“For what?”
“I’m getting married!” Jackson beamed.
“What? To who?” Roger asked; he had not even known Jackson was courting anyone, let alone was close to being engaged.
“Her name is Sandra, she’s from New York; she will arrive here in a week’s time,” his friend told him.
“I don’t understand,” Roger said, “Where did you meet this woman?”
“I sent off to one of those papers,” he said.
“What papers?” Roger really was lost now. Jackson leaned over to the bar and called the tender,
“Hey, Barney, do you have a ‘Matrimonial Times’ behind the bar?” The bartender leaned back and looked under the bar at the newspapers he gathered up sometimes to keep the place a little tidier. He pulled one loose and tossed it to Jackson,
“Here you go,” he said,
“Thanks,” Jackson said and then handing the newspaper to Roger said, “Look at this.”
Roger took the newspaper and scanned through it. It was filled with adverts of people seeking husbands and wives; he was shocked; he’d never heard of such a thing. He knew in that instant that this was how he was going to go about getting a wife of his own. He smiled widely and looked at his friend once more,
“Congratulations,” he said, “A round of drinks!” he called to the bartender and a cheer went up from a couple of people who were there.
The next day he worked at the ranch and all day long he only thought about what he would write in his advert. It was turning out to be harder than he had expected. He did not like to talk about himself but that was unavoidable in this case. Everything he came up with that he thought he would write sounded terrible to him and he grew frustrated. When he got home that evening, he looked at the copy of the newspaper that he had taken from the bar and read the adverts of other men to get a flavor of what to write. An awful lot of them were very similar but he guessed there were a lot of guys who lived very similar lives out here in the west. He wrote down what he thought was best and the following day he posted his advert to the newspapers offices.
A couple of weeks later he received a reply thanking him for his submission and telling him that his advert would run in the newspaper at the end of the month. It felt very real all of a sudden and he grew nervous. He hadn’t told anyone what he had been doing and he was afraid of what people might say. Jackson’s fiancé had arrived in town and they were already wed and everyone had been so nice to her. She was a lovely girl and Roger could only hope to meet someone like her in this way. The letter from the newspaper had told him to expect a lot of replies so he hoped that they were right and in those replies, there would be one who would be the woman he was looking for.
He bought the newspaper at the end of the month and he gazed lovingly at his advert. It was smaller than he had imagined it would be but he had faith that it would be seen. He wondered if at that very moment someone back east was holding this same newspaper and seeing his advert and saying to themselves ‘this seems like the man for me.’ He smiled at his own silliness and put the paper away. Now he would have to wait and see if what the people at the newspaper said was true.
Chapter 3
Melissa was in the back of Turner’s carriage when it took a turn she was not expecting. She looked at Turner,
“Where is the driver taking us?” she asked.
“We are going to my office for a little. I have not been in there today and there are a few people I want to talk to.”
“Can you drop me home first?”
“No, you can come and see where the money that will now be going towards feeding and keeping you is coming from. My office could do with a little tidy while you are here; you won’t be bored,” he said without even looking at her. The carriage pulled up outside of the newspaper offices and he got out and waited for her without offering assistance. She got out awkwardly and stepped down to the ground. As soon as her feet touched the ground Turner was marching inside the building and leaving her behind once more. Mellissa thought this was terribly rude, but it was what she had come to expect of him. He was a capricious man who had to have everything his own way, and he would go into a fit like a small child if he did not get it. She hurried behind him as quickly as she could without actually running and she saw him go up rickety stairs that ran up the side wall. She followed and found him outside an office talking to a man who was ink-stained all over.
“This is my office,” Turner said to her when he noticed she was there, “Do what you can but don’t touch anything on my desk, you hear?”
“Yes,” she agreed meekly and she went into the office and looked around. Turner was shouting at someone down on the printing floor now and he stormed off in that direction. Melissa looked around the office and she knew that no matter what she might do in here, he would not notice it. She peered at the papers on his desk in the hope that something interesting might catch her eye but there was nothing like that at all. She sat down on the couch that ran along the wall. As she did, she heard the crumple of newspaper underneath her. She pulled it out to look at it and saw it was like no newspaper she had ever seen. It was called ‘Matrimonial Times’ and inside it was covered page to page with adverts for people looking for a husband or a wife! She could not believe that such a thing existed. She looked through it at a glance; she was fascinated. There were so many people looking for someone.
Melissa must have been looking at it for some time when she heard Turner’s voice and knew he was returning. She stood up and looked for something she could do to make it look like she had been busy but he arrived at the door too quickly for her. She stood there with only the newspaper in her hands; she had forgotten to let go of it when she stood up, and a guilty look on her face. He looked at her in amusement and nodded to the paper,
“Looking for some pig farmer out west?” he sneered. Melissa didn’t know what he was talking about for a moment but then she caught on.
“I never knew such newspapers were printed,” she said.
“They are one of our best-selling titles at the moment,” he laughed. She could see that he didn’t see the romantic side of this, of how people all over America needed to have someone in their life and the lengths they would go to ensure that they did. “You can take that one as a souvenir,” he said to her. He looked around the office and nodded as though he was happy with something; he must have thought she had done some tidying for him while he was downstairs.
Later that evening, when her father went out to his club, Melissa sat by the fire and looked through the newspaper. She simply couldn’t get enough of it. She imagined all the people who placed the ads, what they must be like, how happy they would be when someone answered. Then she thought of her own sad predicament; trapped in an engagement to a man she had no hope of ever loving. If only one of these men in the newspaper would take her away from her life.
As she thought this, a plan suddenly sprang up in her mind – what was stopping her from replying to one of these adverts. If she could correspond with a good and honest man, she could find someone who will make her truly happy. Her heart beat faster at the thought of this; it suddenly felt like this was what she was destined to do all along. One had stuck in her mind from her first reading the paper earlier today, and now she sought out the ad with a new sense of purpose. She found it quickly; the man’s name was Roger Fulton and he worked as a ranch hand. His ad was simple and to the point and it seemed to her that he was laying all his cards on the table. Something in this easy honesty screamed that he was the man for her.
Melissa got some paper and some ink and she set about writing a response to him. It took her all evening, four drafts, and kept her up past her usual bedtime. She burned the discarded drafts in the dying fire and then put away the remaining paper and ink. She put the letter in an envelope and hid it amongst the clothes in her dresser; the last thing she needed was for anyone to find out what she was doing.
Next morning after breakfast she crept out of the house and walke
d the short distance to town where she posted a letter in the post office. The whole time she had been walking with the letter in her hand she had been terrified. She felt like she was a spy delivering some secret communiqué behind enemy lines. Thankfully she saw nobody she knew and the letter was finally out of her possession. As she made her way back home it hit her for the first time just what she had done; she had set the course of her life on a new path, one that did not discount the notion of love out of hand.
Chapter 4
Roger Fulton received a steady stream of replies in the weeks after his ad ran in the newspaper. He was pleasantly surprised by both the number and the quality of the women who answered him. Each night when he had finished work he would sit down, read the letter he had received that day and write a response. It was tiring work but he felt it would be rude if he did not reply to each letter he received. One letter had struck a chord with him, and this girl – Melissa – from New York really spoke to him. His friend, Jackson, told him that he shouldn’t narrow this focus to just one girl just yet. Roger took his advice very soon it was clear that Melissa was the one he spent all his time thinking about.
He had spent more time on his reply to her, and any of the other letters and he was much more careful with his spelling, grammar and handwriting. He went into more detail about his work day, the town he lived in, and the people he worked for. He told of his little house just off the town and how he hoped to expand this if he were married so that it will accommodate a family more comfortably
The correspondence continued over the next few weeks and months and he grew to feel he knew Melissa more and more. He had a sense of what she looked like and he just knew in his heart that should he ever meet her; she would look just that way. After many letters had exchanged hands, and he had long since ceased communication with any other woman, Roger finally got up the courage to ask Melissa to marry.
The wait for a reply was the most arduous and tortuous time of his life. He buried himself in his work; spending hours more each day that he was paid for in an effort to exhaust himself so that he would fall asleep as soon as he got into bed each night. This worked some nights, but certainly not all, and those nights that he lay awake were the longest agony he could endure.
It was almost three weeks before her letter of reply came. He pulled the envelope open as soon as the postman handed it to him. He was terrified, but he had to know. At first, he couldn’t even read the letter, the letters and words seem to be all jumbled up in his eyes. None of it was making sense. He pulled the letter from his face, rubbed his eyes with the palms of hands and then looked at the letter. This time, it was his shaking hands that prevented his reading; with frustration, he smoothed out the letter on the porch step and sat down to read it. This time, his eyes took in the most wondrous arrangement of letters, words, and phrases he had ever seen. She had said yes!
He jumped up from a sitting position, tossed his hat in the air and yelped a loud cheer. Roger looked around but there was no one in sight with which he could share his wonderful news. He quickly jumped on his horse and rode to Jackson’s house. Jackson was delighted with his friend’s news and he insisted that they go to the saloon to celebrate. Roger was not usually one for drinking but he was so happy and his friend so insistent that he allowed himself the idea of one beer to toast his new life.
Everyone in the saloon was delighted to hear Roger’s news; Barney, the bartender, insisted on getting Roger a drink as well. This coupled with the one Jackson bought for him had Roger feeling quite tipsy. The more seasoned drinking men laughed at his red cheeks, glassy eyes and manic smile. Roger began to speak to people he didn’t know as well as those he did telling them all about Melissa and how wonderful she was. The atmosphere in the saloon was one of joy and conviviality, but Jackson knew to take his friend home before he became too worse for wear.
Roger slept that afternoon; it was the first time he could ever recall sleeping during the day. He woke in the early evening with tremendous thirst on his lips. He sought out Melissa’s letter of acceptance which was still in the inside jacket pocket from earlier. He held the letter close to his breast imagining her voice as she spoke the words contained.
He wrote a letter to thank her for her acceptance. He felt fine by now, but he knew from seeing other men that alcohol could cloud your judgement for a long time. With this in mind, he scribbled out his ideas for the letter as they came to him, intending to write the real draft the next day when he knew he would be over his indulgence.
Chapter 5
Melissa had no idea what she was going to tell her family. She had carried on this secret correspondence for many months and had fallen in love with Roger in this time. He had asked her to marry him and she had accepted joyously. She had no doubt in her mind that she had made the right decision, but she knew that it was not going to go down well with her parents. She didn’t care in the least what Mr. Turner would feel about the whole thing; in fact, she hoped that she would not even see him again before she left for her new life out West.
At dinner, on the evening she decided to tell them of her plans, her mother went on and on about a young lady who had just married a cousin of hers. After this tedium, her father then went on to discuss the railroads – a topic which was of great interest to him but bored both Melissa and her mother. They were having desert by the time there was a lull in the conversation, and this is where Melissa spoke,
“I have gotten engaged,” she said. Both of her parents looked at her and then to one another and then back to Melissa.
“We know, you have been engaged for months,” said her mother.
“That’s not what I mean, mother,” Melissa said.
“What are you talking about, then?” Her father said. He didn’t like nonsense and this seemed like nonsense to him.
“I have gotten engaged to someone other than Mr. Turner,” Melissa said bravely. Once more her parents looked at one another but this time, it was in disbelief.
“Engaged to who!” Her father raised his voice.
“His name is Roger, he works on a ranch, and we have been exchanging letters for many months now.”
“But what about Mr. Turner?” her mother said. She had a scandalized look on her face, it was like she could hear the neighbors talking about this already. “You can’t be engaged to two people at the same time!”
“As far as I’m concerned, I was never engaged to Mr. Turner. He never proposed to me and I never accepted. Roger has proposed, and I have accepted,” Melissa said.
“This is ridiculous Melissa,” her father said, “I’m not listening to any more of this rubbish,” then turning to her mother said, “You can sort this out with her,” and he stomped out of the room.
When they were alone, her mother took on a more sympathetic tone.
“I understand that you are worried, but this is a little extreme, don’t you think?” she asked Melissa.
“I love him,” Melissa said.
“You’ve met this man?”
“No,” she knew this information wasn’t going to do her argument any favors and at that moment Melissa knew that there was no way she was going to be able to convince her family. She would simply have to play out this argument and then pretend to concede to their demands. After that she would have to sneak away and leave; this was not what she had wanted but she could see now that she wasn’t going to have any other choice. So she went through the motions with her mother and then went to bed without agreeing to anything, as she would normally do if they were arguing. The only difference was that the tears she cried that night when she was alone in bed were not of frustration but of sorrow that she had to start her new life without the blessing of her family.
The next day, after a frosty breakfast, (she couldn’t pretend to give in just yet) she went into town and bought a train ticket. While she was at the station, she wrote a new letter to Roger to tell him that she would be on her way very soon.
As she left the post office, she literally bumped
into Turner. He stopped and gave her a condescending look and she was sure he was about to say something derogatory about her until he realized that it was her.
“What has you out here on your own?” he asked looking around to see if anyone was with her. For a moment Melissa did not know how to answer this, she said quickly,
“I was buying stamps for my mother,” and she could feel the lie crawl over her face. He looked at her and nodded as though he didn’t care.
“Do you need a lift home?” he asked.
“No, thank you, I actually enjoyed the walk here and was looking forward to walking back too.”
“Suit yourself,” he said gruffly. “I have some business in the post office myself, so goodbye,” he said and he walked in without waiting for her to say anything else. Melissa thought this was quite rude and she was even more resolved than ever to escape a life with this man.
That evening at dinner, she apologized to her parents.
“Think nothing of it,” her father said. He was in a good mood because of some deal or other at work that had gone his way.
“You’ll be happy, dear,” her mother added taking hold of her hand and squeezing it.
“I know I will,” Melissa said and she looked down at her food so as not to betray what she was thinking; that she knew she would be happy because she planned to escape to Roger the next morning. There was no more talk about Roger or even Turner that evening. Melissa wondered what dinner would be like when it was just her two parents. This led her to think what her own meals of the future with Roger would be like. Before she went to bed that evening, she said sorry to her parents again and told them that she loved them both very much. There were tears in her eyes as she went off to her bedroom for the last time.
Melissa listened to the house and heard her parents go to bed. It was gone midnight and she knew she would have to be out of the house by five if she was going to catch her train. She started packing a bag as soon as the house was quiet. She knew she could not bring a large bag as she would be carrying it most of the journey and she did not want to be uncomfortable. She carefully packed away the wedding dress her mother had made her buy; there was no point in it going to waste after all.
[2015] Cowboy Saves a Widow Page 12
