Christmas Mail Order Bride:
Jennie’s Christmas Baby Turnaround
Book One - Christmas Holiday
Western Historical Romance Series
By Jackie Marie Stephens
Copyright 2015 Jackie Marie Stephens
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Christmas Mail Order Bride: Jenny’s Christmas Baby Turnaround copyright © 2015 by Jackie Marie Stephens
Stephens, Jackie Marie (2015-12-25). Christmas Mail Order Bride: Jenny’s Christmas Baby Turnaround. (Christmas Holiday Western Historical Romance Series Book 1) Kindle Edition.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Life and Death
Chapter 2 – Taking Hold of the New
Chapter 3 – Deception
Chapter 4 – Homecoming
Chapter 5 – Rough Morning Encounter
Chapter 6 – Second Volcanic Eruption
Chapter 7 – Play At Last Then...
Chapter 8 – Secret Christmas
Chapter 9 – Breakthroughs
Author’s Note
Chapter 1 – Life and Death
December 3, 1892
Norwald County, New York
The cold seeped into the dirty hovel that the midwife had set them up in. Her sister was pale against the dirty sheets. Jennie could swear she saw lice or fleas of some kind of vermin hopping around the woolen blankets that the midwife now covered her sister’s body with.
The squalling babe in Jennie’s arms cried out its indignity at being born. Jennie looked down at the child, knowing that the poor little lass would neither know her mother nor father in this life.
The midwife held out hands still bloodied from the birth, black dirt and blood from other births hardening in the underside of her fingernails. Jennie pulled away, holding the bundle in her arms closer to her.
“Give her to me, girl. I’ll see she goes to a good Christian home.”
“An orphanage?” Jennie asked, looking down at the precious babe in her arms. She could not do that to her niece. Her sister would want her to be raised by blood family, not strangers who they didn’t know.
“An’ how are you going to be taking care of a little ‘un?” the horrid old woman asked. “Ye got no milk in those tiny dugs to feed the tyke with. She’ll be as dead as her whore mother in days.”
“My sister was no whore!” Jennie cried as she held the babe close to her chest. The little one stopped screaming her raspy cry as she nestled against her aunt’s bosom. She tried to suckle her through Jennie’s poor threadbare dress that barely kept the winter’s chill out.
“See, she’s hungry! How you going to raise her then?” the midwife smirked, knowing she was right.
“I’ll pay a wet nurse.”
“With what? The few coins that you scrounged to pay for my services? They aren’t nearly enough. I’ll take that pretty silver necklace on your sister’s neck in payment.”
“You will not!” Jennie cried again, her voice rising in anger. “Be gone foul witch, or I’ll cut your black heart out! Anything that belonged to my sister has now passed to me, including this child and the locket that is her only inheritance!”
“Such fight girl, you’d be best to whore yourself down at the docks to pay for the brat’s keep.” She chuckled as she packed up the bloody rags. “Be out of this room by six, or I’ll have you taken in for trespass and the brat will go to an orphanage. And get the body out of here too.”
The old hag left, taking the last coins that Jennie and her sister had managed to hoard for the price of the wretched midwife.
Jennie looked at her sister’s covered body.
“Oh, Gracie, why did you leave us? Your baby girl needs you more than ever!”
Barely eighteen, Jennie now found herself alone in the world with a newborn babe. She could never give up the beautiful gift that her sister had left her with.
Jennie looked down at the unnamed babe. “I’ll name you Gracie, like your mother.” She said, kissing the bloody scalp of the baby. She picked up a clean rag and dipped it into the tepid water that the midwife had left for the cleaning of the newborn.
Soon the little one was clean and her pink skin turned red as she began to cry for her mother’s teat. Jennie looked at the covered body of her sister. There was nothing else for it but to take the babe to the cooling breast and hope that her sister’s milk was still of use. It had dropped a day before she had given birth, the first sign of the impending arrival of little Gracie. Jennie was thankful for small miracles.
But now, she had a terrible, uncertain road ahead of her. How was she going to survive on nothing? And with a baby that would require food every few hours.
She was desperate to see the little one thrive and she knew that there was one person whom she could seek help from.
Laura, one of the women who lived in the halfway house where Jennie and Grace resided, had just given her own child up to an orphanage.
She had been the maid of a wealthy merchant who had seduced her with pretty words and false promises of leaving his wife for her and the child. But he had tossed her out as soon as she had begun to show her baby belly.
Her son had been born two days ago and taken immediately to the Nuns of Saint Catherine’s Convent by the same midwife Jennie had taken Gracie to. Now she had to find a mortician to remove her beloved sister’s body and find Laura to beg her for help with the baby.
She swaddled baby Gracie with a clean square of cloth, then wrapped her up in her mother’s coat to keep the winter’s chill out.
The snow lay thick on the ground as she carried her precious bundle through the streets. She skirted around men who were too drunk to find shelter before stopping to rest in the snowy street. She knew that their alcohol-induced slumber would be their last sleep taken on Earth.
Jennie walked quickly, heading to the halfway house where Laura was awaiting their return. Only two would be returning, not three.
Laura looked at the tear-streaked face of the young woman and heard the muffled whimper of the babe in her arms.
“Where’s…?”
Jennie shook her head. “She died giving birth. The midwife thinks she may have bled. I don’t know what to do!”
Laura held her hands out as the baby’s primal cry brought out her maternal instincts and her milk. The front of her dress dampened as Laura’s body responded to the newborn’s need.
“Give the baby to me, I’ll feed him.”
“Her.” Jennie said. “Her name is Gracie.”
She followed Laura to her room and watched as her infant niece suckled hungrily, taking nourishment at another woman’s breast.
“I have to see if some of
the boys will help to move my sister’s body. Will Gracie be all right here with you?” Laura looked up sadly from feeding a baby that was not her son and nodded.
“She will be fine, Jennie. When you get back, I may have an idea on how you might find a solution to your problem.”
“I’m not giving up my sister’s baby! She is the only family I have left!” Jennie stepped forward to snatch the baby from Laura’s arms should she dare to suggest giving up little Gracie.
“No, nothing like that. But have you thought about becoming a Mail Order Bride?” Laura reached carefully over to her nightstand where a piece of paper was laying. She handed it to Jennie.
“Daring young women wanted to be wed to handsome and rich men.” She read aloud then looked up at Laura, who was settling the now sleeping newborn on her bed and securing her with pillows and the covers.
“How… how am I going to marry a stranger? A man I do not love?”
“You need to think about the baby. She will need food, clothing, a warm place to sleep, a family. Can you provide that in the workhouse?” Laura asked.
“No, no I can’t. Not all of it,” she said, shaking her head sadly.
“Then go to the agency. Tell them that you’re very interested. They’ll take your information and match you up with a man. You’ll get married and you and Gracie will have a home.”
“All right, I’ll go and see them.” Jennie said as she looked down at the sleeping baby. For the little one, she would do anything. Even marry a complete stranger.
Chapter 2 – Taking Hold of the New
“Are you educated? Can you read, write and do simple sums?” the man asked as he sat behind a polished desk.
“Yes, Sir. My parents ensured I was educated in my younger years. I can also cook, clean and am capable of raising children.” Jennie sat with her hands folded on her lap, one foot tucked behind the other.
“Raising children? What experience do you have in this?”
“I am helping to raise my niece.”
“How old is your niece?”
“A baby, only a few weeks old.” That wasn’t quite true. Little Gracie wasn’t quite one week old yet but she was growing like a weed with Laura’s constant feeding.
“Hmm… And older children? Any experience dealing with older children?” he asked, looking at a page with his calligraphic handwriting on it. Jennie could see the words scrawled elegantly and showing through the thin sheet of paper.
“I am certain that I can handle older children, despite having little to no experience with them. I love children.”
“And you are a virgin? You have not had any intimate encounters with a man?” the agency owner asked her. She felt her cheeks coloring.
“That is a very private question to be asking, don’t you think?”
“Nevertheless, our clients prefer a woman who is still untouched in the bedchamber for their bride, as is only right. Now, are you, or are you not a virgin.”
“I am a virgin.” Jennie said, raising her chin a little.
“Excellent. Well I think that might be all, Miss…?” he asked.
“O’Connell.”
“I think we might have a match for you. He is most eager to take a bride before Christmas, but he lives over in the west. When can you leave?”
“I… I have no money for a journey. I’d have to earn my passage first.” Jennie said, her mind going quickly through the cost and logistics of such a journey.
“He has given us an allowance to give to his bride-to-be to get her to his home with expediency. Have you much to pack?”
“No, I have only a few items of clothing, no other larger possessions.”
“Excellent. Then allow me to make the arrangements and return here at three o’clock and we’ll finalize the contract. I’ll give you your train tickets and the extra money he gave for your travelling expenses.”
“Thank you.” The man finished with the paperwork and handed them over to her to look over.
“Now I’ll see you at three o’clock, Miss Jennie, make sure you have everything ready.” He stood up, offering his hand to her. “Congratulations on your upcoming marriage.”
“Thank You.” Jennie also stood up, feeling a little shaken, as she took the offered hand and shook it.
Things were progressing so quickly. She hadn’t expected to find a husband so soon.
She left the office and headed back to the halfway house, where Laura and the baby were waiting for her.
Jennie entered the small room where Laura was nursing Gracie, the baby making contented suckling sounds as she fed from her wet nurse.
“Well?” Laura asked, “What happened?”
“I have a match already. Apparently he is quite eager to take a bride before Christmas but he lives a few days travel away.” Jennie settled down on the bed.
“I have to pack for the journey and meet back with the agency at three o’clock to sign the contracts of marriage and then we depart at around four on the afternoon train.”
“We?” Laura asked.
“Yes. We. I can’t very well leave you here, now can I? I can’t feed Gracie. I need you. Come with us. Imagine what a great adventure it will be!”
“How will I get there? I have no money for a train ticket and what will I do once I get there? Where will I live and work?” Laura asked, doubtful of the sudden plan to go with Jennie and Gracie to the strange, wild western frontier that awaited them.
“We will work that out on the way! I can pay for a ticket for you. My husband-to-be gave me a small fortune in travelling expenses!”
Laura felt her excitement growing. “Jennie, it would be so good to get away to help forget this whole heartbreaking year. Making a fool of myself with that old lecher then having to give up my son. This is a chance to start a new life and to help you get settled with little Gracie!”
Jennie laughed. She and Laura hugged, being careful not to squish Gracie in the process.
“Well, let’s get to packing, shall we?”
The two women packed quickly then secured the baby in a hand basket, made comfortable with an old dress of her mother’s. Three o’clock came around quickly and Jennie left with a small suitcase of her possessions plus Laura’s bag.
Laura was to meet up with her at the train station, bringing Gracie and one remaining bag that had a few of Gracie’s mother’s things.
Jennie made a quick detour to the cemetery. A fresh plot had been left unmarked by a stone. But she had the plot number and the name. Her sister.
“When I can, I’ll give you a proper stone, Gracie and I will ensure that little Gracie knows her mother loved her very much.” She knelt at the grave and placed a bunch of flowers she had picked on the way onto the slightly damp earth.
Tears welled up in Jennie’s heart as pictures of her sister laughing flashed through her mind.
“Dear God, please help me to be strong. Guide me and clear this new path that lies before us. And take care of my sister Gracie who I know is with you now. Amen.”
Jennie got up and brushed the earth from her dress. It was time to go and meet her future husband.
Chapter 3 – Deception
December 7. 1892
Lechfield, Kansas
The steam billowed out the engine of the train as it chugged through the night. Jennie slept, leaning up against Laura while little Gracie slumbered peacefully in the basket.
The next day also passed uneventfully.
“Gracie seems to like the motion of the train. She’s been sleeping with a little smile on her face,” Jennie pointed to one now to show Laura.
“I know. I feel the same way. I’ve been sleeping much more myself.”
“It may also be because you’re breastfeeding. You’ve certainly been wolfing down all your food every time we go to eat!”
“Jennie, that’s not true!” Laura lightly slapped her on her arm, laughing.
“Yes it is. But it is so good to have you with me. Not only for Gracie so she has food but company f
or me too. I am nervous as it is but I hate to think what it would be like without you here to talk to and plot how we’ll handle things when we reach.”
“I’m a bit worried too. So many things can go wrong. Strange new husband for you. Strange new territory so far away from the only place we’ve ever lived. But we both need a fresh start and little Gracie certainly needs the best chance we can give her.”
Both Jennie and Laura got quiet, busy with their own thoughts, idly watching the countryside as the train hurtled along.
Finally, the train pulled into the last station. It was here that Jennie would meet her future husband.
She looked at Laura. They had agreed that she would not turn up until after the wedding, with the ‘news’ that her sister had passed on and the baby was left to her in the mother’s last will and testament.
It was not exactly a lie. It was just the timing that wasn’t right. Jennie felt a little ashamed of having to slightly mislead her husband-to-be.
She stepped off the train with a bag and looked around. Laura handed her the basket as she gathered the other bags. The station platform had cleared quickly and they were soon alone but for the station master and the conductor.
“Well, what now?” Laura asked, looking around. There was no one to meet them.
“I honestly don’t know.” Jennie’s breath grew shallow as her chest tightened. Was she stupid for trusting that everything would work out as planned?
The clipped footsteps of a man in a hurry echoed between the carriages and the station building.
“Miss Jennie?” a voice called to her. She and Laura both turned, Jennie clutching the precious basket in her hands.
“Yes?”
“Ah! I’m sorry I am late! My brother sent me to collect you and take you directly to the chapel for your wedding.” He looked her over once and then looked over Laura.
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