Alicia's Misfortune

by S. Silver

There was a long pause. Ivy waited as she watched her phone, waiting to know what to do next. It felt like an eternity until the phone buzzed in her hand:

  Meet me tomorrow at work and we will find out for sure. Don’t worry until then.

  It was easy enough for Luther to tell her not to worry. He had a job, a house and everything else he could need, Ivy thought. She still had another year of college to go and she was living at home with her parents. Oh God, she thought, her parents! How could she possibly hide something so huge from them? And when they found out and asked her who the father was…how could she tell them that it was the man they had warned her against at the Soda Fountain?

  Ivy tossed and turned all night and by the time day broke she texted Luther:

  Can’t wait, going to drugstore to buy a test. Meet me there?

  She waited for his response:

  Meet me at my place, you can take it here.

  Buying the test was as nerve wracking as the thought of taking it and finding out the result, but Ivy knew that she had no choice. She picked the drugstore furthest from her parent’s house and bought the test. She picked up a pack of three just in case she needed confirmation. By the time she got to Luther’s small townhome she could feel the nausea rising in her belly. She knocked on the door and as soon as he answered she fell in to his arms.

  “Oh my God, Luther, what am I going to do?” She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. Luther wrapped his strong arms around her.

  “You’re not going to do anything, honey. If WE are pregnant, then WE will do it together. We will be just fine.” Ivy felt the tears begin to slip from her eyes.

  “I’m so scared, Luther.” He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer.

  “Don’t be scared, we will be just fine, okay?” She nodded silently against his chest. “Okay, so let’s get this test taken, shall we?” He stepped back pulling her with him and closed the front door. “Come on, the bathroom is right through here and I’ll stand outside the whole time.” Ivy nodded quietly.

  A few minutes later Ivy emerged from the bathroom.

  “What does it say?” Luther asked anxiously. Ivy shrugged.

  “We won’t know for another few minutes, but I was making myself sick watching it.” Luther pulled her in to a hug.

  “Stop. Take a deep breath. There is nothing that we can do about the outcome of this test is there? So let’s wait a few more minutes together and then we will look at it.” Ivy nodded.

  “Will you look first?” Luther chuckled.

  “Sure.” He rubbed his hand on her back. “You know, if we are having a baby, you can move in here with me. We will do it together. You won’t be on your own.” Ivy nodded, a small smile touching her lips.

  “Thank you.” She whispered against his chest.

  Chapter 8

  Ivy struggled to get herself out of the recliner and finally with a loud exhale she managed to push herself off. She waddled across the living room.

  “Are you okay in there, honey?” Luther’s voice came from the kitchen over the sounds of plates being laid out.

  “Yeah, I just have to pee again!” Luther laughed.

  “I’m going to move the toilet to the living room, it’d be easier for both of us!” Ivy shook her head as she waddled past the kitchen towards the bathroom.

  “Don’t you dare. Besides, we only have a few weeks left until your son is born and I don’t want to have a toilet in the living room when all the people come over to see him.” Ivy disappeared in to the bathroom.

  “Do you think your parents will come to see him?” Luther shouted hopefully from the kitchen.

  “I hope so.” Ivy paused, “I’m pretty sure they will.” She shouted back from the bathroom.

  “They didn’t seem too happy when we were over there the other week.” Luther put the two dinner plates on trays and walked one through to the living room. He set it on the table beside the recliner for Ivy.

  “That,” Ivy came out of the bathroom, “is because they are stubborn, and overprotective.” Luther helped her sit back down in the recliner and when she was settled he put her tray on her lap.

  “I have told you before, it’s a parent’s job to be overprotective.” He reached down and rubbed the top of her belly bump. “Just you wait until our son is born, then you’ll see.” Ivy shook her head.

  “I will never be as overprotective as they are. Never!” Luther went back in to the kitchen to fetch his own tray.

  “We will see about that.” He came back in and sat down on the sofa. “I guarantee you that there will never be a girl good enough to date our boy.” Ivy laughed, she knew that it was true.

  “Well, that’s not being overprotective, that’s just being a parent.” Luther laughed.

  “Oh…okay.” He stuck his fork in his potatoes and looked back over to Ivy. “Well, the next time your folks call, why don’t you invite them over? Tell them we’d like to see them and they can help to decorate the nursery…” Ivy shoveled a forkful of mashed potatoes in to her mouth.

  “Sure, they won’t come though, you know they won’t. They’re still mad at you because you knocked up their daughter and they’re still mad at me because apparently I lay there and asked you to knock me up.” She rolled her eyes as she took a sip of ginger ale.

  When they’d found out about Ivy being pregnant, her parents had both sat in mortified silence for what felt like an eternity. When finally her mother spoke, she asked who the father was and Ivy had told them it was Luther. Her mom, having no idea who Luther was by name alone, asked if she had ever had the pleasure of meeting the “young man.” That was where things started to get a little complicated. When Ivy explained that yes, they had briefly met Luther at the Soda Fountain, her mom turned just about every shade of red in the book. She had been angrier than Ivy had ever seen her before, but she was angry at Luther for taking advantage of her ‘innocent’ daughter. Ivy had spent an hour trying to explain that she was a perfectly willing participant in the activities that had led up to the event, but this had only seemed to make things worse. Since then, Ivy had moved in with Luther permanently and her parents had made it a point to protest everything Luther related.

  “Maybe you should ask anyway? You never know, maybe they’ll surprise us?” Ivy nodded.

  “Sure. Maybe and maybe pigs will fly.” There was silence again for a few minutes as Luther picked at his food.

  “You know what? I think I might go over there tomorrow. Maybe see if there’s anything I can do to help them out around the house or something like that.” Ivy looked over at Luther with a smile. “What?!” She shook her head slowly, a small tear escaping her eye.

  “I love you Luther Gains.” He smirked.

  “I love you too.”

  The Shamed Montana Bride,

  A Mail Order Bride Western Romance

  By: Erin Walsh

  The Shamed Montana Bride,

  A Mail Order Bride Western Romance

  © Erin Walsh, 2015 – All rights reserved

  Published by Steamy Reads4U

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events are purely coincidental. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

  This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return it to the seller and purchase a copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Warning

  This book contains explicit content intended for readers 18+
years old.

  If you are under 18 years old, or are not comfortable with adult content, please close this book now.

  Prologue

  The bumps and grinds of the coach chafed her. She was bruised where no woman ought to be. Maybe it was because she was tense from harboring a secret that made the knocks and bumps of the coach land that much harder. She had carried the secret all the way out from Wichita. And she hoped and prayed it would never catch up with her.

  Cora was a mail order bride. Or rather her sister Hailey was. After her beautiful sister was widowed and lost her only child, she had answered an ad and began corresponding with a cowboy. He sent her a proposal, a ticket and some cash to travel on. Then she died. She got a crush wound from a horse. It was so sudden. It was so unfair.

  Cora went through everything her sister had and discovered the contract between her sister and the cowboy who lived near the wicked Dodge. It was the one confidence that she and her sister had not shared. Cora wept as she poured over the tender correspondence between them.

  She was broken hearted. There was nothing more for her in Wichita. Cora packed up her belongings, with ticket and cash in hand and brought her sister back to life. From the moment she boarded the coach, she was Hailey Blevins.

  Chapter One

  By the time the stage pulled into its station, Hailey knew she had opened sores or blisters in spots where her clothing rubbed every time the carriage rocked. She was never so glad for anything as to have the ride be over. She began it with a sense of fresh start and excitement if not a healthy dose of fear for what she was about to get into. But now, as the carriage stopped and they were in Dodge, she had a real sense that she just wanted it to be over with. To hurry on with getting married to her cowboy.

  She smoothed her hair out of reflex. There wasn't a whole lot that running her hands over the length of what used to be fresh, wheat colored curls was going to do to her appearance but it was worth the try. When that carriage door opened and she crawled out, he would be there. The man who would be her husband. Charles Anthony Halverson, a cowboy on the Dokes-Dalley Ranch.

  She swallowed, drawing up her road-dust parched throat and summoned her courage. She took the hand of the driver, and extended her foot forward. She ached. It hurt to move. To stretch. She could not remember how many miles ago that she had done so. She found footing on the sidewalk and remained with hand held with the driver until she was upright and able to stand. She looked around. If Charles Anthony Halverson was meeting her at the stage, he was late. She hoped he had not been killed by Indians. She heard of such things.

  She said, “Will you be so kind as to point him out to me?”

  The driver stepped into the saloon and scanned the room.

  “I don’t see him in there, directly,” he said.

  “Well I’ll just sit in here until he comes for me,” she said.

  “Ma’am that is no place for a lady,” said the driver.

  “If it’s good enough for my husband to be, it’s good enough for me,” said Hailey.

  Chapter Two

  Hailey pushed through the double doors and took a seat at an empty table. The bartender approached her.

  “Ma’am,” he nodded.

  “Sarsaparilla, please,” she ordered.

  “There’s a restaurant down the way,” he replied. “They also serve sarsaparilla. I think you would be much better off if you take your business there.”

  Hailey trembled. Her intended husband had not met her at the stage. He was not in the saloon where he was reputed to frequent and now she was being shooed off to a restaurant. She was beginning to think she had been jilted.

  “I think I will just go find a room at a hotel,” she said dejectedly. “If you would just point me in that direction, that will do.”

  She rose, clutched at the handle of her bag, when two dirty, drunken men cackled at her.

  “Move out of the way, Lem,” they said to the bartender. “She’s ours.”

  “Leave her alone. She’s a lady can’t you see? Wandered in here by mistake,” the bartender said.

  One of the two dirty men backhanded the bartender and he went down. Hailey trembled. Her body hurt from sitting in the stage and the exhaustion of the long ride was now slamming her. She thought she might vomit. It would serve the drunken fools right.

  As she swayed she was struck with an idea. She would catch them off guard and swing at them with her bag. It was the only plan she had. She was pretty sure the one ally she had in town was now out cold. The two filthy men salivated, snarling as they approached her like rabid dogs.

  Hailey stepped back, winding up. She cocked her arm, was ready to let fly when someone caught her wrist from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to an extraordinarily handsome man. He was massive and almost too pretty to be a man. But he was indeed a man. She could feel it. She looked up as he looked down. This was her intended. It had to be Charles Anthony Halverson.

  Hailey looked straight ahead, her wrist manacled in the large hand of her intended husband. The two filthy men were now stepping back, apologizing.

  “Hey Charlie,” they said. “We was just playin’ with her. She’s none the worse for wear.”

  “Beat it,” ordered the tall handsome man behind her. He still had hold of her. She liked the way he made her feel. Warm and strange.

  Hailey sensed a lecture was upon her. Everyone around her had scurried away. She now had her first private moment with the man she traveled all the way from Wichita to marry.

  “Were you advised not to come into this place?” he asked her.

  “I have no idea to whom I’m speaking,” she said wrenching her hand away from his grip. “You could at least introduce yourself.”

  “I don’t need to,” he asked. “You know who I am. Your safety is at issue.”

  “It always is, is it not?” she replied smartly. “And so it would have been a really good idea if the man who was going to marry me was at my stage the moment I got off.”

  “Are you saying you would not be in here if it were not for me?” he asked.

  “I am saying I am tired. I am hungry. I am sore. I want to go home,” she said.

  He was quiet. He leaned back and looked her up and down like he was weighing his options. A slight snarled tugged his upper lip. He leaned down and picked up her bag. He took hold of her elbow and guided her out to a buggy.

  Without asking or warning, his strong hands were at her waist. He lifted her into the passenger seat. He took his place next to her, snapping the reins to make the horses pull. There was a huge sense of relief that Hailey was safe and where she belonged. It was a whole lot better than the wandering feeling she had had before he showed up.

  She was also secretly pleased that her husband to be was a true sight for sore eyes. He was tall and handsome and his hair was the same color as hers. It fell in a soft wave across his head and tousled in soft curls that wrestled beneath his hat.

  Hailey spied out of the corner of eyes that his legs were long. He was long. He was a good bit taller than her. Warmth stirred in her stomach when she thought of that. But not enough to keep her belly from growling.

  She reached into her drawstring bag for some bread she had wrapped up in a kerchief but the kerchief was empty. It didn’t matter. She was sure she was too tired to eat. The buggy bumped and she teetered into his hard body. He was so warm and comfortable, she leaned against him and closed her eyes.

  Chapter Three

  Hailey awoke. He nudged her gently.

  “Wake up,” he said. “This will only take a minute.”

  She squinted. The daylight was going. The big hands lifted her again, and she was on the ground. He took her hand and together they entered a chapel where a minister as waiting for them. She knew. He was going to get the marrying over with as soon as possible.

  “Wait a minute,” she said.

  “We have not been introduced and you expect me to marry you?” she said.

  “I was thinking I would take
you to my home and it would not be decent for an unmarried woman to share the roof of an unmarried man. I would leave you here in Dodge but I don’t feel you would be safe. I am only thinking of you,” he said. “Charlie Halverson.

  “Charles,” she said.

  “Charlie,” he corrected. “And you are?”

  “Hailey Elise Blevins,” she replied.

  “You don’t say?” he arched his brow. “Well now, Miss Blevins. That will be the last time you’ll give that answer when someone asks you your name,” he said softly.

  He pulled a paper out of his shirt pocket and some silver and handed them to the minister. Hailey and Charlie signed a book of the preacher’s. He read a brief script. He and his wife witnessed their vows and that was that. She was now Mrs. Charles Anthony Halverson.

  “You may kiss the bride,” announced the preacher.

  Hailey wasn’t really paying attention to details until the preacher said those words. She came back to reality. Charlie took her face in his large, powerful hands. He looked her in the eyes with a dreamy, almost mournful look and slowly lowered his mouth to hers.

  His lips were so soft. And when he pressed them slowly, brushing them against hers, her nerves buzzed. Like a wildfire, she body was rushed with heat. She shivered with his touch and her breath hitched in her chest. Something told her he was just teasing her. Taking it easy on her. It was a good thing. She could probably not handle it if he came on to her any stronger.

  Chapter Four

  She was glad that she married but part of her was sad. She had hoped as a little girl that when she grew up to be married that the ceremony would be filled with her family and friends. A ten-minute ceremony on the fly was not what she had envisioned. And it was her one and only chance at getting married.