A Mail Order Bride for the Fur Trader: Joy & Henry (Love by Mail 3)

by Christina Ward

  He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “I trust you to handle the shop while I’m gone. I’m sure Claire, or Mercy, or Hannah will help you out so you’re not alone.”

  Her lips quivered. “B-but I don’t know anything about running a business...”

  “And I don’t know a thing about marriage, but I agreed to your terms, didn’t I?”

  Her mouth opened, but he knew straight away he stroke the right nerve.

  “You’ll do fine,” he said. “Just think of this like a sorta test before our marriage.” Wait, that didn’t come out quite right...

  But her eyes lit up. “A test?”

  “Yes... It’s a test.” Well he might as well stick to his word choice.

  Joy straightened up and pressed her hands against her dress. “Well, then, I think I can handle it.”

  She didn’t seem offended by the thought of a test. Henry mentally patted himself on the back.

  “That’s sorted, then. I’ll have Elias open and lock up the store for you. We also have a delivery, but if anyone gives you trouble just tell them to come see me later.”

  She grabbed his arm. “Be careful out there. I don’t want to lose you before I get to call you my husband.”

  Suddenly the shop felt as hot as the desert where he once hunted. Maybe he should put in more windows.... He wiped his sweaty palms against his pants.

  “I’ll do my best. We’ll have to close the shop early today though. I need to get some stuff for tomorrow.”

  Joy nodded and Henry gave her a tour of the backroom; the records went here, the new stock went there, tools needed to be stored in this or that way. She seemed eager enough to do the work.

  He wiped his brow again. He’ll just quickly do his part, track the bandits, and leave the other men to the fighting. He’ll be back at the shop in a jiffy. It was just a fur trading post, newly open one at that. Surely, the curious neighbors already came round and there wouldn’t be many real customers for weeks until the news of his store spread wider. And Joy knew a thing or two about furs. Henry smiled. She could do it. There was no cause for worry.

  Chapter 5

  “I can’t thank you enough for helping me out, Hannah.” Joy smiled at the other woman as they unlocked the last of the doors. Elias dropped the keys earlier and left Joy and Hannah to deal with the store as he hurried to work.

  “No problem.”

  They entered the shop, and Hannah rushed to open the windows.

  “I had to learn to manage a farm when I married Jeremiah. This can’t be much harder.” She laughed over the sound of opening shutters.

  “But this is different.” Joy panicked. “I’m sure you had more time, and someone to teach you? I have absolutely no idea how to manage a shop!”

  Joy’d never admit that to Henry, but now with just Hannah around her nerves were getting the better of her. Hannah turned around and brushed the furs with her fingers. It was hard not to touch them, Joy thought, she also sunk her hand into the soft fur every time she passed by.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll do fine.” Hannah said. “Did Henry tell you what to do?”

  Joy nodded. “Well I watched him earlier, I even helped out a bit, and he showed me where thing were yesterday. But… he didn’t really leave a proper guide.”

  “Well don’t over think it, Joy.” Hannah looked right at her with a smile. “Since there are no customers yet, what do you think this place needs?”

  Joy looked around and heaved a sigh. “Needs? Well some dusting for sure.”

  “There you go, let’s get on it then.” Hannah grabbed a brush and began working on the hides nearest the door. Joy dug out a broom abandoned in the furthest corner of the store and began sweeping. The place was still dark and plain, but soon it looked and smelled cleaner.

  A middle-aged woman came in just as they were moving the empty crates to form a display area.

  “Morning ladies. You’ve got some beautiful furs here,” she said, looking around.

  Joy dusted off her dress. It was a good thing she put perfumed mineral oil in her hair that day. She looked at Hannah looking for some reassurance, but her new friend was still cleaning the hides.

  “Yes, we do,” Joy said. “Are you looking for something specific?”

  The woman nodded. She adjusted her feather hat and took off her gloves to touch the fur. “Yes, I’d like some fur for a coat. And hats, too.”

  “I recommend beaver fur for the hats if they’re to be used in colder places,” Joy said.

  The woman’s brows jumped. “You know hats?”

  “I know fur.”

  The woman mirrored Joy’s smile. “Well, how much is a pelt?”

  Joy froze. She’d forgotten to ask Henry. He didn’t have tags on the furs themselves. Was there a ledger somewhere?

  “Uh, I think... Let me check. One moment please.” She went over to the table with the till and went through the drawers. Her hands started shaking when she opened the third notebook full of random scrawl in not the most legible of handwritings. She reached for a smaller book and breathed a sigh of relief. There it was – not an exact list, but at least as long as she matched the right animal to the fur she could figure out an estimate price.

  Joy smiled and went back to the older woman with a number.

  “That sounds marvelous.” The lady clapped her hands. Should she have said more? “I’ll take those three, and the lovely rabbit pelts over there.”

  Joy followed her first client as the woman picked up all sorts of items. She did her best to answer any questions. The woman ended up buying a lot more than Joy had expected. To the point where Joy wondered how the lady was going to carry it all. But in the end the woman just handed Joy a note and said someone would pick up the goods later.

  “See, that went well.” Hannah squeezed Joy in a hug as soon as the customer left. “You’re really good at this.”

  Joy blushed. “Maybe you’re right. I think I might be able to pull it off.”

  By late afternoon, Joy had had three more customers come in. Claire brought lunch and stayed at the shop with Joy while Hannah went home to take care of her own family. They were all so nice to her. In the evening Hannah came back to help her close the shop.

  Looking around the store, Joy folded her sleeves over her elbows. Her first day had gone well. Why not make the place look more appealing, too? After the excitement of the day, her mind was spinning with ideas.

  “Are you still going to clean?” Hannah asked.

  Joy shook her head. “We’ll do more than that. We’ll bring life to this place.” She took the broom. “Time to work some magic.”

  * * *

  Joy felt the sweat drip down her neck as she rushed from customer to customer. She hadn’t worked this hard for… well ever! Secretly she hoped Henry would be back any minute. But Elias told her in the morning the chase could take several days. He also commented on the lovely flowers she gathered with Hannah and had used to decorate the shop inside and out. And he wasn’t the only one to notice since the customers were flooding the store all day. Did she bite off more than she could chew?

  It didn’t help that the locals, most of her clientele, spent as much time asking about the wares as they did enquiring about her engagement.

  When was the date? How did they meet? Why did Henry leave the shop with her?

  “Hello, is Henry around?” She turned to see a slightly confused older looking man enter the shop.

  “Hello, how may I help you sir?” She swirled around leaving a group of ladies fawning over the red fox furs. “Henry is away at the moment.”

  “Oh, darn.” He scratched his beard. “I’m here to collect the rent.”

  “Rent?” Joy felt her ears burn. Henry didn’t mention anything about rent. “I’m not sure when Henry will be back. If you just give me your name-”

  “It’s Edwin McDoug. I’ve already extended the due date twice, I can’t really wait Mrs. –”

  “Miss Fletcher,” she corre
cted instinctively.

  “Right, Miss Fletcher. I really need the money today.” The man’s face hardened and he gave her a stern look.

  “Uhm, I see. Would you mind waiting here for a moment?”

  He nodded and Joy turned around search for Hannah in the small crowd. Thankfully the woman was just about to take something into the back. Joy rushed to the storage area too hoping to get some advice.

  “Hannah, you’ve got to help me,” she whispered. “There’s a man asking for rent. I don’t know anything about any rent. And he’s demanding it now!”

  “Calm down.” Hannah grabbed Joy’s hands and peered over her shoulder into the main room. “Maybe Henry forgot.”

  “But I can’t just give money to strangers… ”

  “That’s true. Hmm… Who did you say it was?”

  “Edwin… something.” Joy was so stressed she couldn’t even remember the name properly.

  “Edwin?” Hannah glanced over her shoulder again. “Oh, Edwin McDoug. He is the local landlord.”

  Joy exhaled not even realizing she was holding her breath. But the relief lasted only a moment. “But should I pay? He refused to wait for Henry.”

  “I can’t make the decision for you,” Hannah said. “But Henry did leave you in charge of the store.”

  So he did. “Right. Thanks for your help.”

  Joy squeezed Hannah’s hand and went back out into the main room.

  “Mr. McDoug,” she said.

  “Have you got the money ready?” He got right to the point. His foot started tapping against the floor.

  “Uhm, how much is the rent?”

  Mr. McDoug looked left and right, coughed and pulled out an envelope from his back pocket. Joy took it and glanced over the itemized bill. It was a lot of money. She’d earned quite a bit since morning but nowhere near that amount.

  She swallowed hard. “As I said Henry is away, but how about an advance?”

  “An advance?” He furrowed his brows. “Henry’s already late.”

  “I know, I know. But he’ll pay as soon as he’s back.” At least she hoped he would! “You can see we’ve got customers. I just can’t give away a large sum without Henry around. We’re not married yet. But we’ve got the money, I can show you even, but you understand… an advance is all I can do at the time…”

  Please don’t call my bluff, she prayed quietly.

  The seconds dragged into eternity. Finally he muttered something that sounded like alright and sighed. “I guess an advance will have to do.”

  “Thank you so much for understanding.” She cast him her best smile.

  Joy pulled out a small piece of paper from her dress. “Can you sign here for the amount?”

  McDoug left his Hancock under the amount and took the money. He didn’t look happy, but at least he didn’t cause a scene either. Joy wiped a few drops of sweat from her brow. What would she have to face next?

  A woman took Mr. McDoug’s place. “Excuse me, how much is this?”

  Work was far from over.

  By the evening she even had a few people from out of town ask about Henry’s wares. When Claire, who again came at lunch time, saw the crowd, she called in Mercy for support. Joy was very glad to have those three as newfound friends. In fact it crossed her mind that her friends back home would likely not have been quite so eager to help out. Joy nearly burst out laughing trying to imagine Virginia doing any kind of work.

  “‘Scuse me miss. Is Henry Briggs around?” Two men, one young, and one ancient approached the table.

  Joy jumped off her stool and knocked her knees on one of the table’s legs.

  “Ow! No, sorry, he’s not here at the moment. I’m Joy Fletcher, his fiancée, how may I help you?”

  “Oh.” The older man scratched his long, silver beard. “Well, nice to meet ye, Miss Fletcher.”

  “I’m Mark Fallon,” the younger man said, shaking Joy’s hand. “This is my old man. We’re here to deliver goods.”

  “Oh, of course!” Of course, Henry didn’t tell me about that either! What was she supposed to do? Her head was swimming. She still needed to tally the sales.

  “We’re old friends of Henry’s,” Mark said. “He’s one o’ the best trappers we know. Saved me from a bear once.”

  “A bear?” Joy looked up from the drawer she had opened. “How?”

  “We was scoutin’ ‘em beavers, when this bear just appeared outta nowhere and took a swipe at me! Henry got the bear to chase him.”

  “Oh my God, he did what?” She could barely believe what she was hearing. She clutched her hand near her chest. Henry sounded brave for saving his friend, but also quite a risk taker. Was that what he was up to right now? Taking a bullet from the bandits for his companions? Her heart thumped fast in her chest.

  “He killed it with his own two hands, but not before getting a big claw mark to the chest.”

  The older Fallon nodded. “And now he’s a trader, but he never forgets his trapper boys.”

  Joy wrote out the numbers, asking them to name the price for all the things they had brought. She checked against the list she had found the day before. And even asked the trappers to explain one high priced item and haggled down a marked skin. She never knew how useful her interest in furs would become. Finally the older man signed a receipt and she handed him the money.

  “Could you just place the furs over there?” she pointed to the back room and smiled.

  “Sure thing.” Mark nodded and placed the bulk of pelts in the far corner behind Joy.

  “Nice meetin’ ya, Miss Fletcher. Give our regards to Henry!” the older man said and waved goodbye.

  The two left and the store emptied for a little while. It was nearly closing time.

  Joy plopped down on the stool and sighed. She had been on her feet for the better part of the day. She looked at the ledger, and the numbers she scribbled in a hurry. The figures made her heart sink. After all the sales she hoped to see a larger sum, instead after the rent advance and the furs she had just purchased... She dropped her chin on her hand and sighed again.

  “Why the long face?”

  Joy looked up as an old woman, with silver hair tied in a neat bun, approached her.

  “Oh,” Joy began. She forgot to place the “CLOSED” sign again.

  “I was going to look for some buckskin for boots.” She smiled at Joy. “But I can always come back tomorrow. I’m Helena Durie, by the way. I own the mercantile shop down the road.”

  Joy’s eyes widened. “Oh, Mrs. Durie, I’m -”

  “Joy Fletcher, I know.” She nodded at the book on the table. “Tallying your sales?”

  Joy nodded. “But I don’t really know what I’m doing...”

  She skipped the tally the other day hoping Henry would be back soon, but with the amount of sales that day, things could easily get out of hand quick. Joy thought it might be better to try and face the scary ledger.

  “Well I’ve had years of practice.” Mrs. Durie placed a hand on the book. “Here, let me show you...”

  Chapter 6

  Henry looked at the tired faces around the small campfire in the woods as he finished polishing his shotgun. Hank and the sheriff sat next to him and three other men rested nearby with their arms under their heads and hats over their faces.

  They almost had the bandits, Henry thought bitterly. The Sheriff even shot one as evidenced by the trail of blood they found. Still the outlaws got away, which meant he had to spend yet another day away from home. If it wasn’t too dark he’d be still on their tail. Thank God for the summer weather, at least there'd be no rain to muddle the tracks till dawn.

  “Hank, was your wife this eager to marry?” Henry deliberately took the spot next to the miner, a fellow mail order bride agency client.

  “No.” Hank shook his head. “S-Sarah was shy.”

  You could trust Hank to deliver an answer in the shortest manner possible given his stutter. Then again, Elias assured Henry last time they spoke, Hank was a great listen
er as long as you didn’t expect him to talk much.

  “I can’t stop thinking about Joy, ya know. She’s so charming, and pretty, and resourceful, but... There’s something odd about the way she arrived and demanded to get married right away.” Henry sighed. “That’s not what Elias told me to expect; not how Mercy explained things work at the agency.”

  Jim, a hunter that joined their party at the sheriff’s request, chuckled from under his hat. “All women are different, mate. A mystery I tell ya, each and every one of ‘em.”

  “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em, aye?” Sam, a deputy from the hunter’s town chimed in.

  “You left the store with her, didn’t you?” the sheriff said. “That says something.”

  That he did. But was that a mistake? He wasn’t sure what would be worse – Joy failing his “test” or her deciding that it wasn’t the life she wanted after all whether she managed to run the shop or not. He thought it funny before to give her a few surprises to deal while he was away. But he didn’t expect the chase to last this long. He didn’t expect to miss her lovely smile already.

  As he sat in the lonely outdoors surrounded by a few men he barely knew, Henry was painfully reminded of why he wanted to settle down and take a wife.

  * * *

  Henry barely heard the crack of a branch over the loud snoring of the sheriff. They wouldn’t dare, would they? He cracked open one eye. Dawn drew close, but the moonless sky was still plenty dark.

  Henry watched the sheriff roll over to his other side. Jim was meant to stand watch but the hunter was nowhere in sight. Henry was about to get up and look for the missing man when he heard footsteps behind him. Thank the Lord for the dry shrubs everywhere around. His fingers wrapped around the gun. It could be a bird, or a fox, but he’d rather not take his chances.

  Pretending to be still asleep he twisted his head in the direction of the noise. But his eyes could not pierce the darkness. He inhaled through the nose; still nothing. The wind kept blowing the wrong way. All he could sense was the smell of burnt wood coming from the nearly extinguished campfire.