Mail Order Miriam

by Jenna Brandt

  “That’s not a problem, Aunt Claire; we agreed to laugh at each other’s jokes, even the most dreadful of ones.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” she said, giving an approving smile to both of them. “There’s no point in taking life too seriously. Always leave room for amusement.”

  “And just remember, there isn’t such a thing as a perfect marriage, just two imperfect people who agree to never give up on each other,” Garrett added. “Becca never gave up on me, and that’s the reason we’re happily married.”

  “All of that advice is good and well, but I think we should be focusing on making Miriam feel welcome. Has Mark given you a tour around town?” Becca inquired after taking a sip of her champagne.

  Miriam shook her head. “He’s been busy at the mine, and I needed to go into Yuma to run some errands anyway.”

  “Yuma? Why would you send her there?” Becca inquired with confusion. “Most anything she would need she could get in Little Ridge.”

  Mark shifted in his seat, uncomfortable that his sister would draw attention to the fact he’d sent his new wife to the neighboring city to shop. Part of him had done it to keep the townsfolk from prying into who she was, but another part did it to provide her with better options. “The dress shop in Yuma is far superior to the minuscule offerings at the mercantile. Since she needed several items, I thought it best if she went into Yuma.”

  “Why did you need new clothes?” Julia probed with an arched eyebrow. “Didn’t you bring your belongings with you?”

  “I didn’t have much I could bring,” Miriam confessed as a flush creeped across her cheeks. “Mark was kind enough to offer to buy me a few outfits.”

  “And so it begins,” Uncle Martin sighed. “I hope you’re ready for a life of having to always provide more and more for a wife that never seems to be happy with what you give her.”

  “Father, you shouldn’t say such things,” Julia softly scolded. “Mother wasn’t like that.”

  “Julia, you were quite young when your mother passed away, and I shielded you from her less-than desirable attributes. For the most part, she was a wonderful woman, but she had an unquenchable thirst for material possessions, as do most women,” Uncle Martin stated pointedly as he glared at Miriam.

  “It wasn’t like that. I was content to wear my own dresses,” Miriam explained as her eyes fell to the table.

  Mark jumped to her defense. “It was all my idea; I wanted her to make a good impression tonight and I thought a new dress could go a long way in that regard.”

  “I’m not feeling well. Can we leave, please,” Miriam requested in a whisper.

  “Look at what you’ve all done; you’ve upset my wife only one day after our wedding. I brought her here because I trusted my family to be civil to her, but even that was impossible.” Mark jerked up from the table and threw his napkin down. He stretched out his arm and offered his hand to his wife. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Just before they reached the front door, Becca came rushing up to them, grabbing her brother by the arm to stop him. “Please wait; I have something I need to say.”

  “I’m really not in the mood, Becca,” Mark objected. “I think enough has been said tonight to last us a lifetime.”

  “I know some hurtful things were said tonight, but none of them were by me. I’ve done nothing but welcome Miriam into my home and treat her like a sister.”

  “She’s right, Mark,” Miriam agreed. “Your sister isn’t to blame for what happened tonight. I don’t know what we were expecting to happen, ambushing them all the way we did. You should have talked with them first before introducing me to them.”

  “Just give Uncle Martin some time to adjust—he’s never done well with surprises. The rest of the family seems to be accepting the news in stride, once the shock wore off. In the meantime, I’m going to do what my brother should have done when you first got here. I’m going to show you around town tomorrow.”

  “That’s very kind of you, but you don’t have to do that,” Miriam said. “I don’t want to cause any problems for you with your uncle.”

  “Don’t worry about that. You’re my sister now, and I want to make you feel at home here in Little Ridge. I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer, so I’ll be at your house in the morning at ten a.m. to fetch you.”

  9

  After a restless night of sleep wondering what she could have done differently to make Mark’s uncle approve of her, Miriam woke up feeling defeated. She had a good mind to roll back over and close her eyes to shut out how much had gone wrong since her arrival in Little Ridge. On top of Mark’s family being less than enthused about her entrance into their family, she still hadn’t had a chance to tell Mark about her pregnancy. She figured after the failure of the dinner last night, she couldn’t very well blurt out that she was with child from her previous marriage. She needed to find a way to make everything better with his family before she revealed the truth.

  “Mrs. Bennett, you told me to wake you in the morning so you could get ready for your outing with Mrs. Casner.”

  Miriam sat up and leaned back against the headrest of her bed. “Thank you, Mary, but I’m not sure I’m going today.”

  “It isn’t good for you to lay in this room all day. You should spend the day with Mrs. Casner. She’ll surely lift your spirits. I raised her since she was a wee babe, and she’s got a heart of gold.”

  Miriam knew Mary was right. Spending the day in bed wasn’t going to do her any good. If she wanted to find a solution to her problems, she needed to do something about them. If she got to know Becca, perhaps she could ask for help with the rest of the family.

  “I think I will wear my lavender dress with the lace accents.” Miriam sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I want to make a good impression when I meet people around town.”

  “I’ll get it out for you right now, Mrs. Bennett.” Mary rushed over and opened the wardrobe, pulling out the requested dress, then helped Miriam get ready.

  As Mary secured the dress around her, she wondered how long before her body betrayed her, and revealed that she was pregnant. She purposely got her new dresses slightly bigger than she needed, but they would only last so long before her secret couldn’t be hidden anymore. She couldn’t help but feel like there was an hourglass running out on her.

  By the time she went down for breakfast, Miriam was ready to work towards making her situation better. When she found a note from her husband waiting by her breakfast, it lifted her spirits to know he was thinking of her.

  In an effort to cheer you up, I thought I would tell you a dreadful joke.

  A lady wrote the following letters at the bottom of her flour barrel:

  O I C U R M T

  Please try to enjoy your time with my sister. Don’t worry about anything besides settling in to your new life here in Little Ridge.

  Your Husband,

  Mark

  She folded up the letter and put it in her reticule, wanting to keep it to remind herself that she wasn’t in this alone. The more she got to know Mark, the more she realized he was the exact opposite of her first husband. He cared about her wants and needs, defended her to others including his own family, and he didn’t demonstrate a mean bone in his body. She wanted to believe that if she told him about the baby, he would understand, but part of her worried it would be too much for him to handle. Accepting another man’s baby as his own was a lot to ask anyone, even a man as good as Mark Bennett was proving to be.

  Just as Becca promised, she arrived at the house promptly at ten a.m. with a giant grin spread across her face. “Good morning, Miriam, are you ready to get to know your new town?”

  “I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous. Little Ridge is quite different from where I grew up in Russia. I don’t know if I’m going to fit in here.”

  “You’re going to find that the townsfolk are wonderful. They might be a bit nosy and ask one-too-many questions, but they mean well.”

  Miriam stiffened at
the thought of having to deflect questions about her past all day. Becca hadn’t made an issue of it, and she had hoped her luck would continue with everyone else she met in Little Ridge. From what her new sister-in-law was telling her, she wasn’t going to have such luck.

  “I thought the first place we could stop off is at the apothecary where you can meet one of my dearest friends, June Wentworth,” Becca explained as they headed out of the house and towards Main Street. “I think you’ll find that you have a lot in common with her. She just moved back to town last year after living in Yuma with her first husband for a few years. She’s a widow, who just recently married her old beau. They just had a baby, and she also has a son from her first marriage.”

  “How did her husband take to the idea of raising another man’s baby?” Miriam probed. “That couldn’t have been easy.”

  “Daniel loved June, and her son came with her as part of the deal.”

  “So he accepted her son so he could be with her?” Miriam inquired with interest. She wondered, if she could make her husband fall in love with her, would he be willing to accept her son as his own?

  “It was more than that; he cares about Ben, and he is as much of a father to him as he is their daughter.”

  June and Daniel’s situation gave Miriam hope that her own husband might be able to care for her child as his own; at least, if she were able to get him to love her. If he wasn’t invested in Miriam, it would be far too easy for him to be able to turn them away. She couldn’t risk telling him until she was certain he wouldn’t do that. Both her life and that of her unborn child’s depended on it.

  Becca stopped in front of a simple wooden building with the word, ‘Apothecary’ painted on a sign hung above the door. “We’re here.”

  The small building housed several wooden display counters with glass tops, which held various bottles and containers filled with tonics and powders used to heal various ailments. A pretty brown-haired woman stood behind the counter towards the back. She waved them over, saying, “I’m so glad you’re here, Becca.” Then glancing at Miriam, she added, “And who do you have with you?”

  “This is Miriam Bennett, my brother’s new wife,” Becca explained. “And before you ask, you didn’t receive an invite because it was a small wedding.”

  It was clear from the skeptical look on her face, June had more questions she wanted to ask. To Miriam’s relief, she didn’t voice them. Instead, she greeted her with a warm smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Miriam. My husband, Daniel, is good friends with Mark. I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear he’s finally settled down, as I am. Mark’s been alone for far too long.”

  “Is there a reason for that?” Miriam inquired, but quickly regretted it when both women glanced away. “I’m sorry, I should probably ask my husband that rather than either of you.”

  “It’s okay. He’d probably avoid answering the question, anyway,” Becca said, patting Miriam’s hand that rested on the counter. “Between you and me, he spends way too much time at the mine. Ever since our parents died, it’s like he’s determined to prove that he can do the job every bit as well as our father did.”

  Miriam didn’t expect to hear that, though it wasn’t surprising. Mark had been at the mine all day yesterday and had gone there first thing this morning. The pattern was clear and she wasn’t sure what to do about it. She’d already spent a year married to a man that made bad choices because he lived in the shadow of his father. She didn’t want to have a repeat of the same situation. Could she help him let go of his obsession of being at the mine for long hours at a time? Was there some way she could show Mark there was more to life than work?

  The women chatted about several town events coming up, as well as the fiasco of a baptism when the Johnson boy panicked in the water the previous Sunday. By the time they were ready to leave, Miriam felt like for the first time in her life, she might have a chance to make real friends. That was, if everything worked out with Mark after she told him about the baby.

  The baby. What would her new friends think once they found out that she was carrying another man’s child? Even though it was her previous husband’s baby, it didn’t make it Mark’s. Would they look at her differently because of it? Was it better if she didn’t invest in them just in case they reacted poorly to the news once it came out?

  “I was curious about the mercantile and what they offer. Do you mind taking me there next?” Miriam asked, wanting to remove herself from June’s presence before she let herself invest anymore in the other woman.

  “It was nice meeting you, Miriam. Make sure to not be a stranger, and stop by any time,” June offered with a smile. “And you should come to the women’s auxiliary meeting this Friday night. We’re planning the town’s next social.”

  “I’ll have to think about it,” Miriam said, unwilling to commit to attending.

  “Well, the offer isn’t going anywhere. You’re always welcome.”

  Becca and Miriam exited the apothecary and made their way through the rest of Main Street. On their way to the mercantile, Becca pointed out the saloon and the boarding house. When they entered the general store that supplied the entire town with essential items, Becca introduced her to the owner as well as the post master who ran the post office next door. After that, Becca introduced her to Dr. Billford, the town doctor. Their final stop for the day was the Copper Café, where they enjoyed a midday meal.

  Mr. Walker, who owned and ran the local newspaper, stopped by their table, eager to meet the newest resident of the town. “I’d love to interview you and feature your story on the front page of the paper,” he offered.

  “No, that won’t be necessary,” Miriam cried out, her voice shaking with fear. The last thing she needed was for her picture to be published in a newspaper and then end up in the wrong hands. Wanting to squash the idea, she quickly added, “I led a rather dull life back in Russia. I assure you, there’s nothing of interest.”

  “Well, if you change your mind, you can visit me at my office at the end of Main Street.”

  “What was that all about? Why didn’t you want Mr. Walker to feature you in the newspaper?” Becca probed.

  Miriam shrugged, averting her eyes in an effort to hide how uncomfortable the topic was making her. “Like I told Mr. Walker, there’s nothing worth printing about my life.”

  “It seems to me, you’re afraid of something. Are you embarrassed about something from your past?”

  Miriam picked up her glass of lemonade and took a long sip, trying to figure out the right way to answer Becca without revealing anything that would expose the truth. “I don’t like talking about it, but my first husband was an awful, vile man who didn’t have a drop of loyalty or trustworthiness in his body. I told Mark as such, but if I never have to speak of him again, it would make me happy.”

  Becca reached across the table and patted her hand. “Say no more. I will never bring it up again.”

  Later that afternoon, Miriam set to work to figure out a way to make herself invaluable to her husband. Once he depended on her, perhaps that could turn into love. Her first stop was in the kitchen, but the cook immediately ushered her out, explaining that the mistress of the house had no business being in there. She asked Mary if there was anything she could do around the house, but the woman politely declined, explaining that she’d taken care of the house for over two decades, and didn’t need anyone disrupting her cleaning routine with Tandy. Miriam had the same results with the groundskeeper and the butler, reminding her of how useless she felt back in Russia. She might have been a princess, but the title held little real power. It seemed she was to have the same fate in America, playing the part of Mark Bennett’s insipid wife.

  Frustrated, Miriam returned to her room, deciding that at a bare minimum, she could at least make herself appealing to him for when he returned home from the mine. After quizzing Tandy about her husband’s preferences, she picked out an emerald green gown and placed her hair half-up with curls coming down around her neck. She added
a touch of rouge to her cheeks, then headed downstairs to wait for his arrival.

  Hours ticked by, and when he finally did return, she was nearly falling asleep in her chair at the dining room table.

  “You waited up for me?” he asked in astonishment. “You shouldn’t have bothered.”

  Miriam held back the sigh, as well as the accusatory words, that wanted to fall from her lips. The last thing she needed to do was make him feel bad about his late homecoming. Such an outburst would set back her plan, and she couldn’t afford for that to happen.

  Instead, she plastered on her most endearing smile and stood from her chair. She walked over and removed the cover from the plate of food. “It wasn’t a bother. I had Cook set this aside for you, as well as a plate for myself.”

  “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble. I’m used to eating my meals by myself.”

  “That might be true, but it doesn’t have to be the case anymore. You have a wife now, that wants to spend time with you.”

  “What’s going on, Miriam? Why are you pushing this issue?” Mark asked in a confused tone.

  “All I want to do is make you happy,” she mewled in frustration. “What is it going to take to make you want to spend time with me?”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with you, but I’m right in the middle of the final preparation for the expansion at the mine.”

  “I don’t know much about mining, but as the owner, don’t you have people that work for you that can handle that?”

  “I do, but I’ve learned over the years, that no one takes care of your business the way you do yourself. I have to make sure this expansion happens without any complications.”

  Miriam nodded, hating the answer, but knowing from the firm tone in his voice, she wasn’t going to be able to change his mind. “At least sit down for supper,” she suggested as she gestured to the table. “You can tell me about the expansion while we eat.”