Ashley Merrick - India_Bride of Indiana

by Ashley Merrick

  India knocked on the door and a young voice, probably Sylvia’s, told them to come in.

  “Julia!” Sylvia said when she saw her and ran over to give her friend a hug. “The doctor came and he said my mother is going to be better soon!”

  “That’s great news!” India said, and then added, “Sylvia, can you get some bowls from the kitchen? We’ve brought you some chicken soup and fresh bread for dinner.”

  Sylvia ran to the kitchen to do as India asked. India set the pan of soup on the kitchen table and then went into the bedroom to see Sylvia’s mother. She was in bed, but turned when she heard footsteps at the door.

  “Hello, I’m India Mitchell—I mean India Blake.” India automatically gave her old name at first. She still wasn’t used to the new one. “Julia goes to school with Sylvia and said you hadn’t been feeling well. I made a big pot of chicken soup today and brought some by for you both. I thought you might not feel up to cooking and we had plenty.”

  “Thank you,” the woman said. Her voice was tired and weak, but she also sounded hopeful. “Are you the one that sent the doctor?”

  India nodded. “It seemed like a good idea, just in case your husband was running late. Sylvia said she thought he might be home tonight.”

  “Tonight or tomorrow,” the woman confirmed, and then added, “My name is Jane.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you Jane. Are you hungry? Can I bring you some soup?”

  “No, I’m not hungry. But I’ll try to eat a little.” She slowly eased herself up in bed. India found a kerosene lamp and brought it into the room so she’d have more light to eat by. She ladled soup into bowls for both Sylvia and Jane and cut thick pieces of bread for both of them. She only filled Jane’s bowl halfway, guessing that she might not have much of an appetite. She brought it into her, along with a spoon and the bread and set it next to her bed on a side table.

  Jane broke off a small piece of bread and dunked it in the hot broth. She took a tentative bite and then another. She finished the bowl of soup much to India’s surprise, and she brought her in a little more and refilled her water glass.

  “Thank you. This is a wonderful treat. I’ve been useless the past few days.”

  “Do you think it was the flu?” India asked.

  Jane smiled slightly. “It felt like the flu, but no, I don’t think it was. This happened to me once before, when I was expecting Sylvia. I was horribly sick for two solid weeks and then it eased up.

  “Oh! Well, congratulations, then.”

  “Thank you. We’re hoping for a boy this time.”

  India was relieved that it didn’t appear to be anything serious and now she understood the strange expression on the doctor’s face when he said that he’d treated her for this before. India had no idea that it was possible to get so sick from that. She hoped that wouldn’t happen to her and then she realized that it wasn’t likely because in her current situation, there was no chance of that happening. She sighed at the thought and then gathered the children together. She quickly cleaned up and put the food away in the kitchen. They said their goodbyes and then drove home to have their own bowls of chicken soup.

  Chapter 16

  After their own dinner of chicken soup and fresh bread with butter, and after the children were tucked snugly in their beds, India and Richard settled in the den to relax for a bit.

  “Oh, I forgot to give this to you earlier. You have mail. I stopped by the post office on the way home today.” He handed an envelope to India and she recognized the familiar handwriting of her sister Beth immediately. She’d written to her the first chance that she’d had to send her address to her and she was eager to hear how her sister and mother were settling in. She ripped the envelope open eagerly and slid the letter out.

  “My dearest India,

  You know I’m missing you terribly. I wish so much that you could have come with us. I think you’d like it here. But, I’m hopeful that your new home is agreeing with you? Richard sounds like a nice man. I really got lucky with George. We’re well suited and as you know, I wasn’t expecting anything like this to happen. Mother is doing well, and sends her love. She’s become fast friends with Naomi Donovan. She’s the mother of many of George’s friends. Naomi has a lot of children, all grown now. I don’t remember if it’s 9 or 10 sons and one daughter.

  I’ve become good friends with many of the wives of the Donovan brothers. They came out west as mail-order brides too! Emma was the first one, and also came from Boston. She grew up in an orphanage there and when she turned eighteen, she and her friends had to leave and find jobs, to make room for the new children coming in. Something awful happened with Emma’s employer. She doesn’t talk much about it, but it’s what led her to become a mail-order bride.

  Quite a few of her friends have made the trip out as well to be mail-order brides and have married some of the other Donovan brothers. There’s Julia who runs Donovan’s Pub, with her husband Liam. They serve chicken potpie almost as good as yours. And then there’s Colleen, Brianna, Sarah, and Maeve.

  Sarah has grown to be one of my closest friends here. She is married to Ricky, who is now the town Mayor. Both she and Colleen love to sew, frankly I don’t know how they can stand it! You know how I feel about sewing though.

  Oh, and my other closest friend is Maeve. She’s the most recent mail-order bride and arrived just a few months before I did. She works as a mid-wife and is married to Jason, who is the assistant sheriff here in Bozeman. You’d like her, I’m sure of it.

  But as wonderful as my new friends are, none of them are you. We absolutely have to arrange a visit the next time George has to go to Lawrence. I’ve already told him to plan on stopping in South Bend. It’s really not out of the way at all, just past Chicago, which is another city I’m looking forward to visiting. Well, I’ve rambled on here, so I’ll just close with saying I love you! And Merry Christmas! And write soon and tell me all about your wonderful life in South Bend.

  Lots of love always,

  Beth

  India set the letter down in her lap and stared into the fire. It was so good to hear from Beth and the letter was like hearing her talk over a cup of coffee, which made her miss her all the more. She was glad that things seemed to be going so well and that she’d already found some good friends. Like she had with Laura.

  “I take it that was from your sister? You look both happy and sad at the same time. I hope she’s doing well,?” Richard asked softly.

  “Yes, she is, really well. I’m happy for her and for my mother. You’re right, though. I am a little sad. Just missing both of them, especially with the holidays drawing near.” India was quiet for a moment and then added. “I do feel as though I am settling in here, though, and getting to know people. Your sister Laura has become a good friend.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. The two of you had a productive day, it seems.”

  “We did. In large part thanks to you and your brothers.”

  “It wouldn’t have happened without your efforts, though.” Richard paused and then added, “Julia told me about her friend Sylvia when I was tucking her into bed. That was a good thing you did and I’m grateful that you involved the children. It made an impact on her.”

  “It was nothing, truly,” India said. “They were hungry and we had food.”

  “I’m sure Sylvia’s mother appreciated it,” he said simply.

  “Yes, she did. And she managed to get some of the soup down, which should help her to get her strength back.” India frowned, thinking of how sick the poor woman was. “She told me that she is expecting and that the same thing happened to her with her last child. It just seems so horrible.” India shuddered at the thought of going through that.

  “I’ve heard of that happening to some women, but it’s rare that it’s that bad. It was actually relatively easy for Amy. Except for the delivery, of course.”

  “True. Well, I suppose I should look on the bright side. I won’t have to worry about that at all.” India smiled ch
eerfully and noticed that Richard looked taken aback by her comment. He stared into the fire and looked deep in thought. Finally, after several minutes of silence, he stood and stretched.

  “I’m heading up to bed. Good night, India.”

  Chapter 17

  “It seems that we have a Secret Santa among us!” Olivia announced as she called the meeting to order. It was the Wednesday before the charity event at the hotel and they had just finished lunch at Brannigan’s and were going to go over last minute details for the event.

  “I heard about that,” Irene said. “No one has any idea who it is, though. So far this month I’ve heard that a cord of wood suddenly appeared at the Johnson’s house. Bill Johnson has been out of work and times have been tough for them.”

  “And just last week, a new wagon wheel appeared on old Mrs. Jenkins buggy. She had just mentioned to someone in church that she needed to get it fixed and didn’t know how she was going to manage.”

  “I heard a package of new shoes and winter coats appeared on the front door step of the James family. Everyone knows they have more children than money to support them,” Olivia said disdainfully.

  “Well, I think it’s just wonderful,” Laura said. “It doesn’t matter who it is. We should just be thankful that this person is helping. And soon our event will raise even more money to help people like this.”

  “Yes, well. We need to be thinking about what our next special project will be. We’ll have an extra meeting next Wednesday to discuss that and to see how we did with fundraising.” She glanced Laura’s way.

  “Laura, you headed up the special auction committee. Do you have an update for us? Do we have at least five silent auction items?”

  Laura stood up to give her report. “We have twenty, actually. Just about every business along Main Street donated an item or service for the auction.” There were audible gasps throughout the room. At past events, Laura had said, they’d barely managed to scrape up four or five items for auction. Laura had a grin on her face as she added to her update. “And I’m pleased to announce that we have one big ticket item for the auction. The Blake Wagon Company has agreed to donate one of their newest buggies, the Eagle model, which was just released recently.

  A hush fell over the room and Olivia looked shocked. “That’s incredible. Please thank Richard and your other brothers for us.”

  Laura sat back down and winked at India. “That shut her up for a moment.”

  India chuckled as she took a sip of her coffee, and then a thought occurred to her.

  “I just realized that I don’t think I have anything to wear to this! I’ve never been to any kind of a fancy event and this is just a few days away. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner.”

  “I don’t think there’s enough time to get something made, though Shirley Feeney at the dress shop in town might be able to manage it. She is something of a miracle worker. She’s made a few dresses at the last minute for me.” She leaned back and took a close look at India. “I think we might be just about the same size, though you’re a little slimmer. One of my dresses should fit you. Why don’t you come by my house after the meeting and we can have a look?”

  India felt herself relax just a bit. “If you don’t mind, that would help so much. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of this until now.”

  “Well, why would you? If you don’t normally go to these kinds of things, it wouldn’t be on your mind at all.”

  “You’re just trying to make me feel better,” India said with a smile.

  “It will be fun, you’ll see. You can try on a few of my dresses and I’m sure one of them will be just perfect.”

  One of them was. India and Sammy followed Laura to her house after the meeting and they went her into her house and up to her bedroom. Laura walked into a large closet and returned with four dresses, all very different and all beautiful.

  “What are you wearing?” India asked. Laura went back into the closet and pulled out yet another dress. This one was shimmery and copper-colored and had a delicate cream lace overlay across the bodice. It was beautiful. All the dresses were.

  “That’s gorgeous. I don’t know which one to choose. They’re all lovely.”

  “Try them on. That’s the best way to decide.” And for the next half hour, India did exactly that. She tried on each dress and walked in front of Laura’s full-length mirror to see which one looked and felt the best. Finally, she narrowed her choices to two dresses, one a deep purple satin and the other was unusual-looking, with a chocolate brown patterned top half and a full, pale blue skirt that was whimsical and light and had a bit of a fairy look to it.

  “They’re both lovely, but I think you should go with the brown and blue one. You can’t stop staring at that skirt. It’s ethereal, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, that’s the perfect word. I feel fairy-like in it.”

  “Then that is the one you should wear. Decision made.” Laura carefully hung the dress and then folded it neatly and wrapped a soft blanket around it for protection on the ride home.

  “See you at the event on Saturday,” she said as India set the dress carefully in the back seat of her buggy, and then she and Sammy climbed in and drove off.

  Chapter 18

  The night of the event, India fed the children a little earlier than usual. They were going to drop them off at Richard’s brother Jim and Mary’s house and they were going to have a sleepover with their cousins. Jim had offered to watch them since they weren’t going to be going to the event anyway. Mary wasn’t feeling up to it as her baby was coming due soon.

  India and Richard sat down with the children as they ate their grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

  “I can’t wait to see your pretty dress!” Julia said.

  “It is a pretty dress. I’m looking forward to wearing it.” India took a slice of bread, put a little butter on it and took a bite. She hadn’t eaten much for lunch, was suddenly starving and knew there wasn’t going to be a full dinner at the event.

  A cloudy look crossed Julia’s face. “Tommy Haskell told me the saddest thing today,” she said.

  “Isn’t he the one that was bothering you, pulling your hair?” India asked.

  “He used to do that. He doesn’t anymore. We’re friends now. But, he told me that Santa isn’t going to be able to visit his house this year. He sounded really sad.”

  “Why isn’t Santa going to visit Tommy?” Richard asked.

  “He said Santa wrote his mother a letter and said that he had a big gift for them this year, a new roof for the house. But it meant that there would be no toys for the children. His mother told him that a new roof was the best possible gift that Santa could give them.”

  “Is Tommy the boy whose father died last year?” Richard asked.

  “Yes, he had the influenza.”

  “How awful,” India murmured.

  “Santa will still come here, won’t he?” Julia asked nervously.

  Richard chuckled. “Yes, honey. I believe we are still on Santa’s route.”

  “Good, because I would be really sad if he didn’t bring us toys. Maybe I can ask Santa for a toy for Tommy?” Her face brightened at the thought. “I know he really wants a toy truck.”

  “We can write him a letter tomorrow, honey, if you like,” India suggested.

  “And I’ll ask him for something for his younger brother Colin, too.” She frowned and then added, “I don’t know what he wants, though.”

  “Santa will figure something out, sweetie,” Richard said.

  * * *

  An hour later, India was dressed in Laura’s gorgeous gown and had her hair pulled back in her favorite silver combs. She really felt like a princess or a fairy in her dress. The skirt had a magical look to it. It was shimmery and had a sheer overlay that rustled with her movements. The brown top half with its swirly cream embroidered pattern nipped in at the waist and combined with her corset, it made her waist look impossibly small.

  “You look in
credible!” Richard said as she made her way downstairs to where he was waiting by the door. The children were all ready to go with their coats and hats on and small bags packed to spend the evening. Richard helped her on with her long coat and then they all left and climbed into the buggy. Richard drove them to Jim’s house and after they got the children settled for the evening, they made their way to the Windsor Hotel. They tied the horses up outside and then made their way in.

  The hotel was all decorated for the holidays now, with a huge Christmas tree in the lobby that was beautifully decorated and had dozens of tiny candles twinkling merrily. There were wreaths and red and green garlands everywhere, adorned with silver and gold bows and ornaments. They joined the others who were streaming in and heading for the main ballroom. They gave their coats to the attendant that was collecting them and then entered the ballroom.

  It had been beautiful when India and Laura visited before, but now, fully decorated, it was breathtaking. There were elegant dried floral arrangements and candles on all the tables, which were covered with thick, snow-white linens. A five-piece band was setting up by the dance floor and servers were strolling by offering hot appetizers. At both ends of the room, bars were set up and waiters also roamed the room, taking drink orders.

  “Would you like something?” Richard asked. India didn’t usually drink alcohol, except on rare occasions and it seemed as though this evening qualified.

  “I’d like a glass of white wine, please,” she said.

  “I’ll be back in a minute.” Richard wandered off to get their drinks while India walked the perimeter of the room to check out the silent auction tables. They lined the walls and each one had an explanation of the item or service that had been donated and a sheet of paper below it, so that people could enter their bids. Toward the end of the night, the papers would be collected and the winners announced. The prizes looked impressive and she hoped that they would have a good turnout for bids.