The Mail Order Brides of Last Chance

by Lucille Chisum

  So the only way to do this was to go to Texas and fetch his mother himself. Edward felt beyond bad about not telling Clara, but he also had concerns about the weather as well.

  Making the journey in the fall was perilous enough; if he waited any longer, Edward knew it would be nigh on impossible.

  He made few preparations. Edward looked at this trip as a simple thing—he merely wished to get his mother and bring her back. There would be no ifs, ands or buts about it.

  This was unlikely, of course. Edward knew his mother would put up a fuss, but he was prepared with his response.

  It’s my wedding, he would tell her. And you’ll have it on Christmas. If you don’t come with me, though, you’ll miss it entirely.

  The journey to Texas was surprisingly smooth. Edward hadn’t ridden the trails from Colorado to Texas yet, but they were easier than he thought they might be, and the fact that he was headed south made things lighter and easier.

  It was actually a relief to get back to Texas. This was one part of the trip Edward had been dreading, not knowing what kind of old emotions might be stirred up.

  As soon as he recognized the border, though, Edward felt a sense of nostalgia he hadn’t prepared for at all.

  He’d never thought of home as a particular loving place, but time seemed to have recast Texas as a loving place where he’d grown up in life of kindness and good will.

  Edward’s mother did little to dispel that notion at first. He’d timed his arrival for the late morning, when Edward knew she was more likely to be in a good mood.

  “Edward! My goodness . . . as I live and breathe!” Denise said, rushing out the door when she got close enough to see that his arrival was imminent.

  “It’s good to see you, too, Mother,” Edward said, dismounting.

  He prepared himself for the inevitable round of hugs that followed; Edward had known in advance that she would likely make a fuss over him.

  The good part of the fussing was a hearty meal. Edward’s mother was renowned for ribs, which included a spectacularly spicy sauce, and as soon as he sat down at table Edward realized how much he’d missed them.

  It was tough to push away from the table, but Edward knew what was coming. As soon as he did, Denise became curious, and he could tell where the conversation would be going.

  “You probably want to know why I came all this way,” Edward said, looking around the house to see if there were any chores that might require his help.

  She just laughed and shook her head. “Well, I know why I hope you came here,” Denise said. “But whether you did or not is probably another matter entirely.”

  “Well, it’s your lucky day,” Edward said, smiling wryly. “I came here regarding the matter you wrote about in your letter.”

  Denise smiled. “And?”

  He shook his head. “What do you think?” Edward asked.

  “You’re not wearing a ring,” she observed. “So I’m thinking that’s a good sign.”

  “It is for now,” he said, laughing. “Not so sure it will be when I get back.”

  His mother frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Edward shrugged. “The good news is that I’m giving you a chance to see me get married at Christmas,” he said, and Edward smiled as her face lit up. “The bad news is that I may not be getting married . . . she doesn’t know I’m here.”

  “Oh.” Denise blinked. “Now you have me confused.”

  He shook his head and laughed. “You’re not the only one,” Edward said, rolling his eyes. “But I suppose it does demand a bit of an explanation.”

  “Not right away,” she said. “For now I’m just glad you’re home.”

  “Me too,” Edward said, although the truth is he wasn’t entirely sure about that just yet.

  He couldn’t stop himself from thinking about Clara—what she was doing, what she was thinking about, and most important, how he was going to make things right with her.

  “Will you take a walk with me, then?” Denise asked, and Edward felt a sudden wave of tenderness.

  It had been so long since he’d seen his mother, and he realized that this was a necessary thing for the two of them to do together.

  “Of course,” he said, looking out the window to make sure the weather hadn’t taken a turn. “Is there anything in particular that you’d like to talk about—other than my situation, of course?”

  She laughed. “As a matter of fact there is,” Denise said. “I have a few favors I’d like to ask while you’re here. If you don’t mind, that is.”

  Edward nodded. In his mind’s eye, he’d thought of this trip as being a quick one. Get in, get out, with his mother in tow, then put things back on track for the wedding to happen.

  Now, though, he knew it couldn’t be that simple. Family matters never were. They always came with layers and layers of feelings and issues that had to be worked through, and Edward knew he was in the middle of that now.

  “Not at all,” he said, extending his arm to Denise. “You tell me what you need done, and I’ll do it . . . on one condition.”

  His mother frowned. “And what might that be?”

  “That you not press me about my situation,” he said. “It seems to have gotten rather complicated.”

  She smiled. “Marriage is always like that—but you’ve got a deal. I think I can manage to hold myself in check.”

  Edward nodded, even though he doubted that severely. He estimated it would take his mother a half hour before she would start asking probing questions, but at least he would have a half hour of peace about the matter.

  As he started walking with her, though, Edward realized how much he’d missed home. The land was in generally good shape, but the house definitely needed help, which he was more than happy to provide.

  He knew how hard it had been for her. Edward’s father had run off when he’d been very young, and several years later Denise learned that her husband had been killed in a robbery attempt when he’d died during a shootout.

  His mother had hidden all of this from Edward for a considerable period of time. On the surface her decision made sense, mostly—what woman would want her child to find out about this kind of history, given the aspersions that would come with it.

  But Edward had been angry about it for a long time. It felt completely unfair to him, and as a result he’d run away from home several times.

  As he walked with his mother now, he started to understand that that had been the beginning of what seemed to be a perpetual wanderlust.

  It was only much later that Edward could see his mother’s decision in a different light. When he was older he had friends who had started families, and he was consistently stunned at the difficulties these men faced when it came to what they told their children and what they chose not to disclose.

  He waited for his mother to tell him all the things she needed done; Edward just asked a few pertinent questions here and there.

  He knew she needed to get all these problems off her chest, and Edward also knew that if he simply walked and listened it would take some of the edge off the questions Denise needed to ask him.

  “So,” she said. “Tell me about this girl you’ve met.”

  Edward laughed. He tried to think of a way to tell her about Clara, to find the right words that would capture all her different sides—her kindness, her loyalty, and until recently, her patience.

  The more he thought about it, the more Edward knew that he couldn’t. Finally he just shook his head and glanced down at the ground as they continued to walk.

  “I don’t think I can,” he said finally. “I think you’ll just have to draw your own conclusions when you meet her.”

  And perhaps you can get me out of dutch with her when you do, he said to himself.

  “Well, she must be quite remarkable,” Denise said. “To have captured your heart after all you’ve been through.”

  “She is remarkable,” Edward said, nodding. “As far as what I’ve been through, though, I don’t kno
w about all that.”

  Denise shrugged. “You’ve done a lot,” his mother pointed out. “Tried out a lot of things.”

  “I suppose.” Edward shrugged, then sighed. It often seemed that he’d spent a good deal of his life chasing things that didn’t matter, especially now that he had Clara by his side. “I’m just happy that I’ll be able to settle down now.”

  That stopped his mother in her tracks, and Edward knew why right away.

  “I never thought I’d hear you say anything like that,” Denise said. “It really is remarkable.”

  He nodded. “It surprises me, too,” he agreed. “Kind of the last thing I was expecting after all the wandering around I’ve done.”

  “Well, I’m glad you wandered your way down here,” his mother said. “It was a kindly thing to do.”

  Edward smiled slightly, thinking about all the things his mother had gotten him to do to come down here. He wasn’t sure “kindly” was the right word to describe coming here, but he knew it was best to let her comment be.

  “Man can’t not have his mama at his wedding,” he said, lapsing into the Texas twang he’d had as a boy. “Wouldn’t be right.”

  “I wholeheartedly agree,” Denise said. “And I get to see snow for Christmas, too!”

  Edward laughed at her excitement, and he touched his mother tenderly on the shoulder.

  “And a whole lot of it,” he said. “You may not be as kindly disposed toward it when you see the size a Colorado snow storm.”

  Denise shrugged. “I’m sure I can weather it,” he said. “Long as I have you by my side.”

  He gave her a quick hug, and they kept walking. They were nearly at the perimeter of Denise’s small spread, and Edward had seen everything he needed to see.

  “I have a pretty good idea what needs to be done,” he said as they approached the house. “You have a list?”

  “Of course!” Denise said, grinning. “Don’t I always?”

  He chuckled. His mother had always been the most organized person he knew; there was no other way for a woman to run a spread solo, even the small one his father had left her.

  Somehow she’d always gotten by, though. Edward had helped, of course, and now he knew how much that life of doing everything had prepared him for all the traveling he’d done.

  He picked up tasks easily, and shortly after he left, Edward had become aware that he would never lack for work given the number of things he could do.

  “Yeah, I guess you sure do,” he said. “The challenge will be getting to everything in it.”

  “You’ll manage,” Denise said, nodding. “You always did back when you were here. I can’t imagine things have changed all that much now.”

  Edward just grinned. The simple fact was that everything had changed. He thought about Clara, wondering for the thousandth time if she would get along with his mother.

  They’re both pretty headstrong, he thought. Gonna be an interesting challenge.

  But challenges didn’t frighten Edward. They never had. He’d taken them on when he’d traveled and met and conquered most of them head on.

  There was one thing that did frighten him, though—a life without Clara. As much as he cared about his mother, he cared more about his impending marriage, despite the risk he’d taken in coming to Texas without telling Clara about it.

  There was only one answer: He would have to make it work. He was close enough for it to feel possible; he just needed to put the rest of the work in.

  “Let’s get to that list of yours, then,” Edward said as he opened the door for his mother. “After that we’ve got a wedding to attend to.”

  Edward spent the next two days working his way through his mother’s list.

  It wasn’t as bad as he’d imagined; indeed, there were other things he came up with that she’d overlooked, and doing these made him think of how hard it must have been for her over the years, running a place like this with only hired hands to help.

  By the time they were ready to leave, Edward was convinced that his mother should move to Colorado with him. He wasn’t ready to present the idea to her; that would have been foolhardy, the essence of putting the cart before the horse.

  But it would be good for her, and it would be good for both of them, really. Edward would be able to take care of her, and Denise would be able to spend the rest of her life in relative comfort and not have to do everything else.

  Their departure was sad, but not overly so. Denise had several hired hands she trusted, and Edward worked with the one who would be in charge, with some of the chores that needed to be done. He became convinced the man was trustworthy, regardless of how long his mother was away.

  The journey back to Last Chance proved slightly more perilous than the initial trip. Edward noticed the difference immediately; this time he was going from warmth to cold, and the threatening clouds told him that storms might be part of the trip.

  Surprisingly, though, his mother loved it.

  “Could those be snow clouds?” Denise asked as they came closer to the Colorado territory. “I’ve never seen that kind of purple in a cloud before.”

  Edward frowned, thinking of the clouds he’d seen as a child, the ones that indicated that a tornado might be forming.

  They’d been a similar shade of purple, and he wondered if his mother was just seeing these clouds differently because she wanted to experience snows badly.

  “It’s hard to tell,” Edward said, bracing himself against the wind, which was gusting in a way that was more than a little harsh. “When the wind gets up, the weather moves a lot faster out here.”

  “I kind of like it,” his mother said, turning so she could study the clouds. “It’s exciting.”

  He smiled. “You mean like the clouds that produce tornadoes?” he joked, and Denise frowned.

  “Oh, just stop it,” she said. “You know what I mean.”

  “I do,” Edward replied. “I just couldn’t resist.”

  They talked about the clouds as they rode toward them, and Edward tried to tell his mother what he knew about them. It was a tricky thing; he’d gotten decent at picking out which storms would be bad, but it wasn’t an exact matter to be sure.

  He had a feeling about this one, though. Not that it would be bad, but the color told him it was definitely up to something.

  It didn’t take long for the cloud to reveal itself. Edward spotted the flurries, but they were off in the distance, and he glanced over at his mother to see her reaction.

  “What is that?” Denise said, blinking as she peered off into the distance.

  He smiled. “Probably just what you think it is,” he said. “But we’re a little too far to experience it for real.”

  “Oh!” She looked down at her horse. “Can we catch up, then?”

  Edward laughed, shaking his head as he did. “That’s probably not a good idea,” he said.

  “Why not?”

  He shrugged. “Well, for one thing, we don’t know if it’s a real storm yet,” Edward explained. “There might be more to it than we can see from here.”

  His mother frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Sometimes there are squalls,” he said, and she gave him a confused look. Edward tried to think of a way to explain it, but how do you explain snow squalls to someone who’s never seen one before?

  “The snow falls thick and fast, but only for a short time,” he said, and Denise’s eyes widened.

  “Oh! I’d love to see that,” she said, peering ahead more intently.

  Edward shook his head. “Not necessarily,” he cautioned. “They can be very dangerous out here.”

  She frowned. “Dangerous how?”

  “It’s easy to get lost, or turned around,” he explained. “Sometimes the horses panic. I’ve heard about men who came to a bad end in really bad squalls.”

  “Really? That doesn’t seem possible?”

  “Believe me, it is,” Edward replied. “That’s why we’re not going to rush headlong into it.” />
  His mother nodded, but he could tell she was disappointed. Edward could also see how conflicted she was; he knew Denise trusted him, but she also couldn’t disguise her eagerness.

  “So we’ll miss it, then,” she said finally.

  He laughed. “Probably, if we’re lucky,’ he said. “We just can’t take the risk, just the two of us, out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “I understand.”

  He wanted to console her, but Edward knew he had to pay attention to the storm for the next few minutes. The flurries were picking up as the cloud got darker, and for a moment he thought they might be in trouble.

  The clouds passed quickly, though, and Edward couldn’t help but think about the close calls he’d experienced and the ones he’d only heard about.

  One had taken out a good friend. The circumstances had been more than a little unusual; there were three men riding together, and one had lost control of his horse.

  The disaster that followed had been both unexpected and severe. The other two horses panicked, and one of the men was thrown. Edward’s friend had dismounted, trying to restore order to the situation, but he’d been knocked over by one of the horses and then kicked in the head.

  And that was all it took. Men got kicked by horses all the time sometimes in the head, but very few of those incidents led to death. This one had.

  “Are we alright, then?” his mother asked when the clouds were gone, and Edward realized he’d gotten lost in his little reverie for a moment.

  “Yes, we’re fine,” he said, looking around just to make sure. “I’m sorry I had to do that . . . it’s just that I have to be safe.”

  “I understand,” Denise said again, and this time she nodded. “I know you’re just trying to protect me.”

  He nodded slightly in return, and Edward saw that the sun was going down. It was time to start looking around for a place to make camp. He thought about how strange it would be to do that with his mother, especially given that she wasn’t used to the cold.

  “We should find a spot out of the wind,” he said. “We’ll need to stop for the day soon.”

  She nodded. “I was wondering about that,” Denise said, and she smiled. “I haven’t made camp in ages.”