Contents
Title Page
Description
Copyright
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dear Reader
Also Available
About the Author
The Blacksmith’s Bride
By
Laura D. Bastian
Susan Hanson’s life is normal, but she wants more. Finding excitement in her novels, she eagerly joined a book club, but when a new woman joins the group, strange things start happening. This purple haired woman can actually grant wish fulfillment. Deciding to give it a try, she agrees to let Dr. Lachele work her magic and Susan discovers herself on her same street in New York, but more than one hundred years in the past.
Michael Clark has always wanted someone to call his own. His parents, then his uncle die, leaving him without a place to call his own. He’s welcomed by the good people of Birch Creek in the Idaho Territory, but he wants a family. Since women are hard to come by, he does the most logical thing he can. He orders a bride from New York.
When Susan decides to answer Michael’s advertisement, she’s sure it will be for the best, after all, Dr. Lachele’s got a gift. The first moment they meet, Michael and Susan know marriage is the next step but with her oddities, and his old fashioned views, can the two of them actually build a life together?
Copyright © 2019 by Laura D. Bastian.
All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the author.
Cover Design by EDH Graphics
Prologue
Susan smiled at the woman who had joined their book club a few weeks ago and studied her purple hair. It took a lot of guts to do something that brave, but the woman pulled it off with a flair. Susan had never dared try any of the fun stuff with her dark hair and basically kept it back in a messy bun or ponytail. That made it easy for working out at her gym or jogging the trails near the park. And since she rarely dated, it didn’t really matter that she didn’t do anything fancy with it.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like men. It was just that none of them really could hold a candle to the men she read about in her novels. She’d been an avid reader since junior high and had recently begun devouring the romance novels. She’d been hesitant when the topic of romance was brought up, preferring the fantasy and magic of the books she’d read as a teen, but when her book club girlfriends had begun telling her about all the different romances they’d fallen in love with, Susan had decided to give it a try. Now she was hooked and didn’t care what anyone else thought.
She’d steered clear of the spicy ones, preferring to keep all those details to the imagination instead of reading all about it, but she loved the way the men in the books had, little-by-little, proved their love for the lady in their lives and the women had softened their fearful hearts in order to accept him into their lives.
Now her favorite book of choice was mail order brides. Charlotte had been the one to introduce her to that genre and she loved the idea that people could find love with a complete stranger. She knew it probably wasn’t realistic that all of them found a happily ever after in real life, but they had made it work and had helped settle the western states in a time that women weren’t always appreciated.
Susan took a drink from her cup and looked at Dr. Lachele. “You’re serious about this?”
“Absolutely. Beth is happily living her life with her Highland Laird. She’s fine and healthy and enjoying it all.”
“No way,” Susan said. “You actually transported her back in time and she found the man of her dreams?”
“I work in matchmaking. I’ve done it for so long, it just comes natural to me. I know when two people are meant for each other, and the types of people to introduce. I’m sure this Guild of Godmothers ability to grant wish fulfillment has just enhanced that. I’m so excited to see what comes of it all.”
“And you think you can take me back to a place and time where I’d be able to meet my perfect match?”
“Yes,” Dr. Lachele said. “And a few of your other friends have tried it. I know you can find him if you trust me and give it a go.”
“But going back in time?” Susan said. “Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”
“You could call for me to return when you want. But I really think you’ll decide to stay.”
“I’m going to have to think about it for a while.”
“Totally understandable,” Dr. Lachele said. “Here is my card. Call me or we’ll just talk again when we meet for book club.”
Susan smiled at the woman and allowed herself to consider the possibility.
CHAPTER ONE
Michael took off the heavy leather apron he wore to protect himself from the flying sparks while he worked the iron in his smithy. He hung it on the peg by the door and doubled checked the coals in the forge. Once he was certain the fire was banked for the night and would be easy enough to coax to life when he returned in the early morning he left his shop and walked the quarter mile to his home. It wasn’t much of a place and could really uses some work, but he was alone and rarely spent time there unless it was to sleep.
Most of his time was spent at the shop, hoping to catch any work anyone needed of him. He’d been fortunate to find a spot close to the train station and near enough to the roadway that people passing through on horse or wagon could find him easy enough to take care of their horse shoeing and any other job they needed iron work for.
With the gold rush and the many people heading out west to find a better life, the small settlement in the Idaho territory was a good place to be. He’d followed his Uncle Chuck and cousin Brett since they had been his only remaining family after his parents died of influenza back east when he was a teen. Uncle Chuck had heard of all the gold that everyone was finding in California and Oregon and he’d packed up Brett and Michael with some gear and set off. They’d made it as far as Idaho before his uncle and cousin had gotten sick and just like that he was alone in the world.
Michael had been found by a small band of the Shoshone tribe. They kept him alive and brought him to this settlement and left him on the door step of one of the families there.
They’d done all they could to care for him, but it was hard to provide for a family, let alone take in an extra mouth, so Michael had been passed around from household to household doing little things to earn his keep and in a way becoming part of everyone’s family and no one’s family at the same time. When the old blacksmith had begun to have health troubles, he’d taken Michael on as an apprentice, which gave him the skills he now had to carry on the work.
As Michael studied his small place, an incredible ache built up in his chest. He wanted to belong to someone. To have something to look forward to each day. Something like what he remembered his parents had before they’d died. His thoughts then returned to the conversation he’d had with a couple passing through not long ago. They had stayed to chat with him while he worked on shoeing the horse. Their wagon was loaded with supplies they would need for the new farmstead they would be starting.
/> In the course of the conversation, he’d noticed her accent was much different than what he’d heard around the area lately. Reminding him a lot of what Boston had sounded like. When he asked what had brought her west, she’d blushed then explained she had answered her husband’s advertisement for a mail order bride.
The idea that sending a request for a woman to move out west and marry a stranger had seemed unbelievable at first, but the more they explained it, and how it had been going on for years in many places, the more he wondered if it would be something he’d ever dare do.
And now that he stared at his own barren home, he knew in his heart he was going to send his own advertisement. What would it hurt? He would go to the small telegraph station in the morning and see if they had any news about it.
***
Susan blinked a few times and turned around in utter amazement. Dr. Lachele had actually done it. She’d somehow teleported Susan back in time to New York City in the late eighteen hundreds. She no longer heard the sounds of millions of people and cars and cabs and sirens. Instead there were horse drawn carriages and less people, though still plenty. But it still had the obvious look of the New York she’d seen in history books. Yes, she was definitely not in the twenty-first century anymore.
She turned around in a circle again to get her bearings. Dr. Lachele had promised her that it would be a temporary thing to try out. That if she wanted to return to her own time, she could, though Lachele had been a little tight lipped on how. Susan wasn’t sure how any of it had actually worked in the first place and she wondered if maybe the cup of coffee she had been sipping while they talked had in fact had some kind of hallucinogen in it.
That seemed more realistic. The woman had claimed she was a Doctor of Psychology so perhaps she was using some of her PhD training to do some research on the way women thought.
“Okay, Susan. You can do this. You can go along with it and just enjoy this little trip into an alternate reality. You’ll wake up soon enough and give Lachele a piece of your mind for drugging you on the sly.”
Susan brushed her hands on her skirt and for the first time realized she was dressed in completely different clothes than she’d been wearing when she’d met Lachele for lunch.
She found a small insert where a pocket was cleverly disguised. “It has pockets!” she squealed and pushed her hands into each side. At the bottom of one lay a few coins and Susan pulled them out. She didn’t recognize them as the kind of coins she was used to, but they did look American. She studied what she had and realized it was less than ten dollars. She had no idea how much that would be worth in this time, but she had a sinking suspicion it wasn’t much.
Susan looked down the street both left then right, trying to decide where to go. Trusting her instinct and knowing her subconscious mind wouldn’t lead her astray, she pivoted to the left and started walking. Less than three blocks later, Susan caught sight of a sign in a window.
Room to let.
She knocked on the door and when a young woman with light blonde hair and the prettiest lashes opened it up, Susan smiled. “Hello. I saw the sign saying there was room to rent here. I wanted to know a little bit more about it.”
“I’m Annabelle. Let me go get Mrs. Tanner. Please, come inside.”
Susan stepped in and looked around the dimly lit interior. It was hard to tell for sure, but Susan thought it must have been a gas lamp. She marveled at how dark things were without electric lights and was thankful she’d been born in a time with all those modern conveniences. Could she manage to live in this time without all the things she was used to?
“Good afternoon,” a voice said from the side and Susan looked up at the woman she assumed was Mrs. Tanner.
“I wanted to inquire about your rates. I just arrived and need a place to stay while I look for some employment.”
“You don’t have work currently?” Mrs. Tanner asked looking as if she wanted to escort Susan out the door immediately.
“Not yet, but I know I’ll find something soon. I have some money now so I can pay upfront.”
“It’s two dollars a week. That includes a shared bed and two meals a day.”
Susan’s eyes widened and she struggled not to gape at the landlady.
“I assure you my rates are reasonable, but if you want to look elsewhere, be my guest.”
Susan shook her head. “No, this will be perfect. Thank you.” She couldn’t fathom the idea that rent in New York City had ever been so affordable. If only room and board in her own time was this easy.
She looked at her coins and found the dollar coins then passed them over. She had enough to last five weeks and if she hadn’t found a way out of this strange dream thing Dr. Lachele had put her in or made her way out west to experience a mail order bride romance of her own, then she’d panic later.
For now, she needed to get as much information about the year and society she found herself in. Because if Lachele had somehow convinced her that she’d be living the mail order bride experience, she might as well get started.
After Mrs. Tanner tucked the money in her own pocket, she motioned for Susan to follow her up the stairs.
“This will be your room. There is only this one bed currently available, so you can have your own unless we have more renters show up. Then you’ll be the first to share.”
Susan nodded.
“The meals are breakfast at six, and dinner at six. We don’t wait and we don’t save anything for stragglers. I would suggest you start searching for a job. They go quickly and I expect to be paid promptly at the beginning of each week.”
Mrs. Tanner turned to leave and Susan watched her go, happy to know she wasn’t the kind to linger and keep talking.
Susan met the eyes of the girl who had opened the door. “Annabelle, right?”
The girl nodded and Susan stepped closer. “I’m Susan. It’s nice to meet you. I was hoping you’d help me figure out a few things so I can make sure I’m ready for what’s out there.”
Annabelle smiled sweetly and Susan knew she would be a wonderful roommate. For however long it lasted.
“Now what can you tell me about mail order brides? Where would I find a location that has the advertisements men send when they are looking for a wife?”
Annabelle gaped widely and Susan bit her lip. Maybe it was a bit much to start out with. But she had to get started somehow.
***
Michael hated not knowing what to expect. He’d gotten word that his offer of marriage had been accepted and that once he sent the money for the train ticket to Birch Creek Idaho, his new bride would be on her way to meet him. That had been weeks ago and now the day had arrived. Miss Susan Hanson would be here shortly after lunchtime and he would find himself married by evening.
It had been incredibly awkward trying to convince the preacher that he wasn’t out of his mind with his plan to marry a woman, sight unseen the day she arrived. But eventually Reverend Morrison had agreed to perform the service if he was sure the young lady was agreeable to it.
Word had spread that he’d gone and done what no one else had tried in the small town. Most people that had moved here had brought their wives with them. Besides a few teen girls, none of which interested him in the slightest because of their youth, there weren’t any options for a wife. He wanted a woman that could hold her own with the hard work that was required here. Someone he could count on to run a household and eventually one he could raise a family with.
Michael wasn’t sure what he’d been thinking. He would have to take care of a family. Provide for the needs and wants of a woman. Make sure there was enough food to eat and fabric for clothes, and then once the children came, he’d have to get even more food.
He had been able to live comfortably by himself with the wages he earned, but his customers weren’t always steady. It came in waves since many people were able to do some of the basic things on their own. Or make do without his services.
He’d managed to talk to some neighbors to mak
e a trade for some chickens of his own instead of buying eggs from them. He had let people know he was interested in getting a cow, or even a goat for milk, but nothing had come of that yet.
Since no one had been by his shop for a while, he figured it would be a good idea to go back home and make sure everything there was ready for a wife. He hoped she’d be okay with living in the small place. He had planned to build a shed for the animals he hoped to acquire, but things had been too busy at the shop for him to get much done.
Inside his place, he did a fast clean-up of his things, but before he could change his clothes, he heard the train whistle. Michael hurried to wash his face and brush his hair back before replacing his hat. There wasn’t time to do anything more. The whistle blew again. It was still about a mile out of town, alerting anyone who might be coming to meet the train, Michael swallowed his nerves and left his house so he could get to the station before she did. It was time.
As he neared the station, he frowned at the sight of everyone that had begun to arrive. Most times, there were only a few people who came to the station, now that it was no longer a novelty. But if Michael wasn’t mistaken, there was probably more than half of the town who had shown up with obvious delight at the prospect of meeting his new bride.
He wouldn’t even get a chance to talk to her on his own and would have to be extra careful to school his features in case she turned out to be less than he’d hoped. He didn’t figure any attractive woman that had better options back home would be willing to come out west to marry a stranger. The woman he’d met that had given him the idea to send for one on his own had been rather plain, but pleasant enough.
He could hope for the same luck. Though he wasn’t an overly religious man, he’d been raised on the bible before his parents had passed and he hoped he might somehow be blessed enough to find a help meet, even if she wasn’t a beauty.
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