Aaron's Annulment Bride (Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs Book 3)

by Zina Abbott

  Andrea nodded in understanding. She wasn’t sure about the graphology part, but it did make sense to write to each other to become better acquainted. Then again, if she had written to several men before coming to Denver, just how much about herself would she have been willing to reveal?

  Lizett continued. “In your case, I didn’t get your application in time to arrange a correspondence with one or more men. Which reminds me…” Lizett opened and shut two drawers before she shuffled through papers in a third and pulled one out to read. “Here we are. I sent your ticket because your friend Catherine was already signed up with me and I accepted on good faith that you would come as one of my brides. However, I do need you to sign this contract to make everything legal. You do know how to write your name, don’t you?”

  “Yes. I can read and write. I didn’t have to leave school until I was twelve.”

  “Wonderful. Not all the ladies I work with can read and write, you know.”

  Andrea signed her name on the line Lizett pointed to. She didn’t read the contract because she knew Catherine had. Her friend never would have signed a contract if there was a problem with it. She handed the contract back to Lizett.

  “There. That’s settled. Now, based on your handwriting, and those of the prospective grooms, I have decided on two men I wish you to meet once we arrive in Jubilee Springs.”

  Andrea’s eyes lit up with her smile. She felt a sense of comfort and relief that by Lizett finding two men who would be suitable for her based on this graphology science, things might work out for her. Maybe the obstacles in her life she had experienced so far wouldn’t completely doom a marriage.

  “The first man is someone your good friend Catherine has been writing to. His name is Harold Calloway. Even though I still think he and Catherine could form a good match, I also want to introduce him to you before final decisions are made.”

  Andrea’s smile weakened. To hear Catherine speak about it, her friend had already decided on Harold Calloway for herself. Perhaps there was hope with the other man Lizett had chosen for her.”

  Lizett tapped her finger on her lips as she considered. “Nathan Price—maybe, but I don’t think you two are the best match. The other strong match for you is a man named Stanley Turner. We’ll be sure you are introduced to him. Even though you have not had an opportunity to correspond with him, I think you will find him to your liking.”

  Andrea, her hands clasped in her lap, leaned forward. “Thank you, Mrs. Millard…Lizett. I appreciate all you are doing to help me, especially with me applying so late.”

  Lizett held up her pointer finger on one hand as she jerked a drawer on the side of her desk open with the other. “Late. That’s right. I didn’t have enough time to send you your travel money that is part of the bridal package. Besides, I needed you to sign the contract first. Enough funds were collected from each of the men to be given to the brides in case they needed to purchase some clothing or pay for food and incidentals on the trip. I know it would have been helpful for you to have had it before you left, but here it is now.” Lizett handed Andrea a sealed white envelope.

  Hesitantly, Andrea reached over and accepted it. She read her name written on the front. “Thank you. This means a lot to me. After I used up my money, I had to rely on Catherine during the trip. Now I can pay her back.” Fighting tears, Andrea looked directly into Lizett’s eyes. “I trust you to help find the right match for me. You have no idea how important it is that I find just the right husband.”

  Andrea followed Lizett’s lead when the other woman rose to her feet. Lizett walked around the desk and patted Andrea’s arm. “It is important to all my brides and grooms that they are matched with the best choice for them. That is my calling in life. Seeing successful marriages come from my efforts is what makes my job so satisfying.”

  Andrea left Lizett’s office she wondered. Taking everything into consideration, would she have a successful marriage?

  That was when Andrea decided what she must do. She looked at the envelope again and knew she couldn’t spend any of the money. It was not fair to any of the men who had signed up for a wife to be stuck with someone like her. They each were counting on a wife so they could get a house. She would marry one of the men, but it would be a marriage in name only. Once the man gained title to his house, she would ask for an annulment. Then she would need to find work somehow so she could pay him back.

  She would need to find another way to reimburse Catherine for her generosity.

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  CHAPTER 5

  ~o0o~

  Friday morning, July first, all the brides intended for the grooms who worked for Prosperity Mine boarded the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad passenger coach that would take them to Jubilee Springs. Andrea stuck close to Catherine and carried her friend’s valise along with hers so Catherine could concentrate on carrying the covered hamper in which Sunny slept. The two women chose a seat near the back of the car, with Catherine sitting next to the window. They had already learned to sit where the conductor was least likely to spot the basket holding the kitten and insist they take it out of the passenger car before the train started. If they could escape notice until it was too late for the conductor to force the kitten off the train, they would be all right, even though they would not be his favorite passengers.

  While the kitten continued to sleep, Andrea took advantage of the empty seats on either side of the aisle to move about so she could see out the windows. The mountains with the pine and aspen intrigued her. This landscape was so different from the flat grasslands of the ranch where she had lived all her life. She wondered how easily she would adapt to living in an area where tall mountain spires surrounded her home and blocked off hours of sunlight every day.

  The train slowed as it neared the Jubilee Springs depot. Without thinking, Andrea rose to her feet to stare out at the river passing below the train trestle. She found it amazing that this was the Arkansas River, the same river that ran not a day’s journey south of her pa’s ranch in central Kansas.

  Lizett’s warning reached Andrea’s ears above the deafening clackity-clack of the train wheels crossing the rails mounted on the wooden slats of the bridge. “Sit down, dear. This train will soon jerk to a sudden halt that will send you flying if you aren’t careful.”

  Regretfully, Andrea lowered herself in her seat. An awareness hit her with the force of being thrown to the ground by a horse. This was her new life. Everything from her old home that had been familiar and comforting were no longer around. She could still hold to the memories of when her mother had been alive, and when her siblings had still been home, and when her father had been more loving and shown an interest in the family. Couldn’t she? Even though there was little about this mountain mining town to remind her of the Kansas plains with its wide open sky broken only by a few trees that lined the few creeks or had been planted around the home place. She would miss the ever-present windmill sucking water out of the ground for both the humans and the livestock. Surely, there was not enough change to force her to forget the few happy memories she clung to.

  Then Andrea looked down at the quilt still folded neatly and draped over her forearm. When her mother had given her the quilt shortly before she died, she had told Andrea someday she would understand why she chose the Kansas Troubles block for her quilt. The quilt would help her remember the past—not just the troubles that had plagued her in recent times, but the time with her mother. Then there was her mother’s Bible with the word of God and the birth, marriage and death records of three generations of her mother’s people. Yes, she had fled her troubles in Kansas and come to a strange new land, one in which she in good conscience did not deserve to stay, but she had brought the memories that counted with her.

  Andrea looked over at Catherine who now cooed and baby-talked to the kitten who had awakened from the racket of the train crossing this last bridge. She also had her friend. Although Catherine was not a close friend�
�for after her mother died and her father insisted she stay home from school and most town activities to do chores around the ranch, she had not been allowed close friends. However, she was a good friend. No matter what the future held for her, Andrea would always be grateful to Catherine for helping her escape the terrifying future Lloyd McCreary had planned for her.

  As Lizett had warned, the train came to a grinding stop that threw Andrea forward in her seat. She looked over at Catherine who held Sunny with both hands as she nuzzled his head under her chin.

  “This is our new home. Isn’t this exciting, Andrea?”

  Andrea smiled weakly, but said nothing.

  It’s terrifying.

  Andrea and Catherine waited until they were the last to exit the passenger car. They both thanked the conductor who nodded a farewell, but then offered Catherine a disapproving glare at the sight of the kitten she held in one hand while she carried the hamper in the other.

  Andrea nudged Catherine when above the hum of the crowd she heard Lizett’s voice calling the brides together. She started towards Lizett, Aurelia and the other brides. Then she lifted her eyes and took in the greater scene on the train platform.

  Andrea froze in place, gripped by an intense case of stage fright. For, that is how she felt—as if she were on a stage. Her knees began to quake, and she felt the strength in her arms desert her, almost causing her to lose her grip on the two valises as her quilt threatened to slide off her arm onto the ground.

  Strangers, mostly men, crowded around her and Catherine on the platform. Another group surrounded the other brides. They did not appear to be waiting for friends or family members, or to be in the process of conducting business of some sort. They stood around in various poses of contemplation, some with arms folded, some scratching their chins, as they stared at her and the other women who had come from Denver. She felt like she was the main attraction in a circus freak show, and they had all come for a free peek.

  Catherine’s chirpy words cut through the apprehension that gripped Andrea. “Oh, look, Andrea. So many townspeople have turned out to welcome us. Isn’t that wonderful?”

  Wide-eyed, Andrea turned to stare at her friend. How could Catherine see it that way? Didn’t she understand? Andrea had gone to a cattle auction with her pa a few times many years ago. She had seen the men standing around eyeing the cattle, gauging their value before they put in their bids. That was exactly what was happening here, only it was the women, not cattle, the men were passing judgment on and wondering if they were worth the purchase price. She wondered how many of these men were some of the miners who would end up with her and the others as their brides.

  Andrea turned her eyes to the ground and forced her feet to step towards Lizett. She had made a terrible mistake. She no longer wanted to be here. She did not want to be on display. She was not a society woman with social graces and pretty clothes. She was just a poor farm woman with brown skin and streaked hair that bore witness her chores regularly took her outdoors. Her hands were rough and bore at least two scars. Her wardrobe had seen better days. Would she be the last bride chosen, or one sent back branded as unacceptable?

  A booming voice next to Lizett grabbed Andrea’s attention. “Welcome, ladies. On behalf of my brother, Clive, and some anxious miners, I say, welcome to Jubilee Springs. My name is Royce Bainbridge, a co-owner of the Prosperity Mine, a sponsor of this weekend’s activities. We look forward to having you join our community.

  Lizett batted her eyes and grinned up at the tall man with the well-developed shoulders before her. “So nice to finally meet you, Mr. Bainbridge. I’m Mrs. Millard, and these”—she waved a hand to include the bridal group—“are my ladies, the prospective brides.”

  The man hesitated, frowned, then lowering his voice, he turned to Lizett. “I only see five women here. I thought I counted six, but one raced away as soon as she stepped off the train. This is only half of the women I ordered. Are these all you have for my men to choose from?”

  Andrea stopped worrying about herself and felt a surge of empathy for Lizett Millard. She watched the woman press a hand to her bosom before she offered a glib response. “Oh, the young woman who left was not one of mine.” Then, under her breath, she muttered. “Unfortunately.” Lizett pulled herself up to her full height, now all business. “Mr. Bainbridge, may we step aside for a few minutes so we may speak privately?”

  Royce Bainbridge raised an eyebrow, but took her elbow and guided her several feet away from the brides. He looked up with a glare and made a shooing motion to discourage others on the platform from crowding nearer to the clutch of brides or close enough to hear what Lizett Millard had to say to him.

  Then Lizett pasted a large smile on her face for the benefit of those looking on, but Royce did not mistake the chastisement in her message delivered sotto voce. “I know we talked of ten brides, Mr. Bainbridge, and I assure you, I will have them for you in a reasonable amount of time. However, you need to understand that matching people over the miles takes time, and we have only been working at this a little over two months. Why, that has hardly been enough time for me to match a sufficient pool of handwritten letters to choose the most compatible partners. And, as I explained, we need to allow enough time for couples to correspond, time that has not been sufficient, even with the speed of the mail these days now the train comes all the way to Jubilee Springs. I do have one bride, Miss Brownlee, who had been corresponding with several of your men who was delayed for several weeks. And, unfortunately, a few of my city brides decided they preferred to find grooms in a larger community than a mining town high in the mountains. However, I brought you five brides with a wide range of abilities to appeal to your men, some raised in the country and not afraid of work under more primitive conditions, others with more education and social accomplishments with which to enrich this community. These five will get the process rolling. I’m sure by the end of the summer I’ll have brides for the remaining five men, and I need you to do your part by helping them maintain a positive outlook.”

  Lizett’s smile grew wider, and she batted her eyes as she continued to meet Royce Bainbridge’s piercing glare. Andrea watched in awe at the antics so uncharacteristic of the all-business marriage broker. The woman did not even flinch as the man studied her for several seconds before he grunted. “Yes, well, keep up the good work, Mrs. Millard. I look forward to seeing the fulfillment of your aspirations by the end of the summer, if not sooner, as do my men. Their fees are paid and their houses are waiting. All they need are their brides.”

  The mine owner looked around at the crowd and scowled. “I need you men to back away and give these newcomers to our fair city some air. Don’t you have jobs you should be working?” A few men turned and walked away, but others merely moved back several steps.

  Royce Bainbridge then turned his attention and his charm to the five brides. “Once again, welcome to Jubilee Springs, ladies. Please don’t mind these lay-abouts and slackers crowding around us. They are not the men from whom you will be asked to choose a husband. Your prospective husbands are hard at work, proving they can provide for a wife and family. Now, I have made provisions for you to stay at a boarding house here in town for a few nights until you have a chance to meet the men and finalize your choice of grooms. I have a couple of surreys belonging to my brother and myself for you to ride in. We will take a brief tour of the town, and then I will show you where you will be staying for the next three nights.”

  Royce turned his attention to the men still on the train platform. “Men, since you don’t seem to have anything better to do, if any of you are interested in earning a little coin, I could use some help transferring the trunks belonging to these ladies to the buckboard at the end of the platform. My driver will show you how he wants them loaded.”

  Andrea watched as two men stepped forward and started hauling the trunks that had come with them. One belonged to Lizett, but Andrea knew most of them belonged to Aurelia. The next thing she knew, someone tried to take the t
wo valises she held gripped in her hands. She jerked them back against her.

  “Miss, I only mean to put them in the wagon for you. It will be easier if you don’t have to keep hauling them around.”

  Andrea looked at the young man, one who had stood around to watch the day’s big event of the brides for the miners coming in on the train. He looked honest enough. Reluctantly, she held the bags out to him, her voice barely above a whisper. “My ma’s Bible is in the brown one. Please be careful with it.” In spite of the heat of the day, she kept the quilt with her, instinctively clutching it to her middle with both forearms.

  “Yes, miss.”

  Andrea turned to Catherine who smiled at the man who approached her and declined his offer to take the hamper they used to carry the kitten. Andrea hoped Sunny would cooperate and not try to run away while they were in the surrey taking the tour.

  “Ladies, this way.” Royce made a sweeping gesture with his arm in the direction of the two surreys built of light oak wood with plush black leather seats. Andrea had never seen anything so elegant back in Kansas.

  Andrea followed Catherine into the back of the second surrey with the help of the driver, who Mr. Bainbridge had introduced as Roy. She wondered what Mr. Bainbridge had originally planned if all ten brides he had ordered had arrived. Would he have asked some of them to ride in the buckboard? Each surrey only held four adults, perhaps five if three on the back bench were very slender and didn’t wear a lot of petticoats. There were no spare seats once all of Lizett’s party were situated.