“You don’t have to,” he said.
“No, I want to share all of this with you,” she said as she began to read. “My dearest Caroline, You have no idea how relieved I was to get your letter. Even though Mrs. Danforth told us what had happened, I nearly went crazy with worry. When your husband told us that you were ill but that he was taking care of you, I realized that you were right where the Lord needed you to be.
“We never intended to make you run away. I should have listened to you when you told us that you didn’t want to be married to one of your father’s connections. He wants you to know that he will write to you himself soon. I won’t lie to you: We were both angry and disappointed in your behavior, but then we realized that you were no longer a little girl.
“As a married woman, you will have the responsibility of caring for your own family now. Put your best self forward, and pray. Listen to the Lord. I admit that I often need to be reminded of that part of the plan. I know that you will have the best life, and your father and I wish you nothing but unending happiness. Please write to us as soon as you get the chance. We can’t wait to hear from you.
“And if you’ll have us, we will visit just as soon as we can. Your loving mother.”
They were silent for a while after Caroline finished reading the letter. Finally Elliot said, “It sounds like things with your parents are OK.”
“They are,” she said. “Thanks to you. I can’t imagine where I would be right now if I hadn’t listened to God’s prompting me to come here.”
“You are definitely the answer to my prayers,” Elliot replied, as he leaned in to kiss her again.
When they broke apart, Caroline grinned, feeling better than she ever had. Maybe it was the fresh mountain air or the fact that things with her parents were OK. But she had a feeling that it really had to do with the love of the good man sitting right beside her, as he would be for the rest of their lives.
The End
A Pair of Brides
Chapter One
The train ride from North Carolina was rather brutal. Esther would be lying if she said she wasn’t exhausted from it. She sighed as she stepped off of the train car and picked her dress off the ground to avoid soiling it. Wyoming was a very dry state this time of year, and there was dust everywhere.
She glanced back and offered her hand to her sister, allowing her to step off the train carefully. The last thing she wanted was for her sister to go tumbling to the ground. Hannah looked around with wide blue eyes at the dusty landscape. Great mountains rose in the distance, though their tops were completely flat. It was a change of pace from the rolling hills of North Carolina and the great peaks of the Smoky Mountains.
Neither of the sisters knew what to expect when they had boarded the train headed West. The only thing they knew of the West was that it was brutal and nearly impossible to survive without a husband. It wasn’t the ideal place for them to be, but it was their only option. Two women on the run didn’t have much choice in where they ended up.
The only reason they’d been able to come West is because two brothers would sponsor them and give them the money for train tickets if they agreed to marry them when they arrived. Marriage in the West seemed to be much different than the way it was in North Carolina. Esther and Hannah shared a lot of reservations about their new home, but they had prayed for help, and this was God’s response. They weren’t going to turn it down.
They stepped off the train platform and into the main station where women in plain dresses walked around with coffee and water. They each took a metal mug of water and sat down on the wooden bench that ran the length of the wall farthest from the door.
Hannah was the first one to take a drink and gasped, wincing when the coppery water hit her tongue. She pulled the cup from her lips and wiped her mouth quickly, shaking her head.
“Oh, that is awful, Esther. Don’t drink it.”
Esther sighed and shook her head a little, sipping the water and wincing, though she managed to hold it down.
“We ought to get used to it, sis. This is what all of the water around here is going to taste like. We aren’t in Edenton anymore,” she chastised gently.
Hannah dropped her head, her fiery hair falling into her eyes. “Do you think this will be a safe place for us?”
“I don’t know. I hope so. God led us here, so we have to believe that he did so for a reason.”
Hannah nodded and rested her head against her sister’s shoulder. She closed her eyes and sighed. Everyone who walked past offered them strange looks. Their skin was pale and flawless, and their gowns were far too fashionable and flashy. Women in Wyoming often wore men’s clothing for work and plain dresses when they weren’t working. It was strange to see women dressed in such fancy clothing.
By the time the sun began to set, Esther was starting to feel nervous, even a little hopeless. Hannah was still dozing on her older sister’s shoulder. Esther was always the more responsible one, the one who kept their lives structured even when things were at their worst.
Just as Esther was considering finding an inn for the night, two tall men walked through the door of the train station. One of them was clearly scanning the room for someone or something, and the other took to chatting with the coffee woman.
Esther’s eyes lit up when they man’s stormy gaze fell on her. He crossed the room, hands shoved in the pockets of his black slacks. Both men were dressed nicely compared to some of the other men around town. They wore black pants, gray dress shirts and black vests. Their shirt sleeves were rolled up to their elbows, and their dark hair was slicked out of their eyes.
The man with the gray eyes came to stand in front of Esther, looking between her and her sister. “Esther and Hannah Miller?”
Esther looked up at the man and nearly jumped up, but she carefully eased her sister off of her shoulder so she could offer the man a polite curtsy. Hannah woke up and blinked blearily at the man, who was soon joined by his more social brother.
“You two must be the Henry brothers?” Esther said, twisting her hands in her skirt nervously.
“We are. Terribly sorry about the delay, ladies. We were busy with a client at the funeral home,” the second brother explained.
They were nearly identical, though the more reserved brother had steely eyes like a storm and the more talkative one had eyes as green as meadows. Green-Eyes offered Esther his hand and smile.
“I’m Caleb, and this upstanding gentleman is my brother, Aaron.”
Esther took their hands and shook them as Hannah stood up to shake their hands as well. In theory, they were already married to these men. They’d sent the documents out ahead of time, and the sisters had signed them before the money was sent. It was an insurance policy to keep mail-order brides from running off with the money.
Esther smiled and bowed her head to Aaron, whom she was married to, and Hannah moved to stand beside her husband.
“We hit the jackpot, brother,” Caleb said playfully, wrapping his arm around Hannah’s waist, making her giggle a bit.
“We did, didn’t we?” Aaron said with a smile, offering Esther his arm.
She took it hesitantly, blushing a little as they were led out of the train station and over to two horses. Esther and Hannah grew up riding horses, though they’d never been on one without a saddle. The brother’s helped them up and lead the horses down the muddy road.
“Sorry to rush you, ladies. I’m sure you wanted to see the town, but we need to get home before dark. You don’t want to be out on these roads after sundown.”
“Why not?” Hannah asked.
“There are bands of roaming thieves that come out at night and take advantage of people who are out when they aren’t supposed to be,” Aaron said, giving the two women serious looks as if to tell them they were those people.
Esther smiled and tucked some blond hair behind her ear. “You don’t have to worry about that with us. Hannah and I have been afraid of the dark for a long time. We try to stay inside whe
n the sun isn’t out.”
“It’s a good practice to keep up while you are here,” Caleb said seriously as he walked beside the horse carrying his wife. “There are animals that come out at night as well. We just need to be cautious.”
Captious was Esther’s philosophy. She didn’t want to be out past sunset any more than her husband wanted her to be. After a long week’s travel, she was just ready to get home and lie down.
Chapter Two
The sisters spent their first few weeks in Wyoming getting to know their husbands and finding their place in the little town. This was a place where women were expected to work just as hard as the men, and that was something Esther and Hannah weren’t used to. Women in Edenton were expected to be delicate and quiet and spend their time working on needlepoint or caring for children.
Since their arrival in Wyoming, they’d seen women working plows, tilling the soil and even skinning animals. Men never cared for the houses—that was still the women’s job—but it seemed women were allowed, and even encouraged, to take part in their husband’s work. It was the strangest thing they’d ever seen.
The two sisters were more than thankful that their husbands weren’t ranchers like many of the other men in town. The Henry brothers owned the only funeral home in town and, thanks to the lucrative business of death, they made a good living for themselves and their wives. Hannah and Esther weren’t expected to do a lot of the work they witnessed other women doing, which was fine by them.
Esther and Hannah were delicate women with tender fingers and porcelain skin. They were raised to be ladies and full intended to be ladies, even in this harsh world. The only thing they were expected to do for their husbands was to keep a clean house, cook dinner and care for their eventual children. Esther was more or less the caretaker of the house. Hannah could often be found outside in the garden digging up fruits and vegetables for their dinner. Despite the arid climate, plants seemed to thrive rather well.
The entire family lived in a small farmhouse that was attached to the funeral home. Although it unnerved them at first, they’d both grown accustomed to living next to the place where their husbands made their money. Hannah always seemed to be afraid of the bodies going in and out of the funeral home and only calmed down when Esther explained that death wasn’t a bad thing: When you died, you went to heaven. Caleb and Aaron were seeing to these people’s final wishes and helping their family handle their passing. It was an honorable job.
Hannah spent her time worrying about the dead, and Esther thanked God for sending them good husbands. They were both good men with big hearts and handsome faces. For some, they might have been hard to tell apart, but Esther could easily tell who was who.
Aaron was a good man, and Esther cared for him, but when she saw Caleb, she felt a flutter in her chest that she just didn’t feel with Aaron. Caleb was a playful soul with a hearty laugh and a bright smile. He was everything that Esther wasn’t but wanted to be. She felt drawn to him in a way that she couldn’t explain.
How was she going to explain the attraction to her sister, though? Caleb was her husband, and it was wrong for Esther to have feelings for him. Didn’t God say that you shouldn’t covet your neighbor’s wife? She was certain that applied to her sister’s husband as well. It was causing a moral crisis within Esther that she couldn’t even begin to reconcile it. Along with that particular worry was the fear that one of the brothers would find out about the sisters’ secret and send them away.
Hannah nudged Esther, breaking her from her thoughts. Esther never let her thoughts wander during church, so Hannah couldn’t help but worry. The preacher’s voice echoed through the small church. It’s vaulted ceilings made the single room look much larger than it was.
Esther jumped when her sister nudged her, and her eyes widened. She wasn’t about to talk during church, but the look in her sister’s eyes told her everything she needed to know. Hannah was concerned about her, and Esther hated it. When Hannah got concerned about something, she would often pursue an answer, and Esther just wasn’t willing to give it to her this time.
She dropped her hand between them in the pews and gently squeezed Hannah’s hand, hoping that would alleviate some of her worries. Esther didn’t want her sister to worry. Hannah suffered enough already so much, and she didn’t want to put any more stress on her sister.
When the stepped out of the church, Hannah ran up beside Esther and took her hand. “Esther, are you all right? You seemed so distant in church. You are always the one who kept me from daydreaming. What’s weighing you down? I can tell you can’t stop thinking about something,” she said.
Esther just smiled and patted her sister on the shoulder. “It’s nothing, Hannah. I just haven’t been sleeping well. It’s much colder here than it is back home, isn’t it?”
The question was clearly meant to derail the conversation, and it worked like a charm. “It is a lot colder. There are a lot of things that are different here. At least, we always have the church, right?”
Esther smiled, wrapping her arms around her sister and hugging her tight. “At least we have church,” she echoed.
Chapter Three
Esther tried desperately to ignore her longing for Caleb but the more she ignored it, the more difficult it became. Hannah wasn’t as observant as Esther, but she was starting to notice her sister’s longing looks.
Esther hated the way Hannah always seemed to be on the cusp of figuring it out. She was in the kitchen, furiously stirring a pot with soap, trying to get the solid bar to melt at least a little bit so that she could scrub the dishes. She grunted and threw the spoon down just as Caleb wandered into the kitchen.
“Esther, are you all right?”
She jumped and turned around, her back pressing into the counter as she stared at him with wide eyes. She’d been doing her best to avoid Caleb, but it was impossible when they lived in the same house.
“I’m fine,” she said quickly, wiping hair from her eyes.
He cocked a brow and stepped forward, reaching into the pot and pulling out the soap. His sleeves were rolled back, and he smiled as he cut a small corner off the bar of soap.
“You didn’t use lye soap in North Carolina?”
She shook her head slowly and looked down. Her cheeks were so hot they must have been glowing.. Caleb set the larger piece of soap on a dish beside the pot and began scrubbing it, adding to it a little more water from the bucket Esther had brought from the well.
“You seem stressed. In fact, you’ve seemed stressed since the moment you stepped off that train.”
“I’m always stressed. It’s what I get for being the responsible one,” Esther said softly, tucking hair behind her ear.
“That’s awfully rough. Have you always been the one in charge?”
“For the most part, yes. Mother and father expected me to take care of Hannah because I was five years older.”
“I suppose that’s the nice thing about being a twin: No one is obligated to be the one in charge. Aaron took that role willingly,” he said as he lifted the heavy pot and carried it outside to dump the water.
Esther followed him, wanting to hear anything Caleb said. He did that to her. He was able to grab her attention and keep her focused with just a few words. He glanced back at her and handed her the empty pot, tucking his hands in his pockets.
“They say that opposites attract, so I have to admit that I’m a little surprised that you are married to my brother. Just try and figure out how to calm down a little. You are going to drive yourself mad if you worry about every little thing out here.” He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek.
As he walked away to return to the funeral home, Esther, shocked by the tender kiss and how good it felt, nearly dropped the heavy pot on her foot. The only thing she could think to do was pray for the strength to resist the urge to fall for Caleb. Lord knew she needed it.
_______________
A few days passed and Esther couldn’t get the encounter with Caleb
out of her head. She was sitting on the edge of the porch, her pale legs hanging over the side and swinging freely in the cool night air. There were lightning bugs dancing in the sky, and Esther was surprised at just how peaceful the night felt. Catching the flash of one of the bugs out of her eye made her smile. At least this was something familiar. She was finding herself missing home every day, but she knew they couldn’t go back.
Hannah sat next to her, staring up at the twinkling stars in the sky. “It seems like it gets darker out here than it did back home,” she mused.
“There are fewer people,” Esther said, glancing at her sister.
“I suppose so. I like the dark, though. I know I used to be scared of it, but it feels purer out here. This feels like God’s country, like this is what the world was supposed to be like before people started destroying it.”
“That sounds about right,” Esther said, sounding far away and unfocused.
Hannah sighed and leaned forward, putting her chin in her hands to look up at the sky. “Can I tell you something?”
Esther didn’t care for that question. It normally came with bad news. She glanced over at Hannah and put an arm around her, nodding.
“Of course you can.”
Hannah was silent for a moment as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I feel like God didn’t mean for me to marry Caleb.”
Esther’s eyes widened, and she frowned. “What do you mean? They brought us here. This saved us.”
“I know, and I’m thankful, but sometimes I feel like I was meant to be with Aaron. I can’t explain it, but when I look at him I feel love. And sometimes I catch him looking at me the same way. I … I like Caleb well enough, but I don’t think I could ever love him.”
Esther suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, and the sound made Hannah jump. “Esther?”
“Do you really feel that way?”
Hannah seemed almost scared to answer, but she slowly nodded her head. “Is it … is it bad?”
Regency Romance: Fallen Duchess (A Historical Victorian Murder Mystery Love Regency Romance) Page 23