“Mmm. Bianca. I…I think I am falling in love with you. You are not at all what I expected. And…I have to know if you feel anything like that for me.”
Bianca’s heart soared. She didn’t say anything. She just nodded.
Jonah smiled. “I can’t believe you are mine.” He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to continue but was cut off by the sound of the horses’ whines. Jonah laughed wryly.
“Let me go take care of those horses and then I will be back.”
Bianca grinned and nodded before watching him leave.
Smiling softly to herself, Bianca headed to her room after hanging up her cloak, hat and mittens. She stripped off her gown and slipped into a peignoir and wrapper Cissy had insisted she buy. She took her hair out of the constraining bun and unbraided it to brush it out. When she heard her bedroom door close, she turned to greet Jonah shyly.
But the man who stepped into the candlelight was not Jonah.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?”
The man laughed harshly. “The name’s Frank, darling. I see my son hasn’t mentioned me. Too bad. I told him what I would do to the one he loves. He must not have believed me.”
As he spoke, he drew a knife out of his pocket. Its edge glowed sharply in the small light as he advanced on her. “That was a very touching scene you shared in the foyer.”
“You were watching us?”
“Indeed I was. I’ve been trailing you since this morning when you arrived at the festival. After I saw that kiss, I came back here and waited for you.”
As he spoke, Bianca edged sideways and Frank matched her moves, circling her, as if toying with her.
“Why?”
“My son stole my wife from me and now I will steal his from him. I warned him long ago that I would.”
Sudden understanding dawned on Bianca. “You’re the reason why he’s been so hesitant to take our marriage forward.” She didn’t fully understand but she knew she was right.
The back of her legs hit the table behind her and she grasped a heavy paperweight before moving away and closer to the door.
Frank followed her but he was done talking. He lunged at Bianca with the knife but she threw the paperweight at him with all her might and it caught him on the side of the head, dazing him. Bianca didn’t wait. She pulled the door open and ran out of the bedroom and then out into the yard, screaming for Jonah along the way.
She heard Frank crash through the living room and follow her. She twisted back to look and slipped on the ice in front of her and fell. Frank was faster than he seemed and the paperweight hadn’t done much damage.
He covered the distance between him and his pray quickly. Bianca tried to scramble away from him but the ice was slippery and Frank got to her first. He turned her over and straddled her stomach. The knife glinted in his hand in the moonlight as he raised it above his head with a maniacal laugh. When he brought it down, Bianca braced herself, just as a loud boom shook the night air and Frank screamed in agony as the knife went flying and blood spurted from his hand. Another boom and Frank’s shoulder jerked and he fell back away from Bianca.
Jonah came up alongside her, shotgun to his shoulder. He pulled her up with one hand, keeping the other steadily on the trigger of the gun firmly aimed at the other man. Bianca scrambled up and Jonah swept her behind him.
He slowly advanced on Frank but the man didn’t move. When Jonah stepped over him, he was surprised to see Frank looking at him with wide, glazed eyes. A dead man’s gaze. Jonah turned him over and found the knife Frank had used on Bianca lodged in his back. It must have landed hilt first in the snow when it was shot out of Frank’s hand and Frank had impaled himself on it when he fell back from the second shot.
Jonah felt nothing but relief. The shadow specter of Frank Cassidy was no longer hanging over his life like a gloom. He was free.
The next week, on Christmas morning, Jonah and Bianca sat down before the hearth and sipped on hot chocolate. They had a pile of wrapping paper flung all over the living room and both were as giddy as children as they took in their gifts. Jonah excused himself and went to his room. When he came back out, he had a small package wrapped in gold with a red bow in his hands.
Bianca looked at him curiously when he presented it to her. I bought it a month ago but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to give it to you. At least, not until the Christmas Festival. I had already decided that I would give it to you that morning and Frank’s demise just gave me more of a confirmation.
“I am sorry about what he put you and your mom through, Jonah. I am glad he can’t hurt you anymore.” Jonah had explained everything about Frank to her after that fateful night and Bianca was glad Jonah was finally able to move past it.
She carefully unwrapped the package and opened the small box inside. The gift inside stunned her. Jonah knelt next to her.
“I know I said when I met you that I did not want a wife, only a maid. But you changed all of that. You turned my world upside down. You are genuine and generous, practical and fun. I can’t imagine anyone else that I would rather spend the rest of my life with. We have been married for several months now but as of yet, we have not lived as husband and wife. But I love you and I want you to be mine alone. Bianca Cassidy, would you be my wife and companion from this day on for as long as God gives us breath to share?”
Bianca just stared at him. Her Christmas miracle had occurred. He was everything she ever wanted and she loved him with all that she had.
Bianca leaned forward and kissed Jonah. She didn’t have words to say what she wanted to say but he knew what she was saying all the same. He slipped the ring on her finger and enfolded her in his embrace.
*****
THE END.
The Christmas Miracle
Mail Order Bride
CHRISTIAN MICHAEL
Nov 16, 1886
The loneliness was what pushed him to do it. He questioned whether it was worthwhile but could think of no reason not to. He had been on his own for a little over a year now and surely no one in town would look down on such a thing given his circumstances. There was little chance that anyone would find out so long as he did not tell a soul. So on a cold November afternoon Emit Townshend responded to an ad for a mail-order bride. The ad that Emmitt responded to was for a woman named Rachel Sutcliffe. What stood out to Emmitt in her ad was the phrase “looking for a man I’ve never met in a place I’ve never been.”
Emmitt never had the desire to travel. The West was where he was born and surely where he would die. More than anything he wanted to be as content with a woman as he was with his surroundings. He had been in love before and hoped desperately that he could find love again.
“This rain could turn to snow at any moment,” Emmitt said aloud as he gazed at the dampened fields beyond his front porch. “This has been the coldest November that I can ever remember. What about you Pally?” The old golden retriever that lay at his feet, whose collar bore the name Pally, did little to respond to Emmitt’s question. Pally rarely left Emmitt’s side since his wife, Margaret, passed away while giving birth. It was a difficult pregnancy leading and it came as quite a shock to Emmitt that the child, a girl, did not survive the birth either.
Emit did his best to continue on living in honor of his late wife and child. He continued to dedicate himself to a life of farming. It was Margaret who made the house a home for the two of them while Emit worked tirelessly outside, tending to the crops. He truly felt that farming was his earthly calling and that he was good at it. Prayer took up most of his free time after a hard day’s work. It was through his relationship with God that he found the strength move on in his life. Despite the brave face he put on when at church or about town, he was truly heart broken and feared that he would succumb to an early death because of it. He had seen this happen to a few of the older members of his church.
Lately his prayers had almost always been the same. The ritual began with his standing at the fireplace and looking at the framed pict
ure of Margaret that graced the mantle. He would like at it for a few minutes, allowing the memories of her laughter and smell to fill his head before speaking to God.
Thank you lord for all of the blessings you have given to me. Most of all thank you for my wife and daughter, both of whom I miss so very much. In my darkest moments I take comfort knowing that they are at peace and rejoicing with you in the kingdom of Heaven. Lord, I pray that you will give me the strength and guidance to survive this winter and this broken heart. Amen.
***
December 2, 1886
“Have you ever travelled by train before dear?”
Rachel was used to speaking about herself to strangers such as this woman on the train. She prided herself on being an excellent judge of character and saw this woman’s inquiry as nothing more than an innocent attempt to pass the time.
“No, as a matter of fact, this is my first travelling outside of the city, New York City. That is where I am from.”
This interested the woman a great deal. Rachel’s clothes and appearance were a stark contrast to her own which was very much the common style for women in this part of the South.
“Well what brings a city girl like you to this part of the country?”
“I’m looking for something,” Rachel said hesitantly with a nervous smile.
“And what might this something be my dear?”
“I’m looking for a man I’ve never met in a place I’ve never been.”
The woman simply smiled at her, careful not to display any signs of approval or disapproval on her face. This answer did not sit well with her. It seemed very unladylike. Not the sort of thing a girl should be talking about in public or in conversation with a stranger.
“Well I sure hope you find what you’re looking for here. You’ve come an awfully long way from home,” was the politest thing the woman could muster for a response to the young girl travelling for the first time on this train.
Rachel was genuinely excited about this trip. Luckily her excitement outweighed her uncertainty of the whole situation. It was her excitement and the slight amount of nervousness she felt in travelling alone that made her want to confide in the woman.
“Thankfully I have a home waiting for me,” Rachel said with a smile. “It will be my first actually. I have spent most of my life as an orphan living in one of the city’s largest orphanages.”
Again, the woman was taken aback by the honesty of this young girl. If it were she, she would not share this kind of information with people so bluntly. She did not mean to rush such judgment to this girl, however, she could not help but hear her own mother’s voice reciting that’s just not how we do things here in the South.
“Well, home is where the heart is. You seem like such a lovely girl. I truly hope you find your heart to be filled with love in your new home.”
Rachel found herself to be pleasantly surprised by the woman’s kindness towards her. Though she was used to dealing with various types of people, she was not used to exchanging such pleasantries with strangers.
“That is a lovely thought and I thank you for your kind wishes. I have come to expect very little from people in my life especially when it comes to such temporary feelings as love.”
“Don’t you believe in true love dear?” the woman asked gently, hiding her horror at the young girl’s dismissal of the purest human emotion. “Or love at first sight?”
“These are lovely ideas but… I’ve learned not to get my hopes up. I have seen many people come and go in this life and if there is one thing I have learned it is that nothing lasts forever.”
There was nothing untrue about this statement as far as Rachel was concerned. She was 22 years old and leaving behind the city she grew up in and anyone she had known previously. This is what she assumed all orphans do at some point in adulthood. She wanted to sever herself from her past and move towards her uncharted future.
“You do have a point my dear,” the woman responded, near emotional exhaustion at this point. “My baby brother lost his wife last year. She was with child and now, sadly, my poor brother is without anyone but his dog to keep him company. Poor, poor boy.”
“I’m so sorry. That is truly awful.” Rachel understood loneliness and immediately felt for the man. To have loved and lost seemed truly horrible.
“The lord has his reasons and works in mysterious ways,” the woman offered as a consolation to the seemingly needless tragedy of death.
“This I do believe to be true as well,” Rachel responded, eager not to leave a prolonged silence in the discussion of such human difficulties.
In an effort to change the subject the woman, suddenly without an ounce of pain displayed on her face, turned her head to face Rachel and excitedly exclaimed “Christmas is coming!”
***
As Emmitt paced up and down the train station’s wooden platform he wondered if the woman he had been corresponding with would approach him before he approached her. He had seen the one picture of her that accompanied her ad but she had not seen one of him. Emmitt feared that he might not recognize her. He had only briefly glanced at the picture, making his decision based on her choice of words and the feeling he felt in his stomach when he first read them. He repeated her name in his head over and over as he paced back and forth.
Rachel. Rachel. Rachel.
While as he watched the train’s passengers make their way off the train he noticed a familiar face at the other end of the platform. It was his sister Angela. Emmitt was aware that she was to be returning home after visiting their ailing aunt Betsy but he had no idea that she was coming back on the same train as his mail-order bride. I hope she doesn’t see me waiting here to meet my soon to be bride. How would I even begin to explain?
Just then, Emmitt felt a tap on his shoulder and a soft voice behind him that said, “Excuse me sir.”
He spun around so quickly, due in part to his desire not to be seen by Angela, that he nearly bumped heads with the woman attempting to speak to him.
“You wouldn’t happen to be Mr. Emmitt Townshend would you?” asked Rachel, the young girl from the train.
“Yes ma’am, that is my name,” he said nervously.
“Hello Mr. Townshend, I am Rachel.”
“My goodness, it is a true pleasure to meet you. You are even more beautiful than I could have imagined.”
“You’re very kind.”
“May I take your bags?” Emmitt asked. “We are not far from the carriage. It is right this way.”
“Of course, thank you.”
At last she is here, he thought to himself. He was relieved to have found his bride and sure that his sister, Angela, had not noticed him at the opposite end of the platform. This was a feeling of excitement that he not felt in some time.
***
Rachel had never ridden a horse and carriage in the city. That was for people with more means and importance than her and her ilk. She feared that Emmitt would be put off she shared her inexperience with horses, so she kept these thoughts to herself.
“Please, tell me about yourself Rachel.”
“I come from New York City,” she began. “Sadly, I have no family. I have been an orphan since I was a small child.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” Emmitt said as he thought about the family that he had lost and his deep desire to have one of his own. He wanted nothing more than to have a wife again and a child or two.
“No need,” Rachel quickly responded. “I am a strong girl. I have learned how to take care of myself and get on with life.”
“A noble quality indeed” Emmitt added admiringly.
***
To Rachel’s surprise the marriage became official before they even got to the house. Emmitt had arranged for two of his friends, a lawyer and a minister whom he felt would honor his request to keep the matter private, to officiate and legalize the union. Despite the shock of how quickly things were happening, Rachel was somewhat relieved to not have to pick out a dress or have a large ceremony
with the only guests being there on behalf of the groom.
My husband certainly seems to be a nice man. He is quite handsome and not at all brutish. He certainly put some effort into planning this marriage ceremony.
Rachel was as pleased to be marrying Emmitt as she could be given the circumstances. His looks, though pleasing, had not been of much importance to her in making the decision to come here. She had her eye on the bigger picture – marriage, a home, and security.
Emmitt was so nervous during the ceremony that he thought he might actually vomit right there in front of the bride. He was sure that he wanted this but his stomach was unsure if it wanted to settle or turn itself upside down. He was grateful to get through it without causing embarrassment to himself or Rachel. Even after only just meeting within a matter of hours he was convinced that he was already in love with her. It didn’t hurt that he found her stunningly beautiful, but he found their conversations thus to be very engaging. He was fascinated by her experiences and her fearlessness at sharing her thoughts.
***
The newlyweds pulled up the long driveway leading to Emmitt’s farm and house. It was almost too much for Rachel to take in. She had never seen a farm or been in the country. She was used to the buildings and long sidewalks of the city. The sights, sounds and smells were completely new to her and overloading her senses.
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