected to marry didn’t even know she existed.

  “I don’t understand. Why would you do such a thing?”

  At least Nora had the decency to look contrite. “I shouldn’t have. I know that. But Cooper needs a wife. And Drew and Andy—”

  “Wait!” Josie was getting more confused by the second. “Who are Drew and Andy?”

  A slow flush colored Nora’s cheeks. “I … forgot to mention them …”

  Josie didn’t like the sound of that. Things were going from bad to worse. “And they are?”

  “Drew is our brother, and Andy is Drew’s little boy. He’s only four.”

  “What do they have to do with any of this?”

  “Well …” Nora’s voice lowered to barely more than a whisper. “They live at the ranch, too.”

  Josie bounded to her feet and took a few steps before spinning around. Planting her hands on her hips, she glared at Nora. “So not only was I tricked into coming here to marry Cooper, I was expected to take care of his brother and his n
ephew, too?”

  “I’m sorry …”

  “Sorry doesn’t help,” Josie sputtered. “What in Heaven’s name possessed you to do this?”

  “I took care of Cooper after our parents were killed three years ago. Drew was already married and was living in Wyoming. I cooked for Cooper, I cleaned for him, I did his laundry. Then when Drew’s wife died, he didn’t handle it well. Cooper persuaded him to bring Andy to Coldwater Creek. He built a house near ours and he and Andy live there, but they eat their meals with Cooper and I. I look after Andy when Cooper and Drew are working the ranch. I love them all dearly, but it’s time for me to live my own life.”

  Josie hated to admit it, but she did understand how Nora must feel. Still …

  “Lewis Grimsby has been courting me for some time,” Nora went on. “He wants to marry me and I want to marry him.”

  It was all starting to make sense now. Nora was looking for someone to take her place.

  “Surely your brothers are capable of taking care of themselves,” Josie interjected.

  “If it was just them, I would let them walk around naked and starve until they figured out how to look after themselves, but I can’t leave Andy with them. He’s too young to look out for himself, and he needs a woman’s care.”

  “Then wouldn’t it make more sense for Drew to get married again since it’s his son who needs looking after?”

  “It would,” Nora agreed, “but he’s not ready to think about that yet. It’s only been a year and he’s still grieving.”

  “I see.”

  “I thought if I could find Cooper a wife to take care of them, I could marry Lewis, and I wouldn’t feel guilty for leaving. It was wrong. I know that now.”

  “It most certainly was,” Josie snapped. Still, Nora’s reasoning did make sense. A four-year-old couldn’t take care of himself.

  Josie really didn’t know what she would have done herself in the same situation. She could understand that it would seem like the perfect solution to Nora.