by Sarah Thorn
“It’s a girl. Minnie. She’s seven months old.”
Cathy smiled. “That’s a wonderful age. They are adorable when they are that little.”
Robin snorted. “I suppose we will see.”
“I do hope that you are able to get used to it.” Cathy was a little afraid for the child, seeing Robin’s reaction to just the knowledge of the baby. It wouldn’t do to have a resentful woman raising another woman’s child. Children could sense that. “Perhaps I can help you even if we aren’t living together. I will be glad to come and help.”
Robin nodded, her face softening a little bit. When she spoke, her tone was a bit less harsh. “I would appreciate that, Cathy. I must admit, I’m intimidated right now. I don’t know what’s going to happen and don’t like to not have control of my life.”
“Why did you accept the proposal if you knew you would not really want a child?” Cathy asked.
“It was the only ad I saw. And I needed to get out of this town. I don’t like it here.”
“I’m sorry.”
The train jerked to a start, and all three women looked out the window to watch as the train station disappeared and the scenery began to pass at a rapid rate.
“Don’t be. I will adjust. I always do.”
“I am very afraid I will not like the man I’m going to be with.” Joy spoke up, and the women looked at her. “I am only doing this because my father wanted me to. I don’t really want to be so far away from them and be with a man who might not be nice to me.”
“Well, you’re on your way already,” Robin said. “You better get used to it.”
Cathy gave Robin a frown and leaned forward to pat Joy’s knee. “Don’t you worry too much, Joy. We’ll be here for you. Won’t we, Robin?” She gave the woman a direct hard look, and Robin blinked, seeming to ease up a bit.
“Of course, we will, Joy. We will take care of you.”
Joy smiled again, and her face brightened just a little. “Thank you, Cathy. Robin. I don’t like being so weak.”
“You aren’t weak,” Cathy said. “You’ve just not reached your full potential yet. You’ve got time. It will be okay.”
“I hope so.”
“You know, we could take care of each other whether or not the men are who we want them to be,” Robin said. “We should make a vow right now that if the men are not who we would like, we will leave them.”
“Oh, that sounds very harsh and scary.” Joy said. “What if I’m the only one who doesn’t like my husband? If the two of you are happy, I will be left all alone.”
“No, because we will get you away from him.”
“How?”
“I don’t know!” Robin looked frustrated but quickly wiped the look off her face and smiled again. “I mean, we will do everything we can to protect you. We will protect each other. You see?”
Joy looked down at her hands. “I do.”
“We won’t let you be hurt.” Robin held out one hand to her and one to Cathy. When they took her hands, she squeezed them and said in a determined voice, “I vow to protect my two new sisters with everything I have to keep them safe from harm. Now you say it.”
“I vow to protect my two new sisters from everything I have to keep them safe from harm,” Cathy said immediately, squeezing the ladies’ hands. She and Robin looked at Joy.
“I won’t be able to do much to keep you safe.” They could see a trace of amusement in Joy’s face as she spoke. “But I will try. I vow to protect my two new sisters from anything that would harm them.”
Robin nodded. “Close enough.”
“I think you will be the one who will protect us, Robin.” Joy smiled at her.
Robin chuckled. “You may be right, but it will be nice to have you both there with me.” She looked at Cathy. “What’s your story, Cathy? Why are you here?”
It was Cathy’s turn to look shy. She lowered her eyes and touched her left leg. “I have a…deformity. My sister’s husband said it would be good for me to leave home and go to a man who had not yet seen me.”
“What?” Robin looked outraged and angry. “Your brother-in-law told you that you needed to be bought and sold like a slave because you have a physical problem? What’s wrong with you, anyway? You’re beautiful!”
Cathy didn’t feel beautiful, and she knew that Robin was only being kind. She was not as pretty as either her or Joy. She was a bigger woman, with a full figure and a plump face. Her hair was straight and dark brown. She kept it neatly pinned back with barrettes and clips. It reached only down to her shoulders because her father had not wanted her to have long hair. She was anxious to let it grow. She had always wanted very long hair like Robin and Joy’s, even if it was the color of a rat, which was what her father had told her.
“Thank you for saying so, Robin. My…my left leg is a little shorter than my right. I…don’t walk like everyone else.”
Robin sniffed. “I am appalled that your own family would say such things to you! Makes me glad I don’t have family like that!”
Joy looked out the window. Her own father had always been kind and decent to her and her brothers and mother. He worked hard constructing new houses for people who moved into the city and had sometimes taken her out with him to one of the sites, just to get her out of the house. She was miserable at the schoolhouse, so he pulled her out and educated her at home.
Cathy shook her head. “He’s otherwise decent, Robin.”
“And not all families are like hers.” Joy murmured.
“Do you get along well with your father, Joy? Even though he sent you away?”
Joy nodded. “He was only doing what he thought was right. And I trust him.”
“If you were miserable, would he send a ticket to bring you home?”
The young woman nodded again. “I do think he would, Robin, yes.”
Robin nodded. “All right then, if you are unhappy in Nevada, I will write to him for you and you can go home.”
Joy smiled softly. “Thank you.” Her voice was almost a whisper.
“In fact,” Robin looked from Cathy to Joy and back again. “If any of us are miserable, and we would rather be with one of the other men, we should make it known. Not to them, but to each other. That way, we can work on switching or getting out of there. I don’t know about you, but I’m not signing my life away here. I want to be happy. If I’m not happy, no one else is going to be either.”
Cathy couldn’t help but giggle. Robin was like a raging fire. She was glad the woman was coming with them.
“I’ll agree to that,” she said, nodding. They both looked at Joy, whose eyes opened wide. She looked frightened but nodded anyway.
“All right.”
Chapter Two
The three women were laughing by the time the train pulled into the station. They all stood up when the attendant came through the car, announcing their stop. Joy had taken to knitting the last hour, so she hurriedly put her needles and yarn into her sewing bag and gathered her things. When they had left Virginia, it had been a little cool, so they all had jackets, scarfs, and gloves. These were stripped off as the day wore on and they reached the warmer side of the country.
They stepped off the train, whispering to each other and giggling about whether or not their men would be tall, handsome, kind.
“All right, ladies, here we go,” Robin said, spotting three men coming directly at them. “That’s probably them. I wonder who is who?”
“We are about to find out.” Cathy murmured as the men got closer.
The men reached them and stood a few feet away for a moment as they all looked at each other, unsure how to introduce themselves.
“You are the ladies from Virginia?” One of them asked.
They all nodded, but Robin stepped forward. “I am Robin Foreman,” She said holding out her hand. The man who had spoken first took it and brought it to his lips.
“How do you do?” He said, smiling at her and moving his eyes to the other ladies. “I am Joseph Cooke. The
se are my brothers, Victor, and Benjamin.” He held out his hand to indicate who was who.
Robin looked at Victor. He was taller than her that she was glad of. He was muscular and looked strong and formidable. She could immediately picture herself getting into arguments with him and was saddened by her thought. She hoped it didn’t show on her face. She bowed her head to him and moved to stand in front of him. “You are the man who sent for me?”
Victor nodded and smiled. “Hello. Please allow me to take your bags. Shall we go in and get the rest of your luggage? I believe they are removing it from the train now.”
“That would be fine. This is Joy and Cathy.”
The men nodded at them.
Joy smiled shyly at Benjamin. He was not as tall as his brothers, appeared to be the youngest, and she thought he was very handsome. His skin was tan from being outdoors. His hair was dark brown, short and curly. His blue eyes were kind and gentle. She immediately liked him. He smiled back and kissed her hand when she offered it to him.
“Hello, Joy,” He said. His heart was thumping in his chest, and he was sending silent prayers of thanks to God for the woman he was seeing in front of him. She was beautiful and looked like she would not be combative in any way, unlike his brother’s potential wife, Robin. He was glad Robin was not chosen for him. He disliked a lot of action, noise, and confrontation. He hoped his relief didn’t show on his face.
“Hello, Ben.” Her voice was soft and light. He liked that, too.
“Shall we?” He held out his hand toward the building, never taking his eyes from her face.
“Yes.” Joy nodded, and the two of them followed Victor and Robin into the building, leaving Cathy and Joseph behind.
“I guess that leaves us,” Joseph said, lifting one side of his lips in a half-smile.
“I guess it does.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Cathy.”
“And you, as well, Joseph.”
“Please call me Joe. There’s not need to stand on formality if we are to be married. Let’s go in. No sense in standing out here staring at each other.”
Cathy smiled. “I agree.” She was anxious that he would disapprove of her. She had not seen a spark of interest in his eyes, not like she had seen between Ben and Joy, who were obviously a good match for each other. She was nervous about Joe seeing her limp and finding her unattractive because she was not as pretty as the other two. No matter what she did, she would not be able to hide the limp. She began to walk next to him, completely self-conscious of herself. She saw him cast a side-glance toward her and knew that he had seen the flaw.
She tried not to look at his face because she was afraid of what she would see there. He looked like a nice man. He had wavy brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. It was obvious he spent a lot of time working with his hands. She had noticed when he took hers to give it a soft kiss that his hands were rough and calloused. She wondered what he was thinking but didn’t want to ask.
Joe was trying not to be disappointed by the woman who had responded to his ad. She was pretty enough; he didn’t mind that. But he didn’t feel an attraction like he had hoped he would. He wondered if she felt an attraction to him. He hadn’t seen anything immediate on her face.
They approached the others from behind, watching as the men picked up the bags indicated by the women. Joe turned to her.
“Which one is yours, dear?” Joe asked her. A feeling of peace warmed her chest, and she looked at him.
“These two are mine,” she said. He smiled at her and picked them up.
Unfortunately, she noticed that his smile didn’t reach his eyes and could tell he was being polite. It made her feel a little sad. His face registered no attraction to her. That was what she had expected. He picked up her bags and moved to walk with his brothers as they went back out the door, talking to each other. Cathy joined Robin and Joy. Joy looked elated. There was no trace of her shy behavior from the train ride. She was watching Ben walk, her eyes wide and happy. She gave Robin and Cathy a big smile.
“What do you think?” She whispered to them.
Robin’s face was disapproving. She looked down at Cathy and then back at Joy. “I think we should wait until we are alone this evening to talk about it.” She kept her voice low, but the other two women could tell she was less than pleased.
Joy looked at her sympathetically. “I’m happy that Ben chose me,” She said, sounding like a little girl with present no one else liked.
“You are lucky.” Robin murmured. “but we can talk about this later. Let’s go see what our new home looks like!”
She hurried a little to catch up with the men and touched Victor on his arm. “Victor?”
The three men made room for the women to walk beside them. “Are we all residing together?”
“Yes,” Victor answered. “We have a large house that we’ve lived in since we were children. Our parents are deceased, and we took ownership of the house. I see no reason why we can’t all live there together. Do you?”
Robin shook her head. “No, I don’t. As you know, we three are new to each other, this state and our surroundings. I think it would be beneficial if we were to stay together so that we can offer support to one another after having left our families and homes behind.”
“I think that’s wise,” Joe spoke up. Robin looked at him and nodded.
“And where is your daughter?” Robin asked Victor.
“I left her at the house with a woman who has been watching her for me since she was born. My wife died in childbirth.”
“Is that why you sent for me?”
“Essentially.”
Robin nodded. She tried desperately to keep a look of irritation from her face. She hadn’t been called to Nevada to be a wife. She’d been called to be a mother. It was the last thing she wanted to do. She wished she hadn’t answered the ad. She kept the frown from her face and smiled instead. “I will be glad to meet her.” She lied.
“I’m sure she will love you. She is a happy baby, rarely cries or has any ailments.”
“That’s good to know.”
“I would like to offer to help with the baby,” Cathy spoke up, sending a wave of relief through Robin. “I am fond of children, having helped my sister raise her two babies from the time they were born.”
Robin saw how Victor’s face lit up, and he smiled at Cathy. “That would be wonderful,” he said.
Cathy smiled back at him.
“This is our carriage.” Victor stopped in the parking area, swiftly slinging the two bags Robin had brought with her into the back compartment. He came around to the side to offer his hand to Robin so she could easily step up into the carriage while his brothers put the other bags in the back.
When Victor offered his hand to Cathy so she could get in, they smiled at each other again. Cathy felt a flutter in her heart that she tried to ignore. This was not the man she was assigned to. She wondered if Robin was serious when she said that they would discuss switching who they were with. And there was no way to know if Joe and Robin would get along. Robin was a fireball. That might be what Victor would prefer.
Victor also held his hand out to Joy but Ben was by her side quickly, and he stepped in front of his brother. “I believe you are with me?” He smiled wide and Joy couldn’t help smiling back. He took her hand and helped her up before turning his grin to his brother. “Back off.” He and his brother chuckled, and Ben followed Joy into the carriage, settling in the seat next to her.
The ride to the house started out quiet. Eventually, Robin couldn’t hold back and asked the brothers, “May I ask what prompted the three of you to seek wives at this time?”
Victor responded. “I have been thinking since Minnie was born that I need help with her. It isn’t the only reason I chose to send for you, please understand. I do value a woman in my life. However, I…felt that it was too soon before now to seek out anything of this kind.”
“That’s why he’s had Hannah coming to care for her every day.” Joe put
in.
“Yes, that’s right.” Victor nodded.
“May I ask why you didn’t choose Hannah as a potential bride?” Cathy asked.
“Hannah is Amish. She only came to help out because her father is a friend of mine.”
“You are friends with an Amish person?” All that Cathy knew about the Amish was that they were separated from everyone else. She’d seen them in town a few times but had never conversed with any of them.
“They are good people,” Victor said. “They are very driven by their beliefs, yes. We have a local community that lives not far from my ranch. There was an accident with one of their buggies, it was funny, really, and I stopped to help them and made friends with several of their men.” He saw the looks on the women’s faces and said quickly, “No one was hurt in the accident.”
“What happened?” Cathy asked.
“A wheel fell off, and Ezekiel only had three little daughters with him. Without help, he was at a loss. I saw him when passing and stopped to help. After that, we went to have dinner at their home, and they gave us a lovely tour of their community. It is a nice atmosphere though I would not be able to live under such strict conditions.”
“Do you attend church?” Robin asked.
“We do. All three of us.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She nodded approvingly.
“Me too.” Joy finally said something and the others looked at her. “My father took me to church every Sunday and sometimes during the week, they would have social gatherings and parties he would take me too.”
“Did your mother go along as well?”
Joy dropped her eyes, a sorrowful look on her face. “No, my mother died of tuberculosis when I was twelve.”
Benjamin took her hand and squeezed it. “I am so sorry to hear that, my dear.”
When they looked at each other, everyone in the carriage knew that their match was a good one.