His mind was a mess. He couldn’t get the picture of Jessie in the field, surrounded by flowers, off his mind. She had looked so perfect, and so pretty, it was like an angel had come down out of heaven and had been sitting there right next to him.
Those big brown eyes she had, framed in by those thick brown locks of hair. She was captivating, and she was his bride. He wanted to treat her well. He wanted to make her happy, but he didn’t know why he couldn’t get her off of his mind. It was getting harder and harder to concentrate on the work he had to do.
Every move he made, he saw her. He could see her in the flowers that were along the path to the house, and in the sunrise he watched every morning as he did the chores. He thought about her as he milked the cow, and when he actually got to see her, his heart pounded inside his chest so strong he wondered if she could hear it, too.
With each passing day he wanted to be with her more and more, and that feeling terrified him. He had promised himself he wasn’t going to feel this way about anyone, but the more he saw her, the harder it was to not feel anything.
She is having a baby that I am not the father of. How could you feel this strongly about her? She came out here to marry you out of sheer need. If she had been in a different situation, you never would have had a chance with her.
Toby yawned and rubbed his eyes. He rolled over, his back to the fire. With thoughts of Jessie still running through his mind, he desperately tried to fall asleep. Whether he got any rest or not, the morning was coming, and he was going to have to do the chores no matter how tired he was.
He didn’t know when sleep finally claimed him, all he knew was it only felt like a few minutes before the rooster was crowing outside.
Chapter 8 – A New Start
Fall leaves crowned the tree line at the edge of the field now. Jessie walked slowly, a basked in one hand, the other hand wrapping her shawl around her shoulders. The air was getting chillier, and she rarely left the house without her shawl or a coat.
This morning, Jessie wanted to take a stroll in the field she had gone to with Toby a couple months before. There was a peacefulness there that she couldn’t find anywhere else. Toby was busy most of the time now, doing something out in the barn.
He spent almost all of this free time out there, working with the wood he had left over from the extra room he had built on to the house. It had taken him nearly a month to complete it, but was finally done. As soon as that project had been finished, he spent every spare minute he had in the barn.
Jessie missed Toby. She had grown used to the business like nature of their marriage, and was enjoying the companionship she found with Toby around. She still felt that twinge of emptiness in her heart every now and then, but for the most part she was happy.
After all, her baby was to be born in just over a month, and she would have her hands full. Every now and then she wanted to go out to the barn and talk to Toby while he worked, but he told her she wouldn’t want to be in that dirty old barn, breathing in the dust in the condition she was in, so she spent her days alone in the house.
In her free time, Jessie spent hours knitting things for the baby. She had made a scarf for Toby for the turning weather, but she hadn’t seen him wear it. Now she worked diligently on a baby blanket for her little one. It was a bright blue, like the sky had been the first day she had arrived in California.
Suddenly, she heard a shout, and turned. Toby was calling for her, and hurried to catch up to her.
“There you are Missy! I have been looking all over for you… come here, I want to show you something.” Toby reached for her hand, and Jessie looked at him in surprise.
She reluctantly agreed and hurried as best she could beside his lively steps. There was something different about him, something she couldn’t put her finger on, but something that made her heart pound.
Was it the way he looked at her? Normally, he would speak looking away from her, or just give her a glance when he finished. Now, he looked at her full on, gazing into her eyes. She felt vulnerable when he did that, but excited at the same time.
The hurried to the barn, and Toby suddenly turned to face her.
“Now, I want you to go in front of me, and I am going to cover your eyes. Don’t worry, there’s nothing in the way for you to trip on, just walk in a few steps, and stop when I say.”
“Toby?” She asked, but he shushed her and walked behind her, covering her eyes from behind.
They walked into the barn, and Toby stopped.
“Are you ready?” He asked, and she nodded.
“Look!”
He lifted his hands off of her eyes, and Jessie blinked, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of the barn. There, right in front of her, stood the most beautiful cradle she had ever seen. It was carved out of mahogany, and stained with a chestnut stain.
“Oh Toby!” She cried.
“Do you like it?” He asked, concerned, then continued. “I wanted to make you something special for your little one, Jess.
Listen to me. This is hard for me to say, mostly because I don’t understand it myself, but I love you Jessie. I really do. When I was young, and I saw the pain my father felt when my mother passed away, I promised myself I wouldn’t fall in love.
I wanted to save myself that pain, until I met you. You changed everything for me, Jessie. You are so beautiful and so kind and so charming. I just couldn’t help it. I fell in love.”
Jessie felt her throat get tight as he spoke. She had never dreamed this is what he was doing out here in the barn, and the fact that he told her how much he loved her made her feel like she was on top of the world. All she had wanted when she came out here was to find love, and now she had.
“Toby I-“ She began, but he interrupted her.
“Don’t anything. I don’t want to hear you say anything. All I want is the truth. I know I haven’t been the kind of husband you deserve, and I know I wasn’t the man you thought I was when you moved out here, but I have to know… Do you love me?”
He looked anxiously into her eyes, and waited.
A smile slowly spread across Jessie’s face, and she had tears in her eyes as she nodded.
“Yes, I do love you Toby. I do!”
Jessie threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, and he gently lifted her up off the floor. She felt complete at last. Her child was going to be born into a home filled with love. A home that was happy. A home that was ready for a baby.
Toby paced back and forth in the living room. Jessie had gone into labor earlier that day, and now the doctor was in the room with her, and all he could do was wait for the news. He wished there was more he could do to help; this waiting was driving him crazy.
He could hear Jessie making noise in the other room, and he prayed she would be ok. He couldn’t shake the fear of losing her out of his mind no matter how hard he tried, and he wouldn’t feel better until he knew she was ok.
After what felt like hours, the doctor finally appeared in the door. Toby turned quickly, though he stayed in the middle of the room.
“You should be very proud, Mr. Mathews,” the doctor said as he wiped his hands on a towel.
“You have a new son. Mother and child are both just fine, would you like to see them?”
Toby hurried into the room to find Jessie holding a small bundle in her arms. She looked up and smiled as he came into the room, and he kissed her. He reached out and took the little baby in his arms, and kissed his son on the forehead.
Jessie smiled at the sight, and laid back on the pillow. She had never been so happy in her whole life, and she knew no matter what happened next, she was going to be ok. She had her son, she had Toby, and she had love. Everything in life was absolutely perfect.
She wouldn’t change a thing.
THE END.
Lover’s Escape
Mail Order Bride
CHRISTIAN MICHAEL
Chapter 1 – That’s Life
June sat on the bench, nervously fidgeting with her ticket in
her hands. Her train was set to arrive in 45 minutes, but she was told not to be late, so she arrived early. To her surprise, there wasn’t very many people waiting, so she got right through the ticket station and now awaited her train’s arrival.
“If you worry that ticket much more, you won’t have much of it left by the time your train arrives.”
She jumped, startled by the voice of a young man. Looking around on the platform, she noticed a young gentleman with a round bowler’s cap on his head, leaning against a post. He apologized for startling her, and she smiled.
“I’m a little antsy, I’m afraid.”
“What’s the matter? Don’t like trains?”
He casually crossed the platform and sat down on the bench next to her. June was struck by the sharp richness his blue eyes held, and how his neatly trimmed black beard emphasized the beauty within them. She found his gaze mesmerizing, but also felt embarrassed so she looked down at the ticket in her hands.
“No, it’s not the train that bothers me. I like trains. You see, I am being sent away by my parents on a journey, and I desperately want to make them proud, but I’m not sure I want to take this trip.”
“Oh?”
The inquisition in his tone made June want to spill out the entire story, but there was something about his fine features that made her unable to find her voice. She decided to change the subject.
“How rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself. I am Jane Cartwright, who might you be?”
She held out her small, gloved hand, which he took in his.
“Jacob Jones. You can thank my parents for their creativity.”
He raised her hand to his lips and she felt her heart flutter. There was something about this man that was simply enchanting. She wondered why she had never seen him in these parts before, and asked him about it.
“I am also traveling by my parents will,” he said in reply. “They have picked out a wealthy young bride for me, and I am to go out to California to marry her. Once the wedding is over, I will bring her back to my home in Georgia.”
June didn’t know why, but at that moment she felt in her chest a tight wrench of jealousy. She had never before met this man, and she knew nothing about him, but she would have given anything in the world to be that woman he was heading to marry.
“Do you love her?”
She asked the question without thinking, and Jacob raised his eyebrows in surprise. Immediately, June realized she had overstepped her bounds, and apologized.
“It’s quite all right, the question just took me by surprise is all. Marriage isn’t about love, June, at least not when you have the kind of money our families have. You see, we have to keep the money in the family, and keep the fortune going. To ensure this happens, you must marry someone who also has money.”
Jacob explained it all so casually, June wondered if he ever gave it much thought beyond what his duty was.
“I understand that, I am in the very same situation.”
Again, Jacob looked at her in surprise. He looked over her outfit as well, making June question if the green velvet dress she was wearing made her look poor. Nevertheless, composure was the name of the game when it came to the world, as her mother always told her. So she maintained perfect composure.
“May I ask you why you are the one going to him, and not the other way around?”
June was struck by the forwardness of the question, but decided there was no harm in answering. After all, he did have a point, and it was a sensible question. Traditionally speaking, her groom to be should be the one coming out to fetch her, but yet here she was, making the journey all on her own.
“He wanted to, but he was otherwise engaged. We are told his mother suffers from fits at his absence, and he can’t be away from her for more than a day at a time. As I was supposed to move to his home anyway, it only made more sense for me to go to him.”
“I see.”
Jacob spoke slowly, with the same tone in his voice that made June question the validity of the story herself. She was torn between wanting to defend herself, and wanting to tell Jacob how she really felt. She didn’t want to go out west to marry this man, it was entirely arranged for her by her parents. Certainly Jacob would understand that, he was in the same situation.
The only difference is, he really doesn’t seem to care. Unless he just doesn’t know how to say it. I should ask him, but what would he think of me? Then again, who cares… it’s not like I am ever going to see him again anyway.
“I know it’s silly, I don’t even want to go into this marriage to begin with.”
June spoke in a very matter-of-fact manner, and though she didn’t look up at Jacob, she could feel him looking at her. There was a pause between them, then he softly agreed.
“I must admit she isn’t the one I would have chosen for myself. But, I must keep everyone happy.”
At that moment, a train came bustling to a stop in front of them, and Jacob rose.
“That’s my train. I wish you all the happiness in the world, Miss Cartwright.”
He tipped his hat to her, and she opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment, a gust of wind picked up, pulling her ticket out of her hand. She quickly rose and chased it down, and upon turning around again, Jacob Jones was gone.
Chapter 2 – Train Track Thoughts
The gentle sound of the tracks rushing beneath the train was enough to make June want to fall asleep. Even though the first part of her wait had seemed to take an eternity, it felt like a blur after Jacob had gone. She didn’t know how long they had talked on the platform, but it felt he had scarcely gone before her train arrived.
June felt as though she were watching herself give her ticket to the conductor, and even now as the train rushed through the countryside she didn’t feel like she was even there. Her mind was on Jacob. On his beautiful blue eyes, and his thick, black beard.
She thought of how she had felt in their brief interaction, and how the gentle kiss he had given her hand had sent chills running through her spine and made her heart pound. June wondered why she had never felt this way before, about anyone.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like any of the men she courted, or that she needed to know a man for a long time before she saw a relationship with him, but nobody else made her feel like Jacob had. In their brief exchange, June felt a connection like nothing she had ever felt before.
She didn’t know what it meant, and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Of course it really doesn’t matter now. You are on a train going as quickly as it can, taking you further and further away from him. Soon you will be in the Dakotas, and you will meet the man you are going to marry.
June pulled the picture of her groom-to-be out of her pocketbook, and studied it.
“Toby Higgens. Mrs. Toby Higgens. Mrs. June Higgens, mistress of the estate.”
June spoke out loud, trying out the sound of her husband’s name, and the name and title that were soon to be hers. She sighed as she traced the edge of Toby’s coat in the photograph. There was nothing warm about Toby.
In the brief letters they had exchanged it had been more businesslike than it had been about their marriage. She didn’t feel as though she were going to marry a man that cared for her, but someone that cared for her money and needed her to supply that for him.
Toby didn’t smile in the picture, and even though it was just a piece of paper, she felt a cold chill run through her spine as she looked back into his expressionless eyes. She tried to imagine herself in the photo next to him, perhaps with his hand on her shoulder.
Part of her wondered if she would have that same look in her eyes. A cold, almost uncaring look. She wondered if she would have smiled at the photographer, or if she would have also held that expressionless face, as though having a picture taken of herself was so inconvenient she couldn’t manage to smile for the occasion.
June leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes, wishing she had a photo of the man on the platform. If there
was a way to capture that brilliant blue that gleamed through his eyes, she would never look at another photograph again. There was something about that man, something that was more caring and more charming than anyone else she had ever met.
What did he say his last name was again? It was something common, I remember that, because he pointed out his parents had named him something common in addition to his common name. But what was it? Smith? Baker? Ugh!
Names flooded through her mind, but nothing jumped out at her as the right one. She kicked herself for not paying closer attention to what he had said.
Not that it would make any difference now. He is on his way to marry, and you are on your way to marry, it would be highly unnatural to correspond, especially since he and I have only just met.
But he was like an angel sent right out of heaven. Oh why could I not be on my way to marry him? Or better yet, why didn’t he come to marry me?
She looked once more at the picture in her hands, and sighed. She shook her head as her heart once again filled with jealousy over the girl that was to marry Jacob, but this time the jealousy was mixed with a resentment toward her parents. She wondered why they had never asked her who she wanted to marry.
Of course she couldn’t have told them Jacob, but she certainly wouldn’t have chosen Mr. Higgens, either. She had never been attracted to him, even before she had that interaction with Jacob on the platform. In fact, since the day her mother had told her of the plan, she had been dreading it. She felt as though all of her hopes and dreams in life were torn up and tossed out into the wind, and she was left standing in the remains.
Stop this nonsense right now! You know this is all just wishes and wonders. You are set to marry Higgens and he is set to marry that other girl he spoke of, and there is nothing you can do about it.
[2016] Widowed and Pregnant Page 42
