But once things were set, many guests arranged to visit in a bid to escape disreputable establishments. Alexander explained what he intended to do. “There is a lot of bad here, Adeline, but I believe we can be a force for good. We’ll offer a variety for most tastes, but let’s stay with the classic tales and help others to cultivate a little culture.”
Adeline agreed but had another idea in mind, “Can we set apart a special little area for the children? I would like to read to them, share some stories; I can even read stories from The Bible to them. That would be wonderful, don’t you agree?”
His tender smile filled her with joy. “That’s a great idea. I’ll leave you to get things arranged, but remember, you only have five more days until you head back to New York, so you’ll have to work quickly. Time really flew by—don’t you think?”
Chapter 14
Five more days. Adeline shuddered, unable to concentrate on the pages of the book in her hands. She flipped each leaf in an aimless fashion, distracted by fragmented thoughts.
Frustrated with her inability to focus, she watched the play of lamplight flickering across Sally’s sitting room. She noted a painting of a beautiful river scene surrounded by tall trees and vibrant blooms clinging to the wall. Even in the semi darkness, the blooms seemed to call to her on the summer wind, begging her to stay.
“Are you cold, Adeline? Shall I bring a shawl or something?” Sally’s inquiry held a thread of anxious care and Adeline rushed to set her mind at ease.
“No please, I’m fine. My thoughts are just a bit muddled, that’s all.”
Sally raised a brow with a knowing smile. “Thinking about Alexander?”
Adeline gasped, an embarrassed flush on her face. She couldn’t seem to get him out of her mind, but she didn’t want Sally to know. “Why do you say that?”
Sally set her knitting on the table and crossed her arms. With a no nonsense look she said, “Adeline, let’s talk straight, you and I. Although I have not known you for long, I can tell you are hurting. Alexander is a good man who needs a good woman. I happen to think you two are perfect for each other. Why can’t you see what I see?”
Adeline’s gaze clung to the floor. “I just don’t know if it will work out. I can’t just ignore the life I had before, and Robert meant so much to—”
“There is no reason to forget him. He will always be with you and you are not betraying his memory. Is there some reason you think Robert doesn’t want you to be happy?”
Sally’s pointed question hung in the air and Adeline thought long and hard. Robert would never want her to be unhappy.
“He always wanted the best for me. He promised me a family but I—”
“There’s your answer.” Sally refused to listen to any more negative responses and pointed to the door. “Alexander is in the kitchen. Tell him you won’t be leaving and will stay with us. Don’t worry about a thing. I can have the wedding dress arranged to fit you in a short time. What are you waiting for? Run along now.”
When Adeline struggled to come up with a suitable reply, Sally turned back to her knitting and hummed a cheerful tune.
Adeline rose on shaky legs, her heart beating a mile a minute. Could it be that simple? Could she just waltz in and tell him her decision? There was only one way to find out.
Chapter 15
Two months flew by, and Adeline recalled her wedding with a soft smile. She could still see in her mind’s eye the elegant V neck dress adorned with pearls and embroidered flowers, the baby’s breath headpiece and the way Alexander’s eyes gleamed when he saw her.
Looking back in time, a wave of happiness threatened to overwhelm her and Bethany’s words came to mind… “I know something beautiful will happen to you in the near future.”
Adeline’s gaze wandered to the edge of the stream, flowing in the back yard of her charming log house. The gentle sounds of the water trickling past rocks filled her with a contentment she had never known.
A quick glance at the sky revealed the evening hour fast approaching and she turned to the house eager to prepare a meal for her husband. She had such amazing news to share; only a special meal would do.
When she heard running steps over the sharp rocks and saw him rushing towards her, she froze at the worried look on his face.
He folded her in his warm embrace and studied her face with anxious eyes. “Sally told me you went to the doctor, so I came home early. What’s wrong?”
Adeline’s legs almost gave out at the relief she felt. When she first saw his face, she thought something bad had happened to him. Now that she knew he was well, she thanked God for his loving mercy.
It was only then she realized how she truly felt about this gentle giant that showered her with such love and affection. Eager to share her news, she placed both hands on the side of his face and drew him closer. With soft hands she smoothed the lines from his face and whispered, “I’m with child.”
He blinked for a dumbfounded moment, unable to comprehend the truth she shared. To help him, she took his hand and placed it on her stomach with a tender smile. “Soon, we will have a child of our own and I thank God for the day he sent you into my life. Do you know how much I love you?”
Alexander whooped for joy and twirled her in delight. Then he stopped in shock as though stunned at his actions, “Did I hurt you? What was I thinking? How foolish of me.”
Adeline held her sides and laughed until tears ran down her flushed cheeks. Then she hurried to set his mind at ease. “How could you hurt me? The Doctor already examined me and told me that everything is perfect.”
He twirled her again, this time slower, and held her close. “I thought you couldn’t have children. Are you sure of this? I don’t want you to be disappointed or hurt in any way.”
Adeline breathed a soft sigh, “The doctor said he is sure I will have a baby. He does not know what happened, but he called it a miracle and told me to leave it at that. He also told me not to worry; just take things easy, and all will be well.”
Alexander agreed wholeheartedly. “You will take things more than easy from now on. My love, you have made me the happiest man on earth. I just want you to know and remember that.”
Adeline’s heart beat a mile a minute and she said with a twinkle in her eyes, “Thank you for keeping the promise.”
At his curious gaze, she added, “To have a family of my own. I never thought my dreams would come true. Now come inside and I’ll make you the best supper you’ve ever had.”
After a breathtaking kiss, he strode towards the stream. “Going to wash up first. Just give me a minute, dear.”
Adeline watched him with loving eyes and gazed into the horizon. With a dreamy sigh, she allowed her thoughts to soar on the promise of a new day and eternal blessings to come.
THE END
Mail Order Bride Delia
Brides Of New Haven
Charity Phillips
Mail Order Bride Delia
New Haven, Connecticut – 1865
For four women, the Civil War has sparked a bout of change within them that cannot be ignored. For Delia Hennessey, it has created a passion for life that will not be denied. It is the reason that she convinces three of her closest friends to join her in contacting men across the country who have placed advertisements for mail order brides, hoping to find the ones who would be a part of each young woman’s next great adventure.
They will not travel together, but Delia isn’t afraid. She has been awaiting a great change for what seems like her whole life, and now it is within her grasp. When she answers the ad of a wealthy landowner in Wyoming, she is positive that she has met the perfect man–but when she arrives, things are not all as they seem.
Can Delia survive this abrupt change of events? And if she does, will she be able to satisfy her lonely, aching heart?
Chapter 1
Delia Hennessey sipped at her cup of tea, reading over the letter she’d been sent from Eleanor, one of her closest friends. Dear Eleanor had left only a
month earlier—along with tiny Catherine who had been so very excited that she looked like a balloon almost ready to burst—and had married her suitor rather quickly.
Dearest Delia,
My life in Kansas is very different from the well-worn steps of New Haven, but I am so glad for such an adventure. You were of course right to have suggested we all search out the next step of our lives and I am grateful that you have pushed us all forward. I admit that I was quite worried, but what should I have feared?
I am busy most days, but my life is often outside and engulfed by the beautiful spring world that is positively breathtaking. Liam, my husband, has such a wonderful and impressive property. I am very happy to now be a part of its upkeep.
Such a beauty.
I hope this letter finds you well. I know that it is just you and Laura left home in New Haven and hope that all is well with your intentions and suitor. I thought it odd that you have waited so long before taking off for adventure. Please, write me as soon as you might.
Love,
Eleanor James Brunner
Delia smiled at the letter, though she wondered at it. Eleanor seemed quite gay in her letters, but it was almost too cheerful. Worried that her dear friend had gotten herself into more than she could handle, Delia pulled out some parchment and quickly drew up a short draft of a return letter. In it, she asked about how Liam was—her letters told little to nothing of her husband—and how she was really getting on. She made only a small comment about her own future:
Sweet Eleanor,
I am so pleased to hear of your wonderful new home and marriage. It makes me happy to know that you have found your own happiness and I cannot help but be envious of your success and good fortune. I hope to find my own soon.
As you know, I, too, have found my chance at happiness and am in the process of pursuing it with my hopes high and my chin higher. I think I have made a good choice; I can only hope it's as good as yours.
Please tell me that you shall write me again and soon. I wish to hear more of your adventures—and of your dear husband, this Liam.
Perhaps, at a time which might be convenient for you, I might come to visit you. I have missed you dearly, as have the other girls, and it would be lovely to find you again. Maybe after my own wedding.
I shall write again with more information just as soon as I can. I send with this letter all my love and affection to you along with pleasant hopes and dreams.
Be well,
Delia
She made a point to get it into the post that day with the hopes that it might reach her far flung friend very soon. Once that was done, she sat once more to write her own letter. It took more time and it was the main reason that she didn’t try to get the letter out the same day as the one to Eleanor.
This one was going to her future husband; this one had to be perfect.
Her future husband was named Orville Peterson, a wealthy rancher in Wyoming. They had been corresponding now for several weeks, her first letter flying out of her hands before Eleanor had even officially left for the train. He sounded like such a catch in his matrimonial ad in the paper that she didn’t want to miss the opportunity for their courtship to another woman, and she was sure that he would receive many inquiring letters. She had hoped that the first letter sent off to him would put her in an excellent position to be his first choice, and when he started writing back in answer to her letters, she felt confident she had won.
In his last letter, Orville had requested a picture of her likeness so that he might better appreciate the beauty he found in her letters already. He was so very romantic in all of his correspondences with her, and she found herself swooning very early on in their courtship.
Delia was a little luckier than many of her friends who had worked during the war effort at the New Haven Arms Company. They had worked diligently for two reasons: to help push back the Confederacy, and to help make ends meet while their men were away. None of them were married, of course, but they each had fathers and some had brothers as well. People who left to fight for the Union in the bloody civil war that claimed so many precious lives. The livelihood of their families had depended on their hard work, but it was not entirely so with Delia.
Surely, she was in much better shape than the rest of them. Her family was relatively wealthy and could afford to support themselves without her efforts at the Company. Still, she had worked there for the sake of the war and for her own sanity. Her father had been the one to leave for the war and she wanted to do all that was within her power to bring him home. If that meant assembling guns that could potentially protect him, then so be it.
At first, she hadn’t expected to like it in the least. Her mother had strongly disapproved, telling her that a woman’s place was in the home and that her duty was to find a decent husband who would bring more prosperity to the family.
How very boring, she had thought.
Defiant, she had ignored her mother’s wishes and gone so far as to put in more time with the Company, if only to irritate her. In retrospect, it had been rather childish, but the outcome had ultimately been in her favor. She had forged indestructible bonds with the three other women who she worked with, and there would never be a moment when they did not reside within her heart.
But then the men came back. Her father, though injured, had been one of the men to return. Not everyone had been so lucky. Eleanor had lost her dear father; Catherine had lost her brother. And Laura… oh, poor, proper Laura had lost everything.
The thought made Delia’s heart seize. Though they were constantly at odds with each other, Delia considered Laura a fierce woman with a warrior’s heart. She could withstand the greatest storm or the most terrifying event imaginable simply through her own force of will. Delia found that to be quite courageous and admitted secretly to herself that she was a smidgen jealous of the other young woman. Laura was a force to be reckoned with by virtue of being herself, even though her looks were ordinary and her family was nowhere near Delia’s own in class. It made her all the more impressive that she was the type of person to stay in your own mind through the years.
Sighing, Delia shook her head. When the men had come back, the four young women had left the Arms Company, shooed away for being the silly little things they were as their men once more returned and replaced them.
It annoyed Delia to no end. There was no question that she didn’t need the money. Even if her family were suddenly broke tomorrow, she had enough marriage prospects who had wealth to go around that they would certainly never starve. But it wasn’t about that. Delia had hired out for the New Haven Arms Company with the intent of proving something to her mother and to herself; she had done that, and now the regular things from before were no longer enough.
She craved more; she craved adventure.
That was why she had suggested the matrimonial ads from the newspaper. They promised her that adventure and she knew that her friends surely felt the same way she did: restless for the need of more.
Eleanor had hurried herself off to Kansas quickly enough and Catherine went right after her. It was only Laura and herself that lingered behind, though they’d both found their “matches” in the papers. Laura’s reasons for staying and prolonging the inevitable trip out west were obvious; no one pushed her about it, though Delia insisted on reminding her that they had made a pact. They’d agreed. Irritated, Laura replied that she knew. Of course she knew.
Delia’s reasons were far less intimate. She lingered only because she was enjoying the excitement of it all. The courtship was a big thing for her; she wanted to feel as though she were being showered with affection from clear across the country.
Opening the small box that sat on the writing desk—a beautifully carved piece that Catherine had picked up while visiting family in New York—Delia began rifling through the papers and other knickknacks that had collected there. She liked to keep little pieces here and there, reminders of points in her life that she never wished to give up or forget. A brass button
from her father’s coat during the war; a ribbon from Catherine’s hair. A dried rose, flattened from being tucked into a book for months, given to her by a gentleman caller who had simply not been her taste, but was sweet just the same. And of course, the dance card from her debutante ball. It was completely filled.
There was a love letter from her mother to her father, reassuring her that they cherished each other deeply, no matter how they might seem in her eyes. There were other things, too: a necklace from her grandmother and a delicate ring with a large oval shaped embellishment on it made from what she supposed was moonstone. There were even the cufflinks her father had worn for his wedding.
All of these things were precious moments in time that she would cherish forever, but they weren’t what she was searching for now. Digging through them, she finally found it settled beneath the papers. It was a small tintype, made for her birthday a couple of years ago. Her father had one as well, made just before he’d left for the war, a means of preserving at least some part of him should he not return, but her mother had insisted on not having one herself. She was superstitious still that somehow, these small likenesses might somehow diminish the things that they truly were.
Her mother could be so absurd.
Delia had more than one, though there was only one she kept for her personal use. She’d requested it so that she might give it to the man she intended to marry, thinking it romantic to exchange tiny portraits of themselves so that the other might always be near and dear to her heart.
Brides of Grasshopper Creek Page 66
