[2016] A Wanting Bride

by Christian Michael

  Chapter Nine

  Ben was watching out the coach window and hugged Laura one last time with a hard grip and then stood and leaned out to shout to the driver. The driver, acknowledging that Ben’ stop was coming, slowed and eventually he turned off on a side track, lined on either side by fencing. They travelled some time down the track but eventually a very large ranch house appeared before them and the driver pulled up to its front porch.

  The house had a wide, covered porch and barrels with flowers poured out onto the lawn. Mature oaks smothered the house, giving it shade and keeping the porch cool and inviting. Laura looked at longing at the house and then tried to forget how she’d gotten there. It would be too miserable to know where Ben could be found, and not yet pursue him there.

  Ben opened the coach door and jumped out, stood straight and stretched, pushing his hat back on his head and surveying the house. He had all the demeanor of a man coming home to his castle. He walked around the coach and went up to the door, pushing it open before entering to check things out. All appeared well as Laura saw windows popping open all around the house exterior wall.

  Tricia and Gerald descended next. Laura knew they were probably taking a short break to freshen up, but somehow she felt suddenly excluded and lonely. Visions of herself, heavy with child while bent scrubbing floors and washing dishes flooded her brain. But before even that…she would have to confront Rory. She would have to admit what she’d done, and thought, and hope he wouldn’t beat her when she told him she couldn’t be with him, but would have to repay him the money she’d spent.

  Even the driver climbed down and lowered their luggage to the ground. It all seemed so normal, so wholesome. Laura cringed in self-defeat.

  Tricia and Gerald walked around the coach and walked right in through Ben’s open door. Laura marveled at how close they had all grown toward one another.

  As she watched, the driver began to unharness the horses and lead them around the side of the house toward what appeared to be a barn. Laura wondered if one had thrown a shoe, or whether they needed to be watered. Now she sat, alone, in a horseless stage. Had she misunderstood? Was she supposed to catch another stage to her destination? Why had no one told her? They had put her luggage on the ground. Was that supposed to be her signal?

  At that moment, Ben emerged from the house and came around to the coach, opening the door and leaning in.

  “Come on,” he said simply and held out his hand.

  Laura’s brow went up in confusion, but she leaned forward and let him help her out of the coach. “Ben, I’m sorry. There must be some mistake. I thought this coach would take me all the way into Denver, where I’m expected. I see you are all disembarking and the horses being even taken away. Did I miss a sign? Should I have said something? Is my ticket marked wrong?” She was beginning to panic a bit at the idea of being stranded here. Surely Ben would help her out, get her into town or maybe lend her a horse?

  Ben didn’t answer her. He must be really angry with me…that I’ve put him out like this. “Ben, I need to talk to you…privately. There are things you don’t know about me. I’m not here by accident – I am supposed to be meeting someone in Denver. Someone who advanced me the travelling money to come out here. He’ll be waiting for me.” She tried not to tell the entire story; it was simply too painful. She believed he had feelings for her, as well, and it would be hard for him to hear how she had disgraced herself.

  “Come with me,” he repeated and ushered her into the house through the open doors.

  At this point, Laura was completed confused. The room they entered had vaulted ceilings and thick, Turkish rugs covered the floors. Sturdy, beautifully-carved wood furniture, upholstered in tapestry fabric was set in groupings but something looked out of place.

  On the far wall sat a long table and it was covered in a white linen tablecloth. There were matching silver candelabras and bowls of fresh flowers trailed down the table’s center. A man in a white coat stood next to the table and he nodded and smiled at her. Tricia and Gerald stood to one side and Tricia’s face held a huge smile as well.

  Laura looked up to Ben’s face in bewilderment. He smiled down at her and then suddenly bent and dropped to one knee. “Laura, will you marry me?” he asked, holding out a beautiful diamond-encrusted ring.

  Laura’s face fell and her world came crushing down upon her. This was not happening. “I can’t, I can’t…” she whispered. “I’m promised to someone else,” she barely managed the words and if it hadn’t been for Ben holding her hand, she would have fled from the house entirely.

  “I know,” he grinned. “To me,” he said simply.

  Laura shook her head. “No, no, you don’t understand. I’m a mail order bride! I’m engaged to a man named Rory Newton. He’s waiting for me in Denver. He paid my way here. I gave him my word…took his money! I never counted on meeting you, Ben. I swear, I don’t know what happened, but you made me feel safe and cared for; it was the first time in my life…” she was sobbing now, pulling away from his hand.

  Ben stood, but he was not angry. He put his arm around Laura, drawing her hard against him so she couldn’t escape. He looked at Tricia and nodded. “Tell her, Tricia.”

  Tricia’s smile grew even bigger and she walked toward Laura, stopped and look first to Ben and then into Laura’s eyes. “Laura, please allow me to present Mr. Ben Dallas, sometimes also known as Mr. Rory Newton.”

  Laura stared, uncomprehending. “I don’t understand,” she managed to get out.

  Ben nodded and drew Laura over to a sofa. “Here, I think you need to sit down and let me explain. This isn’t exactly fair to you.” Laura sat down but Ben continued to hold her hand.

  “My dear Laura… my real name is Ben Dallas. I put the ad using the name Rory Newton for privacy. The coach is mine and the driver works for me. I put the ad in the paper out East to find a cultured, pleasant woman who would bear children for me and could school them here at home until they’re ready to help me on the ranch or go out into the world. I own a few thousand acres and most of it is for the cattle. I don’t like livin’ alone and that was another reason I wanted a wife. When you answered, it seemed the perfect arrangement. I knew you could bear children because you were already with child.” He stopped and let the words sink in.

  Laura sat there, her head shaking at what he was saying.

  “I wasn’t completely convinced and this is a big step, of course,” he began again. “So, I came out East and arranged to be next to you on the train, so I could get to know you without pressure on either one of us. I couldn’t be more happy and even if you weren’t my mail order bride, well I’d ask you to marry me. You’re beautiful, cultured, sweet, lovin’ and everythin’ I would ever want in a woman. But…you understand, I had to be certain. A lifetime is a long time. Don’t be angry…”

  Laura’s mouth opened and she realized he wasn’t the sort of man who was used to asking for forgiveness. “I’ve been feeling so guilty because I knew I was falling in love with you and it wasn’t something I was free to do. I belonged to someone else, even though when I realized I loved you, I made up my mind to tell Rory I refused and to pay him back for his travel expenses. I can’t be angry with you, sweetheart…how can I be anything but in love with you?” She hugged him then with both arms around his neck.

  Laura looked at Tricia, “You knew about this?” she asked.

  Tricia nodded and laughed. “Ben is my brother. Gerald and I came along because I have a medical background; in fact, I’m a midwife. He wanted to be sure you would have someone with you in case anything happened during the journey.”

  Laura was amazed. “I don’t know what to say,” she began.

  “Well, you might want to start with ‘I do’ because Sam, over there, is a preacher as well as a chef and as soon as he marries us, the guests will begin arriving for the wedding barbecue, Ben teased her.”

  An hour later, Laura, dressed in a beautiful, full-skirted white wedding gown Tricia had shown her in
the closet, walked out into the shade of the oak trees in the back of the house. Ben waited for her and held out his hand. Preacher Sam married them and no more were their “I do’s” uttered, then the wagons began rolling up. Tricia and Gerald had served as their witnesses and their only guest was the driver of the coach.

  Ben was evidently quite well respected in the community because the wagons and horses rolled in by the dozens. Somewhere musicians began playing, a huge bonfire was lit and tables laden with food were set all about the yard.

  Laura sat with Ben, held in his embrace as he introduced her to hundreds of neighbors whose names she would take time to remember. Lighted lanterns hung in the tree branches and it was hours after the bride and groom retired before the last guest left.

  Chapter Ten

  Laura’s face was damp with perspiration and flushed from the effort of pushing. Lilly was born into Tricia’s skilled hands and once bathed, placed into Laura’s loving and welcoming arms. Ben stood by, proud papa and nodded in approval.

  Laura had never felt such joy as she did in that moment. Her life was complete. So much lay ahead; babies with Ben, learning to be a rancher’s wife. One thing she knew…she couldn’t wait!

  THE END.

  Looking For Love

  Mail Order Bride

  CHRISTIAN MICHAEL

  Chapter 1

  When the train whistle blew, Cora abandoned her seat on the sofa and hurried to the window. She pulled back the heavy burgundy drapes and sighed deeply. In the dusky light, she could just discern the locomotive as it snaked its way across the tracks toward the Alexandria station. “Look, Hannah! Isn’t she beautiful? I haven’t traveled by train in ages. I’ve quite missed it. And oh my, how the Potomac has risen since the rains! We must walk by the river tomorrow.” She glanced over her shoulder.

  Her dearest friend Hannah sat on the sofa in the O’Leary family parlor, her red hair gleaming in ringlets about her shoulders, her freckled face bright with happiness, not much different than when the two were children.

  “A walk sounds lovely, although it does make me sad to see how much the waterfront has changed since the war. I scarcely recognize it, even these three years later.”

  “I’ve hardly been anywhere in the past three years. Papa was so sick with the consumption. All I could do was nurse him. But memories of our adventures here in Alexandria helped revive me, especially on the very difficult days. Did you think of those times, too?”

  “Of course, dear. I remember how you and that twin brother of mine consistently lead me into trouble. Or more often, each other.”

  Cora laughed. The sound startled her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed. Certainly not since the last time she had visited the O’Learys. Was that six months ago? Nine?

  “Do you remember when Mama spanked you both on the train for playing in the engine car in all that coal dust?”

  “Oh, stop. That isn’t a pleasant memory!” Oddly though, as she said the words, Cora laughed again. Even the humiliation of that public spanking was a better memory than the war years that came after.

  Hannah joined her at the window, tucking Cora’s arm into her own. “It’s good to have you back again, if only for a week. But you’re changing the subject yet again.” She drew back. “Why, you’re positively shaking! Whatever is the matter? And don’t tell me it’s my imagination because I simply won’t believe it. You’ve been here for over two hours, hardly spoken, picked at your supper. And now this--mooning over trains and shivering as if you’ve caught your death. Come back to the fire and tell me what this is all about.”

  Cora allowed Hannah to arrange her on the sofa in front of the crackling fire, a brown velvet cape thrown over their laps.

  “Is it that horrid half-brother of yours? What has he said of his promise to allow you to apprentice as a nurse?”

  Cora’s heart leaped at the words. To apprentice as a nurse was all she had wanted for so long--all her father had wanted for her--that she couldn’t imagine life without it. She closed her eyes momentarily. But forget it, she must. She opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes, it is Edward.” She twisted her gloves in her hands. “He says there is no money to provide for me while I apprentice, that it has all been spent or promised.”

  “No money. But your father had plenty upon his death.”

  “I know, Hannah, I know. But he left me in my brother’s care. I have no money of my own, except a small inheritance from my mother. Very small, likely not enough to cover my needs.”

  “And what does he expect you to do instead? Marry?” Hannah smiled at her own joke for she knew Cora had no designs to marry.

  Cora searched for space within her thickened throat to speak. She swallowed hard, then whispered, “Yes.”

  Hannah gave a start. “What? You to marry? And whom has your brother found worthy of you?” Her voice was shrill.

  Cora shook her head. “It’s too horrible to say aloud.”

  “Mr. Jeremiah Bladen. It is him, isn’t it?” At Cora’s nod, Hannah slapped her hands over her cheeks. “My word! I won’t allow it. We can’t let this happen. He was pawing at you when you were little more than a child. He’s evil.”

  “Don’t speak of it, Hannah.”

  “And what of Mr. Bladen’s marriage? I remember a few years back, you were relieved to hear of his nuptials?”

  “He lost his wife to influenza a month after dear President Lincoln’s death. He has three horrid daughters. Oh Hannah, whatever will I do?”

  Hannah wrapped her arms around Cora. “My dear, we shall do what I have always done when I don’t have the answers.”

  Cora smiled into Hannah’s shoulder, and declared the words at the same time as her friend, “Ask Mama.”

  Chapter 2

  “A mail order bride,” Cora gasped the words. Even after hearing them spoken repeatedly over the past twenty minutes, she couldn’t accept them. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly. I simply couldn’t. Papa—“

  “Your father would approve," Mama O’Leary assured. “He would want you settled and safe. My Matthew can give you that.”

  The pit of Cora’s stomach was hollow and swallowing her down fast. She sank into a chair by the Mama O’Leary’s sitting room door.

  Hannah laughed. “Oh Cora, you look positively white. Quite the contrast to her gorgeous ebony hair, eh mama?”

  “Our Cora has always been lovely, even with pasty cheeks.”

  Conversation and laughter wrapped around her. The O’Learys loved both dearly—talking and laughing. She had asked for advice and this was what was offered: A mail order bride. Hannah’s oldest brother Matthew in need of a wife and her in need of a husband.

  Years ago, she had known the incredibly tall, auburn haired boy. But she could hardly picture him now, except through the wedding photo that hung on the wall downstairs. She felt nothing for him.

  “You are exactly what we need, Cora. In last month’s letter, Matthew mentioned he was in need of a bride to help him raise my grandchildren. Women are scarce in that wild Colorado territory.” Mama O’Leary shuddered.

  Of course Hannah had written to her about Matthew’s wife, how she’d ran off and left him and their children, then caught the influenza on the train trip home. She’d died in a Midwestern town surrounded by strangers. A horrible way to go. Alone and far from home. Was that a risk she faced if she accepted Mama O’Leary’s proposal?

  But what choice did she have? She wasn’t wealthy enough or strong enough to carve out a life alone. She couldn’t marry Jeremiah Bladen. And she wasn’t afraid of the west--adventure was not a stranger to her; an odd exhilaration filled her chest thinking of the wild territory beyond the Mississippi. Still…

  Mama O'Leary continued thoughtfully, “I expect he was joking a bit about placing an advertisement, but I immediately volunteered my services as matchmaker. I promised to find him the perfect mail order bride. Since he didn’t take my advice the first time around, he is quite happy to accept it now.”

&nbs
p; “But come, child, this is not a moment to faint away. You will be joining our family and that is a most wonderful thing. But let’s set this aside for now, my rheumatism is acting up, and you give such a lovely massage.”

  “Oh, Mama O’Leary, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.” Cora hurried to her room and fetched her father’s medical bag. Old habits indeed die hard, as she always carried it just as her father had done. But her mind was a runaway train. Colorado. Matthew. Mail order bride. Jumping on board this new proposal scared her more than anything had in a long time.

  After Mama O’Leary was wrapped in warmed blankets, Cora handed her a steaming mug. “Sip this. The medicine and the warmth will ease your pain.” Then she moved blankets aside and began gently administering to the tight muscles.

  Hannah’s laughter trilled from across the room. “You never are more yourself than when you’re nursing, are you, Cora?” Then she smiled mischievously. “Or sparring with my brother, that is.”

  Cora gasped. “Hannah, you’re awful. Simon and I haven’t sparred since we were quite young.” She carefully repacked her father’s medical bag as she spoke.

  Hannah’s laughter rang out again causing Cora to look up. “Quite young, you say? I believe it was six months ago when you were here last.”

  Cora laughed in spite of herself. “Oh stop, you. Don’t listen to her, Mama O’Leary, we’re not nearly as much enemies as we once were.”

  Mama O’Leary laughed her happiest belly laugh. “Oh, my dear, I can assure you I never perceived you to be enemies.” She sobered quickly and clutched Cora’s hands. “I worry over Simon so much. His feet you know… They bother him more than he says. And he won’t let any of us help.”

  Of course, he wouldn’t because he was too self-centered to realize how much his family worried over him, but Cora refrained from saying. “He’s stubborn, but strong. I was there you know, sat with him while father…well, as father helped him.” During the war, her father had amputated four of Simon’s toes on one foot and two on the other. Of all the things she had witnessed during the war, the amputations were possibly the worst. Simon had taken ill directly after the procedure, and she had feared he wouldn’t survive.