Mail Order Bride: 9 Book Boxed set : 9 Brides for 9 Cowboys: CLEAN Western Historical Romance Series Bundle

by Faye Sonja

  “Thank you, my love,” she said to him with an appreciative kiss on the lips. “How are they doing?”

  “They are fine,” he said removing her tray and hushing her back to bed as she tried to get up. “But now you get some rest. You have taken care of us all for so long it is high time we take care of you.”

  She tried to protest but knew it would get her nowhere and so she kept quiet.

  “I love you more than life itself Alex,” he called to her from the doorway. “And I do not want to ever live a day on this earth without you.”

  She smiled at him as she got comfortable to rest and he left her to it.

  * * *

  9

  Chapter NINE

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  “… something she did not quite

  understand. His ad was not the usual ad

  a man would place when seeking a bride.”

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  The music being played in the back yard was what woke her around midday the following day, and for a moment she thought about going back to sleep.

  “Oh you are up,” Kate said from her bedside. She held up two dresses for her. “Choose one.”

  “What for?” she asked sleepily.

  “Your husband has gone crazy and decided to throw you a party,” Kate said.

  She groaned and flopped back into her bed, pulling a pillow over her head. “Tell him I don’t want one.”

  “I already did that and it did not work, so you better warm up to the idea. He wants to show you off to the world and now that aunt May is feeling much better, he is antsy and cannot wait any longer.”

  “I am certain I shall behead him,” she complained. Kate simply laughed and ushered in a maid with a tray of food.

  “Eat and then let us go enjoy the merriment in your honor. You are very deserving of it.”

  “I am deserving of peace and quiet and that crazy man of mine in this bed with me,” she said hungrily, attacking the food they had given her.

  “Well, that will come later, for now let him show you off. I have never seen him this happy.”

  “Is he really?” she asked in a moment of doubt.

  “Beyond words,” Kate said as she turned to leave.

  She smiled in response, and the other woman left her with her thoughts. Later in the day she joined the festivities, and as she walked into the garden, Nathan stepped up to her kissing her passionately before the small group gathered there. He was making his claim to her, and telling them all in one moment of affection, that she deserved the same level of respect and consideration he got.

  “You look lovely,” he said moments later while he twirled her on the dance floor. He looked quite smashing too in his waist coat and such, playing the perfect host. She let herself enjoy the festivities. It was a welcomed difference. The music was intoxicating and the people moving and dancing around her was infectious. In no time she was back dancing, being swayed and twirled in Nathan’s strong arms. She had her first taste of alcohol and it immediately went to her head. She felt light headed and happy.

  “Tonight we go to a bonfire,” he said and she got excited at the sound of some amount of normalcy. They sat enjoying the night air and talking about the days past and she was happy that the feeling of dread and despair had lifted from over their heads. She asked him so many questions she was sure he was beginning to feel like a library, but she wanted to know and understand more of him and the people he had chosen to invite. Aunt May’s laughter rang out above the crowd and they both looked towards her grateful she was still there to give them grief.

  “Let’s go inside,” she said to him moments later.

  His expression was of utter despair. “I thought you were having fun?”

  “I am having fun, but I want you all to myself,” she said taking his other hand into hers. “I just want a few moments alone with you. We will come back for the bonfire.” He smiled understandingly and she knew without being told that he was exceedingly grateful for her coming in the first place.

  “I love you Alex,” he said surprising her beyond words. “No matter where life takes us and what it brings us, never forget that.”

  “I won’t,” she told him as he nervously sipped his drink.

  “I have a better idea," he said and he pulled her to her feet.

  He pulled her unseen by the gathering to the back of the house, where a small path led to the lake close by. She was feeling a bit exhausted, more so by the alcohol she had consumed, and when she lagged behind, he lifted her into his arms and walked her to the edge of the lake. It was absolutely beautiful. The moon shimmered off the surface of the calm waters, and it was a sight to behold. The stars twinkled overhead and though she had been here before, it was a different place at night and she felt like he had taken her to a scene in one of the fairy tale books she used to read as a child.

  “Beautiful,” she whispered against his chest as he hugged her to him.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “You are absolutely stunning.”

  She blushed beneath his compliment and then told him the secret she had been carrying.

  “I am with child, Nathan,” she said kissing his chin with the revelation.

  * * *

  “What?” he asked in shock and raised his eyebrows at her. “Are you playing some sick joke on me? Alex Matthews, that would not be nice,” he admonished.

  She laughed and said it again. “I am carrying our child.”

  Guilt washed over him, saturating every pore and he could no longer feel anything else. No grief, no loss, no happiness in that moment. Just guilt slapping him over and over again.

  “I am sorry,” he whispered in her hair.

  “Why are you sorry?” she asked and he realized his words might have given another impression.

  “I am sorry for not being the attentive husband I should have been. I promise I will never again leave you to carry the weight of both our existences alone.”

  She touched his cheek gently. “This is the way relationships work. I carry the load when you cannot, and you do the same when I can’t. It was never a choice, nor is it a burden. This is your family. They are important to you and I have come to learn to love them as my own. There is no burden that would be too great for me to carry for you or for them.”

  He smiled at her and they spent the next hour arguing over names they would call their child. When they returned to the bonfire to sing campfire songs. She was a rosy glow of happiness. That night before she went to sleep, she prayed, and Nathan said a prayer of his own. Nathan had not prayed much for the past months since his Aunt May had been sick, but he felt the need to do so now, and continued to until the sunrise peeked over the hills in the distance. He prayed for protection, healing and guidance for his new wife and his new family. Aunt May had told him some time ago that sometimes one had to take a few steps back to move forward or away from the things most familiar in order to figure out a way forward and that is what he had needed. For this gift he was eternally grateful, and he smiled watching her sleep, until sleep finally took him.

  This was what happy felt like, and he was never letting it go. He was only sad they had lost Little John in the process, and that day as he worked the stables his absence was felt.

  Kate stood on the outside of the barn with a picnic basket in her hand around midday. “Have lunch with me,” she said and touched his face.

  “Just like we used to as kids,” he said. “Have you seen my wife all day?”

  “She eats and rests for two, leave her be,” Kate admonished.

  “I love her,” he said proudly. “What do you think of her, Kate?”

  Kate laughed at his childish question. “I think she is more than amazing and she’s the sister I have always wanted.”

  With that he pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head. “She likes you a lot, too. Though I cannot fathom why."

  That earned him a slap t
o the wrist and they giggled, something they had lacked for so long. The blue skies above them promised to give them the prosperity he had prayed for.

  * * *

  Epilogue

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  Seven months later.

  “Where is he?” Nathan heard an unfamiliar female voice ask for him. He was busy tending to the horses he had just brought in from the pastures in preparation for the rains that darkened the skies. He dashed out of the stable to see a face he was not familiar with.

  “Who are you asking after ma’am?” he lowered his hat as he spoke.

  “Quite the gentleman, aren’t you,” the woman chuckled and the little girl by her side extended an arm.

  “I am Jemma, what have you done with my aunt Alex?” the tiny one demanded.

  He laughed. “Jane and Jemma, I assume?”

  “Yes that would be us. And you must be the man that has kept my Alex away from us for so long. We have come to see that she is still in good health and will take her with us if she is not.”

  “That’s right!” Jemma piped up and walked ahead of them.

  “I can see why she loves you both so much,” he said happy to finally meet the people she called her family. “I can assure you she is in the best of health. And I was the one to extend the invitation so I would appreciate a little compassion.”

  Jane laughed as he led them into the house where an eager Alex waddled into the foyer to greet them. There were lots of screams of delight and hugs and kisses exchanged.

  “Oh you are just ripe for the picking!” Jane exclaimed putting a hand on Alex’s big belly. “When are you due to give birth?”

  “In less than two months,” Nathan said, proudly kissing his wife and then her huge belly. He helped her to take a seat and then served them all lemonade and cookies to Jemma’s delight.

  “And Byron?” Alex asked about her husband.

  “I am right here,” a deep voice said entering the house, carrying with him a bright eyed baby boy.

  “And this must be Christopher,” Alex said looking at the boy who stretched for his mother. Jemma promptly took his place in Byron’s arms and Nathan looked on at the rosy bunch, hoping someday they would look that happy with their own children. He knew they would, for he might be master of this house, but there was absolutely nothing he would not do to keep this beautiful woman of his happy. And when their little bundle of joy made its entrance, he was sure he would protect them both with his life.

  Of that much he was absolutely sure.

  * * *

  The Broken Outlaw’s Half-Blind Bride

  Courageous Mail Order Brides

  Book 3

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  b o o k 3

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  Kate is half-blind and she is fearful, afraid that Jason would think her blind eye would make her less of a woman. But she didn’t know he had a dark secret… he is an outlaw. Furthermore, there is a secret Jason’s father carried could turn her world upside down.

  Will the odds stacked against them finally tear them apart?

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  Prologue

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  Valley, Texas

  Early 1906

  Kate turned her blind eye away from the toddler who was busy making a mess of the room his mother had just cleaned.

  "Your mama is going to toss you out that window when she gets back and sees the mess you have made."

  Nathan walked into the room with a chuckle to pick his twelve month old son up off the floor. "Say Aunty Kate, if you would give me a cousin or two to play with I wouldn't need to make such a mess."

  Kate glared at him. Since he had gotten married to Alex the year before he had been busy trying to get every available man and woman to walk down the aisle. The man who had been a womanizer since they were teenagers had all but become the advocate for marriage and the wonderful babies that came along with it. She smiled at him as he kissed her cheek knowing as her best friend he meant her well.

  "Aunty Kate isn't quite sure she will ever get married. She says that marriage isn’t for everyone."

  The last part was said with a bit more melancholy than she had intended. The truth was she was afraid of being rejected. Of course she was gorgeous, and she didn't need the mirror in her bedroom nor even Nathan to tell her. She had long flowing brunette hair that was always well kept, a curvy figure that would inspire sculptors when she walked by and a personality you couldn't help but fall in love with. Her face was smooth as a baby's bottom with a smile that exposed the most beautiful twinkle in her eye... but there laid the source of her self-doubt. Being blind in one eye didn't always inspire confidence. The thing was she had never really suffered because of it, but she had seen men ogle her from a distance and the moment she came close to them a bit of fire would die from their eyes as they saw she only had one good one. For that reason she kept to herself and the safe haven her tiny family provided, but she knew this really wasn't her family and she couldn't live vicariously through them forever.

  "A penny for your thoughts," Alex said walking up beside her as she walked to the balcony to look down at Nathan, who had taken his son out to play.

  She sighed and gently nudged Alex with her shoulder. "I love you all."

  "We love you too," Alex said with a smile as they watched Aunt May chastise Nathan for tossing his son too high in the air.

  They couldn't help but laugh again while the child squealed in delight as Nathan ignored the woman who had been like a mother to them both and then he tossed him in the air again.

  "Feeling nostalgic for something you have not yet had?" Alex asked her.

  "Is that what this is, nostalgia?" She asked.

  Alex threw an arm around her. "Yes, maybe you should put yourself out there."

  "I have and the men in this town have nothing to offer me," she said disinterested in the subtle suggestion.

  "Well, I know what that is like so you know I would suggest the obvious," Alex hinted.

  "Mail order bride?" Kate looked at her unsure. "Who says I will have the same luck?"

  "You will never know until you try."

  There was another issue for Kate. "I have never been away from home for long and I have never ever considered living away from here. I will miss you all far too much."

  "The one thing I am sure I have learned from my experience here is that we must sometimes step away from the known, to walk the path we were meant to. We will miss you more than words will ever express, but we both want you to know this kind of love and happiness, and if that means you have to travel away from us then we are prepared to deal with the pain of missing you."

  Kate sighed. "I will think about it."

  With a pinch to the cheek Alex pulled her down the stairs and to the trio sprawled out on the well-trimmed lawn in the afternoon sun.

  "While you do that, we want you down there with us. Not up there looking on."

  They walked down the stairs arm in arm like the best friends they had become. When she had first met Alex she remembered thinking that she had met a really old and familiar soul. She knew even then that the woman was of a kind heart and a pure soul with honest intentions, but it was not until Nathan had gone missing for six months that she had seen the true valor in her. She wanted to know love and commitment like that.

  The rest of the evening went by in a happy haze and she was more than grateful that she had these people in her life, but the more she watched them the more she wanted a family of her own. She decided she would give it a go.

  With daylight the following day she made her way to town to place her ad and collect the day's paper. She didn't make her way home just then, instead she went to the park close by, but even there she had no peace. Everywhere she looked was another family busy at play with the children among them. She blamed Nathan and his marriage for the strong desire to have a family of her own. Before, when they were both
single and simply enjoying life she had never so much as thought about settling down, yet here she was yearning for it.

  She blamed them for her yearning. She blamed them for her needing something she had not yet personally experienced. Turning her eye back to the paper on her lap she turned to the advertisement section and read through the ads. She saw one that caught her eye, mostly because it was from a man three towns over. She smiled as she went back to the post office to send a telegram as the ad instructed she do. At least she would be able to say she had decided to put herself out there when she got back home.

  With a hopeful pep in her step, she walked back the short distance home, stopping at the local pastry shop to pick up a snack for the little boy she doted on.

  "You look happy," Aunt May commented as she walked to the back porch.

  She smiled and looked out at the massive ranch around them. An eagle flew low enough to catch her eye and the horses grazing in the open field beside the mooing cattle being herded back into the barn put her at ease.

  "I just want to marry before you die of old age," she teased Aunt May.

  The older woman rolled her eyes at her. "I will have to see that to believe it."

  "Hey!" Kate laughed. "Have some faith. If Nathan managed to get married I am not so hopeless."

  "Good point," Aunt May said and wrapped her in a hug. She didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but she hoped with the rising of the sun would come some good news for the dire condition of her non-existent love life.