by Sarah Thorn
“Aren’t you…aren’t you…” he swallowed his laughter. “I need a ticket to come here from South Carolina and I need to send it there for a woman to come here with it.”
The clerk nodded. “I can give you the price and let you purchase the ticket, but you will have to send it by taking it over to the postal office and letting them deal with that.”
“Won’t you…” After a moment, he stopped. It was going to be the same clerk.
He wasn’t going to laugh. He just wasn’t.
****
Chapter Four
Minnie’s heart was in her throat. She gripped Billy’s hand so hard, he was starting to fuss. “Mama, you’re hurting me!” He kept whining and she would loosen her grip.
“I’m sorry, baby.” She kept soothing him. She pulled him up on her lap and held him so he could see out of the window. “Look. Do you see all that passing scenery? You see that tree…oh, there’s it’s gone, isn’t it?” She smiled, wrapping her arms around his tiny body as he leaned toward the window.
“Look, mama, look!” The baby slid from her grasp to climb onto the bench next to her and stand there, his small hands gripping the short windowsill and pressing his nose against the glass. “Look, mama!”
“I see it, Billy boy, I see it.” She tried to make her voice as soft as possible to counteract his loudness. She reached out and steadied him on the chair. “Don’t fall now. You don’t want to get hurt, do you?”
“No, no. No no.” Billy shook his head in response but didn’t turn his head away from the window. He just pulled back a little and rested in the comfort of his mother’s secure hold. “It’s a tree!” He surged forward, almost jumping out of her grasp and she snatched him back.
“Now Billy, I just told you to be careful! You’re going to fall and bump your head!” She pulled him back so he had to sit on her lap. Restless, he squirmed and tried to get back to the window, off his mother’s lap. “Billy, you must calm down!” Minnie felt her nerves beginning to frazzle. Billy was just being his normal self and he was a very active little boy. What if Joe was unable to accept a mischievous little boy like him?
“He’ll have to,” she whispered. “It’s both of us, not just me.” But she felt guilty anyway because she hadn’t mentioned Billy to Joe and wasn’t in the least bit secure he would accept the child. She wished suddenly that her little boy wasn’t so active.
Just as quickly, she berated herself for thinking that way. There was nothing wrong with an active two year old and, in fact, she dared to say that it was good for Billy in particular to be the way he was. He was a spark of life. He was curious and determined and stubborn. Most of the men she knew were like that and they were much older than two. Billy was usually a good little boy. And he was that day, too. He was being himself.
“Come and sit still, Billy,” she whispered frantically. “You will annoy our other passengers.”
“Don’t you worry, dear.” An older woman in the front of the carriage turned to glance back at her. “Don’t you worry about that boy, sweet girl. I will help you care for this little one.”
Minnie nervously looked around the car of the train at the young men that surrounded her.
“And don’t you worry about these boys, Minnie. They don’t make a move without asking me first. They are wonderful singers. When I want something done, I ask my grandsons and my nephew. They won’t judge you or do anything to make you feel bad. So if your little boy needs to play, you let him go ahead and play. And these boys will listen to me, won’t you, boys?”
“Yes, gramma.” They all answered in synch. Then one of the boys leaned forward directly in the path of Jon’s wandering eyes and smiled wide. His teeth were incredibly white and Minnie wondered how he managed to do that. She wished her teeth could be nearly as clean and white.
Must be natural. She thought.
“I am upset because my husband was killed in the war and I am being forced to move across the country to start a new life. I’m afraid of the new life I’m going to.”
“Where was he killed, my dear?” The old woman’s face fell in sorrow. It made the wrinkles in her face intensify and show her age more than before.
“He was killed in Averasboro nine weeks ago and eight months ago.” Her face crumpled when she mentioned her loving husband. She shook it off and pulled her back up straight, pulling in a quick breath. “I am going to Nevada to be with a man who is looking for a wife.”
“It’s wonderful that you will have someone to care for you and your baby.” The old woman nodded. “There have been many terrible losses in this war so far. I’m not sure it will ever end.”
“It feels like the end of the world,” Minnie said softly in dismay.
“Aaah but it isn’t, my dear.” The old woman nodded and gave her a sympathetic look. “It isn’t. You will find happiness again, don’t you worry about that. God has a plan for you.”
Minnie’s face was still downtrodden but she nodded and gave the old woman the best smile she could. “I know. I’ve been told that before.”
“That’s because it’s true. You shouldn’t forget it.”
“I won’t soon forget it, I promise.”
The woman laughed softly and nodded, her eyes on the little boy, standing once more on the bench and smiling as he looked out the window at the fast moving landscape.
“You won’t forget it at all.”
Catherine was not at all pleased with Joe’s decision to bring a wife for himself from the East Coast. She ranted about the dangers of bringing a strange woman into the life of such a small little girl. No matter how much he tried to explain that the letters told him he would be dealing with a woman of generous spirit and a kind heart, Catherine didn’t believe it.
He wasn’t sure if his sister-in-law was speaking from her concern for Ruthie or her desire to keep the little girl as her own. He just couldn’t tell. He’d not dealt much with the woman, except on a friendly basis where they might get together to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, which they did every year.
Joe was on his way to the station to pick up his new bride. He felt a bit sick to his stomach because Catherine had insisted he bring Ruthie with him. Though he’d planned to take Minnie to his brother’s house to introduce her and pick up his 3-year-old, Catherine had insisted he take her with him to the station.
“She deserves to know sooner rather than later. The fact that you’ve gone and done this without consulting the right people is bad enough…” She shot a darting glance at her husband, who looked back nonchalantly as if he had nothing to do with it. The sweet look made Catherine stop short and think more kindly. “You really shouldn’t have done it this way.” The woman continued to lecture him for at least twenty minutes to half the hour.
In the end, it was getting later and closer to the time Minnie would be arriving. Finally, Catherine outright demanded he take Ruthie, telling him that she and her husband were going out and wouldn’t have time to care for her.
Before he left, his little girl in his arms, sitting up and looking at the adults as if she thought they were all insane, Joe gave Catherine a direct glare. “You’re telling me you would rather have my baby girl see an argument first thing from her new guardian and mother, between her and me?”
Catherine just shook her head and closed the door behind them. “Sleep tight, Joey. We’ll see you tomorrow maybe.”
The door clicked and Joe turned to walk to his wagon. The temperature was dropping, but Joe had brought along an extra blanket for his daughter’s legs and to wrap around herself to keep warm. With her in one hand and the blanket in the other, Joe managed to get up in his saddle and fit his feet in the stirrups very well.
“Let’s go see your new…mama.” It was going to take a bit to get used to that, he decided.
The train pulled up into the station, and Minnie’s heart leaped into her throat. “Oh Lord, protect us from any evil and wrongdoing.” Minnie murmured quickly as she stepped down from the train onto the w
ooden platform outside. There were only a few people there, many less than she had seen when leaving South Carolina. She gathered her bag and her child in her arms and stepped carefully.
Once she was off the train, her luggage bags brought to her by the valet, she was beginning to feel a headache that nearly leveled her. It was one of the bad ones that she just wanted to sleep with. She saw a man approaching her, a beautiful little blond girl. She wondered if he knew why she was here. He looked like he was coming straight toward her. He looked down at the baby as soon as he was within just a few feet of her. He stared at Billy.
She stared at the tiny blond girl in his arms. Ruthie looked older than her Billy. She propped Billy up in her hands and whispered in his ear. “Look at that, Billy. You see those boys in the proper hats? They work here. They are here so you are protected and safe.”
She distracted him with looking elsewhere, though her eyes were still on the handsome man carrying the baby.
“I’m sorry for staring.” Joe said softly. “Are you in need of assistance? Is there someone there to get you?” He cleared his throat. “Are you Minnie?”
She hesitated only for a second. “I…I am. And are you Joseph?”
He nodded, still switching his eyes to Billy. Then he looked up at his three year old and smiled.
“I think Minnie and I have some explaining to do.” He laughed softly. “Do you think we can do that? You want to go play inside with your ball?”
“I can go play ball…” The little girl pulled the ball from her daddy’s hands and jumped up and down until he set her on the floor. She ran to the door and a taller man pulled it open, stepping back for her.
“Here you go, tiny miss,” the man said, smiling.
“Thank you!” Ruthie darted into the building.
Minnie and Joe looked at each other.
“You can say anything you want to,” Minnie murmured. “I won’t tell if you don’t want to marry be because of Billy…”
“In case you didn’t notice,” Joe shook his head. “I’m not going to back out of marrying you because you…weren’t honest about your situation. I…did the same thing with Ruthie, didn’t I?”
Joe hung his head in shame.
“I wasn’t exactly spelling out Billy’s name in our letters.”
“I only received one. Did you send others?”
Thinking back, she could only think of one. She shook her head. “I must be wrong.”
“Do you want me to re-introduce myself? Shall we both start getting to know each other better without having these little precious hearts be our bait for a mate?”
“You are a charming poet.” Minnie giggled. “But if we’d been using them as bait, we would have advertised about them, we never would have hid them from each other.”
“Are we on a level playing field, then?”
“I think we both know what’s right and what should and must be done.”
Joe took one of her hands, placing the other hand on the little boy’s tousled hair. “Hello, Billy, do you want to meet my little girl and come to my house?”
The boy nodded so violently, Joe couldn’t tell whether he really did or not. He laughed and noticed that Minnie’s mood had lightened. She was a beautiful woman and he could tell that physical attraction was mutual on both sides. From her letter and the fact that she’d also had a baby of her own, he decided he’d made the right decision after all.
He leaned over and dared brush his lips against the top of the little boy’s head.
He whispered to Minnie. “Are we going to be all right?”
She sighed softly with a smile. “I think so, Joe. I want to be.”
“Then we will be. Let’s go take care of our little ones together. I...I can see we are going to have a good future.”
Minnie could only look up at him. From the first moment she’d seen him, she’d hoped he was Joe, coming to get her, even if he did have a baby in his arms. That certainly didn’t bother her. He gave off the impression he would love her completely.
And she had no doubt she would give him the same in return. She expected great things.
And great things were coming her way.
She smiled as she let Joe lead her inside, where they would find the baby, Ruthie, and head home.
*****
THE END
MAIL ORDER BRIDE - A Heart in the West
Chapter 1
It was the late summer of 1871 when Cora Sutton left from the big city and boarded the Lil’ Miss, a prize addition to the East Missouri Rail operations. She boasted less than a week’s journey from Boston to the Western territory, and just two and a half weeks to California, notwithstanding unexpected delays in the form of weather and shady characters with sights on her cargo.
It can’t very well be all that bad, Cora Sutton had thought as she boarded the train, her carpet bag nearly falling at the seams. Perhaps she should have stowed away books in a travel chest, and not in her bag. But what else was she to do with the time? Cora laughed as she bumbled down the aisle to her coach, chiding at her wandering imagination.
Train bandits don’t really exist, not in real life, she said to herself. And the Western territory surely isn’t all that wild…
The thought would prove a cruel stroke of irony in the days to follow.
For the time being, all she had to set her sights on was taming her imagination from getting away from her. Cora admitted to herself that she was actually quite excited. A serendipitous ad in the paper. A snap decision. And the promise of a new life out West. It all sounded rather romantic for a simple hosiery girl at Freeman’s Department Store--well, former hosiery girl. One day, she was living a dull, hapless life on the bustling streets of New York City, and the next she was set for life. Or she would be, as there were some small details yet to attend to.
It started about two months before the Lil’ Miss even slugged her way into Grand Central Station. Cora worked as the assistant stocker at one of the finest department stores in Manhattan. The marble ceilings rose as high as three levels, with bright crystal chandeliers glittering in the light. The sound of women, of the most well-to-do-sort, clicked their shoes and brushed their puffed dresses through the ground floor, eyeing the delights the store had to offer. For Cora, the closest she could ever come to such a life was spent in the back closets of the store, stocking the hosiery and other ladies’ garments. It was quite the accomplishment even getting that far. Before hosiery girl, she had a stay as a seamstress, but not for long as she had little to no skill in such delicate matters. Then there was a brief stint working in a factory making women’s hat boxes, which proved to be a tedious task that required too much focus for a constant daydreamer. Nanny, flower girl, a shoemaker’s store clerk...and the list went on.
Life, she had long ago decided, was unutterably dull.
So it came to her surprise when she was informed she would no longer be needed at Freeman’s department store. There were always prettier, talented, more qualified girls to work the store and spruce up the general atmosphere. A new direction for a new age, she was told. And that new age did not include the likes of her.
That was what brought her to take the first step. To be exact, it was that and the upping of the next month’s rent.
“But Mrs. MacDonough, I’ll get a new job soon, ma’am. If you just give me a little more time, I can pay you what I owe.”
Cora’s mind drifted to an earlier conversation she had with her landlord, Mrs. MacDonough, a stout and rather stern Irish woman who rented out her building to all sorts, mostly immigrants and newcomers into the city.
“Aye, Co-ra, I can’t be bothered’ with ye all the time,” she bustled across the hallway carrying a basket of her linens, and Cora traced after her.
“Ye never bring yer rent on time,” the woman continued in her thick accent. “And on top o’ that, I hear ye been sacked from Freeman’s this mornin’.”
“You already know about that?” Cora followed behind.
Mrs. M
acDonough stopped and sighed as she waved her finger toward Cora’s face.
“Now lookee, Miss, I can’t be competin’ like I do with all the other landlords around. There’re plenty of others who need a place, jus’ as much as you. And they deserve it every bit, too. And they’re also in dire straits for an opportunity”
“But…”
“No buts, Cora. I’m broken hearted as much as you, but that’s jus’ life, it is.”
It was a miserable few months following. Cora moved into a dingy hostel in Brooklyn, making her way with measly compensation at a butcher’s shop. The boss didn’t much like the idea of hiring a young woman for such a job, but Cora insisted she could just as easily pick it up. It didn’t mean that the work was pleasant.
One day, she made her way out from a long shift, after having cleaned the back room, her clothes smelling like raw meat, her boots wet after hosing off the blood. She was headed down a street she headed down every day. Took the same turns, watched the same faces walk past. Everything was quite the same. That is, until a certain leaflet from a newspaper caught her eye. It seemed positively serendipitous. A stray page, a gust of wind, and soon she was staring at an ad that seemed to be shouting directly at her.
Wanted: Young woman of intelligence, refined, and possessing means. Gentleman landowner seeking a match of high pedigree. Must be willing to relocate at short notice.
At first Cora laughed. The idea of being a mail-order bride certainly seemed like an odd one, like from a story in a magazine or a tale that old grandparents tell. But Cora was sure of one thing: she had no family, no ties, and no where to go but up.
Besides, she reasoned, it really is quite the romantic story.
Cora nestled herself onto the seat, sliding herself against the window as the locomotive wheezed, her wheels beginning to make the heaving creak out of the station. The ticket master came and punched her ticket, and her insides leapt with excitement as the view outside begin to whir past, the loud whistle sounding, the steady churn of the wheels matching to the rhythm in her own heart.