Mail Order Bride: The Irish Runaway

by Catherine Harper

  “Thank you, Dominic.”

  “It should be me thanking you.”

  Looking at him with a confused look, she asked, “For what?”

  “For everything. For coming into my life and making me the happiest man in the world.”

  “You still want to get married?”

  “If you’ll have me.”

  Sitting up, she threw her arms around him and held him tight. “Good.”

  Holding her, he smiled. “But I’ll have to break one tradition.”

  “What’s that?”

  “There’s no way I’m leaving you alone until we stand in front of the pastor. I don’t care what anyone says.”

  “Agreed.”

  Pulling back the sheets Dominic kicked off his boots and climbed in beside her. Putting an arm under her head, he placed it on his chest and held her tightly until she fell asleep.

  Chapter 15

  Shannon stood in front of the full length mirror, turning to see how the back of her wedding dress looked, she heard William say. “You look wonderful.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m glad you like it. So, how are your nerves?” Holding out her hand, she watched as her hand shook a little.

  “I’d say that’s a good sign,” William added. “If you weren’t nervous, I’d worry.”

  “And Dominic?”

  “Honestly, I don’t think he got a wink of sleep last night,” William smiled.

  “I know he wanted to stay with me until we got to the pastor, but there was no way I was letting him catch a glimpse of me in this dress.”

  “Oh, before I forget.”

  Shannon watched as William reached into his pocket and took out a small piece of jewelery.

  “I’d heard how close you and your brother were, and well, with you being alone here--I thought you’d want this.”

  Opening his hand, William held Connor’s crucifix in it. “I cleaned it up and…”

  Taking the cross, she clutched it in her hand and then threw her arms around him. “Thank you, William you don’t know how much that means to me.”

  “Here let me put it on.” Taking the small chain, he placed it around her neck and fixed the clasp. “Now you’ve got a little piece of family with you.”

  Shannon put her hand to her eye to mop up a tear.

  “Hey, hey, come on, he’d want you to see happy.”

  “I am, William, I am. I’ve never been so happy--can I ask you something?”

  “What is it?”

  “Will you do something for me?”

  “No problem, whatever you need.”

  Shannon paused. She’d only known William for a few days, but in that time he’d became more than a good friend. “Would you give me away?”

  “Well, I don’t know what to say?”

  “Say yes.”

  “I’d be honoured, Shannon. Thank you.”

  Hearing a knock on the door, William went and answered it. Looking back at her, he smiled, “They’re ready.”

  Shannon took one last look in the mirror and gazed at the face that looked back. In an hour from now, she’d be Mrs. Shannon Campbell. Thinking of the journey she’d been on, she couldn’t help but remember the woman that had made it all possible for her, Martha. Hoping that she was at peace now and in the arms of her loving husband, Shannon hoped that she knew she’d done another good job. Giving herself a quick look over, she joined William at the door. Linking her arm in his, she smiled. “Let’s go. I’ve got a husband waiting for me.”

  Chapter 16

  One year later….

  Shannon held Dominic’s hand to her bump and felt the baby kick against it.

  “He’s got a helluva kick there.”

  Pulling herself up in her bed to a seated position, Shannon remarked, “All right for you, it’s my insides that are taking a beating. And why is it every man thinks his wife’s having a boy. You know it could be a girl.”

  “If she’s as beautiful as her mother, you’ll get no arguments from me.” Dominic leaned over and kissed her softly. Looking back at her large swollen belly, he remarked, “You don’t think it’s twins do you?”

  Slapping his hand, she chuckled. “Don’t you dare joke like that.”

  “I couldn’t resist it just to see the look on your face. To tell the truth the closer it’s getting to the end, the more I’m getting a little scared of it all. Me, a father?”

  “You’ll be a wonderful father, Dominic.”

  “But I mean the early days. I haven’t got the first idea of what to do. Feeding them, changing them, heck, I don’t even know the right way to hold them.”

  “It’s a good job we’re getting help then, isn’t it?”

  “From where?”

  “Well, you remember Rebecca. You know, the lady I met on the boat.”

  Dominic nodded.

  “Well, her husband is heading back east to sort out some family matter. He’s going to be gone for a couple of weeks. So I said why doesn’t she come here. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other and she said she’d love to help out--plus she can stay at the hotel. So this way you won’t have to worry about me, and she can get to see San Francisco at the same time.”

  “You’ve it all worked out, haven’t you?”

  “Not just a good looking woman,” Shannon beamed and watched him smile in return.

  “All right then.”

  Taking his hand, Shannon put it back on her bump. “There is another thing…”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, if it’s a girl, I’d like to call her Martha.”

  “And a boy?”

  “Well, I thought I’d leave it up to you,” Shannon said.

  “How does Connor sound?”

  Holding his hand there, and feeling the baby kick back against it, she leaned across and kissed him. “Thank you.”

  “You know I’d do anything for my little Irish runaway,” Dominic replied.

  Love On The Line - Chapter 1

  Elizabet met Charles at the door and shook his hand.

  "Good to see you, my dear. How are you?" he asked. On the verge of answering, Elizabet found herself quickly ushered into the room. "Come in, come in."

  Looking around, she noticed the difference in the room since the last time she'd been there. "You've gotten rid of the rifle?"

  "What that?" Charles looked to the spot on the wall where it used to hang. "Ah yes. I didn't think it suited being in a lawyers’ office. Kind of gives people the wrong impression if they come in here and see a rifle strapped to the wall. Has it been that long since you've been here?"

  Elizabet nodded. "I think I was six the last time I was here."

  "Really? How time has flown. When you get to my age, all those memories seem to gel into one great big ball. Half the times something I think happened a few days ago was twenty years ago. Guess that's the problem with getting old," Charles shook his head. Realizing that she'd nowhere to sit, he quickly took hold of a chair from the corner of the room and pulled it to his desk. "Sorry. It's not often I get visitors to the office nowadays. Please sit down."

  Taking her seat and placing her purse on her lap, she watched as her father's oldest friend took his position on the other side and stood behind his chair. "Can I get you a drink? Tea, maybe?"

  Elizabet shook her head.

  Taking his seat, he pulled it out and sat down. Then making himself comfortable, he said, "He was a good man your father. He'll be sorely missed around here. I don't think there's one person that had a bad word to say about him. Did you know he was one of the first people who hired me?"

  "I didn't know that."

  "Funny story that. I'd ripped my trousers, snagged them on a nail or something or other. Of course it happened as I was making my way to an important client. Not the kind of thing you want, turning up with a hole in your breeches." Charles smiled.

  "I suppose not."

  "Luckily I spotted your father's store and dropped in on
the off chance that he could do something for me. I thought maybe I'd be able to get a quick stitching done and asked him—but not father. No, he lent me a pair, right off the rack. He said he'd have mine fixed by the time I got back. But I think he knew what he was doing-"

  "How's that?" Elizabet asked, not remembering her father mention the story to her.

  "Well, could I honestly go back and hand those trousers in after I'd used them? He was being generous and all, but he probably spotted it as a way to sell me a pair."

  "And did you?"

  "What do you think?" Charles smiled. "But I can't complain. For the price of a pair of pants I made a good friend, and one of my first clients."

  "He never told me that."

  "That was your father,” Charles said and shook his head. “Still hard to believe he's gone—so you know why I called you in today."

  "His will."

  "His will," Charles repeated and pulled open a drawer to his left. Taking out a folder and placing it on the table, he opened it. "Did he mention much about it at all?"

  "I knew he had one, but it's not something we talked about."

  "That's true," Charles said, pulling out some pages. "Not something we like to think of, leaving this place and going off to meet our maker. You'd be surprised how many people don't take the time to make a will—but enough of me waffling. Let's get down to business."

  Elizabet watched Charles go through the motions of reading out the will. Starting off with a small statement of her father being in fit mind and body, he quickly read through all her father's possessions. Beginning with the larger items, he paused only once as he got to the part about a small cash donation.

  "Said he'd wanted to help the church out with that leaky roof of theirs," he smiled. "Don't worry we're coming to the end soon. I know how boring all this legal talk and jargon can be—now where was I?" Scanning the page, he continued reading. "And finally I bequeath that my daughter get a share of my store and all its contents."

  Elizabet listened to the words and thought she'd heard wrongly. “I'm sorry, but did you say, ‘a share?’"

  "Yes my dear. That's what's written here. Your father left you a share of his store."

  Hearing the words, Elizabet tried her best to digest them. Being an only child, and her mother gone too, she'd assumed that she'd get full ownership of it. "I don't understand."

  Charles put the will on the table and spun it around. Pushing it across this desk, he got out of his seat and joined her.

  Looking at the words, Elizabet found Charles place his finger on the document. "If you look here, you'll see his wishes for the ownership of the store."

  Elizabet read the name and spun to face him. "You?"

  "That's right. Your father gave me the controlling share of his store."

  "Now hold on a minute, there's something wrong here."

  Taking the will from her hand, Charles pointed to the signature at the bottom. "As you can see your father signed off on it."

  Elizabet shook her head and got to her feet. "No, no. There's something wrong here. I know for a fact that my father wouldn't do this-"

  "It's all there in his own hand and signature, Elizabet. Your father gave me a majority share of his store-"

  "He wouldn't, he couldn't. He never mentioned it to me before-"

  "Maybe he was afraid of how you'd react-"

  "You did this. You confused him, you tricked him."

  Pulling back her chair, he pointed her to it "Please sit, Elizabet. I know how you must be feeling; it must be a shock to you."

  Elizabet picked up her fallen purse and pointed her finger. "I'm going to challenge this; you're not going to win here-"

  "Elizabet, please," Charles said, holding out his hand. "You're not thinking straight; I know it must be a shock to find out this."

  Elizabet slapped the hand away and edged backwards toward the door. "I swear; I'm going to challenge this. You're not going to win; you hear me? You're not going to win." Grabbing the handle of the door to open it, she found it pushed closed again by Charles hand. Looking back, she found him standing uncomfortably close to her.

  "You can say and do what you want, Elizabet, but you're forgetting things. I know the law a lot better than you do. There's not a court in the land that would see things your way-"

  "Maybe, but I'll tell everyone how you cheat…" Cut off short, Elizabet fought against the hand that pushed her back against the door.

  "You could, but I know you won't. You might think that because I'm a lawyer that I only work above the law, but believe me I know some people who could make your life very difficult. Nod your head if you understand."

  Nodding her head slowly, Elizabet took in the man she now faced. Looking far from the frail gentleman she saw earlier, she found him smile as he took his hand away.

  "I'm so glad we've come to an amicable agreement. And remember, if I hear one single word of this. Well, I think you'll know what'll happen." Moving his hand away, he took hold of the door handle and opened it. Stepping back, he nodded his head to her. "Now you have a good day, Elizabet."

  Chapter 2

  Running out the door of Charles office, Elizabet picked the first direction that came to her and ran that way. Not thinking of anything, but putting distance been herself and his grinning face, she now found an outlet for her adrenaline. Pumping her arms and legs as best she could in her dress, she dismissed the onlookers she passed by. What they thought of her didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the great injustice that had been done to her and her father. One that no one would ever know about. Angry that her father's last wishes had been tarnished, she rounded a corner and slammed head-first into another pedestrian coming the opposite way. Bouncing off them and finding herself lying in the street, Elizabet cursed how this day was going for her.

  "Elizabet, is that you?"

  Groaning from both pain and embarrassment, Elizabet found a hand held out for her. Looking up to see who owned it, she found a familiar face grin back at her. "Alice?"

  Smiling down, as if their collision didn't matter, Alice asked, "Where's the fire?"

  "Huh?"

  "The fire. The way you rounded that corner, I thought you were running for your life."

  Picking up her purse, Elizabet apologized once more. "I'm sorry I should have watched where I was going-"

  "Are you sure, you're OK?"

  Dusting herself down, Elizabet ignored the question. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you must think of me."

  "It's fine, no harm done," Alice grinned widely. "After the news I got today, there's nothing that could get me down." Grabbing onto Elizabet's hands, she ran on the spot with excitement. "I've just met the man of my dreams. Oh, Elizabet, he's gorgeous."

  Seeing the excitement on her neighbour’s face, Elizabet found herself taken in by it and smile back. "Right. So who's the lucky guy, anyone I know?"

  "Maybe. That's if you know many men in San Francisco," Alice smiled.

  "San Francisco?"

  "Oh, I'm just bursting to share my news. Can we go somewhere to talk?"

  "Well, I-"

  "Unless you're in a hurry, that is? The way you were running there a moment ago—I wouldn't want to make you late for your appointment."

  Elizabet looked at Alice's face and knew there was no way she could refuse. Feeling that a cup of tea and a conversation would help her also, she agreed. "Alright, love bird. How about some tea at Henley's then? It's not far away."

  Putting her hand under her skirt, Elizabet felt the wet patch that was starting to grow at the knee of her stocking. Knowing that she was going to have a nasty bruise there in a day or two, she found Alice still sitting across from her with a starry look in her eyes.

  "Doesn't it get tiring?"

  Lowering her cup of tea, Alice looked confused. "What?"

  "Smiling like that," Elizabet asked, picking up her own cup and taking a sip. Watching her friend try her best not to smile, she found it come back again.

&nb
sp; "Am I still doing it?"

  "Believe me, it's come to the point now that I think you're suffering paralysis in your face," Elizabet joked. "I don't think you've stopped smiling since I bumped into you."

  "How are you, are you sore?"

  "Just a cut knee and hurt pride," Elizabet said, waving away the question. "We're not here to talk about that. Come on, tell me about him."

  "Oh, Elizabet, wait until you see him."

  Elizabet watched as Alice pulled open her purse excitedly. Taking out a photo, she looked at it for a moment before handing it over.

  "What do you think?"

  Holding the black-and-white photo, Elizabet gazed at the man that looked back at her. Reminding her of someone else she'd known, his clean-shaven face and rugged looks definitely put him in the attractive category. Handing it back, she watched as Alice held on to it and started to lose herself in the photo again. "Well, I have to say, Alice, I can see why you're so excited."

  "Three more weeks until we meet."

  "You never did tell me, how did you met? Was he visiting New York?"

  Putting the photo way, Alice answered, "Heavens, no. He was looking for a mail-order bride."

  "Really? So you've-"

  "Did it a few weeks ago," Alice said, helping herself to a pastry. Biting down on it, she smiled, "Oh, those are divine. You've got to try one."

  "So, go on, fill me in…"

  Dusting the powdered sugar from around her mouth with a napkin, Alice continued, "Well, I saw an ad in the paper and thought I'd look into it. At first it was as a joke, you know, just out of curiosity."

  Elizabet nodded, having the same thoughts herself.

  "I'd heard so many stories about women heading out West and wanted to see if it was all it was cracked up to be," Alice took another drink from her cup.

  "And?"

  Putting her cup down on its saucer, Alice leaned in closer as if she didn't want anyone to overhear her next words. Seeing her do this, and expecting to hear something juicy, Elizabet found herself mirror her friend's movements.