[2016] Widow Finds Love

by Christian Michael

  “Yes,” she agreed meekly and she went into the office and looked around. Turner was shouting at someone down on the printing floor now and he stormed off in that direction. Melissa looked around the office and she knew that no matter what she might do in here, he would not notice it. She peered at the papers on his desk in the hope that something interesting might catch her eye but there was nothing like that at all. She sat down on the couch that ran along the wall. As she did, she heard the crumple of newspaper underneath her. She pulled it out to look at it and saw it was like no newspaper she had ever seen. It was called ‘Matrimonial Times’ and inside it was covered page to page with adverts for people looking for a husband or a wife! She could not believe that such a thing existed. She looked through it at a glance; she was fascinated. There were so many people looking for someone.

  Melissa must have been looking at it for some time when she heard Turner’s voice and knew he was returning. She stood up and looked for something she could do to make it look like she had been busy but he arrived at the door too quickly for her. She stood there with only the newspaper in her hands; she had forgotten to let go of it when she stood up, and a guilty look on her face. He looked at her in amusement and nodded to the paper,

  “Looking for some pig farmer out west?” he sneered. Melissa didn’t know what he was talking about for a moment but then she caught on.

  “I never knew such newspapers were printed,” she said.

  “They are one of our best-selling titles at the moment,” he laughed. She could see that he didn’t see the romantic side of this, of how people all over America needed to have someone in their life and the lengths they would go to ensure that they did. “You can take that one as a souvenir,” he said to her. He looked around the office and nodded as though he was happy with something; he must have thought she had done some tidying for him while he was downstairs.

  Later that evening, when her father went out to his club, Melissa sat by the fire and looked through the newspaper. She simply couldn’t get enough of it. She imagined all the people who placed the ads, what they must be like, how happy they would be when someone answered. Then she thought of her own sad predicament; trapped in an engagement to a man she had no hope of ever loving. If only one of these men in the newspaper would take her away from her life.

  As she thought this, a plan suddenly sprang up in her mind – what was stopping her from replying to one of these adverts. If she could correspond with a good and honest man, she could find someone who will make her truly happy. Her heart beat faster at the thought of this; it suddenly felt like this was what she was destined to do all along. One had stuck in her mind from her first reading the paper earlier today, and now she sought out the ad with a new sense of purpose. She found it quickly; the man’s name was Roger Fulton and he worked as a ranch hand. His ad was simple and to the point and it seemed to her that he was laying all his cards on the table. Something in this easy honesty screamed that he was the man for her.

  Melissa got some paper and some ink and she set about writing a response to him. It took her all evening, four drafts, and kept her up past her usual bedtime. She burned the discarded drafts in the dying fire and then put away the remaining paper and ink. She put the letter in an envelope and hid it amongst the clothes in her dresser; the last thing she needed was for anyone to find out what she was doing.

  Next morning after breakfast she crept out of the house and walked the short distance to town where she posted a letter in the post office. The whole time she had been walking with the letter in her hand she had been terrified. She felt like she was a spy delivering some secret communiqué behind enemy lines. Thankfully she saw nobody she knew and the letter was finally out of her possession. As she made her way back home it hit her for the first time just what she had done; she had set the course of her life on a new path, one that did not discount the notion of love out of hand.

  Chapter 4

  Roger Fulton received a steady stream of replies in the weeks after his ad ran in the newspaper. He was pleasantly surprised by both the number and the quality of the women who answered him. Each night when he had finished work he would sit down, read the letter he had received that day and write a response. It was tiring work but he felt it would be rude if he did not reply to each letter he received. One letter had struck a chord with him, and this girl – Melissa – from New York really spoke to him. His friend, Jackson, told him that he shouldn’t narrow this focus to just one girl just yet. Roger took his advice very soon it was clear that Melissa was the one he spent all his time thinking about.

  He had spent more time on his reply to her, and any of the other letters and he was much more careful with his spelling, grammar and handwriting. He went into more detail about his work day, the town he lived in, and the people he worked for. He told of his little house just off the town and how he hoped to expand this if he were married so that it will accommodate a family more comfortably

  The correspondence continued over the next few weeks and months and he grew to feel he knew Melissa more and more. He had a sense of what she looked like and he just knew in his heart that should he ever meet her; she would look just that way. After many letters had exchanged hands, and he had long since ceased communication with any other woman, Roger finally got up the courage to ask Melissa to marry.

  The wait for a reply was the most arduous and tortuous time of his life. He buried himself in his work; spending hours more each day that he was paid for in an effort to exhaust himself so that he would fall asleep as soon as he got into bed each night. This worked some nights, but certainly not all, and those nights that he lay awake were the longest agony he could endure.

  It was almost three weeks before her letter of reply came. He pulled the envelope open as soon as the postman handed it to him. He was terrified, but he had to know. At first, he couldn’t even read the letter, the letters and words seem to be all jumbled up in his eyes. None of it was making sense. He pulled the letter from his face, rubbed his eyes with the palms of hands and then looked at the letter. This time, it was his shaking hands that prevented his reading; with frustration, he smoothed out the letter on the porch step and sat down to read it. This time, his eyes took in the most wondrous arrangement of letters, words, and phrases he had ever seen. She had said yes!

  He jumped up from a sitting position, tossed his hat in the air and yelped a loud cheer. Roger looked around but there was no one in sight with which he could share his wonderful news. He quickly jumped on his horse and rode to Jackson’s house. Jackson was delighted with his friend’s news and he insisted that they go to the saloon to celebrate. Roger was not usually one for drinking but he was so happy and his friend so insistent that he allowed himself the idea of one beer to toast his new life.

  Everyone in the saloon was delighted to hear Roger’s news; Barney, the bartender, insisted on getting Roger a drink as well. This coupled with the one Jackson bought for him had Roger feeling quite tipsy. The more seasoned drinking men laughed at his red cheeks, glassy eyes and manic smile. Roger began to speak to people he didn’t know as well as those he did telling them all about Melissa and how wonderful she was. The atmosphere in the saloon was one of joy and conviviality, but Jackson knew to take his friend home before he became too worse for wear.

  Roger slept that afternoon; it was the first time he could ever recall sleeping during the day. He woke in the early evening with tremendous thirst on his lips. He sought out Melissa’s letter of acceptance which was still in the inside jacket pocket from earlier. He held the letter close to his breast imagining her voice as she spoke the words contained.

  He wrote a letter to thank her for her acceptance. He felt fine by now, but he knew from seeing other men that alcohol could cloud your judgement for a long time. With this in mind, he scribbled out his ideas for the letter as they came to him, intending to write the real draft the next day when he knew he would be over his indulgence.

  Chapter 5

  Melissa had
no idea what she was going to tell her family. She had carried on this secret correspondence for many months and had fallen in love with Roger in this time. He had asked her to marry him and she had accepted joyously. She had no doubt in her mind that she had made the right decision, but she knew that it was not going to go down well with her parents. She didn’t care in the least what Mr. Turner would feel about the whole thing; in fact, she hoped that she would not even see him again before she left for her new life out West.

  At dinner, on the evening she decided to tell them of her plans, her mother went on and on about a young lady who had just married a cousin of hers. After this tedium, her father then went on to discuss the railroads – a topic which was of great interest to him but bored both Melissa and her mother. They were having desert by the time there was a lull in the conversation, and this is where Melissa spoke,

  “I have gotten engaged,” she said. Both of her parents looked at her and then to one another and then back to Melissa.

  “We know, you have been engaged for months,” said her mother.

  “That’s not what I mean, mother,” Melissa said.

  “What are you talking about, then?” Her father said. He didn’t like nonsense and this seemed like nonsense to him.

  “I have gotten engaged to someone other than Mr. Turner,” Melissa said bravely. Once more her parents looked at one another but this time, it was in disbelief.

  “Engaged to who!” Her father raised his voice.

  “His name is Roger, he works on a ranch, and we have been exchanging letters for many months now.”

  “But what about Mr. Turner?” her mother said. She had a scandalized look on her face, it was like she could hear the neighbors talking about this already. “You can’t be engaged to two people at the same time!”

  “As far as I’m concerned, I was never engaged to Mr. Turner. He never proposed to me and I never accepted. Roger has proposed, and I have accepted,” Melissa said.

  “This is ridiculous Melissa,” her father said, “I’m not listening to any more of this rubbish,” then turning to her mother said, “You can sort this out with her,” and he stomped out of the room.

  When they were alone, her mother took on a more sympathetic tone.

  “I understand that you are worried, but this is a little extreme, don’t you think?” she asked Melissa.

  “I love him,” Melissa said.

  “You’ve met this man?”

  “No,” she knew this information wasn’t going to do her argument any favors and at that moment Melissa knew that there was no way she was going to be able to convince her family. She would simply have to play out this argument and then pretend to concede to their demands. After that she would have to sneak away and leave; this was not what she had wanted but she could see now that she wasn’t going to have any other choice. So she went through the motions with her mother and then went to bed without agreeing to anything, as she would normally do if they were arguing. The only difference was that the tears she cried that night when she was alone in bed were not of frustration but of sorrow that she had to start her new life without the blessing of her family.

  The next day, after a frosty breakfast, (she couldn’t pretend to give in just yet) she went into town and bought a train ticket. While she was at the station, she wrote a new letter to Roger to tell him that she would be on her way very soon.

  As she left the post office, she literally bumped into Turner. He stopped and gave her a condescending look and she was sure he was about to say something derogatory about her until he realized that it was her.

  “What has you out here on your own?” he asked looking around to see if anyone was with her. For a moment Melissa did not know how to answer this, she said quickly,

  “I was buying stamps for my mother,” and she could feel the lie crawl over her face. He looked at her and nodded as though he didn’t care.

  “Do you need a lift home?” he asked.

  “No, thank you, I actually enjoyed the walk here and was looking forward to walking back too.”

  “Suit yourself,” he said gruffly. “I have some business in the post office myself, so goodbye,” he said and he walked in without waiting for her to say anything else. Melissa thought this was quite rude and she was even more resolved than ever to escape a life with this man.

  That evening at dinner, she apologized to her parents.

  “Think nothing of it,” her father said. He was in a good mood because of some deal or other at work that had gone his way.

  “You’ll be happy, dear,” her mother added taking hold of her hand and squeezing it.

  “I know I will,” Melissa said and she looked down at her food so as not to betray what she was thinking; that she knew she would be happy because she planned to escape to Roger the next morning. There was no more talk about Roger or even Turner that evening. Melissa wondered what dinner would be like when it was just her two parents. This led her to think what her own meals of the future with Roger would be like. Before she went to bed that evening, she said sorry to her parents again and told them that she loved them both very much. There were tears in her eyes as she went off to her bedroom for the last time.

  Melissa listened to the house and heard her parents go to bed. It was gone midnight and she knew she would have to be out of the house by five if she was going to catch her train. She started packing a bag as soon as the house was quiet. She knew she could not bring a large bag as she would be carrying it most of the journey and she did not want to be uncomfortable. She carefully packed away the wedding dress her mother had made her buy; there was no point in it going to waste after all.

  Melissa left the house just as the sun was about to rise and she found that thought she was exhilarated she was also terrified of the quiet of the morning streets. There was no one else around and everything looked more sinister than it did during the day. Thankfully by the time she got to the train station, it was more light out and there were more people about as well. She got on the train and took a seat by the window. There were not too many other passengers for this train and she looked around and didn’t recognize anyone at all. She settled down in her chair in the hope that she could get some sleep before anyone came and sat near her. She had stayed up all night as she was too afraid to sleep; she was sure she would have missed her train and she didn’t have the money for another ticket just yet.

  Chapter 6

  Roger met the postman at the creek on his way to deliver letters to the ranch.

  “I can save you the trip if you want?” Roger offered. It was a hot day and he would be heading over to the house in a little bit anyway.

  “That would be great,” the postman said, “It’s terribly hot out today and I have a lot of deliveries to make, I wish there were a forest or some other deep cool place I could travel through today,” he added good-naturedly. Roger took the letters and put them in his saddle bag. He went to the fence to the north of the property and fixed some damage that had been done and then rode back towards the ranch for his lunch. As he got off the horse, he remembered the letters and he took them out.

  Mr. Hughes, the ranch owner, was in the kitchen where all the men would have lunch and Roger handed him the letters after they had exchanged greetings and Roger told him about the fixed fence. Hughes looked through the mail,

  “There’s one here for you Roger,” he said. Roger turned and saw Hughes was holding up a letter. He recognized the envelope immediately, it was from her. He hadn’t even thought to look at the pile the postman had given him even though his mail was often delivered to the ranch instead of his home. He got the letter from Mr. Hughes and put in his pocket. He felt self-conscious at the idea of opening it in front of his boss.

  All through lunch, he found himself fingering the paper as he ate. He had to force his hand away and hope that none of the other ranch hands would question him about the letter, and why it seemed so important to him. As luck would have it, he was assigned to work with two other men for the
rest of the afternoon. He would have no chance to look at the letter at all until he got home.

  When at last, he was in the private safety of his home, he pulled the letter from his pocket and carefully opened the envelope. He was delighted to read that Melissa would soon be on her way. It suddenly felt much more real to him what had been going on between them this last while. He found that he was actually giddy at the thought of his future wife getting on that train and winging her way to him.

  Roger began to work on the house and making the improvements he had told her about in one of his earlier letters. He knew that he wouldn’t get everything done before she arrived but would do his best to finish a small room that she could call her own until they got to know each other better as man and wife. The work was hard and tiring after his long days at the ranch but there was a sense of purpose to him now like nothing he had ever known. This was the first thing in his entire life that ever had real meaning, real substance. He wanted Melissa to be happy, not just with him, but also with where she would now live. He understood that rural living was going to be quite a change from her city life in New York. He could recall his own first forays into the West, and how different he had found things all those years ago.

  Not long after receiving the letter, there was another one on his porch waiting for him one evening as he came back from the ranch. This time, he did not recognize the envelope and he was surprised to find that it was from Melissa. He read through the letter and was shocked by its contents. Melissa told him that she had been in arranged engagement to a horrible man she could never love and that she was fleeing her home to marry Roger without her parents’ consent. They would not even know where she had gone until she wrote them a letter from Roger’s home. There was worse news in the letter, however. Melissa told him that the man she had been engaged to had somehow found out where she was going and had confronted her as she changed trains some distance from her home. She had managed to give him the slip, but at the cost of missing her train and as such she would arrive a day or two later than she had anticipated. Melissa said that she was sorry she had not been more honest with him and that she hoped he would still feel the same way about her. She added that she would understand if he did not.