by Sondra Grey
Remember you've nothing to risk boy, don’t be in a hurry to go.
- Don't Leave the Farm Boys by Miss Clara F. Berry
Love on the Range
A Western Mail Order Romance
Chapter One
G eorge no….!” Mrs. Rutherford cried, as her husband pushed at the tray in his rage. Elizabeth had just prepared the tray with medicines and the gruel she had blended for the old woman’s arthritis. The little cups smashed to the ground making a mess of hot and cool liquids mixed with broken china.
Elizabeth had been sitting on the corner of the bed next to her patient. She rose quickly and stood aside looking in terror at the man’s mangy behavior.
“I told you, Ava, that she was not to give you treatment! I told you!” George Rutherford boomed shaking his finger at his wife. “The only doctor that can treat you is young Martin Westerfield.”
“But George, her father has treated me for years. She knows my history.”
“She is not her father.” George sputtered with rage, and his wife cowered. The famous Doctor Price had treated Mrs. Rutherford with patience for years. He had been a well-respected and famous doctor amongst the elite of Cleveland. The profession had afforded him respect and a steady income to provide himself and his daughter with a comfortable if not extravagant life, until his sudden death three months back.
The good doctor had been treating an epidemic that had erupted among the workers living in the shantytown, experimenting on them, some new medicine he had developed but could not yet practice on his privileged patients. While he had been able to contain the disease within weeks and save hundreds of lives, he had caught the infection himself and had succumbed to it.
Elizabeth’s mother had died when she was just six months old. The old doctor had brought up his daughter alone and in the absence of a wife, given her what he had thought best, an education. It seemed now to Elizabeth that that education had not been enough.
George Rutherford advanced towards Elizabeth, and before she could slip out of harm’s way, he held her by her upper arm and hurled her across the room.
Elizabeth fell across the massive chest of drawers and hit her head hard against the polished brass. The room swam in front of her. Old Mrs. Rutherford’s voice seemed to be coming from far, through a haze, as she pleaded with her husband.
“Oh, George. I won’t call her again. Please don’t harm her.”
“If I catch her here again, she won’t leave here alive!” Saying that, he stomped out of the room fuming.
Mrs. Rutherford got up from the bed, struggling and grappling and went to help the girl. Besides, her husband’s behavior had given her quite the shock. George had always respected late Dr. Price.
“I don’t understand what has got into him.” She muttered as she stumbled around in pain.
“But I do.” Elenore Rutherford walked in and went straight to Elizabeth. The two girls were of same age and best friends since childhood.
“Go back to your bed mama.” She said dismissing her mother a little harshly. Elizabeth had been knocked out for a full minute, but now she was coming to.
“Lizzie get up. Oh, Lizzie, you’re bleeding!” She said helping her friend to the nearby couch. She got one of her mother’s clean white handkerchiefs from the wardrobe, tore it in two, and started wiping Elizabeth’s wound.
“You know why your father is behaving like that Elenore?” her mother asked referring to her earlier remark.
“Elenore!” Elizabeth said in a warning tone squeezing her friend’s hand while she ministered to her wound on the side of her forehead with her other.
“He has been threatening Lizzie,” Elenore said with disgust, and her mother who had gone back to her bed made a squeaking noise.
“Hush Elenore,” Elizabeth said, a little more forcefully this time.
“Lizzie, we have to tell mama. She must know,” Elenore said urgently as she finished tying the second piece of the handkerchief over Lizzie’s forehead. Then she turned to her mother, her hands on her hips and hissed.
“He has been letching after her. He has hinted for her to become his mistress several times since Dr. Price died. Last week he threatened her that if she does not come to his bed, he will disgrace her among the society by spreading gossip about her. I was hiding behind the curtain and listening to him”
“Oh dear…” the old woman wailed. “I am so sorry Lizzie. How could he?”
Elizabeth was at once sorry for the frail old woman and angry at how helpless she was in front of her husband.
“Elenore, you must not tell anyone. He will be disgraced.” Elizabeth said for the sake of the older woman.
“Oh, he deserves to be exposed,” Elenore spat out furiously pacing her mother’s room like a caged tiger. “Beside every respectable household in Cleveland knows he is a lecherous cad.” She continued, and her entire body shook with fury.
“Dear Elenore.” Lizzie went to her hurriedly and enfolded the distressed young girl into her arms as Elenore wiped quickly at her tears of humiliation.
“Lizzie…Lizzie…look here, you have to go away. My father is an evil man. If he does not get you, he will act upon his threat.” Elenore said urgently taking both Lizzie’s hands into hers and pulling her down on the couch where the two girls sat facing each other.
“Away? But where will I go, Elle?” Elizabeth asked with incredulity. Suddenly, Elenore’s demeanor changed. She hurriedly rubbed at her tears then went to the door of the room calling out into the corridor.
“Lydia…Lydia…come quickly…mother has fainted.”
Elizabeth and Mrs. Rutherford both gasped. The old lady even tried to sit up hurriedly.”
“Elle, what are you doing?”
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s a code Lydia and I decided upon yesterday. If I say that mother has fainted my father will avoid coming here for the next few hours and we can talk in peace. He must have heard me or one of the servants who heard will go and tell him. He tries to stay away when Mother is ill. He thinks she makes a fuss to get his attention.”
Old Mrs. Rutherford sobbed into her handkerchief softly. Elenore flew to her mother’s side.
“Mother dear, I know you don’t do it on purpose. Sorry for using you so cruelly but we must help Lizzie after all Dr. Price has done for us.” The woman nodded.
“Dr. Price was a godsend. He was so kind and understanding. His medicine always helped me. Young Westerfield knows nothing about my malady.” She sobbed.
“Don’t worry Mrs. Rutherford. I will explain everything to Martin. He will do exactly as I say.”
At that moment, Lydia walked into the room looking over her shoulder as she entered. Then she closed the door tightly. Coming into the room, she pulled out a newspaper from under the skirt of her white apron and handed it to Elenore.
“Now I will tell you my plan.” Said Elenore leafing through the pages of the journal.
“You have to be careful about disclosing your plan, Elenore.” Her mother warned. Understanding her meaning, Elenore looked up at Lydia and.
“Lydia will not betray me, mother. She knows only too well what Lizzie is suffering.”
“What do you mean?”
“Father tried to grab at Lydia a couple of times. And though he did not do her any real harm it was extremely improper.” Mrs. Rutherford looked at Lydia with shock.
“Dear Lord!”
“I did nothing to get his attention, Mrs. Rutherford, I swear on my dead ma and pa’s graves.”
“I know Lydia.” The old woman said dazed looking up at Lydia as if she was seeing her for the first time. The girl was spooked by her mistress’ reaction and quickly bobbed a curtsy and left the room.
“Here Lizzie, read this.” Elenore pushed the paper at Lizzie, folded several times over. Elizabeth took it uncertainly and started reading. At first, she thought she must be looking at the wrong article. But Elenore had circled it with a pencil. She looked up at Elenore with incredulity.
“A mail or
der bride? Have you lost your marbles?” she asked in a low raspy tone.
“A mail order bride? Why would you want Lizzie to become a mail order bride? It’s not safe, and she will go so far from us.”
Elenore turned to her mother.
“She needs to be far from us mother. We are not right for her anymore.” Then she turned to Lizzie.
“He sounds like an honorable man Lizzie, he will protect you.”
“Elle, he is a rancher in Wyoming.”
“And he has a big ranch and lots of men to take care of. He will be happy to have someone skilled in medical practices.”
“He has advertised for a wife, not a doctor.”
“And it’s better to be the wife of a hardworking man than prey of an evil one,” Elenore said, and Elizabeth realized for the first time that her options were indeed limited.
Chapter Two
T he heavy iron pan flew across the kitchen and zoomed past Nicholas. He ducked in time to evade it then side stepped as another heavy skillet came hurtling his way.
“Have you gone mad woman!” he screamed as his mother sent yet another saucepan flying through the air. This one was greasy and though it did not hit him, the grease sprayed all over him.
“Mail order bride indeed! What happened to all the girls in Jacksonville?”
“I don’t like any girl in Jacksonville.” He said sulkily, picking up the pots and pans she had thrown his way and which lay scattered on the kitchen floor.
“Then make an effort. They are sweet girls. Many have tried their best to…and I am ashamed to say this…woo you…coz that is what you are supposed to do, like a man. They know you…” she threw another pot, sure in the knowledge that he would duck it. But instead, he caught it right out of the air.
His gaze was steady and his voice level when he said in a low, sure tone.
“No Ma, that is absolutely not true. None of them know me…nobody knows me” he put the last pot on the table carefully and started to walk out. Molly knew when to stop and change tactics. After all, she had born and raised him.
“Do you realize that you are putting yourself and those around you at a risk when you bring a stranger into the house?”
Nicholas was about to cross the door. He stopped and turned halfway, not looking at her he said.
“That is exactly what I need Ma, a stranger, a stranger whom I have ordered via mail, who will have duties and will not presume to know me.
“Nic, not all girls are Jessica.” She said pleading with him. Nicholas hissed at the mention of that name. Even now after five years, the wound was raw, and it hurt.
“Ma, Pa’s will says that if I do not marry before my thirtieth birthday, the ranch will go to the association. I love this farm. I have worked it night and day since I was seventeen. I will pay any price to keep it, even marriage. But I will do it on my terms. If the old man can manipulate me from the grave, I can defy him in death as well. A marriage he wants and a marriage he will get. But that is as far as I am ready to go. I do not want wooing and romance and any of that nonsense.”
“Nic, I wish you to be happy.”
“I am happy.”
“I didn’t see you dancing at the Christmas ball last month.” She jeered coming over to his side
“I had hurt my ankle, and it seems everybody in town except you saw the bandage on it.” Nic raised his voice, something he rarely did with his mother.
“I am growing old. I want grandchildren.” she pleaded
“And I don’t think God meant for you to have any.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“Stay out of my business.” He said as he exited the door. He heard heavy metal crash into something and guessed it must be one of the last remaining pans on the cooktop getting thrown. He was at least happy he had built the kitchen strong.
As he stepped out he came face to face with Franco, Juan Alvarez’s lackey walking up the path. Juan owned the neighboring ranch and was one of the big ranchers in the region like Nicholas. He was also Nic’s sworn enemy.
“What are you doing lurking around my house? “he said as two of his young wranglers came running to the spot.
“Saw him coming in from the west boss” Jim, a young boy of nineteen said out of breath.
“We had him in our sights but he evaded us.” put in Larry Jim’s younger brother. He was seventeen, the age Nic had started working the ranch. So, he had a special place in his heart for the lad.
Franco snickered. The man was scrawny, short, thin, and had a bad leg. One of his hands was also damaged due to a fall from horseback at a young age, and though he made limited use of it, it usually hung at his side as if it was always in a sling.
“The boss man sent me to get the mare that sauntered into your land yesterday and which you seem to have kept.”
“You have quite the spunk to come into our territory scavenging for that mare, cripple.” Larry took a step towards Franco
The boy would have roughed him up some, but Nicholas stepped forward. He deliberately looked the man over from head to toe then back from his toe up. Then his voice full of quiet threat he said.
“That mare is mine. I bought her with my good money. She was stolen from me before I could brand her. I have already rectified that mistake. Now she is in my stable where she belongs. Tell your boss not to take what is not his next time.” Saying that Nicholas started walking away circumventing the little man.
The man hobbled a little behind Nicholas then shouted so as to be sure that Nicholas who had walked to the end of the path heard him.
“The boss says if you don’t give her nicely he will have to take her. And that won’t be nice at all.”
Nicholas stopped in his tracks, then turned back and walked back to the little man.
“No, it won’t be nice, I will make sure of that.” Saying that he strode off.
Chapter Three
E lizabeth looked up skeptically from the book she was reading as there was a knock at the door. The book was an account of an English doctor and clergyman, Henry Bennet who had traveled the West extensively. It was a parting gift from her good friend and her late father’s assistant, Dr. Martin Westerfield.
Elizabeth thought it was Martin come to take her to the station, and she went to the door readily. But as she pulled back the hard-paneled door she was taken aback. Her first instinct was to call one of the servants, but then she remembered she had dismissed them all about a week back. She straightened her back and decided to face the situation by herself.
“Lord Maclash,” she said tartly.
The old man smiled, and Elizabeth was disgusted to see his toothless grin. His cheeks were hollowed, his chin protruded and the skin of his face loose with age wobbled.
“It is good to see you, Elizabeth. May I come in?” he said, in that sugary tone he used only with her, and she felt her skin crawl.
“As a matter of fact, I was about to walk down to the church for my bible study meeting.”
“What I have to say won’t take long.” He said, and the creepy tone made her wince. Once inside the old man lowered himself in a chair leaning heavily on his cane then looked around, his breaths coming out in wheezes.
“I hope you are comfortable here my dear.” He said once again smiling up at her expectantly. Elizabeth knew it was his way of reminding her that she was staying in his house on his charity.
I am leaving it today, you old cad, she wanted to shout, but instead, she said
“I am immensely grateful you have let me stay here even after father died.”
“I don’t see any servants around,” he asked looking around puzzled
“I had to let them go. I couldn’t afford them anymore.” She said
The old man made a quick move and grabbed her hand. Elizabeth tried to step aside, but he was too quick. Holding her hand into both of his he said
“You will be able to afford all you care to have Beth. I will give you everything a young girl like you will ever need. Yo
u will have all good things just like your friend Miss Rutherford.
It infuriated Elizabeth that he should presume that she was somehow jealous of Elenore. The man was sick.
“You have been very kind sir. I would not dream of inconveniencing you any further.”
“Inconvenience? I am talking about having you in my life Beth. Marry me, and I will make you the happiest of women. The only thing I desire is your warmth in my life.”
At least he said life this time. The first time he had proposed, a week after her father’s death, he had said bed. And if Elizabeth had not already been disgusted by the countless times he had proposed marriage to her since then, she actually would have laughed at the old dog’s pathetic attempt at humor.
“You give me too much credit sir. I won’t make you a good wife at all.”
“O sweet Beth, you have enchanted me. Wherever I look, I see only you.” And saying that he slipped from his chair and went down on one knee.
Now Elizabeth had to laugh inwardly. This was something the old Boor was attempting for the first time.
Saw her everywhere he looked, indeed! Elizabeth had a keen mind to advise him to cut down on the heavy dose of opium he was in the habit of taking, to bring down the hallucinations, but she bit her tongue.
As he struggled to get back up into his chair, shaking and wobbling with the effort of the exercise, Elizabeth wondered when he would be moving to the next step of his patterned ritual, threatening. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Elizabeth…remember, the lease on this house will be up by the end of the week. If you do not agree to be my bride by then, I will have you thrown out.”
“I am thankful indeed that you have allowed me to stay here up until now sir.” She said meekly while inside she was seething and eager to kick the old bat out.
The man smiled a sly smile then nodding his head he walked towards the door.
“I will see you soon Elizabeth.” He said and left. Elizabeth had barely gotten back to her book when there was another knock at the door.
