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

by Alice White

  “Yes, Mrs. Walden, and learn to walk. We must teach him that someday too. And we will!”

  “Yes dear, we will. But first the milk, yes? We’ve got to help him to grow if he’s going to conquer the world.”

  Sacha laughed again and nodded a thanks to Mrs. Walden as she bustled away towards the kitchen to fetch the baby his supper. Charlie blinked up at her and then offered a wide smile, which only made Sacha laugh delightedly all over again. She picked him up in both hands, surprised as she was every time by the hefty weight of his squirming little body, and held him up in the air. It was their little game. She would bounce him and he would laugh and then so would she. It was a simple game, and as far as Sacha was concerned it was the best thing in the whole world.

  “Well hello. It seems we have a new guest.”

  If such a thing was possible, Sacha’s heart both rose and fell at the same time. It was Thomas. He had come home, and what a thing for him to find upon his arrival! Not only was she still there after he had made it clear he didn’t want her there anymore, but now she had a baby with her as well! She was almost too afraid to look at him, but at the same time she knew that she had no other choice. Because it wasn’t just about her anymore, was it? She may not have expected it unmarried and she may never have considered it coming to her so quickly, but she had a son now and she needed to take care of him as well as her own heart.

  “Thomas,” she said uncertainly, happy to see that his eyes were warm and friendly but still unsure what his feeling for this new development might be, “you’re back! I’m glad. I mean that you’re safe. That you’ve come home. To your home, that is.”

  “To my home?”

  “Well, yes, isn’t that right? I’m sorry I haven’t gone yet. I was going to, I don’t want you to think that I’m disrespecting your wishes for your house, it’s just that this little darling appeared on the front stoop and kept everything stalled. I’ll make plans to go now that you’re back.”

  “Our home.”

  He spoke quietly and for a moment she wasn’t sure that she had heard him correctly. She couldn’t have. It would have been the only time he had ever spoken of the two of them as a unit that belonged together, and that couldn’t be true. He had said that it would be best if she went. She had to keep reminding herself of that so that her heart did not fill with hope that would not be fulfilled. She could not do that to herself again. But even as she tried to steel herself for the separation that was surely to come, Thomas was walking slowly towards her and the baby. She could still see that look of warmth on his face and it made her want to melt into the floor, to fling her arms around his neck and tell him that she loved him, she loved him and she would work as hard as she possibly could if only he would give her a chance. She didn’t dare, however, hardly dared to breath, completely sure that she was faking his tenderness to comfort her. This had to be the eye of the storm, the part where everything felt calm before it all fell apart. It had to be that, it had to be. She held her breath and told herself that it had to be that way.

  “Did you hear me, Sacha?”

  “I-I don’t know. I thought I heard something, but...but no. It couldn’t have been what I thought.”

  “I said that it’s our home. If you still want it to be.”

  “Is it?”

  And then Sacha Clarkson, soon to be Mrs. Monroe (although she wasn’t yet entirely certain about that), began to cry. She would think to herself later that her doing so surprised her more than it did Thomas and Charlie combined. Little Charlie, who only smiled at her tears and reached up to play with their glistening wonder. She could see Mrs. Walden start to come into the room with Charlie’s milk, stop at the sight of the three of them standing beside the fireplace, and then flitted back into the kitchen from whence she had come. Thomas closed the rest of the distance between him and Sacha and gently, so gently, took Charlie out of her arms. The two boys, one grown and one very far from it, gazed at each other for a moment or two and then baby Charlie began to laugh. He reached his hands up and tugged on Thomas’s beard, upon which Thomas Monroe began to laugh as well.

  “Sacha, I owe you an apology. I can’t ever apologize enough, I don’t imagine, but I promise you that I’ll try my best if you’ll let me. You see, I don’t want you to go. I never wanted you to go. From pretty much the minute you showed up here with that ridiculous wagon you had taken it upon yourself to buy, I knew you were the one I wanted. That’s why I did my best to keep away from you.”

  “Because you liked me?”

  “I know,” he shook his head as if he was every bit as flummoxed as she was, “it doesn’t make a lick of sense now that I say it out loud, but there it is, just the same. I looked at you and I knew that you were too precious for a place like this and I was afraid that if I got too close I would love you and you would leave. And wouldn’t you know it, I went and fell in love with you anyway. When I heard you and Mrs .Walden in the kitchen, I was sure that was when you would decide you wanted to go. That’s why I said what I did. Thought it would be easier if I told you to go, I guess.”

  “But you don’t want me to?”

  “To go? No! Not even close. What I want is to marry you, tomorrow, if not sooner. If you want to make a life with me here, I can’t think of anything I’d like more. Can’t think of anything I’ve ever wanted more, to tell you the truth. You and me and baby--”

  “Charlie” Sacha interjected happily, struggling now only with the feeling that all of this must be too good to be true.

  “You and me and baby Charlie, a little family. I think you’re just about the most fascinating woman I’ve ever known, and if I don’t bore you too much in return I think we might just be happy here. I think we might just be really happy.”

  “I think we might be, too,” Sacha whispered. The thing she felt inside was no longer disbelief. The thing she felt settling inside of her chest now felt a lot like peace.

  THE END

  Return to TOC

  A Nurses Faith

  Return to TOC

  Chapter 1

  War is a horrible thing. It rips families apart and ends lives. People don’t seem to understand the toll that it takes on the families of soldiers. The people who loved the dead lose just as much as the dead themselves. The living are not accepted into God’s kingdom. We don’t get to rest our weary heads. We are expected to trudge on, knowing that the ones we love are six feet underground, knowing that we will never get them back.

  It’s a difficult thing to accept and an even more difficult thing to live with. War is terrible, but it’s even worse when it’s brothers fighting brothers. The Civil War had torn apart little towns like mine all over the country. It seemed that the only people left untouched by the war were the settlers out West. The worst part of it was that we didn’t understand what we were fighting for. The rich plantation owners all had a stake in the war because they didn’t want to lose their slaves, but the everyday normal person was ready to give up everything in order to have their sons and husbands home.

  I didn’t lose my husband or my son because I was not married. My name is Sara Wright and I saw the worst atrocities of war. I left my small town in order to be a nurse on the front lines. I was present for amputations and I held boys no older than fourteen as they died in my arms. I removed bullets and I did my best to save as many as I could, but no matter how hard I worked and no matter how hard I tried, they always died. There was nothing I could do.

  I had always wanted to be a nurse. When I was a little girl I would watch my father work. He was a doctor and I always loved watching him help people. He birthed babies, he healed those who were hurt and he put smiles back on their faces. I wanted to be a part of that. I thought it was beautiful and I wanted desperately to do the things that he did. I wanted to make people happy and I wanted to make them smile. I wanted to heal the sick and be there for the dying.

  Women couldn’t be doctors. I always thought that rule was a bit arcane but I understood that things were the way
they were and that I should do what I could, and what I could do was be a nurse. At first, my parents didn’t like the idea. Being a nurse was not considered a respectable thing for a lady to do.

  Since my father was the town doctor, we were always rather wealthy and I was expected to do the things that wealthy women did. I was expected to sew and have babies, not be a nurse. The thought of a young, well off lady dirtying her hands with blood was horrifying to some people, including my mother. She would always take my hands and beg me not to pursue my education.

  I loved her dearly and the idea of going against her wishes hurt me, but I knew what I had to do. I left home and went north to study under some of the most revered nurses of my time. They were wonderful, loving women with hearts of gold and I wanted desperately to be like them. I watched them save hundreds of lives and I studied everything they could teach me and soon I was helping save lives just like them. I lived with nurses until I was eighteen and finally returned home.

  In the time that I was gone, my father passed away from consumption. It was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to come to terms with. I’d been incredibly close to my father, and the idea that I hadn’t been able to help him drove me mad. It made my chest ache in the worst way. I hated that I hadn’t been there to treat him in his time of need.

  My mother died shortly after the war began. All of the carnage was too much for her weak heart to take and so she expired and went to heaven. I was left alone with a medical practice I was not allowed to run and a house so big I couldn’t possibly begin to take care of it myself.

  I hired a few people to help me but soon all the men went to war and all the women left when their husbands didn’t return. The town’s population dwindled day by day and soon I was left alone with only a few other young women. We were scared and unsure as to what was going to happen next but we stayed as long as we could. With everyone gone, the town fell to ruin. There was no one left to tend the crops and no one left to care for the animals. When it became too much to stay we left.

  I don’t know where the others went, but I went to the war zones. I went to fulfill my duty as a nurse. I just didn’t count on so much death. I never thought I’d be faced with so many patients I couldn’t help. I never expected to hold children as they died night after night. The sights and sounds that I experienced in the throes of war were apocalyptic. As I looked around at all of the death and destruction, I was sure that this was the end of the world. What else could it be?

  When the war was over, we were told to go home. Everyone was. The soldiers, the generals, and the nurses. Anyone who’d played a role in this horrific war was sent back to their everyday lives as if nothing had happened. We were left to deal with the aftereffects of war on our own.

  It was not until after the war that I realized all the screaming and crying of dying patients had been drilled into my brain. I heard them when I closed my eyes at night and it made me realize one very important thing.

  You could never escape the horror of war.

  Chapter 2

  I went back to Tennessee. I went back to my home town, though there was nothing to go back to. Clayton was a ghost town. There were a few families left but they lived on the outskirts of town. Downtown was nearly empty. There was not a single business that was still up and running. Everyone had closed their stores and left the desolate town for greener pastures.

  Going back to my old house was torture. The windows were still boarded up and the door was covered in moss. The inside of the house had been left largely untouched; there weren’t really any people left around to loot and steal so my house was the same way I’d left it: empty.

  Walking through the halls was like coming face to face with a ghost. Everything was so damn familiar, but it was a shell of what it had been. I hated seeing all of my family’s things covered in dust and collecting grime. I wanted to make this place a home again, but I knew that would never happen. As I stared down the empty corridor, I knew that this would never be my home again.

  It broke my heart, but I said goodbye to the old farm. I hated to watch it disappear and disintegrate into nothing, but I just knew this was not a place for me anymore. I needed to accept that and move on.

  There was no one left in town to sell the house to so I ended up taking a few personal belongings that were worth anything and I brought them into town. My goal was to get out of Clayton on the next train. It was going to be hard to give him the family heirlooms, but I knew that if I stayed in Clayton I would wither away and die just like the town had.

  On my way to the market a piece of paper floated by and stuck to my leg. It felt like some kind of sign and when I picked it up and read the ad, I knew the Lord was trying to tell me something. In big, bold letters there was an advertisement for a mail order bride. I’d heard of the concept before and while it seemed a bit appalling to me at one point, it didn’t seem so bad any more.

  I started exchanging letters with the man who put out the ad and when I found out he was a doctor, I knew it was meant to be. This was going to be a way for me to make up for all of the men I couldn’t save. I was going to get out of Clayton and when I got out West, I was going to change the course of medicine. At least that’s what I thought.

  The good doctor sent back enough money so that I could get on the train and go West to Montana. The ride was horrendous, but I tried to keep myself focused on the goal. Once I was in Montana everything would be better. I would finally be able to use my skills and make people well again. All I wanted in the world was to be a good nurse.

  I understood that I was to be this man’s wife, but love was not at the forefront of my mind. I could be happy without love, but I needed job satisfaction. I needed to make up for all that I was not able to do in the war.

  I was on that hot, stuffy train for almost a week. When I finally reached my destination, I was so relieved to stumble off the packed train car. I’d been sitting shoulder to shoulder with tired looking women for so long and the smell and heat had become unbearable. I hadn’t laid down to sleep in nearly seven nights. I was ready to collapse.

  As I stumbled off the train, I wandered into a building with a tall ceiling and women walking around with glasses of water. A beautiful red haired woman with a sash slung over her shoulder smiled at me and offered me a tin mug full of spring water.

  I wanted to thank her but my mouth was too dry. I drained the cup and finally took a deep breath, offering her a shaky smile. “Thank you. I’m sorry.”

  “No, no. It’s quite alright. Many people come here with dry mouths and throats. The train ride is not an easy one,” she said with a solemn nod.

  “You are right about that.” I wiped my mouth and cleared my throat. “I’m not sure where I’m supposed to go.”

  She smiled and set her tray down so that she could address me better. Once her tray was settled on a nearby table I could read the sash. It simply said. ‘Ambassador to Female Visitors.’ I had to assume that was a nicer way of saying she was in charge of helping the mail order brides find their husbands and homes.

  “Who are you looking for?”

  “Dr. Ackerman.”

  Her face fell just a little and she cleared her throat. “Right…this way,” she said, leading me through the building.

  We stepped onto the dusty streets and I looked around almost cautiously. Where were we? This place seemed so strange and different. It was not green like Tennessee. The hot, dry air hit me like a wall and as we began walking through town I felt something wet drip down my upper lip. I reached up to wipe away the dampness and was shocked to see bright red blood on my fingertips.

  “Oh.”

  My guide turned around and gasped, rushing forward and holding a handkerchief to my nose. “Oh dear! Come along. We’ll get you to the doctor. He’ll be able to tell you what to do.”

  She rushed me through what looked like Main Street and into a building that was three stories tall. A little bell rang and a small child ran to greet us.

  “Hello! W
elcome to Dr. Ackerman’s office!”

  “Hello, Johnny,” the woman said, “could you please get Dr. Ackerman for us?”

  The little boy nodded and ran into the back, returning a few moments later with a tall, handsome dark haired gentleman. He was cleaning his hands and looked at me for a long moment. My heart stuttered and I swore it would beat out of my chest. Dr. Ackerman was not the elderly man I expected him to be. He was a young, vibrant gentleman with dark hair and eyes the color of honey. He was beautiful.

  “Another nose bleed?” he asked in a gruff voice.

  I just stood there for a long moment, watching him with wide eyes as he approached me and shooed the woman away. He gently tilted my head back and looked into my sapphire eyes.

  “What’s your name, Ma’am?”

  “Sara. Sara Wright.”

  He smiled just a little, though it looked forced and unpracticed. “So you’re my wife. Welcome to Billings, Sara.”

  Chapter 3

  Dr. Ackerman. James Ackerman. I knew who he was already, but it seemed he was finding out who I was for the first time. I watched him carefully, impressed by his tenderness. Most doctors I’d worked with weren’t kind. They wanted you in and out as quickly as possible. He inspected me closely.

  “Don’t worry. Nose bleeds are common. You must be from the south east.”

  “Tennessee,” I murmured. “How did you know?”