by Emma Ashwood
If you choose to write back I would like to learn more about your ranch, your family and the climate in Texas at this time of year. Boston has snow on most days at this time, while it is freezing on others.
Yours truly,
Annie Mason
10 February 1882
My dearest Annie,
I hope you don’t mind the familiarity with which I initiate this letter, but your writing made me feel as if we have met. When I placed the advertisement I didn’t expect to reap any rewards, but it was clear from the first sentence that I was blessed the moment you decided to correspond with me.
I’m sorry to hear about the passing of your mother and your step-father’s behavior. Sometimes in life things happen which we cannot explain. Sometimes we just have to accept them, those are the hardest times of all.
I have a herd of about two thousand cattle. My ranch is very large, like most things in Texas. I enjoy nothing more than riding the range on my stallion and watching the sun fall in the west after a long day of working with the cattle.
The weather in Texas is much different to the weather in Boston, I suppose. The nights are cool, but the days are temperate, requiring at most a light coat. There was one thing you failed to mention in your letter to me, do you believe in the living God? I hope to find a wife who shares my beliefs and will help me teach our children one day of God’s grace.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Yours Truly,
Carson Evans
25 February 1882
My dearest Carson
I did not mind the familiarity of your letter. I enjoyed reading about your ranch and the cattle. I can’t imagine how breathtaking a sunset must be on such a vast landscape. You sound like a kind man; one who I imagine loves his family very much.
I have no siblings but always dreamed of having sisters; you are very blessed to have two and your mother also with you. As for your question about my faith, I do believe. Is it wrong for me to believe that God caused me to respond to your letter?
Since first reading your advertisement I’ve been eager to hear from you. Spring is on the way in Boston and the snow is melting, causing a messy sludge of mud in the streets. But I don’t concern myself with the dirt or the complaints; I only concern myself with the mail arriving.
I’m not sure whether you’re corresponding with other women, but I’d like to assure you that I’m corresponding only with you. I wish you a pleasant week and good health for you and yours. If you have told your family about our correspondence, please forward my greetings to them as well.
Yours truly,
Annie.
For three months Cassidy and Bonnie took turns writing to Annie. Both sisters agreed that with every letter they liked Annie more. She seemed like a sweet girl with a good heart who was eager to find love. There wasn’t a single doubt in Cassidy and Bonnie’s minds that Carson would fall head over heels in love with the girl from Boston.
When May came to an end and they collected another letter from the post office, it was Bonnie who simply sighed with joy.
“She’s describing spring in Boston and wishing Carson a happy springtime in Texas. She sounds wonderful, Cassidy. We should propose.”
Cassidy almost fell over her own feet as they walked back to the wagon. They had taken to collecting letters from the mail office and responding from the wagon to immediately submit a response.
Cassidy turned to Bonnie with a frown. “We don’t even know her!”
“We do. We know more about her than any other girl in town. She’s sweet and kind and likes to sew. She tells Carson about her childhood, and her favorite food, and she even wrote about thinking of him when she glanced up at the star-dotted sky. She’s in love, Cassidy. It’s time.”
Cassidy debated for a moment, but she couldn’t argue. Unless Annie Evans was a pathological liar, the girl was perfect for Carson. Young, pretty and well-educated – their brother wouldn’t find a better match if he had to search for one himself.
She drew in a deep breath. “Fine, but I’m writing the proposal. That last letter where you waxed on about branding and neutering probably terrified the poor girl.”
Bonnie chuckled. “I thought that was something Carson would have wanted to share with her.”
“I doubt that,” Cassidy said moving towards the wagon. “We’ll make the proposal simple. A short letter. Oh, what about her costs for coming to Texas? Surely a suitor would send her money?”
Bonnie nodded with a frown before she pulled a bracelet off of her arm. “Pa gave me this when I turned sixteen. I’ve no use for it now. While I sell this to earn her train fare, you write the best proposal imaginable.”
Cassidy nodded. She had sold her bracelet to pay for their father’s funeral. It warmed her heart that Bonnie was willing to sell hers for a good cause as well. Now they just had to make sure Annie Evans didn’t spend the money and forget all about Carson.
Chapter 7
3 June 1882, Boston, Massachusetts
Annie opened the hatch in the dining room carefully, making sure it didn’t make the slightest squeak. Over the last few months it had become achingly clear that the servants were in two different camps. Half were in support of Damien, thinking Annie was ungrateful and spoiled. These couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t want to marry a man like Damien, although if Annie was honest she believed they were on that side of the fence because they feared losing their jobs.
The remaining staff whispered in hushed tones about needing to save Annie and helping her escape whenever Damien began his stumbling, bumbling, drunken ramblings. But since Annie wasn’t sure with whom the butler sided, she took careful care when she snooped about the house whenever Damien was out.
When she had asked Damien about her jewelry box, he had simply stated that since she wasn’t going anywhere, she could have it after their wedding. Of course Annie had no intention of marrying Damien, although July was looming only weeks away. She had to believe that prayers would work and that she would find a way out of Boston before Damien dragged her down the aisle kicking and screaming.
The hatch finally gave way and Annie had to be careful not to let her breath catch when she saw her jewelry box safely tucked inside. Damien had just lost the battle, she thought with a smile as she checked its contents. Both the brooch and the necklace were safely tucked into the velvet pouch inside.
Annie closed the hatch just in time as her lady’s maid rushed into the dining room. “Miss Evans, this just came for you.”
Annie’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of the letter. Although she had told no one about her correspondence with Carson Evans, she had a feeling her lady’s maid knew about the letters she had safely hidden in her bureau. After tucking the letter into her bodice, making sure no one saw it, Annie headed through the foyer to read it in the privacy of her bedroom. It was then that the front door burst open.
“There you are, you ungrateful little witch!” Damien scowled moving towards her. “You’ve been hidin’ long enough. It’s time you understood what’s expected of you.”
He reeked of drink and his eyes were bloodshot from too little sleep. It only took a glance through their once impressive brownstone to notice that their finances were dwindling as fast as Damien could gamble them away.
Annie’s heart jumped into her throat. “Damien, you look tired, perhaps you should lie down.” Annie tried to appease him, hoping the coaxing would help him realize he had an audience of servants and the butler.
“You’re right. I’m tired,” Damien said, grabbing her upper arm in a vice-like grip. “I’m tired of you prancing about this house as if it was yours. You’re not the lady of the house and unless your clothes are moved into my room by tomorrow morning, you’ll find yourself out on the street.”
His laughter was pure evil and for a moment Annie didn’t recognize him as the man who had played the part of her step-father for so long. Then again, perhaps he had simply been playing the part all along.
&nbs
p; Annie tried to release her arm, but he only tightened his grip. “Damien, you’re hurting me.”
Damien laughed as he shoved her to the ground. “Sometimes a woman needs a hard hand to know her place in life.”
Horror flashed through Annie’s body as memories rushed back of her mother crying. Memories of shouting in the middle of the night. Had he abused her mother? Anger quickly replaced the horror, but Annie made sure it didn’t show.
She turned to her lady’s maid and straightened her dress as she stood up. “You unpack my bureau and wardrobe, Lily. It had best be moved by morning.”
Lily’s eyes were wide with surprise, but she nodded before rushing upstairs.
Damien smiled at her in a way that made her skin crawl. “Good girl. I’ll make arrangements for us to be married in the morning.”
He turned on his heel and stumbled back out the front door. It was as if a symphony of sighs of relief sounded through the foyer. Annie didn’t give them a moment’s thought. Now that she knew the location of the jewelry box, she could leave. She rushed upstairs to find Lily standing in the middle of the room with a frightened expression.
“Annie, you can’t marry him.”
Annie shook her head as she remembered the letter in her bodice. She pulled it out and scanned the words, and a wave of relief washed over her. Tucked in the envelope was enough money for her train fare along with a little spare.
“No, I’m going to marry Carson Evans in Texas. Quick Lily, we need to pack my things. I need to leave before he comes back.”
With lightning speed Lily packed Annie’s belongings into a carpet bag while Annie retrieved her stolen jewelry box. Her heart was racing a mile a minute as she placed the box in her large purse. She quickly scanned the contents and found her mother’s will alongside the brooch and the necklace. Luckily no one could accuse her of stealing the jewels now that she had the last testament as proof, she thought as she rushed upstairs to collect her carpet bag. She had to send a telegram since a letter wouldn’t arrive in San Antonio in time, before she could board the train heading south. Right now she didn’t care what the servants thought, or that Damien might report her to the sheriff for taking the jewelry box. All she cared about was getting out of Boston before morning dawned.
Lilly gave her a hug and wished her well. Annie looked over the many clothes she would be leaving behind, knowing full well she couldn’t take them all. “Lily, take the clothes and find yourself a husband in the West. You deserve better than this.”
Annie didn’t look back as she rushed out of the brownstone she had called home. There was nothing left there for her. What hadn’t been taken for gambling debt had been sold to pay the servants’ wages. All that was left in that brownstone were memories, but Annie would take only the good ones with her.
Chapter 8
6 June 1882, San Antonio, Texas
Bonnie and Cassidy were both quiet during the wagon ride back to the ranch. They had been expecting to receive a letter from Annie in answer to the proposal. What they had not expected was the telegram sent four days hence, announcing that she was already on her way.
By the time they stopped the wagon in front of the ranch house, both girls knew that they were soon going to be in hot water. Annie would be arriving at the station in the morrow and, not only had they not yet told their brother what they had done, but they had led the poor girl to San Antonio under false pretenses.
Cassidy climbed out of the wagon and turned to Bonnie who was still clutching the telegram in her hands. “What are we going to do?”
Bonnie shook her head, her wide eyes betraying the guilt she no doubt felt. “I don’t know. I didn’t think she’d come. For some reason, I never thought she’d come. I thought she might ask Carson to travel east to meet her. I never… this is one right pretty mess.”
Cassidy squared her shoulders; now was not the time for regrets and doubts. Annie Mason would be in San Antonio tomorrow and frankly they didn’t have much of a choice. “We need to tell Carson.”
Bonnie’s eyes widened even more. “Have you gone mad? He’ll skin us both and hang us out to dry.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we can’t tell him. Maybe we can pretend she’s a friend coming to visit.”
Cassidy guffawed. “We don’t have friends in Boston, Bonnie. It’s time we faced the music. No more lies. It’s time we told Carson.”
Bonnie was about to open her mouth when Carson suddenly rounded the barn with a cocked brow. “Tell Carson what?”
Cassidy and Bonnie shared a terrified look, but Cassidy took a deep breath and plowed ahead. “Before I tell you, you need to know we meant no harm.”
Carson’s brow furrowed into a deeper frown. “Cassidy, what do you mean you meant no harm?” He turned to Bonnie who was staring down at her shoes as if they were the most interesting item in the world.
Cassidy let out a sigh. “It’s just that Ma wanted to see you married. We thought about searching in town, but there were no suitable…”
“Search for what?” Carson asked in a deathly low voice.
“A wife,” Cassidy said in a small voice.
Before Cassidy could explain, Bonnie rambled out the entire story, beginning with the advertisement they had posted in January, right through to the telegram she was now holding in her hand.
Carson didn’t say a word, he merely reached for the telegram and his face turned a frightening shade of red. He carefully read it before finally meeting his sisters’ guilty faces. “You thought I’d be happy if you found me a wife?” His voice didn’t raise a single notch but the anger in it had never been clearer.
“Carson, please… we were only trying to help?” Cassidy pleaded.
Carson shook his head and crumpled the telegram in his hand. “You went behind my back, lied to me, lied to Ma about your frequent trips into town and all the while you were corresponding with a mail order bride. It’s idleness, that’s what this is. You got no good use for your time and so you go cookin’ up things you have no business meddling in.”
“Carson, she seems really nice. We’re certain you’re going to like her,” Bonnie attempted to pacify him, but Carson was beyond reason.
“Have you ever considered that I might not want to get married? And if I wanted to, I would have found a wife in my own good time. You had no business doin’ this. You can explain that to her when she arrives tomorrow and then you can send her back on the first train to wherever she came from.”
“Boston,” Cassidy offered. “Carson, she can’t go back. Didn’t you hear what Bonnie said? Her step-father…”
“I don’t care. I don’t know her. I don’t even know what she looks like. She’s nothing to me, and you’d better make that clear the moment she steps off that train.”
“Carson, maybe if you just gave her a chance…” Bonnie pleaded again.
“No,” Carson said firmly. “I don’t want her on my ranch, and you can forget about me marryin’ some woman I don’t know. This is a mess you created; you’ll deal with it. I’m done cleanin’ up your messes. This time you’ve gone too far. Stay out of my way!” Carson turned on his heel and strode out of the barn, with anger bouncing off him in waves.
“Oh boy,” Bonnie said, sinking onto a bale of hay. “He’s real angry.”
Cassidy nodded. “We got no choice but to tell her tomorrow when we pick her up.”
“Pick her up. Didn’t you hear Carson? He doesn’t want her here.”
“That might be so, but we can’t very well leave her standing on the platform. We’ll bring her here until we… figure out something else for her. I can’t believe this has turned into such a mess.”
“It’s not a mess,” Bonnie insisted brightly. “I look forward to meetin’ her.”
“It’s another mouth to feed,” Cassidy said with a resigned sigh.
“I’ll eat less,” Bonnie insisted, although her characteristic positive nature quickly started to fail her for the first time in her life.
Maybe Carson was right, they had gone too far this time.
Chapter 9
7 June 1882, San Antonio, Texas
The following morning the tension in the Evans’ ranch house was palpable. It was twined around everyone like a rubber band that had been twisted too far and was ready to snap. Cassidy and Bonnie hardly spoke during breakfast and finally their mother could take it no more. She had joined her children for breakfast and Daphne Evans, although ill, was no fool.
“What’s goin’ on between you three?” she asked with a cocked brow.
Carson leaned back and turned to his sisters. “Why don’t you tell Ma about the woman you arranged to come to San Antonio to be my wife? The woman you don’t know from Adam and that will be arrivin’ today? The woman I never even heard of until yesterday?”
Cassidy almost flinched beneath his angry gaze. “Carson…”
“Is this true?” Daphne asked, horrified.
Both girls nodded, their gazes firmly fixed on the untouched food on their plates.
“While you ladies try and figure out a way out of this mess, I’ve got a ranch to run.” Carson stood up, his chair scraping over the wood floor and he walked outside leaving his mother and sisters alone.
“Everything,” Daphne said firmly. “I want to hear everythin’ right this minute. Why, I haven’t seen your brother so fussed up since those Mexicans stole his cattle a few years back.”
Bonnie turned to Cassidy who simply nodded and began explaining all that they had done. When Cassidy was finally done Daphne shook her head, clearly disappointed and furious at her daughters.