Christmas Miracles: Mega Mail Order Bride 20-Book Box Set: Multi-Author Box Set

by Jenny Creek Tanner

  “Do not look worried my love,” she said, and she stroked a finger across his lips. “Yes, I will marry you, more than anything I want to be your wife.”

  “You know I sometimes go away with the railway, we may even have to move as the track moves further along?”

  “I know,” she said. “I would follow you to the ends of the earth for I love you so much.”

  Dustin pulled her close and kissed her hair. He was the luckiest man alive.

  At that moment there was a loud knock on the door, followed a few seconds later by the door opening. His parents bustled into the room and from the look on his mother’s face he knew she was pleased.

  “Ma, Pa, meet Candy, we’re going to be married.”

  The room was filled with congratulations and happy sounds.

  Candy was pulled into his mother’s arms and felt herself hugged close.

  “Welcome to the family,” she whispered into Candy’s ear.

  Pulling back, Candy smiled even brighter. She had always wanted a close family, and it looked like she got one as well as a husband.

  As they all talked and gave out congratulations, she couldn’t wait to tell Len. The woman had brought her here and given her a new start in life, and she would always be grateful.

  This book was originally part of a two-book special offer. You can get both books for $0.99 or FREE on Kindle Unlimited for a limited time here

  Also By Indiana Wake & Belle Fiffer

  Thank you so much for sharing your time with us. We hope you enjoyed these books and would like to offer you 2 FREE romances. Click here to download them now.

  More books by Indiana & Belle all are FREE on Kindle Unlimited:

  Christmas Hope & Redemption a novel length romance about 3 couples

  10 Frontier Brides and Babies 10 Book Mega Box Set

  Strength from Within – Anabella a 232-page book

  The Wrong Proposal – Evelyn – 171-page book

  10 Book Box Set 10 Healing Hearts

  22 Book Mega Box Set – 22 Frontier Brides – Love & Hope Ride West

  16 Book Boxed Set Love & Hearts

  2 Book Special Into the Unknown & Call of the Hunter

  7 Brides for 7 lonely Cowboys box set

  An English Rose in Texas 5 book set 2 books never published

  The Town Called Hope Series: All FREE on KU

  Mail Order Brides on the Run Series 10 book series with a murder mystery running through it.

  Until our next adventure,

  God Bless.

  Five Books By Annie Boone

  About Annie Boone

  Best selling author, Annie Boone, writes sweet and inspiring stories that focus on family and love. Her heroines are sometimes sweet, sometimes scared, almost always strong when they finally figure it out. Her heroes are handsome, rugged, and often clueless. Always get a sweet happy ending when reading an Annie Boone story.

  If you’d like to read more sweet and clean western historical romance stories by Annie Boone, find a complete list on her website.

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  Book 1 - Unexpected Love At Christmas

  Annie Boone

  Chapter 1

  “Miss Pickens?” a man’s low voice called. “Miss Pickens. I believe we’re here now. Lily—” the man called louder.

  A blonde girl with eyes the color of deep cornflowers jerked her head, gasping. She broke from her reverie, throwing off the chill of the nightmare. It had been as if she stood on the brink of complete blankness, afraid, yet exhilarated at the same time.

  But now—the lush landscape outside sang to her like a church hymn. So beautiful and glorious, it almost made Lily Pickens’s heart burst. Like angels singing overhead, the sky looked ready for supreme glory.

  “Thank you, Timothy,” she replied politely, nodding at the kind man accompanying her on her travels. He had mousy brown hair, warm eyes, and a strong build about him.

  “The Dakota Territory is quite a sight, is it not?” he added, watching her wide mouth and engaging lips. “Quite a change from Philadelphia.”

  “That it is,” she whispered, still taken in by its cascading hills and purple mountains. “I couldn’t care less if I ever set foot in that land of industry and smog again.”

  He nodded in agreement, also grateful to be in a land full of possibilities and fresh air. The way the sun beamed on the hills made it look like God’s promised land. Lily’s felt her heart beat faster as the stagecoach approached the quaint town.

  A few rustic buildings popped into view like stray wildflowers. The clapboard log cabins looked stoic and manly; it seemed prairie life called to her. Maybe this was where she belonged all along. Was this the destiny God intended for her? She believed everything happened for a reason. Just why she felt attracted and inclined to pursue a life with a stranger, she didn’t know. But like Ruth in the Bible, she knew that God’s home for her was here, in an unknown land.

  All her life, she’d always felt that she was doomed to wander alone. Her father’s death left her with enough money to pay off all his small amount of debt and start over. As if reborn, this was her chance to belong somewhere and to someone.

  “You look quite flushed. Are you certain you’ll be all right?” Timothy spoke up.

  “I’ll be fine. You know our arrangement. I hired you to escort me here safely. Once I find Mr. Blackwell, and all seems well, your part is finished.”

  He nodded, then touched her hand gently.

  “You have nothing to be worried about. Mr. Blackwell is more than fortunate to have you for his wife.”

  She smiled weakly, not certain she believed him. She clutched Mr. Blackwell’s last letter in her hand and held it close to her chest. She had read so many times his description of himself that the letter was tattered and bent in folds. It wasn’t as if Lily believed in love at first sight or anything, but she wondered if the picture she had envisioned in her mind would live up to her expectations of Max Blackwell, and hers for him.

  “My cousin was a mail order bride,” Timothy chimed in, swaying with the buckle of the stagecoach. They had traveled four long weeks together; it almost felt as if they were brother and sister by now. “Turned out well for her.”

  She smiled at his encouragement, but then she turned her nose up, feeling nauseated and holding onto the seat to steady herself. Having endured pouring rain, harsh roads, ramshackle inns, horrible taverns, and sleeping in itchy beds with unwashed linens, she was ready to end this part of her journey and jump into the next chapter—or so she tried to convince herself.

  But as the stagecoach neared the station, she longed for those itchy sheets and rooms which smelled of vinegar.

  “I’m not certain I can do this,” she confessed, holding her breath and trying not to lose her breakfast.

  Timothy scooted next to her, taking her small hands in his and squeezing them, bringing her back to life. His dark, gentle eyes melted into hers. With another squeeze, he said, “This is what God has intended for you. Your life back in Philadelphia kept you in shadows. Now is the time for you to shine. Let the Lord and Max Blackwell be your sun.”

  Lily smiled faintly. She couldn’t help but remember the years of her father’s neglect. They lived and breathed the same air in their cramped apartment across from the steel factories. Black stained fingers were images forever forged into her memory.

  She labored endlessly to capture his love, but the man belonged to his work and to the nights out drinking. He was always too tired to care or see Lily grow and blossom. She had grown desperate for something more. She longed to be seen for the person she was and all she had to offer.

&nbs
p; Timothy was right. It was time she lived for herself. Coming into the valleys and mountains of the Dakota territory was her baptism into the new and real Lily Pickens. She would stop at nothing to embrace the fresh new start the territory offered.

  A chance for adventure, dedication, and hard work, and a home where she was wanted and needed, these desires drove her to become Max Blackwell’s mail order bride.

  In their letters, he mentioned his good friend, Thomas Jacobs, sent for his mail order bride and had found true happiness. Mr. Blackwell said he’d decided to give correspondence a try to find a woman who would care for him. He also said he needed a well-ordered home and life.

  But for Lily, it was so much more. Since her father’s death three months ago, Lily felt caught up in the urge to do something rash and spontaneous for once in her life. With no ties or emotional connection to the city she’d been born and raised in, the call of the wild frontier became a virus in her blood, a yearning she couldn’t shake. Joining Mr. Blackwell in the Dakotas seemed to be the only cure.

  She adjusted herself in her seat and fussed with her long locks. She tied her silken blonde curls into a formal bun and placed her bonnet on, tying the strings loosely, as she already felt queasy and didn’t need the strings cutting off circulation from her neck further.

  She fanned herself while staring out the window, grateful to see a great river flowing in the distance. She wished she could splash the cooling liquid on her face now.

  “You know what you’re going to say?” Timothy asked.

  “Yes,” she replied. “Mr. Blackwell. I’m much obliged to be here. I hope in time we can come to a mutual understanding and make an agreeable life together.”

  “You sound perfectly proper.”

  “Perhaps I shouldn’t have told him I was well educated. I am only the daughter of a coal worker.”

  “I believe your sophistication and love for books and knowledge led him to pick you and speed up your correspondence. There’s no turning back now.”

  “Yes, but I only attended one year at the Lady’s College. His advertisement said he wanted an educated woman to someday be an example for our future children and to teach them properly. I was simply looking for a man to lead me away from that shadow of my life, as you so elegantly put it. What if he knows I somewhat deceived him? God knows I wish I was all the things I said I was.”

  She fingered the roughness of her simple muslin dress. A true lady would be dressed in silk, she thought.

  “It’s not as if you lied completely. You are a smart, kind woman, eager to improve yourself. You do love books and knowledge. No one’s as dedicated as you to do whatever you must.”

  “What if he finds out I never was a teacher, and I don’t come from a family of outstanding character?”

  “Once he sees your beauty, he’ll be rendered helpless and none of that will matter.”

  She blushed, looking away. Timothy was a few years older than her, but the only soul she trusted back in Philadelphia to make this journey with. She had been quite nervous traveling alone across the country and convinced him to board the stagecoach with her. She’d agreed to pay his travel expenses in exchange. Once he helped her get to the Dakota Territory, he was free to go his own way.

  “You’ve been a wonderful companion, Timothy. There are no words to express how grateful I am.”

  Timothy smiled. “Well, you brought me this far. I’m grateful you gave me this chance. Better to try my luck at farming than slaving away in that factory, scraping by my entire life for far too little. I’ll make a name for myself somewhere out here.”

  “I believe you will.”

  “And I believe you’ll convince that soon-to-be husband of yours that you should be more than a mother and a housekeeper. He’ll quickly see that you can be a good wife and companion and he’ll want more out of your arrangement.”

  “I hope you’re right, Timothy. I hope you’re right,” she said, as she held her breath before the stagecoach reached the station.

  Chapter 2

  Max Blackwell’s shirt was as black as cold coal by the time he finished clearing the north fields. With over thirty acres to go, he pushed himself on. He was steadfast and determined. He didn’t want to devote too much time to the land, his first love, once Lily arrived, and in a way, this was his goodbye to the life he’d known. He reckoned he wouldn’t have this much time to devote to his fields for a while yet.

  A thrill of nervousness coursed through his blood. But he redirected that energy into his plow, accomplishing much more than he normally would. Ever since he had set his mind on settling down, he’d worked hard to be as ready as he possibly could.

  The early morning sun was just beginning to scatter its golden beauty. The fields danced with sunlight as it hit through scattered clouds. Gold-crested clouds offered him solace, as if applauding his desire to step into manhood and take care of someone else for a change. Especially, a someone who wanted to be taken care of by him.

  He wouldn’t think her name. Not now. Even if his heart still hurt, the anger returned. He felt the sweat dripping down the sides of his temples and down his neck. Flashes of her shot through his memory, but he refused to give in to them now. She still crossed his mind like a steady stream. He tried to escape it, but his thoughts always wandered back to her. It took true discipline to not think about her, and he vowed, the day before his wedding day, he wouldn’t give in.

  “Lily will be different than her,” he muttered to himself, and went inside to change, dropping his dirty clothes onto the pine planked floor.

  He quickly changed and washed. Having someone to mend clothes and take care of the chores around the farm would be an added change around here, he decided, looking at the heap of laundry growing like weeds in an untended garden.

  He worked hard tending, planting, and harvesting, but keeping on top of the nuisances and mundane household chores were not his strong point. That’s where Lily would come in. Plus, he eventually wanted to pass down his name, and she would fulfill his desire to have a family someday. Maybe soon.

  He longed for a wife who would not only be loyal and appreciative of all he offered but also a pillar of wisdom and strength for their future children. Max couldn’t picture his life without passing on his legacy to a house full of children. He’d need boys to pass on the Blackwell name, and the thought of dancing with his daughters one day and seeing them married off to well-to-do men in the community delighted him. If all his hopes were set in the distant future, it was still a future he yearned for.

  Lily too confessed to wanting a brood of children. She had grown up without siblings, but her sophisticated upbringing and education made her desirable to Max. The thought of a wife going from the urban setting to a more rustic and rural intrigued him. He wanted someone with a little culture, class, and sophistication to help raise and teach their children.

  When he had posted his ad in the Matrimonial Times for a woman with a pedigree of fine education, he meant it. Lily answered almost immediately, and they struck up conversation over common interests and dreams.

  Besides wanting a household of children, Max didn’t want to grow old without somebody. A marriage filled his desire for companionship. Thank God for Thomas Jacobs. If his mail order bride experience had turned into a fiasco, Max wouldn’t have considered this as an option. However, Tom and the expectant Sarah seemed to beam with happiness every time he saw them. Their radiant joy pushed Max to seek the same.

  It was time. He looked in the mirror, stunned at how well he cleaned up. He trimmed his dark beard and slicked his black locks back. Blue eyes as bright as stars twinkled in the reflection. He hoped Lily would be pleased. There could be nothing worse than marrying someone you couldn’t stand looking at for the next forty years.

  He dabbed on some sweet-smelling cologne from Partridge’s Mercantile. The room exploded with the scent of bay. He tried rubbing some of it off with a cloth but figured that through the long ride, the intensity would die down.

&
nbsp; The clock ticked to nine o’clock. He fumbled a few more moments with his appearance then raced down the stairs and out to the stables. He hooked the buck wagon to the horses and took a deep breath.

  They scooted along the summer road at a moderate pace. No telling if the stagecoach was early or not. Time would soon tell.

  The landscape became golden in the late summer sun. Max loved the smell of fresh pine and mountain air. Back in Philadelphia, everything was black and dirty, he recalled from Lily’s letters. She mentioned she had lived close to the steel factories, and her life had been bleak and depressing. Her father rarely had time for her and rarely looked at her. She had felt invisible and neglected. This, she had admitted, was her chance for acceptance.

  Max Blackwell needed a wife and a mother to the children he hoped to have. All Lily Pickens wanted, he gathered from her letters, was to be needed and appreciated.

  Dakota Territory could be her promised land. Like God led Moses across the Red Sea, Max liked to believe he was leading Lily across the plains to a better life.

  Max had prayed long and hard before sending for a mail order bride. While he believed in God, he had a hard time trusting. Lily was the opposite. He wanted Lily to come, but there was no expectation for love. He had made sure she understood that their marriage wouldn’t be based on love and romance.

  As town came into view, small buildings, hotels, restaurants, and a boardwalk became the leading focal points.

  The stagecoach office bustled with people all around. Bonnets of every shape and bows of every color filled Max’s view. Where was she?

  Blonde, tall, with blue eyes. That had to be her. Would he know when he found her, or would she recognize him first?