Mail Order Brides Western Romance Collection ~ 3-Book Bundle (Brides of Virtue Series 1)

by Jill Maguire

  That evening, Hayes prepared a small dinner for the two of them. Faith offered to help, but Hayes turned down her offer, insisting that she rest. The woman still looked worn and pale and Hayes could see that the trip had taken its toll on her.

  As they ate, Hayes tried to make small talk by asking Faith many questions, questions that she barely answered. While it was not his intention to pry, Hayes wondered what had happened to make her so untrusting and withdrawn. On top of being abandoned at the train station, something drastic must have happened to compel Faith to agree to such a marriage in the first place. Knowing that he was getting nowhere with his questions, Hayes took a different approach.

  “My mother and father both died when I was sixteen,” Hayes began abruptly. “My father was a blacksmith. He taught me everything I know, and my Ma, well; she could brighten even the darkest room with her laugh.” Hayes stopped and chuckled, his gaze trained out the window into the shadows of the evening. “We were travelling west, seeking a new life, new adventures. Both of my parents grew sick on the journey and died suddenly. I had no choice but to continue on, alone, and I eventually settled here. Lucky for me, Whistle Stop was in need of a blacksmith at the time, so I set up shop, and here I’ve been ever since.” Hayes smiled a little self-consciously. He hoped telling Faith about himself would help her feel more comfortable and open around him but when he looked at her, Hayes was surprised to see tears glistening in her eyes.

  Chapter 6

  “Well, the bedroom is right through there,” Hayes quickly changed the subject and pointed to a door leading off the sitting room. “I’ll be in the loft; you probably saw the stairs in the shop.”

  Faith nodded.

  “If you need anything more, please just holler. There is a trunk of extra blankets at the foot of your bed.”

  “That should be all I need,” Faith said quietly. She felt awful that there had been such a long silence after Hayes had recounted the story of his parents, but Faith simply didn’t know how to respond. She was unsure of this man, of his generosity and his openness and she felt helpless and vulnerable around him. Faith also found it very unnerving to have to rely on a strange man for every provision. Over the past few years she had become accustomed to providing for herself and being independent and now she was painfully aware that she was at Hayes’ mercy.

  She stood and shook her head slightly and Hayes stood after her. Faith was exhausted from her travels and Hayes’ offer of a warm, safe bed sounded heavenly.

  “Well, good night Faith,” Hayes said before she could reach the door to the bedroom.

  “Good night.” Faith picked up her valise, turned the doorknob and entered the small room. It was cozy with the bed taking up the bulk of the space, but the room was warm and inviting. Faith undressed, slipped under the covers and for the first time in a long while, Faith fell immediately to sleep.

  Hayes rubbed his eyes and yawned quietly. He was used to having his evenings to himself and talking with a woman he hardly knew about his past and the death of his parents had been draining. As he climbed the stairs to the drafty loft and lay down among some old stable blankets, Hayes thought about Faith and hoped she was content in the bedroom. “I’m sure she’s more comfortable than me,” he groaned as he folded a musty blanket behind his head. Hayes wondered how long Faith might stay. “If she sees fit to stay for a spell, I’ll be needin’ to fashion myself some new sleeping arrangements,” he whispered to himself as he wrestled with the blankets. Hayes knew he would be sore in the morning.

  As he stared into the dark room with his hands folded behind his head, Hayes thought about Faith. She was a very beautiful woman, there was no doubt about that, but there was something even more special about her, a vulnerability that he was drawn to. Suddenly, Hayes wondered whether or not it was in the interest of decency to let her stay with him. It was a rather odd situation.

  Hayes shifted to his back, trying to convince his mind to rest, but thoughts of Faith, sleeping in the bedroom below him, invaded his thoughts again. “I certainly can’t ask her to leave, she has nowhere else to go,” he breathed into the thick darkness. “Maybe……,” Hayes quietly formulated a plan. “Maybe they could take her in. It might be a little cramped with the new baby and all, but maybe they’d have room.” Hayes conceded that a conversation with his good friend in the morning was all he needed to figure everything out. Hayes rolled to his side and began to drift off.

  As he slipped into sleep, Hayes was jolted awake by a cry from below. Hayes opened his eyes, feeling dazed. Had it been a dream, or was it Faith? The bedroom was directly below the loft and the walls were very thin.

  “No, please!”

  He heard the words distinctly this time.

  “Please! I did everything I could! Let me be! It wasn’t my fault!” Faith’s words were full of fear and Hayes could tell she was crying.

  Hayes jumped up and clambered down the stairs, stopping just outside the bedroom door, his ear pressed firmly against it. He could hear soft whimpering from within and his concern for Faith became more urgent. Fearful, Hayes opened the door slightly, careful not to look in.

  “Faith?” He said into the dark. “Are you alright?”

  Faith didn’t respond so Hayes inched the door open a little wider. He secretly peeked in, only to find Faith fast asleep. Hayes quietly shut the door and leaned his forehead against it, praying silently for peace over Faith and sound sleep. Then he crept back to the loft and tried to get some rest.

  In the morning, Faith awoke surprisingly refreshed. The bed was very comfortable and, aside from a few strange dreams, she had slept deeply. As she lay in the quiet with the early morning light streaming through the window, she felt oddly optimistic about being here in a new place, the hostility and grief behind her in her old town. Faith rose, took a deep breath and pulled a clean dress from her valise. When she opened the door she found Hayes already sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading.

  “Good morning,” Hayes said as Faith closed the bedroom door behind her.

  “Good morning,” Faith replied.

  “How did you sleep?”

  “Very well, thank you.” Faith smiled at Hayes and joined him at the table. She noticed that he was reading from the Bible and her eyes flickered with some surprise.

  “Coffee?” Hayes carefully folded the book closed and stood, reaching for a mug. Faith watched him curiously as he filled it. Although she could see that a night in the loft hadn’t allowed for a restful night’s sleep, Hayes’ pale blue eyes were still filled with a soft kindness and she liked how they squinted when he smiled.

  “I’d be much obliged if you’d allow me to cook you breakfast,” Faith offered. Hayes didn’t answer right away, so Faith strolled around the kitchen to familiarize herself. “Fresh eggs?” Faith said, surprised once again to find such foods in a bachelor’s kitchen.

  “Yes, I’m fortunate enough to have a friend who’s a farmer. He gives me fresh milk and eggs, and vegetables.”

  “Well, thank you for sharing your spoils with me.” Faith grinned at Hayes, somewhat shyly, but it was enough to make her face glow with warmth and make Hayes’ heart flutter in his chest. Hayes cleared his throat and looked away.

  “I’ll be working in the shop all day if you need anything,” Hayes said while they ate. He studied Faith across the table. She looked well-rested and her cheeks held a new color of vibrancy – a stark contrast to the pinched paleness he had seen the day before. Today, she looked even more beautiful and Hayes found it difficult to focus on anything else.

  “I’m fine,” Faith replied.

  She was proving to be a woman of few words and Hayes felt slightly guilty for hoping she would say more. He didn’t want to pry, but he wanted to hear her story, especially after what he had heard during the night while she slept. But he reminded himself that a gentleman never asks too many questions and that Faith would open up to him when the time was right.

  When they had finished breakfast, Fait
h immediately went to work washing the dishes.

  “You don’t have to do that, Faith,” Hayes began to protest.

  “No, please, let me. I’m sure you have a lot of work to do. Go ahead; I’ll take care of the mess.”

  “Thank you, I do have a lot of orders to work on today,” Hayes told her as he slowly made his way out of the kitchen back toward the shop. Before he closed the door, he glanced back at Faith. She was standing over the wash basin with a small smile on her lips and Hayes couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have a woman like Faith in his life. If only it was God’s plan.

  Chapter 7

  Faith had never met a man who was so willing to lend a hand around the house and even try to deny her the pleasure of helping out after all he had done for her. The mundane house-task of washing the dishes brought a lovely feeling of familiarity and purpose to Faith, so much so, that after the dishes were cleaned and put away she continued to clean, going over the whole house meticulously. It didn’t take very long since Hayes kept the house quite clean already, and when she had finished, Faith looked around in satisfaction.

  Her eyes fell upon the Bible, still lying on the table. Faith hadn’t felt comfortable moving the Bible for a reason unknown to her, so she had left it untouched. She slowly sat in the seat Hayes had occupied at breakfast and looked at the small words covering the thin pages. Memories of her childhood rushed back to her. Her father had often bent over these pages reading avidly and, at times, even acting out stories for Faith and her brother. Faith smiled at the memories and warmth filled her soul.

  She saw that Hayes had been reading in the book of John and her eyes fell on a random passage in the middle of the page. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” The words struck her like thunder, leaving her breathless. Tears flooded her eyes and in that moment she knew she had been going through life burdened under the weight of disappointment and sorrow for so many years. She couldn’t imagine what it was to be free. She couldn’t picture herself as free. What would that be like? Images of her father’s cheerfulness and generosity came back once again. He had been free, he had lived. He had not drudged through life weighed down by responsibility and pain.

  Suddenly the small house felt too close and Faith wanted to get out. She draped a shawl over her shoulders and slipped out of the front door which opened onto the main road in town. Faith wandered around aimlessly at first until she found a bench facing the town’s church. It wasn’t until she read those words about being set free that Faith realized how shackled to her grief she was. It was almost as if she was collecting the sad incidences of her life like pearls on a string, keeping them close to her body and to her soul. She wanted to be set free, but how? How could she ever be happy again?

  Hayes worked hard to get his orders done quickly and thought often of Faith and how she was passing her time. Sometime during the long morning, one of Hayes’ good friends stopped by to drop off some tackle that needed repair.

  “Warren, hello,” Hayes took off his gloves to shake his friend’s hand.

  “Have some time to mend these?” Warren held up the tackle he had hauled in from the back of his wagon.

  “I could probably get to them by the end of the day,” Hayes said truthfully. “Say, Warren, I’m glad you stopped by. I was hoping to talk to you today.” Hayes pointed to a stool in the corner of his shop, suggesting his friend take a seat.

  “What is it?” Warren looked at Hayes with concern and plunked himself down on the wooden stool. Hayes slowly began to tell his tale of meeting a beautifully mysterious woman, of her being abandoned at the train station and how he offered her food and a place to stay for the night. Warren listened eagerly as his friend paced back and forth.

  “But what has me concerned,” Hayes continued, “what I really need your thoughts on, was what I heard last night. I heard her talking in her sleep while I was up in the loft. The walls are paper thin and her voice carried through. She sounded really . . . disturbed. She was saying things like, ‘I did everything I could, let me be, and it wasn’t my fault.’ She sounded very scared, as if her life was being threatened, but this morning she looked well rested and said she slept well. I don’t know what to make of it.”

  Warren had listened to Hayes with increasing interest and alarm and nodded thoughtfully at the end of Hayes’s speech. “She has obviously been through some ordeal,” Warren said, remembering his journey with Patience on the long wagon train west. He had experienced a similar situation when he had overheard Patience pleading with God one night. It had shaken Warren to his core and afterward he had started seeing Patience in a new light, with a deeper sympathy. “Maybe you should bring this young lady out to our house for dinner tonight. She can meet Patience and be assured that Whistle Stop is a safe place to live, and that you are an honorable man who can be trusted. That should put her mind at ease.”

  “Thanks Warren, I think that’s just what she needs,” Hayes said, nodding. “That would be great.”

  “Good, we’ll plan on you then.” Warren stood and returned the stool to its proper place. The men shook hands and Hayes went back to work, hoping to get to fixing Warren’s tackle by the end of the day.

  Before Hayes knew it, Faith had come through the door from the house with a tray of food for lunch. Hayes removed his gear, washed up and joined her at the table.

  “Thank you. I lost track of time,” Hayes said after he had prayed. He dug into the simple meal Faith had prepared. “This is delicious. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”

  Faith smiled faintly at him and Hayes noticed that she seemed distracted, drawn into herself by her own thoughts. Hayes tried once again to bring her out of her reverie.

  “My friend came by this morning and invited us to have supper with him and his wife at their house tonight. I think you would really like them, they’re good people. And, it would be a good opportunity for you to make new friends in town,” Hayes suggested.

  Again, Faith nodded faintly as Hayes continued to eye her curiously. She felt the persistence of his gaze and noticed he had stopped eating.

  “Supper tonight? Yes that would be fine,” Faith finally responded, nodding agreeably. But her response didn’t stop Hayes’ odd gaze from following her. “Yes?” she asked him.

  “What’s on your mind, Faith? You seem to be someplace else,” Hayes said this with smile crinkling around his eyes.

  Faith smiled more genuinely this time. “I’m sorry, I suppose I am distracted.” Faith went back to eating without offering any more information and Hayes didn’t push her any further this time.

  When they were finished with their meal, Faith again refused his help with clean up so Hayes went back to work, approaching his projects with renewed vigor. As he worked, Hayes silently prayed for Faith and for their time at Warren’s house. He prayed for the wisdom to know how to act around this woman and for guidance in how to feel about her. He also greedily prayed that Warren and Patience would help Faith find peace so he could enjoy more of her smile.

  Chapter 8

  As evening drew closer, Faith washed her face and gave more attention to her hair than she had done in months. Faith chose her most elegant dress, the one of pale yellow that brought out the specks of color in her eyes. It felt delightful to spend some time on cleaning and preparing herself for going out, though her stomach fluttered with nerves. She had no idea what to expect from this evening and she was nervous about meeting new people. Faith knew she had no better option and it was in her best interest considering that Hayes was the only person she knew for miles and miles.

  When Hayes came in from the blacksmith shop, Faith was nervously fidgeting on a chair in the sitting room twisting a handkerchief through her fingers. She glanced up to greet him as Hayes stopped suddenly inside the door, staring at her oddly.

  “I’ll just get changed, and then we can go,” Hayes said slowly.

  “Is something wrong?” Faith looked down at her dress and smoothed the bod
ice with her hands.

  “No, not at all,” Hayes stuttered. “You look……real nice.”

  Real nice? Real nice? Gah, Hayes thought to himself. That’s all you could say? What about beautiful? Stunning? Mesmerizing? Anything but plain ‘ol nice. Hayes slammed his eyes shut and rolled them hard behind his lids.

  Faith stood and walked into the kitchen. She had prepared biscuits that afternoon to take with them and carefully placed them in a basket. She took a few deep breaths as she waited for Hayes to clean up and when he finally joined her, she immediately noticed how handsome he looked in his clean shirt and pants.

  Faith busied herself with her biscuits, afraid of losing herself in Hayes’ eyes. What was happening? Faith never thought she would ever be attracted to a man again. She was devastated when John had died, and men like Rex Knowles and the man who left her at the train station proved that there was little to trust in the men out west. But Hayes was different. He was generous and charming, kind and trustworthy. Faith didn’t dare to let her thoughts roam any further.

  “Are you ready?” Hayes asked, his eyes lightened with excitement. Faith smiled tentatively and nodded, following Hayes to the small public stables just a block away that held his horse and buggy. Faith wasn’t used to seeing such a prosperous town in the west and these public stalls were foreign to her. In other western towns, the sparse buildings were surrounded by pastures and fields and everyone had property enough to keep their own stables and wagons. Since Hayes resided in town, with no room to keep his own horses and wagon, this was where they stayed.

  Hayes gave her a hand into his small wagon and when his fingers touched hers, Faith felt a warm and familiar shiver weave its way through her body. She looked from their hands to Hayes’s face. If he had felt anything unusual, he didn’t let it show.