The sound of the wind blowing leaves off the trees shook him back to reality, and Jasper turned to head back up to the barn. Time was of essence, and the seasons waited for no one. If he wanted to make sure everything was set for winter, he had to get it done now.
Back in the house, Grace had turned to see if Jasper was still outside, and her heart pounded when she realized he had been watching her. There were times when she wondered if she was breaking through to him, and there were times when she thought she caught him staring at her.
It had been a long time since she felt pretty. She spent her days caring for the house and for Sam, so the thought of Jasper finding her attractive made her heart skip a beat inside her chest. She lingered in the kitchen for a moment, thinking of what life could be like if she and Jasper really did fall in love, then she forced herself to snap back into the moment and start dinner.
In Grace’s life, dreams were dreams and reality was reality. Some things were the way they were for a reason, and whatever the reason was for her to live the life she was living, she was going to live it the best she could.
Chapter 7 – The Disappearance
“I don’t care what it is! I’m not going!”
Sam slammed the door to his room closed as hard as he could, rattling the entire upstairs of the house. Grace knocked on his door, then opened it. She found Sam lying on the bed, facing away from her.
“Come on Sam… why don’t you want to go to school?”
“I miss my friends, I miss my teacher, and I miss my real life.”
Sam had tears in his eyes, but he brushed them away before Grace sat down.
“You are going to make new friends here, Sam. It’s been less than a week of the new schoolyear. Surely going will make new friends.”
“I’m not going, Ma! Please don’t make me.”
Grace wanted to tell him he had to go, but something came over her. She didn’t know why, but she suddenly didn’t want to make him go anymore. One day every now and then wouldn’t hurt, and she knew he was still dealing with a lot.
“Ok ok, you don’t have to go, but I do expect you to work on your studies.”
Grace rose to leave, and she heard Sam mumble something to her as she did. She lingered a moment at the door of his room, then she sighed. There was nothing more she could do right now, so she closed the door behind her, and headed downstairs.
“Dinner smells delicious.”
Jasper sat down at the table and tucked his napkin into the front of his shirt. Grace smiled and replied she had made his favorite, then she headed upstairs to call Sam to dinner.
“I thought he was in school?”
Jasper looked up at her in surprise.
“I let him have the day off. He’s been going through a lot lately, and I didn’t think it would hurt.”
Grace headed upstairs and knocked on his door. There was no answer, so she knocked again. This time, she called his name, but there was still no answer. Grace opened the door.
Empty.
“Sam! Sam, where are you?”
Grace ran downstairs, and called for Jasper.
“Have you seen Sam? He’s not in his room. I swear that’s where he’s been all day!”
Jasper followed her outdoors, and they both searched for Sam, calling his name and looking everywhere they could think of. After an hour of looking, Jasper called Grace and told her to meet him in the kitchen.
Once inside, Grace broke down into tears.
“Where did he go? What did he do? This is all my fault!”
Jasper held her in his arms, and tried to soothe her.
“Did he say anything about where he may have gone? Think hard. I had friends who would run away from the orphanage all the time when I was a boy, and they always said something about where they were going before they left, even if it was just in passing. Think!”
Grace shook her head. Sam never said anything about where he was going, just that he didn’t like it here.
“He was always saying how he missed his friends back in Boston. He didn’t want to come out here in the first place, and he seems to think that he’d be happy back there. He’s forgotten how miserable he was there, too!”
Grace broke down and sobbed, trying to gain control of her voice so she could talk to Jasper.
“I bet I know where he’s gone. If he wants to go home, you know that’s where he is going to go. You stay here. I can go a lot faster if I am by myself, and I know where to catch the stage.”
“Do you think the driver would have allowed him on the stage?”
Grace was shocked that a driver would allow a child to travel alone. Especially since that same driver was the one that had given them a ride out there to begin with.
“The driver doesn’t care who is on the stage as long as they have a ticket. I know you were keeping your money in your tin box by your bed… if Sam knew it was there, he knew where to get the money for the ticket.”
Grace’s eyes widened when she realized Jasper was right, and she ran to her room to see if the money was gone.
It was.
Her tin box was placed neatly on the shelf where it had always been, but the money inside was gone.
“I told you that’s what he was going to do! Now let me think…”
Jasper paced back and forth in the middle of the room.
“If he left early this morning, he likely got on the stage that was headed for the Dakotas. That’s the earliest one to leave here, and if I leave now I can head them off before they leave that first stop.”
Grace nodded, her forehead was tight with worry. Jasper ran over to her and kissed her on the forehead, then whispered that it was all going to be all right.
“Don’t you worry, I am going to find him, and I will bring him home safe and sound!”
Grace followed Jasper to the porch, and stood on the top of the three steps. She watched him run into the barn, then take off in a flash on his black stallion.
“Please God let Jasper find Sam before anything happens to him, please!”
Grace closed her eyes and prayed out loud, then opened them once more to see Jasper vanish into the distance.
Chapter 8 – Happy at Last
Sam sat on the edge of the bench at the post office. He couldn’t believe he had made it this far. In just a couple of hours he would be in the next post office, then in a couple of days he would be almost home.
I hope Ma is going to be ok without me, but I suppose she has Jasper. She’ll be just fine.
It seemed to Sam like it was taking an awfully long time for the stage to come. He had been sitting here almost an hour. The world seemed so large and unforgiving without his mother there, but the thought of going back didn’t seem too appealing.
“I say sonny, aren’t you a bit young to be traveling alone?”
An old man sat down next to him, and Sam felt shy. He shook his head, and told the man he was fine. The old timer didn’t seem deterred by Sam’s awkwardness, but continued to ramble on.
“I was just like you when I was your age. Didn’t need nobody. My little brother drowned when he was just a boy, and it tore my parents apart. One day, my pa he up and left. Then, I did, too.”
Sam fidgeted in his seat. He really didn’t want to hear the old man’s story, but the man continued.
“I knew it was going to break my mother’s heart to leave her like that, but I didn’t care. I was only thinking about me. My pa was gone, my brother was gone. We were all meat to take care of ourselves. I never saw my ma again.”
“Harold? Is that you! Come on then!”
An old woman from across the way motioned to the old man, and he got up and shuffled away, still talking. Sam was left on the bench, alone with his thoughts once more, but now unable to shake what the man had said.
What if I never see my mother again? What would that do to her? Well, maybe she should have thought of that before she dragged me all the way out here to begin with!
But I don’t want to never see h
er again. I love her. I just…
Sam couldn’t get the image he had of his mother out of his mind. All he could think of was her sobbing on his bed, wondering where he had gone and what had happened to him. Guilt was starting to cloud in his mind, and he couldn’t shake it.
“What am I doing?”
He spoke out loud, though there was no one to hear him. Then it hit him. How was he going to get home? There wasn’t any stage going back that way for another couple of days, and he had planned to sleep on the stage. He didn’t have enough money for a hotel, either.
Suddenly, Sam thought he heard something. He held his breath so he could hear better, and waited.
He heard it again.
“Sam! Samuel! Where are you?”
Someone was calling his name. Sam rose and looked back on the road. As far as he could tell, they voice was coming from that direction. Suddenly, Jasper appeared, running his horse up and over the hill.
Sam walked out into the rode, uncertain as to whether or not it was really him.
“Sam! There you are! Sam!”
As soon as Jasper saw him, he dug his heels into the horse’s side and galloped him faster into town. The horse hadn’t even stopped before Jasper was off of him and embracing Sam in his arms.
“Oh Sam! Sam! I thought I lost you. We thought we lost you. Sam!”
Sam didn’t know what was happening to him. His mother hugged him a lot, but it had been so long since he had been hugged by his father, he almost forgot what it was like. Jasper’s hug was a lot like this father’s hug, and the feeling that came over him was too much to bear.
Sam broke down right there in Jasper’s arms, sobbing and clinging to him.
“I’m sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking! I’m sorry!”
Sam’s voice was muffled in Jasper’s jacket, but Jasper shushed him.
“Your mother and I were worried sick about you. She loves you, Sam, and so do I. I can’t lose you like this, I just can’t. Please come home with me?”
Sam pulled back and looked at Jasper. His eyes were wide with wonder, and he searched Jasper’s face to see if he was serious.
“Do you really mean it?”
“I do, I love you like you are my own son.”
Sam leaned in and Jasper picked him up he hugged him and set him on the horse, then climbed up into the saddle.
“Let’s go home!”
And they were off.
“Hello to the house!”
Jasper called before they were even to the gate. The two of them could see that Grace had a candle lit in the window, and shortly after he yelled, the door opened and Grace ran out. She ran through the gate and paused for a moment in the middle of the road, then she lifted her skirt to her knees and ran as fast as she could to meet them.
“Mama! Mama!”
Sam squirmed and Jasper let him off the horse, then he ran to his mother and was engulfed in her arms.
“I’m sorry Mama, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Sam cried as his mother held him close, and she soothed him.
“All that matters is that you’re home now.”
Jasper came up and wrapped his arms around both of them.
“Home at last! Now, we can officially call ourselves a family… that is… if you will have me?”
He directed his question at Sam, who looked at him from Grace’s arms. He was silent for a second, then he nodded.
“I guess so. You can be my Pa.”
A smile spread across Jasper’s face and he tossed his hat in the air and whooped. Both Sam and Grace laughed, and Grace set Sam down.
“Come on, you two… I think this calls for a celebration.”
Sam placed one of his hands in Grace’s and the other in Jasper’s, and they walked to the house. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Sam felt happy.
He had a family again.
THE END.
Finding my Cowboy
Mail Order Bride
CHRISTIAN MICHAEL
Chapter 1 – An Ad in the Paper
The school bell rang loudly, releasing the children from their afternoon class. They came pouring out of the schoolhouse, pushing each other and laughing. There was a rush by the door as they all clamored past, each headed to their homes.
Jessie looked out the window, then shook her head as she turned back to the dough she was kneading.
It’s just habit. Soon enough you will stop checking for him.
This was the time of day John always came home. At least, it was the time of day he always had come home… before the accident. Jessie tried not to think of the void she felt ever since her husband had passed. But no matter what she did, there didn’t seem to be anything that could cheer her up.
Except for you, Little One.
She placed her flour covered hand on her apron over her stomach. Jessie was pregnant with her first child, which was the only thing that kept her sane in her grief. All she could think about day and night was John, and how awful it was she lost him.
There had been a fire. It had been silly, really. Some boys were playing with matches in the neighbor’s barn, and when the straw lit up, they panicked. Sure, John had gone in after them, but they were the ones that made it out, and he wasn’t.
Jessie had wrestled with her grief, spending days at a time feeling like she had nothing in this world, until she discovered she was pregnant.
John would have been so happy. So proud… but you will make me proud, won’t you?
Although Jessie spent most of her days as busy as she could be, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t enough. She wanted this child to be happy, and the thought of raising a baby all on her own in this world terrified her. She had a lot of friends in this little Missouri town, but there wasn’t anyone here that could be a father to her child.
They had all known John. They had known how much she loved him, and how he had loved her. They were always together from the time he let the children out of school to when he had to return to teach class the next day.
No man in town would dare to ask me out… let alone marry me. They wouldn’t feel right about it, and neither would I. But what am I going to do? I can’t do this alone. You need a father, and I need to provide that for you.
Jessie formed the loaves and put them in their pans, then covered them with a damp towel to rise. She sat down in her chair with a sigh, and daydreamed as she looked out the window. There had to be a way to find a man to marry. A good man that would love her and her child both.
But the town she lived in was small, and the marriage potential was as slim as the chance of seeing a giraffe walking down the street.
If only I met a man off the stage coach like Lizbeth had. Or suppose the son of one of the old shopkeepers moved back here like Betty Sue’s husband did. If only my life was as easy as Mary Jo’s!
It was hard for Jessie to not feel jealous over her friends. She would often run into them as she was out in the town, usually with their husbands. They hadn’t done anything to acquire their husbands. Their husbands had all been practically gift wrapped for them.
Jessie scoffed as she saw at that moment Mary Jo and her husband walk by her window, hand in hand and chatting away.
A tear formed in her eye which she angrily brushed away. Then she suddenly sat up.
Wait a minute! Mary Jo’s husband! She met him through an ad in the paper! Look at them, she looked out the window as the two of them disappeared around the corner, happy as can be. Those two are the happiest couple I know, and they met through one of those mail order bride ads.
I could do that…
Without waiting to give it any more thought, Jessie hurriedly tied her bonnet on and threw a shawl over her shoulders. She was getting tired of wearing black, but she didn’t feel right putting on any of her cheerful colors. Not yet anyway.
She quickly closed the door behind her, and headed to the post office as quickly as she could.
Chapter 2 – Letters
/>
Jessie Stokes bent eagerly over the piece of paper on the table. She held in her trembling hand a pen freshly dipped in ink, and next to the letter sat the ad she had clipped out of the paper.
She tried not to think too hard as she sat there, staring at the piece of paper on the table. She sighed and sat back, then picked up the ad to read it again.
It read:
Looking for a mail order bride.
My name is Toby Matthews, and I am looking for a bride to come live with me in my house. I live in California, and would be happy to pay for your trip out here if you don’t live close by.
I want a lady that knows how to act like a lady. A wife that can cook and clean, and have dinner ready on the table when I come in from the fields.
I will be good to you, and treat you with the respect a lady deserves. I look forward to hearing from you.
Jessie didn’t know what to say in reply. He seemed like the perfect man for her. Quiet, wanting a woman that could do exactly what she knew how to do, and respectful. She imagined herself going out west, and being met by a man that could sweep her off her feet.
A man that could understand her situation, and offer her the love and support she needed to make it through. A man that could raise her child as his own, and a man she and her child could be a family with.
Finally, Jessie put her pen to the paper, and just wrote. She didn’t want to try to sound too fancy, but she didn’t want to sound incapable, either. She wanted to convey to this man exactly the situation she was in, and the hopes she had for a future with him.
Jessie kept the note brief and nervously skimmed over the words she had formed:
Dear Mr. Matthews,
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jessie Stokes and I am a widow. I am with child, but that fact won’t get in the way of what I want to do. I have only just found out, so I won’t have the baby for some months yet.
I would love to come out west and meet you, and perhaps have the honor of becoming your bride.
[2016] A Wanting Bride Page 26
