[2016] Alone and Pregnant

by Christian Michael

  Pulling back just enough to see into his eyes she said, “You did it. You rescued me.”

  “I told you I would protect you and I meant it.” His lips quirked in a smile.

  “I never doubted you.”

  “Good,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

  “What happens now?”

  He looked around, taking in the town’s dusty scenery. “I hadn’t thought this far ahead.”

  “There’s a judge in town,” the deputy said as the sheriff took Ed up the steps into the jail.

  Simon laughed. “What do you say? Want to get married, my dear?”

  “Yes.” Now, more than ever, she knew she wanted to be married to this strong, brave man in front of her.

  A shadow passed through his eyes. “I still don’t know how I’ll provide for you.”

  “Let’s figure that out later,” she said, reaching down to take his hand between both of hers. “I’ll stand by you no matter what.”

  She could see the confidence her words produce in him and felt the rush of emotion at the fact that they would be married that very day. It was why she had come out West, but it was more than that now. She could see—he had proved to her—that Simon would do everything in his power to protect her. He not only loved her, but he cherished her and would do as the Lord commanded, by putting her first.

  With a grin, Simon pulled her toward where the deputy had pointed. They were getting married!

  ***

  Walking out of the judge’s office a newly married man gave Simon a feeling of lightness. It was as if he was walking on clouds, floating around. Everything had changed in the span of a day. How that was possible she wasn’t sure, but there was the truth.

  Then again, he knew how it was possible. The Lord had orchestrated it all.

  The sun beat down on them as they walked hand in hand through the dusty streets toward the hotel. He would rent a room for them for the day and then they would figure out what to do. He had to go back to White River to close down his church, but then what?

  God, what do you have for us?

  Even as he thought the prayer he saw the deputy making his way toward them.

  “Well?” the man said, squinting in the bright light.

  “Meet my wife,” Simon said by way of introduction.

  The deputy laughed. “Name’s Gus, miss. Happy to meet you.”

  “Likewise,” she said. Simon noticed the pretty blush on Alta’s cheeks and wanted to pull her close and kiss her right there, but he would wait. There would be plenty of time for kissing later.

  “I wanted to catch you before you left town, if you are leaving town?” Gus asked.

  “Uh, well we’re heading to the hotel now. I figured we’d leave in the morning.”

  “Got a thought for you.” Gus nodded, rubbing a hand along his jaw. “Upon your suggestion we looked into the pastor in town and found some…unsavory connections. Needless to say, he’s been removed from his post and it turns out there’s an opening. If I remember correctly, you’re a pastor?”

  Hope surged through Simon at the man’s words. Could it be? Was this the Lord’s next step?

  “I am.”

  “I suppose you’ve also got a position of your own, but I thought it worth asking if you knew of anyone who could fill the pulpit here in town. We’ve got a whole lot of folks who look forward to Sunday services.”

  “You do?” Simon’s question was out before he could think it through.

  The deputy laughed. “Believe it or now, we do. Our sheriff here sees a direct connection between church attendance and crime so he’s keen on getting someone in quick. Know of anyone looking for a job as a pastor?”

  Simon nearly laughed then looked down at Alta. Her sweet smile belied her excitement and the reality that they were both thinking the same thing. This had been God’s plan all along.

  “As a matter of fact, I’ve been recently released from my pastorate in White River and I was looking for another church to step into.”

  “You don’t say,” Gus said, his eyes widening.

  “I do.”

  “Then let’s go talk with the sheriff,” Gus said, his excitement obvious.

  “We’ll be there in a minute, but I’d like to discuss this with my wife first.”

  “Oh,” Gus took a step back, a grin on his face, “You got it. We’ll see you soon.”

  He left and Simon turned to Alta, hardly believing what had just happened.

  “Why didn’t you accept right away,” she asked.

  He pulled her around the corner of a building to give them some privacy then turned to face her. “Because you’re my wife now and all decisions affect us.”

  “I trust you,” she said, her eyes glistening in the light and reflecting the trust she spoke of. “I know you’ll choose what’s best for us.”

  His heart swelled with love for his wife and pride in her acceptance. She had proven that trust by being brave when trapped with Ed and he knew she would continue to prove it to him through their years of marriage.

  “I don’t deserve you, my love,” he whispered before he bent down to kiss her passionately.

  When they parted, she rested her hand on his cheek. “Love isn’t about deserving.”

  And she was right. God gave good gifts to His children regardless of their worth, and right now Simon and Alta knew the fullness of His blessing in their marriage.

  THE END.

  Cowboy For Christmas

  Mail Order Bride

  CHRISTIAN MICHAEL

  Bianca Cassidy tried to put on a brave face for the well-wishers in the receiving line. The shock was only just starting to wear off. As much as she tried to control them, her eyes kept straying to the two large wooden caskets lined up neatly beside each other. And the small one next to them.

  God, what am I going to do?

  “Thank you for coming, Mrs. Casey. I really appreciate it.”

  “Oh my dear! You poor thing!” the little rotund woman sniffled into her lace handkerchief. “To lose your family like this!”

  Yeah, you’re really not helping me out right now!

  But of course, she couldn’t say that out loud. Bianca just nodded and hoped her smile didn’t appear too pinched. She wished it was over. She was ready to go to her room and shut the door and bury herself under her covers.

  An orphan. That’s what I am now. And I don’t even have Little Betty anymore. And those two vultures! How dare they just waltz into our house like they own it and think to stay! Oh for shame!

  Her aunt, Jessy and her greedy cow of a husband, Gerald, had moved into her house like they owned it, without so much as a by-your-leave. When her parents were still living Jessy and Gerald wanted nothing to do with them, believing themselves too good to mess with “common-folk” like May and Jim. But all that had changed when Papa had been lucky enough to strike a line of gold in the mines just two months ago. Overnight their fortunes had changed and there was now talk of getting an education for Bianca – and a good husband- and raising Little Betty up right and in style. Her parents were generous souls who gave to everyone in need in the town, even when they had little. When they became wealthy, they gave even more generously than before. Everyone loved them.

  When Jessy and Gerald heard of the news, they had become like flies in honey with mama and papa. And the poor souls had swallowed their sap, never questioning why the two vultures were all of a sudden proud to call them family. Bianca knew better. She also knew that Jessy and Gerald would soon try to marry her off to some poor fellow far away so they could keep all the money for themselves. She had heard them talk about it just the night before.

  At twenty-one, Bianca knew that she was pretty much on the shelf. When they were poor, no man wanted anything to do with her even though she was widely regarded as a beauty. When they became rich, all the eligible men began to flock to their door. But Bianca refused to let her head be turned by some man who was just after her new money. She was a practical soul. She
knew that they did not truly want her. And as soon as she realized Jessy and Gerald were planning to stay, she had gone to Mama’s hiding place and took the “rainy day” cash the woman had stored in the little cubby under the floor. She hid it in her bodice and sneaked to her room; there she was astonished to find four thousand dollars in her hands. It was more than enough to last a life-time if she was careful. She could even live a little lavishly if she wanted to. Bianca had furtively hidden the funds in the bottom of her trunk under some old papers so that no one else would ever be the wiser.

  Now as she stood with Jessy and Gerald at the funeral, she was glad that she had taken the money when she had. No doubt, the Vultures would go through the rest of Mama and Papa’s money in no time at all. And their plans for Bianca probably did not include any mercy or generosity.

  I wish they were still here. Oh why did you even have to go to that place, Papa?! If you hadn’t, all of you would still be here now.

  When Papa had struck gold in the mine that everyone had thought to be useless and dry, he had gone out and bought it that same day. Since no one knew the value hidden in it, he had gotten it for the price of dirt. Then, when he began to mine the gold, the cave’s value had soared and many people wanted to buy it from him. Rather than selling, he instead took up position as an overseer of the mines and hired others to do the work for him.

  The day Bianca saw him for the last time, he had gone over to speak to the foreman about opening up another cave, connected to his own, that had just been discovered. Mama and Betty had gone with him because they were going to go shopping later for the annual town Fall Picnic and Dance. Bianca had opted to stay home because of a headache.

  When she woke up from her noon nap, and discovered no one was home, she decided to go to town herself to join her mother and sister in shopping. On the way, she saw several people milling towards the mines on the edge of town. When she heard the dreaded words “cave in” fall from the lips of several people, she had thrown caution to the wind and made her horse gallop there a frenzy.

  Everything was still a blur in her mind. The only thing she remembered clearly was seeing Papa, Mama and Betty lying prone and lifeless on the ground and Dr. White’s old and cloudy blue eyes misting with tears when he saw her. Bianca didn’t scream or cry or anything. She had slowly and unsteadily made her way over to them. She sank to the ground and placed her head and arms on Papa’s chest for the last time and lay there until the undertaker came to take them away.

  Now here I am. All alone. Without a clue what to do.

  The funeral was over; the crowds were gone. The bodies of Mama, Papa, and Little Betty had all been laid to rest in their graves. She was back home, in her room. And the Vultures were downstairs. Bianca slowly pulled off her clothes and dressed in her regular woolen dress and stockings before getting into bed. She needed to sleep. When she woke, she would face her future again.

  That evening, Jessy, Gerald and Bianca all sat down for dinner. Jessy rang the bell for the servants to bring in the food. It was an aspect of life Bianca was not used to. Even after they had money, they lived humbly. Mama had hired a maid to help her cook and clean but she had also done a lot of the work herself. And she served the food to her family by herself as she had always done. Jessy though, loved to play Lady of the Manor. She lorded herself over the maids and demanded that they wait on her and serve her. Gerald had already set plans in motion for a contractor to come and discuss building a grand home for them because he absolutely refused to live in the “hovel” that Papa had built with his own hands, any longer than necessary.

  Over dinner, Jessy pushed some ads under Bianca’s nose.

  “Here, Be-Be dear. Take a look at these. Gerald and I think it is high time you are married. Why you are twenty-one now – almost twenty-two! You are an old maid and no one here wants to marry you – trust me, we asked – you’re too old for their tastes.”

  Bianca nodded silently. She refused to rise to Jessy’s baits. What was the use anyway? The two of them wanted to get rid of her and marriage would be an opportunity to escape. As she perused the ads, she saw that they were all for mail order brides.

  It’s not enough that I be married, they want to ship me across the country!

  “We hired an agent to help you select a man,” Gerald said as he wiped his chin of gravy. “He will be here tomorrow.”

  Select a man? As if I am choosing a horse?

  “You should be grateful, girl” he continued. “We’re settling quite a sum on you – one hundred dollars, in fact – so that, if you’re lucky, your age won’t be too much of a deterrent.”

  If you’re lucky, you mean? If I am out of the way, and some other man’s property and burden, you will have free access to Papa’s money after all.

  Bianca smiled calmly, but inside she was seething.

  “When will this agent be coming by?”

  “He will be here tomorrow morning” was Jessy’s reply.

  “Then, if you will excuse me,” Bianca said, pushing away her plate -she suddenly did not have much of an appetite - “I will like to get an early night and go through these ads before he comes.”

  Mr. Renault, a wiry man, appeared at the front door at the stroke of nine the next morning. Bianca swallowed her nervousness and rose from the settee to greet the man as he was shown in by one of the new servants. She waited patiently while Jessy gushed over the man before inviting him to take a seat.

  “Now, Ms. Bianca, your aunt here tells me you want to be a mail order bride on the frontier. That’s very courageous of you. Very courageous. We need young women like you to stand up with those brave men to settle the new lands we have acquired. ‘From sea to shining sea’ indeed!”

  Bianca smiled politely and murmured what she hoped sounded like an agreement.

  “Yes,” Mr. Renault coughed into his palm, “let’s begin then, shall we?”

  As he spoke, the man began to place several small photographs on the table, explaining a little about each man: where they were, what they did, what kind of woman they were looking for and so on.

  Many of the men were downright unpleasant to look at. Even through the black and white photos it seemed like some of them had never seen bathwater in their lives! Others were old enough to be her father or worse, grand-father. There was even one family looking for a young bride for their seventeen-year-old son! There were only three men in the stack of some fifty photos that were even mildly attractive. Of the three, only one, at twenty-seven, was close to her age, and that was the man she chose. His name was Jonah Cassidy.

  At least I won’t have to change my last name. I will always be Bianca Cassidy.

  But there was no other term for the entire charade. It was a business transaction pure and simple. The man was willing to pay one hundred and twenty-five dollars for a suitable bride – according to the agent’s discretion – to be paid to the family of the bride for the “loss of their daughter”. The agent would be paid the hundred dollars that was to be her “dowry” and Jonah Cassidy would gain a wife.

  And, dear Lord in heaven, I have gained – perhaps “been saddled with” would be more appropriate – a husband.

  Jessy told the agent that Bianca would be ready to leave in two days’ time and would arrive in Louisiana in two weeks.

  Two days?! That’s all the time I get?!

  The two days flew by in a whirl. Bianca packed everything she wanted to keep in her trunk, including a doll that belonged to Betty, and May’s porcelain hair combs, an anniversary present from Jim, which she had gifted to Bianca on her eighteenth birthday (because eighteen was the traditional age for young women to marry). She also took Jim’s Bible; it was old and worn and well-loved. He had read from it, for them, every night after dinner and had counseled the family on how to live according to it.

  Jessy had refused to allow her to buy a few new articles of clothing, stating it was a waste of precious money. Apparently though that thought had obviously not crossed her mind when she bought a small
hat with ostrich plumes on it that very morning for an exorbitant amount of money. Bianca was instead left to mend some of her old and torn petticoats by the light of a candle.

  She now regretted putting off buying new clothes when May had told her to. At that time, what she had suited her just fine. But Bianca found herself wanting to look a little nicer for when she met her new husband to be in the hopes that this match which started out as a business transaction would become much more. She found some old clothes in May’s trunk which fit her and decided to take it because if it was altered properly, it would look almost newly fashionable.

  Friday came and Jessy and Gerald loaded Bianca onto the train with as much tender loving care as they would show a sack of potatoes. Luckily some of the neighbors and friends were there on hand and treated her much more caringly. They wished her all the best and stuffed her hands with as much tiny packages of food as she could carry. Bianca hugged everyone, even Ms. Casey, with genuine warmth. She was really going to miss them. When the whistle blew the warning signal, Bianca boarded the train with a little anxiety in her heart. She knew she was saying good-bye to her girlhood for the last time. It was time to face the new chapter in her life.

  Two weeks later, Bianca arrived in Louisiana. She had altered the last of her mother’s dresses the day before on the train and now sat in the soft pink crinoline gown waiting for the train to come to a stop. As passengers got off the train, she took the time to look around at the little depot and the people milling about. Some were shopping in the stores, men were coming out of saloons with bottles and pipes in hand. There was a tiny white dog yapping after the heels of a little girl who was trailing behind her parents sipping on the new novelty, ice cones. As she took in the sights and sounds, her eyes came to rest on a man standing at the docking station looking over every woman that came off the train.