Romance: Mail Order Bride The Ideal Bride Clean Christian Western Historical Romance (Western Mail Order Bride Short Shorties Series)

by Alice White

  “Do not tempt me,” Sam hissed. “You don’t know your place around here. I’ll show you where you can go.” Flailing her arms as she raced towards Sam’s back, an elbow hit her between the eyes. Angelica stumbled back in a daze and felt the hard ground and a few soft blades of grass catching in her hair when the click of a trigger silenced the scene.

  “That will be quite enough of that.” She looked up to see Miss Parsons gliding towards the men with a shotgun drawn and at the ready. The woman barely regarded Angelica as she pressed the rifle to Sam’s head and ordered him to drop his weapon.

  “Or by all that’s high and holy, I will see that you pay the price for trespassing and then some.” Sam grunted as he struggled back to his feet, and Angelica stayed still until he was hovering just over her head.

  “I can still come back,” he said. “One night when this thing isn’t around. Don’t you ever forget that.” She could hardly think straight and nearly resigned herself to the thought even in the moment of reprieve.

  “Then you’ll have to answer for kidnapping my wife,” William said. “Are you so dumb as to take that risk?”

  His wife? Angelica’s mind strained to process the words. She must be dreaming or hearing something that a man like him could never mean. Let Sam leave so she could seek to understand.

  “You’d marry her?” Sam laughed. “Don’t you know what she is? What’s that gonna do for your practice or whatever you’re trying to make happen?” William said nothing as he helped her to her feet and cradled the back of her head with his hand. Rumpled and bloodied, he still looked sweet, and Angelica started to slip into his shoulder as Miss Parsons gave the monster his marching orders.

  “I’ll see you out, sir,” she scoffed. “You will keep your distance if you know what’s good for you.” She urged Sam into the shadows, and the when the air grew still again, Angelica felt William’s warm hands on her cheeks.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  “Are you?” she echoed.

  “Nothing that I haven’t had to put up with before,” he said. “But having a friend helps. You can have that feeling, too, Angelica.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “That was a fine play.” His brow furrowed, and he said nothing as he eased her back into the house. The fire had all but died down, but he still sat her before the hearth and took her hands.

  “I meant it,” he said. “Say the word and I’ll protect you.”

  “Stop now,” she said. “It’s very sweet of you to say, but he’s gone now.”

  “And if he comes back?” William asked.

  “I can be long gone,” she promised. “You have my word on that.”

  “Where will you go, Angelica?” he asked. “I don’t have to tell you what’s out there in the world.”

  “No you don’t,” she sighed. “But the last thing that I want is to be a problem for you.”

  “Angelica.” He said nothing but her name as his skillful fingers examined the back of her head. William applied gentle pressure, and she curved into his touch like a stray cat in search of warmth when his lips were at her hair and his whisper slipped into her ear.

  “Give me this chance,” he said. “I can help you. Work by my side as a nurse if it makes you feel better.”

  “I wouldn’t know the first thing about that,” she said.

  “You can learn, Angelica. But don’t run off into the night where I can’t reach you.” She glanced up in the fading firelight to see the faint stream of blood resting at the corner of his mouth. Lifting one finger to wipe the red away, Angelica sighed at the feel of his kiss on her hand, and he held her palm as he waited for her answer with wide blue eyes.

  “Are you really asking me to marry you?” she asked. He nodded as he seemed to wait with baited breath for her answer. This was madness, and she asked for some time to think. His face turned sad, but he still gathered her in his arms. The fortress of his embrace nearly quelled her disbelief.

  “Maybe,” she said. “It’s my choice, right?”

  “Nothing happens here against your will,” he promised. “Now you should rest.” They were silent as he guided her back to the bed, and she expected him to leave her with the question dancing across her brain when he settled back in the chair and took her hand again.

  “Unless you want me to leave,” he said. “It’s been a long day.”

  “A longer night,” she said. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

  “So I should leave?” he asked.

  Could she actually be the wife of a man like this? He had seen the worst of her past and been hurt on account of his kindness. But he wasn’t scared.

  And in that moment neither was she.

  “No,” Angelica said. “Stay.”

  Chapter Six

  “Angelica? Can you come in here, please.”

  Miss Parsons never asked; she told. It had been two months since Doctor Mason’s question. He did not push for an answer. It seemed enough that she stayed and never made mention of running again. Now she dressed in simple black dresses and kept her blonde locks tied over her head. Miller smiled when he came around with supplies, and when one of the many men that she had been forced to lay with appeared on account of one injury or another, Miss Parsons held them at bay with the sternest of looks.

  And William worked. He threaded needles and bound broken skin. When he could not work his magic, he prayed over the bodies and worked to acquire proper burials. Sometimes she wondered if he was just out to save the world by degrees. That would make her a different type of notch on his singular bed post. But he shared meals with her. Tucked her in each night and returned to her room when the blackness got the better of her soul. Some nights she couldn’t stand the sight of his body upright in the chair and turned the sheets aside. He looked like a little boy as he lay at her side, but his arms were never anything but strong as he held her so she could find sleep.

  Maybe she would marry him and see where the day took them.

  “Angelica!”

  Stunned from her reverie at the sound of Miss Parsons’ voice, she followed the sound into one of the exam rooms and saw a young girl nursing a bruised wrist as she waited for aid.

  “This young lady was out riding,” she said. “Maybe she should learn to wear the proper gloves so this sort of thing does not happen again.”

  “I’ll thank you to send the doctor my way,” the girl ordered. “And my gloves are custom made.”

  “I’d talk to your tailor,” Miss Parsons said. “Obviously something is amiss.”

  Angelica shared a smile with the woman that had saved her life. Feeling close to her without expecting the sensation, Angelica took the lead and began to ice the bruise when the girl snorted and released a low laugh.

  “So the rumors are true,” she said. “The good doctor has taken on a common whore.”

  Dropping the ice as she barely suppressed a gasp, Angelica felt her worst fears confirmed as Miss Parsons swiftly turned around.

  “Is that how you speak to someone who’s here to help you,” she challenged. Once again it was not a question, but the girl grew bold and hardly looked hurt as she continued.

  “Everyone is talking about it,” she smirked. “From what I hear the men battle in the bars just so they can get a chance to look at her again.”

  “That’s enough,” Miss Parsons said even as she failed to raise her voice. Taking hold of the girl by her uninjured arm, she marched he out and told her to try her luck with a stiff drink to dull the pain.

  “This is highly unprofessional,” the girl said. “Can Doctor Mason really afford another smear on his reputation?”

  “He is beyond reproach,” Miss Parsons said, and Angelica wanted to concur when the girl’s shrill voice cut into her thoughts.

  “As long as he doesn’t actually marry her. That would be the final nail.”

  Miss Parsons slammed the door shut as soon as the girl was gone and looked back to Angelica with a shrug of her shoulders.

  �
��Do not pay her any mind,” she started. “You’re doing just fine here. And whatever else you used to be simply does not matter.”

  “Yes it does,” Angelica stated sadly. “I didn’t want to believe it. But I don’t belong.”

  She started back to her bedroom when Miss Parsons blocked her path, her features softening as they betrayed her steely soul.

  “Angelica, let it alone,” she said. “The doctor is smitten with you. And people like that have no idea what they’re talking about.”

  “Expect when it’s true!” Angelica cried. “I can’t keep lying to myself. Or to him.”

  Forget the bedroom. She would go back the way she came and look for Sam. Or someone like him. More men than she cared to imagine would line up for a chance to see what she had learned during her time away from the bars, and she tore her hair loose until it started to spill over her shoulders.

  “Angelica, stop!”

  She broke into a run and gave no thought of ever looking back. It would be easy. A man had loved her before and flung her into the unknown. At least now it was her choice. Maybe she could take comfort in that and get in on the joke. And then one day, Angelica would see the doctor walking past the doors of some saloon. She would beckon him forward for old time’s sake. And William would leave her to her own devices and pretend that he had never known her name or asked for her hand. Which is how it should have been from the start.

  Chapter Seven

  “For a quarter?”

  She had hardly made it back into town when Warwick was there waiting, reeking of booze and offering her nothing in the way of gold. A whole quarter. At least she’d be able to keep the profits for herself, and she reluctantly took his hand as he dragged her behind a battered barn and laughed at her dress.

  “Sam said you had gone the missionary route,” he chuckled. “Care to give that a try with me?” Angelica went numb as the man lowered her to the ground and started to unbuckle his trousers. It wouldn’t hurt; she had done this a million or more times.

  Why should this moment be any different?

  “Let’s see what you’ve learned,” he teased. “Can’t wait to find out.” He started to pull up her skirts when Angelica’s eyes caught on the clouds hanging overhead. Out in the majesty of the open air, she couldn’t help but feel an unseen force looking down at her.

  Because you are my help,

  I sing in the shadow of your wings.

  I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

  Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.

  They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.

  But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

  “Wait,” she muttered. “I changed my mind.”

  “You don’t get a say!” Warwick said as he belched into her face. “Gonna pick up right where we left off.”

  His fingers were at the corset that still felt like a second strange skin, and when he was on his knees and pulling at his shirt, Angelica kicked him hard and tried to crawl away.

  “We’ll just see about that!” she screamed. Warwick caught her wrists and pinned them over her head as he licked her face. She gagged and wished that she could vomit in his eyes when a hard foot kicked the man away.

  “Get away from her!.”

  William was right there with fists ready to fight as his nostrils flared.

  “She came out here looking for it,” he said. “Like a dog going after its own sick. You should thank me for taking you off your hands.” Looking at William, her heart filled with shame. Warwick’s words were hardly untrue, but she shook her head as she held out her hand.

  “I did that,” Angelica confessed. “I’m sorry, William.”

  “Not another word.” He picked her up off the ground and held her close to his chest as Warwick pocketed the quarter.

  “She’s barely worth a penny,” he said. “And she don’t look so good any more. Keep her. Last thing I want is your other skirt chasing after me with a shotgun.” There was no sign of Miss Parsons as he scurried away, and Angelica wanted to get back to the house when William cupped her chin in his hands.

  “”Why?” he asked. “How?”

  “I don’t understand the questions,” she confessed.

  “Why would you run?” he asked. “You were safe. And then I hear that one unkind word turned you away from me. How could you leave me?”

  “Miss Parsons has a big mouth,” she muttered.

  “I thank God for it,” he said. “And that I made my way to you in time.”

  “Yes.” She couldn’t form another word or another thought as she wept against his chest. “It didn’t feel right. With you. But I can’t go back to that other life either. William, where do I belong?”

  He kissed her hands and held them close to his heart.

  “Here,” he said. “Because I love you.” The words slid off his tongue with such ease , and Angelica inched closer to him and lowered her ears to his lips.

  “Say that again,” she said. The silence trumped the roar of thunder passing over the clouds, and she cuddled close to him as a few drops of rain started to fall from the sky. Paying them no mind, she let the falling water wash over her hair, and even as rain fell harder, she smiled and finally peered into his eyes.

  “I said that I love you, Angelica. Always.”

  The men who toiled in the hills just beyond Caldwell never wanted a kiss.But William pleaded with his gaze, and Angelica basked in his sweet taste as his lips melted around hers. His kiss shattered her heart, but it broke open like the rain from the clouds. She felt clean as the flood bubbled under her skin, and his hold grew tighter when she finally broke away.

  “Your spectacles,” she said. Easing the dripping lenses away from his face, he sighed as he caressed her hair and kissed the tip of her nose.

  “I still see you clearly,” he swore.

  “And what am I?” she asked.

  “Someone good,” he said. “I don’t care about the past. Let people talk. Just be with me now. And let me fall asleep with the sound of your voice.”

  Angelica felt as if she should cry, but no tears came. A warm buzz started to form at the pit of her soul, and it climbed up her throat until her lips, still drenched in his kiss and the rain washing away sins that were never really hers, expanded into a bright smile.

  “My answer is yes, William,” she said. “Wherever you are. I belong there, too.”

  The doctor hummed his delight as he twirled her around in the rain. The water washed over her, and he stopped short when he felt the dress clinging to her body.

  “We should get back,” he said. “Don’t want you catching cold.”

  “Not as long as you keep me warm.” William’s arms stayed around her shoulders, and he bowed his head every few steps to kiss her cheek when they were finally back before the house.

  “Did you really say yes?” he asked. “I’ve waited so long to hear that.”

  “Can I tell you something else?” Angelica asked. He nodded and as the rain grew weaker she nuzzled his neck. “I love you, too.” They kissed again, and as Miss Parsons called for them to get back, Angelica grabbed his hand.

  “And if you want to call me Angel. I won’t mind it. If it means I’m yours.”

  “My Angel,” he said. “And my wife.” She liked the sounds of both as the sun peeked through the clouds and they held one another close.

  THE END

  Return to TOC

  An Unexpected Union

  Return to TOC

  Chapter One

  “Alice! Please, come now. Won’t you just try and stand still? Just try?”

  “Leave her be, she’s just excited. I’m sure any one of us would be too, if we were in her shoes.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Gretta Green muttered through the pins sticking out of her set mouth. “As for me, I’d rather keep my current status than take that hor
ror on.”

  “Hush! Why say such things with her right there? Are you trying to hurt her?”

  “Of course not,” Gretta huffed, “she’s my dearest friend. Besides, if I wanted to hurt her I would just stick her with one of these pins. That would be sure to do the trick.”

  Gretta’s last little quip caused all five girls in the large mahogany-laden room to laugh, albeit uncomfortably. Gretta did not bother looking at her friends, just stuck to the task of taking up the much too long dress she had been working on for what she was sure was far too long. Then again, she would have felt like any length of time spent working on the dress for a wedding she did not think should be happening would be too much. Talia, Gretta’s cousin, gave her a look that could have killed a more easily shaken woman and then smiled sweetly at Alice. Alice herself smiled as well, trying very hard not to let her friend’s comments cut her to the quick. She wasn’t surprised by them, after all. She appreciated Talia’s valiant efforts to be kind and happy for her, but she was also well aware of the fact that none of her friends approved of her impending nuptials. They handled their disappointment in different ways, each matching their very different personalities, but disappointment was something they all held in common. She wanted to make them see that there was nothing for them to worry about but she had no idea how to do a thing like that. If it were only Talia then maybe, but there was nothing she could possibly say to convince Gretta that Travis Baumgartner, her fiancé, was anything but bad news. Alice knew that. She knew that Gretta’s use of her not small seamstress’ skills in no way represented a tacit admission that her feelings about Travis had been misguided. Even so, Alice couldn’t help trying. Standing on her little platform in order to keep her from stepping on her dress, looking once at the antique full length mirror that stood like a silent guardian behind Gretta bent over her work, Alice smiled down at her friend.

  “Gretta, can’t you give me a smile?”

  “I am smiling. Can’t you tell?”

  “Please, Gretta, a real smile. It’s not what you think it is, really it’s not.”