Nadine Trades Her Partner

by Linda Hubalek

  Nadine Trades her Partner

  Mismatched Mail-order Bride Series, Book 7

  Copyright © 2019 by Linda K. Hubalek

  Published by Butterfield Books Inc.

  Printed Book ISBN—9781096007197

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2019905232

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and buy your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Except for the history of Kansas mentioned in the book, the names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A sweet historical romance set in 1892.

  Will Nadine trade one proposal for another?

  Nadine Paulson, whose family owns the Clear Creek hotel, wants more responsibility than keeping the hotel spotless, but her father hires a man to take over the job she wanted.

  Wesley Preston moved to Clear Creek with his five friends because of a plan concocted by the older church women in town (informally known as the Peashooter Society). Each man is promised a job, housing, and a wife.

  Wesley won the hotel job with a flip of a coin and enjoys working and living in the hotel. He’s in love with Nadine Paulson, but she’s not sure Wesley is her true love when a rival comes to town.

  Nadine’s little sisters decide they want Wesley as their brother-in-law and take it upon themselves to woo their sister on Wesley’s behalf.

  Will the sisters cause problems? Yes. Will their interference work? Maybe ...

  Prologue

  Fall 1892

  Clear Creek, Kansas

  “I call the Paulson sisters’ meeting to order,” ten-year-old Phoebe said as she tapped a pencil on the teacher’s desk. “Please start the roll call.”

  Avalee glanced at her sisters, sitting on the front bench of the school with her. At least they weren’t trying to squeeze into the little kids’ desks.

  “Iva Mae Paulson Shepard, sister number one, present.”

  “Thank you. Sister number two, Maridell Paulson Dolecek, is excused because she lives in Wilson. Next.”

  “Avalee Paulson Miller, sister number three, present.”

  “Luella Paulson Shepard, sister number four, present.” Although she rolled her eyes and looked impatient.

  Avalee was trying to keep a straight face, but it was hard to do. Her little sisters called a formal meeting after school after begging their sister, Luella, their teacher, to hold the meeting here.

  “Nadine Paulson, sister number five is not present, because this meeting is about her. Next.”

  “You know who’s next,” Daphne sighed.

  “Daphne Paulson, sister number six and grouchy ,” Phoebe said as she wrote her sister’s name on her tablet.

  “We should be home doing chores instead of interfering in Nadine’s love life,” Daphne retorted.

  Or lack of it since she was too scared to acknowledge she liked Wesley Preston and wanted him to court her.

  “Cecilia Paulson, sister number seven, is present,” Cecilia volunteered.

  “And Phoebe Paulson, sister number eight, is present and conducting this meeting.”

  “And why again are we interfering in Nadine’s life?” Daphne asked with a sigh.

  “Because the perfect man for Nadine to marry is already working and living in the hotel.”

  “I’m glad I’m going to college in a few years and will be out of your matchmaking reaches,” Daphne snipped back at Phoebe.

  “Girls, stop it,” Iva Mae ordered. “I agree with our younger sisters that, although the Peashooter Society set up six arranged marriages, so to speak, Wesley is Nadine’s perfect match anyway.”

  “I agree, even being one of the women targeted to become a ‘Peashooter’ bride. There is a shortage of single, decent men in the area, and I was beginning to think I was destined to be an old maid,” Avalee added.

  “Luckily, I didn’t have that problem since Tate and I have been lifelong friends before we married,” Luella added.

  “Yeah, you’ve been kissing for years before you married. Yuck ,” Phoebe shuddered as she spoke her disgust.

  “Just wait a few years, and you’ll be wanting to kiss a special boy in your class,” Luella smiled. “And I already know who he is since I teach both of you.”

  “Back to the reason for this meeting. How can we push Nadine and Wesley together?” Cecilia asked.

  “Well, you two can’t type ‘Roses are red, violets are blue’ notes on the old typewriter in the office like you did to Gordon and me. Nadine would catch on to that immediately,” Avalee pointed out.

  That typewriter had two bent keys, which made it easy to see it had been used and by neither of Avalee or Gordon.

  “And you better not pretend to be injured and scare the stuffing out of Wesley like you did Gordon either. That syrupy fake cherry blood never came out of his shirt either.”

  “We know since we had to buy him a new shirt with our own money,” Phoebe sighed.

  The girls pretended to get in a shoving match in Gordon’s mercantile, and Phoebe “fainted” with blood on her face. Gordon panicked, carrying Phoebe over to the doctor’s office. Doctor Pansy was out for a house call, so Avalee was the person who had to care for Phoebe.

  Before Avalee could finish wiping the “blood” off of Phoebe’s face, Cecilia yelled she’d found the key to the exam room, and Phoebe jumped off the exam table and ran out of the room. The girls locked the door from the outside, thinking they could make Avalee and Gordon talk and conclude they should marry. She and Gordon would have gotten to that point eventually but being stuck together—and the girls pushing an envelope with a diamond ring from Gordon’s mercantile selection under the door—made it happen sooner than later.

  “So, we need some new tricks to get them together. Everyone, please think of one idea, and I’ll write them down,” Phoebe told the group.

  The sisters looked at each other, trying to think of what to do.

  “What would the Peashooter Society do? They always have the ideas, good or bad,” Avalee asked.

  “They need some fun things to do together that aren’t work-related,” Luella said as she tapped her mouth with her finger.

  “It’s getting too cold for buggy rides and picnics, but we could manage one inside,” Cecilia smiled.

  “A ‘party for two’ taffy pull or make fudge. Or maybe Wesley can teach Nadine how to make an apple pie. She still can’t get her crusts flaky.”

  “I’ve written down an indoor picnic and candy making. What else?” Phoebe asked.

  “I’ll discreetly ask Kaitlyn Reagan to have her friends think of ways to get them together, too,” Iva Mae said.

  “They can’t let Nadine know that, or she’ll be mortified,” Luella added.

  “And she isn’t already with the Peashooters matching her up?” Avalee turned to Luella to ask.

  “True.”

  They sat in silence, trying to think of other ways to carefully push their sister and Wesley together.

  “Okay, let’s brainstorm and quickly say what comes to your mind. Go!” Avalee suggested.

  “Another thing that might work is to try to keep them apart. Or get them jealous. Anyone we could try to pair with Wesley for a date?”


  “Like Hilda Wilerson’s oldest daughter, Greta?”

  “She’s too wild to want to live in town. But we don’t want her to anyway.

  “Tina Hamner’s daughter, Emma? The family doesn’t live too far from town.”

  “I think one of the Brenner boys is courting her.”

  “Any widowed ladies under forty in town?”

  “No, fortunately .”

  “Anyone we know who could be visiting in the near future? Will Lorna Elison’s youngest daughter be home from school for the holidays?”

  “No, the Elisons are going to Boston for two weeks in December instead.”

  Their two married daughters lived in Boston, plus Lyle’s parents and brother’s family lived there too.

  “They can work together on decorating the hotel for Christmas. We make and hang kissing balls on nearly every open doorway.”

  “A Christmas wedding would be nice.”

  “Wait . What if they don’t want to marry each other?” Daphne asked her sisters.

  The sisters looked at each other and smiled, except for Daphne, who frowned.

  “Let’s test out a few ideas on Wesley and Nadine this next week to see how they act. And if they don’t start showing interest in each other, we’ll step back and will not interfere again,” Iva Mae said. “All in favor, raise your hands.”

  The four oldest sisters raised their hands immediately, but Cecilia and Phoebe didn’t.

  “All opposed, and why?” Iva Mae asked.

  The younger girls raised their hands next.

  “They need our help, or else Wesley won’t be our brother,” Phoebe whined.

  “Maybe someone else is destined to be Nadine’s husband,” Iva Mae patiently told her pouting sister.

  “Nope. The Peashooter Society picked Wesley out for Nadine, so it’s final,” Phoebe solemnly answered back.

  Well, the Peashooters didn’t match anyone else right, to begin with, but the couples rearranged themselves with who they liked, and it worked out. Except Wesley and Nadine were left as singles after the other five couples married.

  “Has anyone heard Mama and Papa talk about Nadine and Wesley courting or marrying?” Luella asked. “Maybe they don’t think it’s a good idea anyway. Papa might say no if Wesley asks for Nadine’s hand in marriage.”

  “Oh, they’ve talked in private and hope Wesley and Nadine marry. They just don’t want to interfere like Grandma Paulson did to them,” Daphne reported.

  Apparently, their parents’ conversation wasn’t “private” after all. But that’s what happens when you have a close family. Everyone cares for everyone else.

  “Phoebe, I think you better close the meeting since we all need to get home,” Iva Mae suggested.

  “All right. But can we meet again if we need to?”

  “Of course. We sisters will always help each other out. But please give Nadine and Wesley time to fall in love and make their own decision to marry.”

  “Okay. Meeting adjourned,” Phoebe said as she tapped her pencil on Luella’s desk again.

  Avalee watched her little sisters put their heads together as they walked to the cloakroom to get their coats. They were already whispering ideas to each other.

  “Remember when we were that age?” Iva Mae stopped to ask Avalee.

  “Yes. You were ten years old, the same age as Phoebe is now when we moved to Clear Creek. And I bet we plotted to get Mama and Ethan to marry back then too.”

  “Oh, yes, we did. I should ask Mama some of the stunts we pulled if she remembers. They might work on Nadine since she wasn’t born yet.”

  “Are you saying you’ll push Nadine and Wesley together too?” Avalee teased her oldest sister.

  “Paulson sisters number seven and eight aren’t the only ones who think Nadine and Wesley are a good match. Paulson sister number one has a few ideas of her own to ‘help’ the couple toward their married status.”

  “Iva Mae! I didn’t think you’d interfere,” Avalee teased her.

  “Being the oldest sister? Of course, I will.”

  Avalee chuckled as they walked toward the school entrance and put on their coats. It was going to be a fun fall helping Paulson sister number five fall in love and marry.

  Chapter 1

  “What’s ya doing, Wesley?” ten-year-old Phoebe Paulson asked him.

  Wesley Preston jumped slightly and smeared ink on the list he was writing, not realizing Phoebe and her twelve-year-old sister Cecilia were leaning on the desk on either side of him. The imps were notorious for sneaking up on him without his knowing it. Or maybe he wasn’t paying attention at the moment. Shouldn’t they be in bed by now, or at least up in their family’s apartment?

  Wesley worked at the Paulson Hotel and lived in a third-floor apartment. He enjoyed working with Ethan and Helen Paulson in all the duties he performed, be it as the night clerk, to filling in when they needed help in the dining room or events center.

  Right now, he was sitting at the front office desk, close to the check-in counter, to assist any guests who might arrive for the evening.

  And one of the main perks of the hotel, in his opinion, was the four daughters, Nadine, Daphne, Cecilia, and Phoebe, who lived and worked in the hotel alongside their parents. Four other daughters, Ida Mae, Maridell, Avalee, and Luella, had already married and moved out. Being raised as an only child on his adopted parents’ farm, he enjoyed the sisters’ comradery and conversations.

  “I’m making a list of the people I want to contact about my sister, Lucy,” Wesley added.

  “The one you lost when you were little?” Phoebe asked.

  “Yes,” Wesley said as he studied the list. It was a long shot to find Lucy, but he was determined to try.

  Wesley was seven years old when he and his sister were orphaned and taken to a New York City orphanage. He never saw her again once they entered the establishment.

  Wesley was put on an orphan train heading west, and almost twenty years later, he thought maybe his little sister was a figment of his imagination, until recently, when he found out information about her adoption.

  Wesley and five other boys rode the orphan train together, and all were adopted in the same Eastern Kansas community. In the group were three brothers, Barton, Gordon, and Squires Miller, and now lifelong friends, Peter Gehring, and Tobin Billings.

  They had been adopted by different families in the same neighborhood and stayed in contact as they grew up. When the youngest of the boys, Squires and Peter, reached eighteen, the group enlisted in the army, serving their five years together at Fort Riley.

  When they were mustered out and heading home on the train, it was robbed, and the passengers were booted off to walk back to town. By fluke, Barton found a letter than had blown off the train when the mail car safe was blasted open. And that letter changed their lives.

  A Mrs. Kaitlyn Reagan wrote to the Kansas City Star newspaper wanting to place an advertisement for six young men to move to the town of Clear Creek, Kansas. Instead of handing the letter over to the postal department, Wesley and his friends traveled to Clear Creek to respond to the advertisement in person.

  The draw of the advertisement, besides the jobs available, was that each man would receive his own housing and a wife.

  However, the older church women who thought up this idea, and were informally called the Peashooter Society, hadn’t let the women they’d pegged as the future brides know about their scheme, but so far it had worked out well.

  Barton Miller took over the blacksmith shop, which had comfortable living quarters in the back of the building and had married Amelia Shepard. Her family owned Shepard and Sons Saddlery, and Amelia still worked in the family business.

  Gordon Miller bought the mercantile store from a retiring couple and lived upstairs with his new wife, Avalee Paulson. Avalee worked at the mercantile and also part-time as Doctor Pansy Reagan’s assistant.

  Squires Miller worked with Mack Reagan as a carpenter and married Maisie Brenner, who owned the dress sh
op in town. The couple lived in the shop’s upstairs apartment.

  Tobin Billings bought the Boyle Livery and the former owner’s house. Tobin’s home was now full because not only did Lucas Boyle continue to live in the house, Tobin married Molly Brenner, and they adopted twin boys, four cats, and two dogs.

  Peter Gehring was now the town barber. He married the oldest Brenner sister, Maggie, and they adopted three young orphans when their Children’s Aid Society agent was involved in a train accident near Clear Creek.

  Hence the list he was working on now. It turned out Ann Beasley, the former agent who decided to stay in town, kept a journal of all the orphans she’d placed over the years. By a very happy coincidence, Ann had placed Wesley and his friends in one of her first years as an agent. The date was March 12, 1873. She didn’t have much information on each child, but it was enough to know his original name was Miles Wesley, Jr., son of Miles and Lucinda Wesley.

  And the best news was that his sister, Lucy, was later adopted on November 11, 1873, in the Kansas City area. But the bad news was, Lucy’s entry has been smeared by something over the years, and it didn’t say who she was adopted by.

  So, here he sat in the Paulson Hotel office waiting for customers, making a list of the parents who had also adopted children that same day, hoping that one of the thirty-four couples would remember who adopted three-year-old Lucy Wesley.

  “What are you going to do with the list?” Cecilia asked.

  “I’m going to write a letter to each family to see if they know who adopted my sister because Miss Beasley’s records don’t show any names.”

  The girls moved around the desk so they could look at the old journal. Wesley moved his finger to show his sister’s name and information to them.

  “Huh. It looks like it got wet and the names disappeared,” Cecilia said as she nodded her head.

  “Maybe it was Miss Beasley’s tears that erased it,” Phoebe added.

  Wesley remembered one day he’d shed tears. Wesley lived with his parents and little sister in the worst part of town, known for its filth and crime. Wesley, returning home from school, found his parents murdered for what little cash they had, and his little sister hiding under the bed. A policeman took the two children to the orphanage, but Wesley was separated from his sister. Wesley lost his whole family that day.