Heat flooded her face and she risked a glance up at him. She knew her message was cryptic but nothing was coming out like she’d planned it.

  “I mean, I can wait for you to share about her—if you ever want to.” She felt disappointment in herself for covering up the reason she’d shared—that she wanted to wait for him to get over Mary—but with Robert standing there, unmoving and unspeaking, she didn’t know what else to do.

  “Thank you,” he finally said. “It is difficult to talk about her. I appreciate your patience.” He turned back to the hay, bending to pick up the pitchfork.

  Apparently their conversation was over. Alice felt the disappointment and turned to go, knowing that, though she’d had the courage to say something, she had been a coward in the end.

  ***

  Robert stared into the campfire, the flames licking the dry logs. The small fire gave off little heat in the chill of the plains, the wind rushing across the open space and cutting through his clothes. It was unseasonably cold tonight but Robert didn’t mind. It matched his mood.

  Alice’s words haunted him, causing him distraction after distraction the whole day. He couldn’t count how many times Leo, the lead hand, had to call attention to something he’d forgotten to do.

  What was it about that woman that got under his skin and sunk into his thoughts? For such a mild and sweet woman, she took over his mind much to easily.

  “What’s eatin’ at ya?”

  The gravelly voice came from behind his right shoulder and Robert turned to see Leo standing there, cup of coffee in hand.

  “Join me?” Robert offered.

  “Sure.” The man, older than most of the hands, sat down next to Robert and stared into the fire, taking sips of his coffee and squinting his eyes against the brightness of the flames. “So, you going to tell me what’s botherin’ you or what?”

  Robert considered what he could say. His heart was anchored to his late wife but his new wife threatened to break through his loyalty. No, he couldn’t share that. It was his problem. Something he had to deal with.

  “It’s nothing. Sorry about being distracted today. I’ll be more alert tomorrow.”

  “Right,” Leo said, unconvinced. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with that new wife of yours now would it?”

  Robert blinked.

  “Thought so.” Leo took another swig of coffee then turned his perceptive gaze to Robert. “What’s the trouble, son?”

  His words were so kind and he seemed genuinely interested in the answer that Robert found himself opening up to the man. Sharing his thoughts and feelings about Alice since she’d arrived.

  When he was done Leo nodded slowly. “I see. Sounds like that new wife of yours has been through a lot. Kind of like you have.”

  “You could say that.”

  “And it also sounds like you’re trying to hold on to the past with one hand and grab onto the future with the other. How’s that working out for you?”

  “Not well.”

  “Far be it for me to tell you what to do, don’t take this as that,” Leo shrugged then looked back into the flames. “But let me just say that folks that are no longer with us don’t tend to hold grudges or have any feelings at all.”

  The harshness of the man’s words struck Robert, but he couldn’t fault the logic.

  “I know it’s not easy to move past that type of pain. I lost my first wife and it took me years before I was ready to love again, but I did. Love again, that is.” A toothy smile took over the features of his worn face. “And it’s been the best, second-love a man could ask for.”

  Robert let out a sigh. “But it feels like betrayal.”

  “Son, just because you loved your first wife doesn’t mean your love stopped when she breathed her last. It just means that you have felt the love of a good woman. Why couldn’t God let you feel that twice in one lifetime?”

  Robert dared to hope that this was true. When he dug past the hurt over Mary that he continued to dredge up, the truth remained. He wanted to get to know Alice better. To accept the feelings he had for her and uncover what more there could be.

  “Take it from me,” Leo finally said, standing, “love is a living thing. It may be cut off, but it can grow again.”

  Robert watched the man as he walked to the next campfire, checking in with the other hands. Could Leo be right? Could his marriage to Alice contain love like his marriage to Marry had?

  Chapter 6

  Alice scrubbed the floor, the water in the bucket turning to a dirty brown. Her ankle felt strong and she had finished reorganizing the pantry while the bread was rising near the warmth of the sun coming through the window. When Jack went down for his nap she had decided it was time to clean the floors, though her knees had already started to protest the awkward position.

  The front door opened and she jerked her head in the direction, surprised to see Robert standing there. His hat was in his hand and dark black hair framed his face in a wild and windblown look. His green eyes blazed with some emotion she couldn’t place, but he didn’t look unhappy. In fact, he looked…alive.

  “You’re back.”

  “I am.”

  She stood, placing the soaking brush in the bucket and went to the counter. “I’m almost done with the floor but I can make you something to eat if—” The plate she’d just picked up slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor, shattering into tiny pieces. Her heart dropped and frustration and embarrassment overtook her. “Oh no!”

  Before she knew what was happening, Robert stood at her side and stilled her hands, covering them with his own. “Are you all right?”

  She was shaking, but this time it had nothing to do with her clumsiness and everything to do with the man standing close to her, the smell wind and horses emanating from him.

  “I-I’m sorry.”

  He smiled down at her, not releasing her fingers. “It was an accident. No need to apologize.”

  She felt her flush deepen and looked down. Why was he so close? Why was he holding her hands? Had something changed?

  “Alice, when you came into the barn last week…”

  She looked up at him, surprised at his change in subject.

  “You said you’d wait for me.”

  He didn’t add anything and she felt the need to reply. “Yes…”

  “It was unfair of me to withhold so much from you.” His shoulders drooped and he shook his head. “To be honest, I married you because my sister recommended it and I needed someone to watch after Jack.”

  The truth, though it was one she had guessed, still stung to hear it. “I see—”

  “But,” he said, before she could say more, “I’ve realized that’s not fair.”

  “Oh?”

  “No. I was deeply in love with my wife Mary. We had known each other for many years before we married and it took us a long time to get pregnant with Jack. When he was born, it was the happiest time of our lives. Then Mary took sick,” his voice cracked and she saw the emotion reflected in his eyes. “I was devastated by her death and, quite frankly, didn’t think I could love again.”

  She searched his eyes, looking for the truth. What did he think now?

  “I was wrong to believe that you can only love once.” He shook his head, his mouth quirking into a half smile. “I just wanted to tell you that…I want to be invested in our marriage. I want to try to love again.”

  Her heart soared at his words. “Really?”

  “Yes.” He pulled her hand up and kissed the knuckles. “I see such amazing qualities in you and have realized over the time that you’ve been here that I want to open up to you. My connection to the past has been holding me back. Forgive me?”

  “Of course.”

  He looked into her eyes, searching them as he leaned closer. Her heart began to beat more rapidly with the realization that he was going to kiss her. She had hoped for this moment, unsure that it would ever happen.

  “And Alice,” he whispered, his lips nearly on hers, “You will always be safe with me.”

  Robert's words were almost too good to be true, as was his kiss when their lips finally touched. But it was proof that God’s plans were always for the best.

  God had delivered Alice from the debilitating fear she had lived in. He had provided her with a new home and a new life. And now, for the first time, she not only felt safe, but she was safe.

  THE END.

  A Rancher’s Love

  Mail Order Bride

  By: Christian Michael

  Chapter One: Party Favors

  Massachusetts, 1859

  “Gracie Noel!” Angela Curtis called from the foyer of the main residence. The foyer stretched the length of the home, from the front entrance to the back staircase that led out to the gardens. On either side of the room, a set of curving staircases led to the second floor where the bedrooms were. The six-bedroom mini-mansion was laid out elaborately with rooms big enough to easily put a large four-poster bed, a chair or two and a dresser and armoire. Each room had its own balcony that overlooked portions of the gardens or the large pond that sat over a large expanse of the property. With four girls to a room, however, it could become unbelievably cramped when everyone was awake together. It made Gracie ever more thankful for the just over five acres of land outside what the house sat on, which allowed for plenty of beauty to behold.

  “Coming, Miss Curtis,” Gracie replied, stepping into the hallway from her room. She walked lightly down the staircase that was closest to her room and met her mother at the bottom.

  “We have company, dear.”

  Gracie looked toward the sitting room to see John Jacobsen and his parents being served by Nelson, the butler. She barely stifled the sigh as she rolled her eyes. John Jacobsen wasn’t any happier to be sitting there, than she was to see him. “Lovely,” she replied sarcastically. She plowed through her dinner just this side of ungraciously and nearly groaned when John asked if she’d like to walk in the gardens. “Certainly.”

  Gracie took John’s arm and as soon as they were outside her family’s residence she dropped her hand to her side. “Thank you.”

  “For?” she asked.

  “For agreeing to this walk. If you’re agreeable, we can talk and tell my parents honestly that we’re just not right for each other.”

  Gracie grinned. Still, she wasn’t sure whether to be offended that he wasn’t interested, or simply relieved. “We’re not?”

  “No offense, Gracie,” he said, his somber brown eyes meeting her pretty gray ones. “But you’re like a hurricane, blowing through and stirring everything up. I’m like a tree, solid, stately, boring. We just don’t fit well together.”

  “Who do you have your eye on?”

  “Marissa Peterson,” he said, his face flushing.

  Gracie knew Marissa well. “She’ll make you a good wife, John.” Taking his arm again they walked and talked, laughing about his parent’s schemes and grinning at each other over past and present loves. After more than an hour though, it seemed appropriate to end the night. “Thank you, John. Contrary to what I first thought, I had a nice time walking with you. Give Marissa my best.”

  “Thank you, Gracie Noel,” John said, kissing her hand in farewell when his parents showed themselves to the door. “I will.” He gave her a wink before turning toward his parents.

  Grinning, Gracie turned to see Angela standing behind her. “Well?”

  “Well what?” she asked, even though she knew where her caretaker was going with her first question.

  “You and John walked for quite a while out in the gardens.”

  “He’s great company,” she said, not committing to more. A tactic she knew would almost instantly rile Angela.

  “And?”

  “And a good friend.”

  “I can’t take this anymore, Gracie. You can’t keep acting as if you’ve got gold coming out of your bottom. You need the security that a man, a marriage and children can provide for you.”

  “Perhaps I’m not meant to marry the gentlemen that come sniffing around me.”

  “Oh, please. As if there are any other appropriate suiters to be found.”

  ***

  Trent Baxter ran a hand through his thick, black hair. He swiped a hand across his sweaty brow, slapping his hat back on his head. Picking up the handles to his plow, he reset the leather reigns over his shoulders and braced himself against the pull of Babe and Blue, his team of huge oxen. They pull the plow easily through the rough ground, ripping it up. This was his third pass today through the freshly ground dirt and hopefully would be his last before he could plant the corn that needed to seed off by the following month if he was going to have a harvest to gather.

  When the team took their last run through the dirt with the plow, Trent found that the planting came easily and by the time the sun dipped below the horizon, he’d managed to plant the entire field of corn. Tomorrow he’d start on green beans and peas. The following would be carrots and potatoes. His ranch wasn’t the biggest or most ostentatious in Midland, Texas, but he made good and adequate use of what God had blessed him with.

  He couldn’t necessarily brag about how he’d acquired the ranch, considering he’d won it in a poker game three years before, but he’d turned the land into a beautiful horse and cattle ranch, with enough land in excess to plant crops that would sustain him through the winter months. Looking out over things, he knew he’d have to hire some hands to help him. His business was expanding so fast that keeping up with it was impossible for a man to do on his own.

  Sighing, Trent knew that his choice was either to hire immigrants from Mexico or freed men of color. Being a person not in favor of slavery, the choice seemed clear. Although, needing to hire more than one person, he might just hire a freed man and a Mexican immigrant. He knew the sentiment of the community in which he lived. Slavery was a huge part of what made the southern states successful, but it was something that Trent just couldn’t abide by. No man should have the right to own another in his way of thinking.

  The following morning, Trent made his way into town on Rusty, his bay mare who was nearly at retirement age. She’d been his since he was little and had taken him on more rides than he could remember, always returning him safely home. Arriving just past noon, Trent hitched Rusty to a post outside the post office.

  “Hey Tommy,” he called out, greeting the clerk.

  “Hey Mr. Baxter.” No matter how many times Trent had said to call him by his given name, the young man never did. Engrained manners he supposed. They weren’t always easy for young ones to let go of, even when they became grownups themselves. “What can I do for you today?”

  “I’m looking to hire some freed men of color, maybe some Mexican immigrants as well.”

  “Oh,” Tommy said, his cheeks going crimson. “Well I wouldn’t go around advertising that, but if you’re looking to hire some folks I can help you out. Is there anything else you need?”

  “You know anyone who’s advertised for a wife?”

  “You mean like a flyer around town or one of those high finagled newspaper ones that go back east?”

  “Which one works better?”

  “Honestly I have no idea, but if I was a betting man I’d put money back east. The women around here, if they are single, just seem less than what a man might want in a wife. No offense to the weaker sex or anything.”

  “Alright. I’ll do an advertisement for some newspapers back east.”

  “Fill out what you want to say and leave it there. I’ll take care of it from there.”

  “Thanks Tommy,” Trent said, heading out to contact the man Tommy had given him information on.

  Later that afternoon, he’d been able to hire two freed men and one Mexican immigrant who he hoped would work well, thanks to the information Tommy had provided. If things went well, and he thought they would, Trent figured he’d give Tommy a first pick of his harvest and a new horse as well. Swinging up into the saddle, he rode home with a lighter, more expectant heart.

  Chapter Two: New Horizons

  Gracie sat at the kitchen table two weeks after walking in the gardens with John and knew she had to come up with a plan. If she didn’t, Angela would marry her off to the first even slightly interested party.

  “You really need to start taking this seriously,” Angela Curtis was saying, pouring coffee into her husband’s cup. “It isn’t like you’re going to have a lot of options left if you turn down every suiter that comes your way.”

  “So I should marry for the sake of marrying?”

  “You should marry so that you have some security in the future,” she huffed, clearly exasperated. “Or is it your hope to live at the orphanage forever?”

  “You know I want to marry someday,” Gracie said, a little bit perturbed. “I don’t, however, feel that I should swoon for every man who shows an interest. Do you know how many of them are only looking to make a profit through an alliance with me? I won’t be used as a pawn to make some man even richer than the silver spoon in his mouth.”

  “I give up,” Angela said, tossing up her hands. “Rupert, please tell young lady the sense in picking a husband now versus later.”

  “Listen to her, Gracie. Your money won’t last forever outside the walls of this orphanage. And if you think it’s bad now, just wait until there’s no one to filter those men for you,” Rupert Curtis said. Putting his pipe back in his mouth, he returned to the paper he was reading.

  Gracie sat there for a minute staring at the paper. She skimmed the small print to ease her mind before landing on an interesting advertisement. Apparently a man out west was in need of a wife and mother for his daughter. Gracie couldn’t help the way his plight squeezed her heart. A single man trying to raise a little girl all on his own. When the idea first hit her, she shoved it away as ludicrous. But the more she thought about that man and the little girl who’d lost her mother, the more she felt her heart pull toward them.

 

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