“’Course I am!” Ralph laughed and sat back against the pew. “But I’ll say one more thing. Youu loved her well while she was here, but you are the one still living. Honor her memory, but live your life.”
Ralph stood to leave but Ezra caught his arm. “Thank you, Ralph.”
He nodded and left Ezra to contemplate what he had just heard. He was the one still living.
Clara pressed her fingers into the keys, and her whole body was involved in drawing out the emotions of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. She had spent the morning washing clothes and then had come to the church in the late afternoon. She kept watch on the time so she would be back in time to have dinner ready for Ezra, but she had one more song she wanted to practice. She unfolded the music and placed it on the stand and worked through one of the more difficult spots in the piece. She hit a wrong note and groaned. The off-putting chord cut out as her foot slipped off the sustain pedal.
“B flat,” she said. “Key signature, Clara. Not B natural.”
“Do you always talk to yourself when you play?” At the sound of Ezra’s voice Clara whirled around and nearly fell off the piano stool.
“Ezra! What are you doing here?” She rested her forearms on the keys and tried to hide the eighty-eight black and white keys from his sight.
“Don’t.” The word was so soft Clara could barely hear it. He moved beside her and eased her arms from the keys. “I have something I want to talk to you about.”
Clara’s heart beat rapidly in her chest. She told him she would wait no matter how long it took him to move past the memory of his wife. Her words had been honest, but as she’d spent time thinking and praying today, she’d felt uneasy. She feared the worst now that he stood near her.
“Wh-what is it?” She stood on shaky legs and he gently took her hands in his.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Clara.”
“Oh?” Her voice faltered and she forced herself to take a steadying breath.
“I have been living my life as if I died with Grace. I haven’t allowed myself to feel the pain of losing her—or maybe it’s that I haven’t allowed that pain to fade. I was afraid that her memory would fade if I allowed my pain to go away.” He swallowed hard and a frown creased his brow. Her eyes never left his gaze. “I know now that’s not fair. It’s not fair to me but more importantly it’s not fair to you.”
“What do you mean?” He was washing away her uneasiness with every word, and she needed to hear all of what he wanted to tell her.
“I mean, Clara Boone, you are my wife and I love you.” He paused to let his words sink in. “I don’t want to live in the past anymore. I want to embrace the future…with you.”
Her heart leapt at the love and compassion she saw in his eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but he silenced it with a single, gentle finger to her lips.
“I want you to feel the freedom of being my wife. And I want to hear your music Clara. I want to hear it in our home. I love you.” Tears flowed down her cheeks as she realized the magnitude of the incredible gift he’d just given her. As if his love wasn’t enough, he’d offered her this too.
“Ezra Boone, I love you too.”
He smiled and slid one hand around her waist and pulled her to him. He tucked that same unruly curl behind her ear with his other hand and lowered his head until his lips found hers.
Clara closed her eyes as they kissed and she felt safe in his strong embrace. They broke off their kiss and looked into each other’s eyes.
“I have just the music for your heart, Mr. Boone.” She sat at the piano and played Come, Poor Sinner as he stood by her side.
Also By Jenny Creek Tanner
Mail Order Bride For Cowboy Preachers Novella Series
The Civil War Widow and the Prairie Preacher - Book 1
The Devoted Doctor Lady and the Prairie Preacher - Book 2
The Mistrusting Maid and the Prairie Preacher - Book 3
Mail Order Brides of Betsville Series
The Mining Town Banker and the Reluctant Bride - Book 1
The Well-Meaning Trapper and the Governess Bride - Book 2
The Reformed Cowboy and the Bandit Bride - Book 3
Dakota Mail Order Brides Series
Dakota Mail Order Brides Clean Western Romance Four-Book Box Set: Plus BONUS Christmas Story - "Essie's Christmas Surprise"
Homestead HEART: Winnie's Story - Book 1
Homestead FAITH: Bettie's Story - Book 2
Homestead COURAGE: Callie’s Story - Book 3
Homestead HOPE: Essie’s Story - Book 4
Essie’s Christmas Surprise - A Heartwarming Christmas Story - Book 5
Mail Order Brides For The Doyle Brothers Series
Mail Order Brides For The Doyle Brothers 4-Book Box Set
Hannah: A Bride For Cowboy Warren - Book 1
Lolly: A Bride For Cowboy Benjamin - Book 2
Amy: A Bride For Cowboy Lewis - Book 3
Rosie: A Bride For Cowboy Percy - Book 4
Five Books by Indiana Wake & Belle Fiffer
All Books by Indiana Wake & Belle Fiffer © Copyright 2016 Indiana Wake
All Rights Reserved
Introduction
This book is dedicated to you the readers as well as the brave women who headed West to start new lives despite the dangers.
These first three books are from bestselling authors Indiana Wake and Belle Fiffer. They are sweet, clean, western historical romances all with a Christmas theme.
We hope you enjoy these books and would love to hear from you. You can contact the authors via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/IndianaWake/
Saddle up friends and let’s ride out on this adventure.
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You will receive information on new releases, promotions and free content from Indiana Wake and Belle Fiffer authors of sweet, clean, inspirational romance.
Book 1 - A Mail Order Bride for Christmas
Indiana Wake & Belle Fiffer
Chapter 1
Justin Bass shoveled a load of potatoes into his mouth and moaned as the butter and herbs melted into his tongue.
“This is very good. Joan hasn’t lost her touch.”
Cody Goodridge grinned and looked at his wife, Maeve, who sat next to him.
“She’s a great housekeeper, and between her and Maeve, the rest of us are going to get really fat.”
He sat back and patted his belly, which was looking a little rounder than before.
Maeve rolled her eyes and laughed. “Maybe I don’t want to be lonely while I get fat,” she teased rubbing her own belly which was round with child.
Cody chuckled and kissed her. Across the table, Nathan Price shook his head and sipped at his ale.
“You look as lovely as ever, Maeve. Ignore him.”
“Wait until you get a wife, Nate,” Cody warned, a glint in his eye, “And I’ll give her a flurry of compliments.”
Maeve laughed. Nathan grinned and winked at Maeve. Cody pretended to look angry and shook his fist.
Further down the table Justin sat in silence and watched them as he ate his dinner. It was a warm atmosphere he found himself in. Justin didn’t usually like being around people; in fact, he hated it, but this was an easy group. He was happy to sit back and listen to the talk, banter, and laughter. Sometimes he was so quiet they forgot he was even there. It was as if he could blend into the background and that was what he liked.
It was good to just listen to his friends, with no pressure on him. Cody was opening up more in the last few months, and Maeve was progressing well in her pregnancy. Although Justin had a feeling she was expecting twins, considering how big her belly was. Nathan was his usual snarky self, but he never failed to have a smile for Maeve, who seemed to make every man who she met fall under her spell without her even opening her mouth. She only had to crook her finger, and the men came running.
Stil
l, it was clear to anyone, even to an obtuse person like Justin, that Cody was the first man in her mind and he would get precedence above anyone else. Justin liked how his friend was comfortable in his marriage. They had a child already, and Cody was a doting father as well as a loving husband. These were things he had despaired about ever becoming. Now he was thriving, and he looked all the better for it.
It was at times like this that Justin felt a twinge of envy. He was not like Cody; he couldn’t get a woman like Maeve, not even in his wildest dreams. His latest attempt at courting several other women had proven that.
Maeve sipped her water and began to cut up her meat.
“So, Justin, how did your evening go with Luisa Pope?”
Justin made a face at her. He had hoped nobody would ask him about that embarrassment of a night.
“It didn’t.”
“It didn’t?” Maeve blinked. “You mean she didn’t turn up? I thought she was interested in you.”
“Oh, she turned up, all right. She was bang on time. But her attitude was awful.” Justin pushed his beef around the plate with his fork. “We went to have a meal together, and she complained throughout the entire meal. Whatever she could complain about she would. It was like she had turned into a pampered princess.”
Justin had thought he might finally get lucky. Luisa was from Phoenix and was very much sought after because of her beauty and her charm. But Justin saw the ugly side of her and the snobbishness she showed when they sat down to dinner. It was only because he didn’t like confrontations that he hadn’t walked out before the first course was finished.
Now he wished he had.
“Where did you take her?” Cody asked.
“Rufus’s restaurant in Frye.”
Rufus Reynolds’ restaurant was the only place in the area that served good food fit for a romantic meal. Nathan’s saloon served food, but it was simple barbecue and fried food because that was all Nathan’s cook knew what to do. The place could get noisy and a might rowdy as well. Rufus and his wife did a wider variety of dishes and, as a result, the place was popular.
“Rufus’s place?” Nathan raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t that where she works?”
“It is.”
That was what had made it more embarrassing. It was only by mere luck he managed to get out of there pretending to check on the animals once the meal had ended. Luisa had thought she would be getting a kiss after the date, but Justin had other ideas. Luisa had tried to contact him since, even threatened to send her father after him for dumping her, but Justin ignored her. He heard later Luisa had complained to her father, who was the local brewer, and he had simply rolled his eyes and told her to grow up.
“Really? She had the nerve to criticize Rufus?” Maeve whistled. “What did Rufus do?”
“I didn’t see it personally, but Amy saw me this morning.” Justin chewed on the beef. “Rufus had heard the comments Luisa made, and he was furious. When she came into work the next day he fired her almost immediately, telling her he wouldn’t have staff being so disrespectful about his restaurant, whether or not they were working.”
It was amazing that Luisa moaned about the place at all. But Justin surmised she was from Phoenix and things were different there. Her parents had moved with their job, but Luisa clearly saw Canyon and Frye as beneath her and made her feelings known at the wrong time.
Justin was glad he was not going to be dealing with her anymore.
Cody shook his head in amazement.
“How people don’t learn to hobble their lip I have no idea. You picked a right one there.”
“He certainly did.” Maeve sighed. “This is the third night you’ve had in three weeks that’s ended in disaster.”
“He’s beginning to get a reputation of a lothario.” Nathan grinned. He nudged Justin. “You must be doing something wrong.”
“Or the girls available are just too picky,” Justin grunted.
That was true enough. There were lots of lovely people in Canyon and Frye, but there weren’t many women available for marriage. Women were such a small percentage of the population and were a precious commodity. It had come to the point where men were placing advertisements for a bride from the East Coast to come to Canyon and Frye to marry them. Cody had done just that, and it had worked wonders. The women who weren’t brought from the outside were either already married, too old, too young or just downright snobby. It was like they thought they were better than everyone else. Justin didn’t like that reaction, and he wasn’t going to entertain it.
“What’s with the sudden decision to find a wife?” Cody asked. “I presume that’s why you’re walking out with these women... unless of course,... you’re bored.”
Justin grunted. He looked down at his meal, his cheeks going red. His embarrassment stopped him from looking at his friends.
“I never thought about it before,” he admitted. “Marriage and everything. But then everyone around me started getting married, and I realized I wanted what you guys had as well.”
The thing was, Justin hadn’t thought about it before, but now... when he said he wanted it, Justin wanted it a lot. He lived alone on his ranch, which wasn’t big but it did all right. He only had two hands who helped out and slept in a separate cottage. Justin liked being alone and the solitary life was fine for him, but now he was beginning to realize he couldn’t live like this forever.
He wanted a wife. He wanted to become a father and chase after his kids in the yard. Justin wanted it all. Only there was nobody around him that seemed to be what he wanted or needed.
Cody glanced at Maeve, who smiled and shrugged. Cody turned back to Justin. “How about writing off for a bride... like I did?”
“You mean the mail order advertisements for the East Coast women?” Justin frowned. “Are you sure about that?”
“Hey, don’t knock it.” Maeve admonished him with a smile. “The East Coast girls aren’t that bad. Well,” She backtracked a little, “Not all of them.”
“You’ve seen it worked for us.” Cody smiled lovingly at his wife and laid a hand over hers. “Maybe it’ll work for you, Justin.”
Justin hoped it would. Seeing Cody and Maeve together and clearly in love made him believe it could actually work. He knew the other girls who had come from the East Coast to marry many of his friends and they were nice people. But his friends had been lucky. Justin doubted he would be that lucky.
However, as he was very much aware, he wouldn’t know until he tried.
Chapter 2
Getting children off to school was a nightmare. Rachel McCann felt a headache coming on as she hurried Morris and Elias from the breakfast table and out the door. The pain was like a knife deep in her skull, and the sun had barely even crawled its way over the horizon. Still, her little brothers had the habit of driving her mad. At nine and twelve, they barely did anything else. Rachel loved them, but at times they infuriated her.
It was probably because she was looking after them on top of everything else. Their mother had come down with a nasty chest infection and was laid up in bed and had been for two weeks. Their father went out very early every day and came back very late at night from his job. Rachel worked in a shop nearly a mile away, and she was trying to work as well as looking after her younger brothers, care for her mother and make sure her father had food in his belly when he got home.
The schedule she had to follow was grueling. Rachel wouldn’t be surprised if she keeled over from exhaustion and yet she liked it.
Her only saving grace was her cousin. Charlotte was an only child with loving parents who were fit and healthy. She came over whenever she could to help Rachel out, either looking after her aunt Judith while Rachel helped her brothers with their schoolwork or the other way around. They worked as a team, and Rachel saw Charlotte as her best friend, sister, and comrade-in-arms. Everything she could need Charlotte was there to help.
There were times when she didn’t know what she would do without her.
So, af
ter sending Morris and Elias off to school and checking on her mother, Rachel was relieved to see her cousin appear across the street. Her blonde hair bounced in ringlets beneath a pale blue bonnet as she hurried along. There was an ever-present smile on her pretty face as she weaved between the horses and coaches, waving frantically. Somehow she managed to get across the street without being run over and hugged Rachel.
“Hey, Rachel!”
Rachel couldn’t help but laugh at her brightness. Charlotte always acted as if they hadn’t seen each other for years. Greetings over, they set off down the road towards their places of work. Rachel worked in a confectionary store, and Charlotte was a maid in a wealthy family’s home. That meant long, hard hours but neither saw it their place to complain. They were lucky to have the jobs and they both knew it.
With the current economic climate, you took what you could get if you wanted to keep food on the table.
“Are you all right?” Charlotte nudged Rachel. “You’re looking a bit gloomy.”
Rachel realized she had drifted off into her own thoughts, which had moved to her mother’s words as she left the house earlier. It was something she had got into her mind for some weeks now, especially since she got sick, and Rachel was getting tired of saying the same thing to her over and over again.
It was sad and frustrating.
She let out a heavy sigh.
“Mother’s asking me to look for a husband again.”
Charlotte knew the whole story about Judith suddenly wanting Rachel to marry somebody, anybody so she could do better for herself. Rachel was frustrated with the situation and Charlotte was sympathetic.
“And you told her the usual, did you?”
“I did.” Rachel shook her head and kicked at a stray newspaper page as it got whipped around by the wind and clung to her boot. The weather wasn’t great that morning and Rachel was looking forward to getting inside out of the wind and the impending rain. “She doesn’t seem to understand nobody wants to marry me. I’ve tried, I really have, but they’re not interested. They just want me to stay home and raise babies. But I don’t do well doing nothing but cleaning and I can’t handle children.”
Christmas Miracles: Mega Mail Order Bride 20-Book Box Set: Multi-Author Box Set Page 17
