by Kara Summers
I shoved her off of me and scrambled away, eyes wide. I backed into a set of legs and screamed, trying to get my feet under me to run. Before I could get away, two strong arms wrapped themselves around me and pulled me close.
“Shhh! It’s me, it’s me darling.”
I sobbed and collapsed into Jasper, the fear I’d been holding back finally coming forth. I was safe now. As long as I was with Jasper I was safe. He held me until the police came and when they finally arrived I had stopped crying. There wasn’t much in the way of questioning. I was well known to them, so they were happy to take me at my word. The crime scene itself was rather telling and they just didn’t feel the need to investigate much further. Everything lined up and I was able to provide them with all of the information they needed.
When they left, it felt surreal. The body was taken away and Jasper and I went to bed that night and I was surprised at how easily I fell asleep, considering the fact that my world had been turned upside. There was a lot going through my mind, but despite everything I was okay. I felt like everything was going to be okay.
At the end of the day, Jasper was beside me and that’s all I needed.
Chapter Eighteen
Recovering from Ivana’s betrayal was difficult, but with Jasper’s help I was healing just fine. We sold the old office as well as my flat and we made a pretty penny, not that it mattered. Jasper had more money than he could possibly spend, but it still felt nice to know that I was contributing to his bank account. I never liked feeling like a leech.
Once the office was sold, I moved my operation to his mansion and went back to work. It was nice to have closure regarding his nanny, but the city was still full of crime and there were people who depended on me to keep it at bay.
Jasper made me take time for myself, however. It was nice to go on vacations and focus on myself for a change. We spent time together, exploring the world and exploring each other. It was wonderful in every sense of the word and everything I could have possibly wanted. I adored him more than I could say.
Soon enough we married and I became Mrs. Leon. I didn’t think I could get any happier until I got the news that we were expecting our first child. I’d never seen Jasper smile so much. He was going to be an amazing father and I could only hope that I’d be a good mother.
Jasper came up behind me and wrapped his arms around, running his hands over my growing belly. I was in the library, flipping through a few of my favorite books and trying to decide which ones I was going to read. At the moment I had Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in my hands.
“Are you going to read that to the baby?” he asked.
“Maybe.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little violent?”
“Darling, this is my child we’re talking about. They’ll have to get used to violence.”
He chuckled softly and kissed my ear lobe. “I suppose you’re right,” he mused.
We fell into a silence after that that’s how I knew I’d found the one. Nothing felt forced and I didn’t feel like I had to say or do anything. Things had been crazy over the last year or so, but all that mattered was that I was happy.
I had everything I never even knew I wanted.
The End
Return to the TOC for Bonus Content
Mail Order Brides
Mail Order Bride: Sara’s Child
Chapter One
My name is Sara Blanche and to say that I grew up a spoiled brat would be a bit of an understatement. I grew up in the upper crust of New York society. It wasn’t uncommon for my father to be invited to the mayor’s house for dinner or for him to meet dignitaries of foreign countries. We were a very wealthy and well-known family.
My father made his fortune in the investment industry before me or my sisters were born. He was a brilliant investor and had an eye for what kind goods and services were going to take off; it was one of his many skills. My father was a brilliant man and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
I was always interested in his business dealings. I watched him with a keen eye as I grew up, taking in the world of business, despite the fact that it was considered unladylike for women to meddle in these affairs. Business and money had no place in a woman’s mind. If I was interested in money, it should only be for shopping.
As a young girl, this mindset would upset me. I would beg father to take me to his office but he would just kiss me on the head and usher me back into the room where mother would sit and silently work on her needlepoint. 1866 was not the best time to be a woman, but I made it through. Well, not so much made it through, as I conformed to what was expected of me.
I grew into a young woman and I left my interest in father’s business behind. I even managed to convince myself that I wasn’t ever interested at all. I suppressed everything inside of me that went against the narrow definition of ‘ladylike’. Just like my mother and sisters, I took up needlepoint and exchanged my knowledge of accounting ledgers for knowledge of what the newest spring fashions were.
I put on the dresses, fancy hats, and all the trimmings of proper society, and soon the parents of young men began to notice me. I was young when they first started to look at me, but that’s how things were. Parents would more or less scout young women before they were of marrying age and start to plead their sons’ cases, trying to convince the fathers that their sons were worthy.
My sisters and I were prime candidates for marriage. We were beautiful, talented, and we came from one of the highest regarded families in New York. Everyone knew our names and our faces. I knew that as soon as my eighteenth birthday came around, I would be married off to the highest bidder. When I was young, this idea used to break my heart into pieces. The fact that I would eventually be sold off like cattle used to dig into my soul and squeeze my heart until I couldn’t breathe anymore.
I hated the way I felt when I considered the fact that one day I would be thrown to the wolves. I knew that I should have been looking forward to the day when a man would choose me to be his wife. I should have welcomed the idea of having children and caring for my husband’s home. These things should have made me happy, but when my sisters talked about them and giggled excitedly, all I could offer was a weak smile.
I had given up on the idea that one day I might be able to work with my father, but I hadn’t yet given up the idea of being an independent woman. Things were changing every day and I saw women taking control of their lives. I longed to be one of those women.
Women were moving out of their little farming towns and coming to cities like New York where they got jobs as seamstresses or started working in the mills. Mother considered this to be horrendous and she thought of the women as poor souls who’d had no other choice. In her mind, only poor women worked and only poor women wanted to work. The fact that they were looking for these jobs at all meant to her that they were unwed and destitute.
Mother considered them ‘poor souls’, but I considered them lucky; these women were free. I’m sure most of them would have considered me lucky, but if we were being honest, I would have killed for their lives. Sometimes I imagined what it would be like switching places with them. I dreamed of taking their place and exploring the city on my own without a chaperone. It all seemed so wonderful, but I knew that it would never happen; I was going to be married off.
The reality of it all started to set in when my eldest sister was married to a banker in the city. He was twice her age and looked at her like she was a slab of meat. It made my skin crawl and it terrified me. When I looked at them, I saw my own fate and it scared me more than I could possibly express.
Soon after Margret was married, Chloe turned eighteen and a man took interest in her as well. Soon I was the only one left in the house and my eighteenth birthday was looming over my head like a storm cloud. I wasn’t ready to give up my life yet. I still had so much I wanted to do.
On the outside, I was a prissy princess wearing the fanciest clothes. My cheeks were rouged and my lips painted a light pink hue. I fl
irted and fluttered my eyelashes and did everything that was expected of me. On the outside I was a perfect woman, but on the inside I was screaming. In the months that led up to my birthday I began to be a bit petulant. I threw fits and started wearing older dresses, doing anything that might make a man look down on me and turn his nose up.
Soon enough, however, I wouldn’t even have to try to dissuade their interest.
Chapter Two
The Bad Deal. We called it that. Whenever we referred to the deal that brought my family to their knees we just said ‘The Bad Deal’. Everyone in the family knew exactly what we were talking about. My father’s business relied on investments and new inventions. He was always putting money into new machines and technologies that were designed to make life better. This was obviously a risky thing to do, but it had worked out for him so far.
It was a great business until it all went bad. My father put a large portion of his investment money into a quack medicine company. The company ran off with his money and left my father looking like an idiot. Because of this, many businesses didn’t want to work with him anymore. The reason people flocked to my father in the first place, was the fact that he seemed to be a genius when it came to trade. He always knew the deals to make and he knew which ones were going to fizzle and which ones were going to be successful.
The second he lost that credibility, he lost all of his partners. He took it hard and never recovered. He closed the business down when the collectors came around and retreated into his office where he drowned his sorrows in liquor. It was so hard to watch and I did my best to keep him going but it was no use; he was too far gone. My sisters were off living their own lives and soon my mother left as well. I don’t know where she went, but my father and I were alone.
This was how I finally got my wish. No one wanted to marry me because of the debt hanging over my father’s head, and even if I did find someone crazy enough to marry me, I couldn’t take them up on their offer. I had to take care of my father. He was far too sick to be on his own.
A few short years after my mother disappeared, father passed away due to his alcoholism. It was a sad day, but I had very little time to mourn. He owed so much money to the banks that the second he died, they took the house and everything in it. I managed to sneak away with some of the cash daddy had hidden away, but it wasn’t much. It was barely enough to feed me and keep an inn roof over my head.
I soon found out what it was like to be one of the working girls I used to long to be. I started washing down tables in the bar under the inn, hoping to make enough money to sustain myself. I managed for a while, but soon the inn keeper didn’t want me around anymore. My pretty red hair and sapphire eyes weren’t alluring enough to make up for my reputation.
I was out on the street again before I knew it and I had nowhere to go. I stayed with one of my sisters under the condition that I wouldn’t be there long. One evening I found myself sitting in front of the fire, holding a piece of crumpled newspaper. A robe was drawn around my pale shoulders and my cheeks stained by tears.
Margret came to sit beside me and gently put an arm around me. “I wish you could stay, but you know how Mark is,” she said quietly.
Mark was her husband and he didn’t much care for me hanging around this home. He didn’t want to be known as the man housing Sara Blanche. I was quickly becoming a social pariah and I was nearing twenty-one. I was unmarried and had nothing of value to offer in a relationship. It seemed that my life in society was over.
“I know. I know it’s not you,” I whispered weakly, my voice shaking.
The paper crinkled in my hand and my sister looked down at it, her brows furrowing together a bit. “What is this?” she asked, taking the paper.
“It’s an ad,” I said softly, looking over at her.
Her brows furrowed and she looked down at it. “An ad? For what?” she murmured, flipping it over.
“It’s a mail order bride ad. I was walking through the market and a gust of wind swept it up and it dirtied my last clean dress. It felt like a sign,” I said, looking back over at it.
Margret’s brow furrowed and she looked at me. “You’re going to go out west?” she asked, her eyes wide as if she didn’t believe me.
“What choice do I have?” I asked, covering my face with one hand. “No one here is going to marry me. You see the way they look at me,” I whispered, tears starting to sting my eyes. I pulled my hand away and took a deep breath. “There’s nothing for me here, sister. I love you and I love Chloe, but if I stay here I’m going to end up on the street.”
There was a moment of silence between us and Margret finally wrapped her arms around me and held me close. “It’s going to be alright baby sister,” she whispered in my ear, taking a breath and pulling away. She put her hands on my shoulders and then my cheeks. “This might be good for you. You’ve always wanted adventure. The West is the wild unknown. You won’t just be settling down to be someone’s wife, you’ll learn so much out there and I think you’ll be happy. This isn’t a last resort, my darling Sara, this is what God intended for you.”
I smiled weakly and looked down at the ad, nodding slowly. Maybe she was right. Maybe I needed to stop looking at this as the end of my life and start looking at it as an opportunity to get what I had always wanted.
Margret patted my head and leaned down to kiss my cheek. “I’ll even make you fresh cookies for the trip.”
Chapter Three
I wasn’t really sure if I was ever going to feel better about going west. I was trying to convince myself of all the things my sister had told me. I wanted to feel better about the whole situation, but I didn’t know if I was actually going to get there. When I thought about leaving New York, fear and dread filled me to the core.
I sent out a few tentative letters, though I was hardly expecting a response. I didn’t try and sell myself because I didn’t actually want to end up on a farm somewhere. The more I thought about it, the more stupid I felt for ever wanting an adventure.
To my surprise, I received several offers. Men offered to send me travel money so that I could afford to come west. It was tempting to accept the money and run, but I knew that would get me into more trouble than it was worth. I took my time and read through all the letters carefully, finally deciding on a man named Connor Wright. He was one of the only men to send a tintype with his letter and he looked handsome enough.
In his letter he claimed that he was not a rich man. He lived a simple life farming the land, but he had a young daughter who needed caring for. His wife had died the previous winter, giving birth to their second child. His story tugged at my heart and I was surprised that I wasn’t completely opposed to the idea of being a mother to a young child.
I returned his letter promptly, requesting funds so that I could make my way to Billings, Montana, where Connor lived. He sent the money a few short weeks later along with a marriage license. He wanted us to be legally married by the time I arrived. I signed the paper with a bit of hesitancy, knowing that I was finally signing away my freedom, though I also understood that I didn’t really have a choice.
When I told Margret that I had found a man to take me on she was sad and worried but happy for me on some level. She knew that New York was sucking the life out of me, and she wanted to see me back to my old self, even if that meant giving me up forever. It was rare that women who went west came back to their families.
She walked me to the train station, adjusting the hat she had bought me. We’d taken one last trip to the boutique and she made sure I looked my best. She had tears on her eyes and offered me a weak smile.
“I’m not ready to see you go, baby sister,” she whispered, leaning in and kissing my cheek.
I nodded and smiled sadly. “I don’t want to go either, but I’m too much of a burden here,” I admitted, looking over my shoulder as the train pulled into the station.
I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms around her, pulling away only when I had to. I knew the train wasn�
�t going to be in the station long and I knew they weren’t going to wait for me.
“I love you. I promise I will write,” I whispered as I patted her cheeks gently and pulled away.
She nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. “You’d better, write. I will be very disappointed in you if I don’t hear from you!”
I smiled weakly as I boarded the train and settled in an empty seat. The car was already crowded and the sounds of babies crying grated on my ears. I wasn’t usually that sensitive to the sound, but I was overloaded with all sorts of emotion and it was just too much.. I had to grit my teeth and try and ignore the sound, and soon I was thankful for the clanging of the train wheels on the metal tracks; they at least helped to distract from some of the noise.
The trip was long and hard. The train car got unbearably hot with all the bodies wedged in together and I found myself staring out the window for most of the journey, trying to imagine what my life would be like in the wild country. That’s what everyone kept calling it; the wild country. I imagined fresh streams and large horses. Being from the city, I didn’t know much about animals but I knew about horses. It was deemed necessary for a lady to be able to ride a horse, though I had always learned side saddle. I wondered if my husband would teach me the proper way to ride.
My brows furrowed. My husband. The papers had likely all been signed already and I was sure that we were indeed married by now. I could only hope he was the good man he seemed to be from the letters he exchanged. He honestly seemed like he just wanted a woman who would help him care for is home and child. I could do that.
I traveled for days, and when the train finally came to a grinding halt, we were in a strange place. It looked like it should be a desert, though vast green plains stretched out in front of us and mountains rose far in the distance. I had never seen anything like it before and it took my breath away.