by Etta Foster
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by Etta Foster
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Table of Contents
Copyright
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Table of Contents
A Christmas Miracle for the Hopeless Rancher
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
The Extended Epilogue
Book 11-A Preview
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
A Mail Order Bride for his Montana Heart –A Preview
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
About Etta Foster
A Thank You to My Reader & Starfall Publications
Also by Etta Foster
A Christmas Miracle for the Hopeless Rancher
Chapter 1
She closed her eyes to listen carefully. Pressed with her back against the wall, Louise quieted her breathing and tried to concentrate.
Time was running out.
Her parents’ bedroom door was still closed down the hall. It was early in the morning, so no one was out of bed just yet, except for herself.
And the newspaper boys.
Her heart skipped a beat as she heard the thud of paper hitting the front door.
She was opening it a second later to pull the newspaper inside.
A thrill ran up her spine, making her hands shake as she knelt on the floor after closing the front door and unfolded the newspaper.
Her eyes pored over the fresh ink, inhaling the sweet scent. Louise desperately grabbed at the opportunity to read the news. It wouldn’t last long.
Any minute her family would be waking up.
The newspaper had arrived three minutes later than expected. That meant less than three minutes for her to have with the newspaper to read it. She glanced up and down the hall just to make sure she was still alone.
No one else was up yet.
Louise beamed down at the paper and began to scan the articles.
She didn’t have time to read everything, of course, so she had to see what might interest her. It was hard to choose a particular article, however, with so much happening out in the world.
There were horse races. And strikes about horse races. Then there was politics and garden parties and wedding announcements.
Her eyes scanned the pages hungrily, soaking it all in. The world was so big outside her house and she wanted to know everything. She studied the recent events, considered the ads, and was about to move on when one caught her eye.
An ad for a mail order bride.
It wasn’t something she was very familiar with.
Before she could start diving into the details, however, she heard a sneeze.
Not just any type of sneeze, either. It was her father. The man had the loudest sneeze on the east coast. Though the family couldn’t prove it, the neighbors agreed.
No matter who had the loudest sneeze, the sound meant that her father was awake and on his feet.
Her heart jumped in her throat. There wasn’t enough time to read through the rest of the page. Fumbling with the paper, an idea came to mind. She didn’t have time to second-guess as she pulled the page completely free from the newspaper.
A handle fumbled with the doorknob from down the hall.
Louise held her breath as she hurriedly folded the paper back up as though it had never been touched. It was a little wrinkled from her handling of it, but it couldn’t be helped.
She scrunched her nose and stood up, tucking the page she had stolen quietly under her skirts.
“Louise?”
She hiccupped as she looked up. Her father was rubbing his shoulder as he eyed her blearily. Taking a step back, she hoped he didn’t notice how close she stood by the newspaper.
“Morning, Father,” she managed.
No other words came to mind. She worried that if she opened her mouth again that she would confess to her actions. After all, she had never been a good liar.
His sleepy eyes roamed over her face and the door from down the hall. Her heartbeat began to slow down in the hopes that he hadn’t noticed anything. But then his gaze dropped down onto the newspaper and she held her breath.
It was just the newspaper. An innocent folded paper.
“What are you doing awake this early?” he asked with a frown.
“I was… j-just looking- I was- at the door, I thought I heard,” she stammered anxiously, rubbing her hands together. “Only just, you see, I, the door…”
He dropped his hands along with the sleepy haze across his brow. “You mean you were just waiting at the door to look at the newspaper? Again?” His voice grew harder with every word.
Louise blinked. “Oh, I don’t, I…”
Taking a step forward, he glared at her. “Louise! If I told you once, then I told you a hundred times.”
He continued walking toward her. Louise hurried back against the wall as he grabbed the paper by her feet.
Then he swung it in her face, making her flinch. “This isn’t for you! The news is not important to a woman. Girls shouldn’t concern themselves in the affairs of the world. It doesn’t matter, you understand?”
“But I’m in the world,” Louise mustered up the little strength she had as her voice quivered. “I can read, Father, I should know-”
His glare stopped her short. “I’m your father, and I know what’s best for you. As long as you’re under my roof, this isn’t for you! Now get back to your room, would you? You grab the newspaper one more time, and I’ll give you the tanning of your life.”
Louise hiccupped and swallowed. “Yes, F-father.”
When he didn’t move, she realized he was waiting for her to do something. She licked her lips anxiously, knowing there was still a piece of paper tucked haphazardly in her skirts. If she moved the wrong way, then it might fall out.
Sucking in a deep breath, she tried to stiffen her body and skirted around her father one step at a time.
She kept her eyes down, trying not to make him more upset. Carefully and quietly, she backed up into the kitchen and around the corner to her bedro
om.
Almost free, she told herself, she was almost free. She just needed to get alone and set the paper down.
“What are you doing?”
Louise jumped, whirling around to see her younger sister sitting up in her bed. Lorelei’s soft brown hair was up and down and all over her face, both curly and straight. It was a mess and only one of the girl’s eyes was cracked open.
“Sorry,” Louise offered a sheepish smile. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep. It’s still early.”
The girl didn’t need another invitation. She fell back into her pillows and tugged the blanket over her head.
Louise stood there at the door, one hand still on the doorknob, as she waited for the familiar sound of her sister’s soft snore to escape the blankets.
After another deep breath, she heard it.
Silence. She was alone.
It took Louise another minute to find the courage to move again. Her father was a good man, though he had old ideas she didn’t believe in. But it was his home and his family.
She had to obey him. Somewhat.
But he wasn’t in her room now.
She took another deep breath and then scampered over to her bed. Only once she was under the covers did Louise dare tug at her skirts and find the paper she’d hidden away. It was a little wrinkled, and a corner was ripped, but it was still readable.
A smile slipped onto her face and she couldn’t help it. Words were her favorite treat. She would steal away as much of them as she could. After all, her father would want nothing to do with the ads.
Louise wasn’t certain she wanted them, either. She scanned the words hungrily before turning back down to the section that had caught her attention earlier.
“Bride, bride, bride…”
She hiccupped when she found the section. Louise clamped a hand over her mouth as she looked it over. Wiggling deeper under the covers, she wrinkled her nose and concentrated on the words.
There was a man. A man looking for a wife to join him on his ranch in Oklahoma. Out west where there weren’t many people or much to do. But a wide-open land to build a life in.
His wife didn’t need a lot of talents or skills being there, beyond the basics. The main thing was that he wanted an educated wife in the hopes of having something in common.
She didn’t know why, but Louise couldn’t stop staring at the ad.
Her heart pounded in her chest. It felt like music in her ears in a way that she couldn’t dream of putting into words. Like the words were dancing off the pages to a tune only she understood.
It distracted her all morning, even when Lorelei woke up for good and their mother beckoned them to prepare their morning meal. The paper was left beneath her pillow as she cooked, ate, cleaned, and swept the house. All throughout her morning chores, Louise considered the ad and what she could do with it.
By nightfall, the anticipation was too much.
The idea of escaping into a new world sounded too good to be true. But there was a burning sensation in her heart that told her she had to try.
Louise found a paper scrap folded in the family Bible, unused, and a pencil on her father’s desk. It took her all day to find time alone. After supper she finally made it back to her bed, curled up under her blankets, and breathlessly pulled out her paper and pencil.
“’To Richard Hanson,’” she scribbled out slowly.
“’Your ad for a bride caught my eye. I hope you don’t mind my forwardness in writing to you. While I have never been on a ranch or to Oklahoma, my life in Boston has taught me many skills including cooking, cleaning, hosting, and reading.
“’I would like to consider myself educated, but that is an ability I am not certain I could ever mark complete. There is always something new to learn.’”
There was a knock at the door, and she froze. “Yes?”
Another soft knock. “Louise?” Her mother’s voice drifted into the room. “What are you doing in there? Are you all right? We were going to take our evening stroll.”
It was a good thing she had pulled the covers up over her head. Louise inhaled deeply with her eyes closed. And then she opened her eyes.
“I’m just- I’m only… I’m- no, I- I don’t feel well.” Her mouth turned dry as she tried to lie. “I think I’ll stay in bed for the night.”
The door creaked open. “A mother never likes to hear that, dear. What’s wrong? Is it your stomach?”
“Uh huh,” Louise clasped her mouth shut so a hiccup couldn’t escape her. She swallowed hard and stared at the pencil. “My, um, stomach. That’s all. I’ll, you know, g-get to sleep now.”
She held her breath anxiously, hoping her mother would believe her.
There was rustling by the door. Louise made a face, hearing footsteps crawl closer to her bed. Her body stiffened when a familiar hand touched her ankle.
“I know your father can be harsh,” her mother whispered softly. “But he means well. Remember that, dear. Remember there is always a tomorrow.”
Louise didn’t move until she heard the swish of her mother’s skirts sweep through the doorway and a door closed. She gasped as she tugged the blanket off from over her head and looked behind her to confirm that she was alone in her room.
Her mother had known it was a lie, she realized, but not why she had said the lie. Glancing at the paper, Louise inhaled deeply as she turned back to the door. She could feel her heart thudding loudly in her chest.
An inkling of guilt settled into her shoulders. She had lied to her mother. And for what?
She turned back to the letter she was writing, a letter to a stranger who she had never met in a faraway land. It was an odd idea and if she ever told her parents, she knew they wouldn’t approve.
A knot formed in her stomach. For a minute, Louise was prepared to set the paper aside. She could go out and join her family for their Thursday evening walk down the street. Forget this ever happened. Burn the paper letter and the ad, put the pencil back, and pretend things were normal.
Louise glanced down at the paper, brushing her fingers through her hair.
“Who is to say this Richard will even respond?” she sighed.
But she still held the pencil in her fingers.
She stared at it for a minute before she decided to take it as a sign. She had to finish this letter. It had to be sent. And even if that didn’t end up going anywhere, then at least she could say she had tried.
Something was telling her to get this done. She could feel it inside her heart.
“Let’s finish this, Mr. Hanson,” Louise smiled to herself and went back to writing the letter.
Chapter 2
There was nothing quite like the fresh air on the plains of Oklahoma.
It was tender with fragrant earth, the scent of cattle on the wind. While they didn’t make for the sweetest smell, Richard knew, they made for a rich one.
In more ways than one.
He fixed his hat’s brim as he looked down into the open valley. There was something about seeing all that land ahead of him that filled his heart to the brim.
It was a world on its own.
While he understood that he owned the property, that his family owned it, there was something wild to the land that no one could put a bridle on.
It was wild and untamed.
Richard didn’t want to make it his own. There was no such thing. He knew that. He just wanted to live in it, thrive beside it. The wilderness called to him and he wanted to listen.
His eyes skirted the valley, watching the change in colors. The green was dying out as the harvest had arrived in full swing.
In the far-off distance, there were mountain tops covered in snow. The winds were growing colder every day. October had arrived and though he loved the turn of the year, there was something that sat uncomfortably on his shoulders.
Another set of holidays were around the corner.
It would just be him and Jacob, his brother, again. Their parents had passed away a few years ag
o, and they didn’t have any other family.
For a while, that hadn’t bothered him.
Years had passed and they’d worked well together. They had farm hands for a couple months every year when the going got tough. But they’d just sold most of their herd to Nebraska, so they had a light load for the winter.
That meant less work on his hands. Fewer distractions.
Richard could feel himself growing antsy again. It kept bothering him.
Shaking his head, he took a step back towards the path. And another. Then another. He turned back to the house with too many thoughts in his head.