The Teacher's Bride: Mail Order Bride (Boulder Brides Book 1) Read online

  Greta had slept late. It had quit snowing, but the sun peered down as blearily on the landscape as she felt. Joseph was up already. She could smell the coffee brewing. She struggled quickly into a dress and pulled on her wool stockings. When she entered the living room, she stopped in surprise. “Lester?”

  The young man, who had been playing with the puppy, looked up and gave her a broad grin. “How have you been, little sister?”

  “When did you get here?”

  “Early this morning. I was ready to pound this unscrupulous ruffian until he told me he had done his sworn duty. I was distressed to receive your letter, Greta. Instead of leaving you in the hands of strangers, I thought I would come for you straight-away. It seems I’m a little too late.”

  “Not late at all, Lester! It’s Christmas, and I’ve received everything I could possibly wish for, especially now that you’re here.”

  Sometimes, wishes do come true. Sometimes, it’s the magic of Christmas because it’s a time of belief and a time of sharing. Sometimes it’s because the wish is made with so much love, it just seems to reach out and pull everyone together. The town would remember the Marston wedding as the biggest they’d ever seen. The wagon train would remember it as the one that brought them Christmas. For Greta and Joseph, it was a reminder to always love freely and have faith in Christmas miracles.

  THE END

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  About Author - Natalie Dean

  Natalie Dean has always loved reading historical fiction and writing. She pursued creative writing courses in college, but due to trying life circumstances, couldn’t pursue a writing career as she wanted in her early days. Now that her children are all grown, she is finally able to pursue writing like she has always dreamed of doing. She has several cats and one very spoiled Pomeranian at home. In addition to writing, she also has a beekeeping business that keeps her busy.

  If you enjoyed reading this book…

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  Other books by Natalie Dean

  Brides of Bannack Series

  Lottie

  Cecilia

  Sarah

  Brides and Twins Series

  A Soldier’s Love

  Taming the Rancher

  The Wrong Bride (coming soon)

  Brides of Boulder Series

  The Teacher’s Bride

  STANDALONE TITLES

  Mail Order Groom

  Sneak Peek: A Soldier’s Love

  Book Description

  A SOLDIER’S LOVE

  Brides and Twins Book 1

  A Western Romance Short Story

  "I am not a man given to foolish superstitions, Miss O’Hara, but I daresay that John Turner’s soul will not rest until the mystery of his son has been resolved, and he was counting upon you to do so. Will you accept?"

  Molly O’Hara was just a little girl when she lost her heart to James Turner, the handsome, high-spirited young man who, along with his twin brother, was the heir to the Turner Plantation. But the Civil War tore families apart; it split the Turner brothers as one fought for the Union and the other fought for the Confederacy. The war took Molly’s father’s life and left her mother a distraught widow.

  Now the brothers are gone; one died in battle and James suffered the fate of Andersonville Prison, where most men are never heard from again. But when Molly, who grew up faster than her years, decides to become a mail-order bride at age eighteen, she answers an advertisement from a man named James Turner who runs a ranch in Texas. When she arrives, the man who introduces himself as Jim Turner is reserved and distant, nothing like the James Turner she remembers. But as their love grows, she learns more about the dark places in his soul and she realizes that part of him never left Andersonville.

  Can Molly's love heal James' deep scars of war? Can she get him to overcome his past and live life again?

  Beginnings

  September 15, 1869

  James Turner.

  That’s what the advertisement read. She peered twice to make sure that her eyesight wasn’t failing her, but at eighteen-years-old, Molly O’Hara’s eyesight was flawless.

  James Turner.

  But it couldn’t be. Of course, it couldn’t be Mr. James. He had been captured at Cold Harbor and sent to Andersonville Prison in Georgia. That was five years ago, and he had surely died; that’s what happened to most of the Union prisoners who were sent there.

  Her heart was beating faster at the shock of seeing, in print, the name of a man she believed to be dead.

  I run a ranch in Mesquite, Texas. It’s not an easy life. I am looking for a wife who can manage a household; must be willing and able to cook, clean, and sew. I’m 6’1” tall, 175 pounds; black hair, blue eyes. No visible scars. If interested, please reply:

  Jas. Turner

  Triple T Ranch

  Mesquite Texas

  Very truly yours,

  James Turner

  It simply wasn’t possible. Why, there had to be thousands of James Turners in the United States, and a significant number of them probably were tall and muscular, with black hair and blue eyes. But even if it wasn’t the James Turner she had known since she was a child, it was an omen. She was leaving anyway, and all she had needed was a sign from God, telling her which one to choose. There were so many men in the West seeking wives; every single one of them was a gamble. But God knew how she’d felt, even when she was young, about handsome, high-spirited Mr. James and God knew how she’d respond at the sight of that name when, for so long, she’d only been able to imagine it inscribed on a tombstone. God wouldn’t steer her wrong. Hadn’t he shown Abraham’s servant which wife to choose for Isaac?

  Father had wanted her to better herself. That wouldn’t happen if she stayed in Reddington, West Virginia, where she’d spent the last five years wearing mourning clothing because there was more death than life left at the Turner Plantation. She’d already made her decision to travel west as a mail-order bride. The name of the man whose advertisement she was reading confirmed that this was her destiny.

  Dear Mr. Turner, she wrote,

  I would be honored to become your wife. I am eighteen-years-old, and I have managed a household for my employer since I was thirteen. Please send me more details about Mesquite, Texas, so that I may arrange my itinerary.

  Respectfully,

  Mary O’Hara

  She would mail the letter first thing tomorrow morning. As Molly doused the candle and got into her bed, the darkness of the late hour released the memories that she had stored in her mind since she was just a girl. She remembered the night when she heard her parents arguing, and her mother crying, because Da was going away to war. None of them had known then that the war everyone spoke of as if it were nothing more than a brief adventure would turn out to be a death sentence for the people she loved and the life she knew.

  Chapter 1

  April 1861

  “But Liam, you could be killed! Soldiers die!”

  “Listen, Maggie, rich men in the North are offering $500 for substitutes to go fight for them. We can’t pass up an opportunity like that. We didn’t come all the way from Ballymore just to be poor in another country.”

  “We’re not poor! We’re eating three meals a day. Have you forgotten what it was like? Waiting to see if the potato crop would thrive, and then knowing when it didn’t that we’d have another year of starving?”

  “I haven’t forgotten. But I want more out of life for Molly than three meals a day. You’re a servant on a rich man’s plantation. I’m working in a rich man’s stables. Maggie, $500! It’s a for
tune!”

  “Rich men who start wars should fight their own battles!”

  Maggie O’Hara’s tears were flowing freely now, but her sniffling and sobs didn’t interfere with her words. They’d been in America for over ten years, taking the ship across the ocean in 1850 as so many others had, because to stay in Ireland was to die. She and Liam had been newlyweds, but they were braver then. Liam had been braver, and Maggie was willing to go wherever he did. That meant getting on board a crowded ship and sailing until they arrived in Virginia. They’d found work with one of the few plantation owners in the state who didn’t own slaves and paid wages to immigrants to work his fields, manage his home, and tend to his stables. Mr. John Turner was something of an anomaly in Reddington, Virginia; he didn’t own slaves, but he wasn’t an abolitionist. He was, however, a fair man and a just employer.

  “Why can’t you be happy as we are?” Maggie went on. “Why must you risk everything for $500?”

  “Because if I am killed, Maggie, then there’s something for you and Molly. Something for a better life. If I stay a servant in Virginia, there’s never going to be anything else for us. I’m proud of what you do, and I know that Mr. Turner values the work you do. But our Molly isn’t going to be a servant, Maggie, and if I have to die to make sure of that, then I’ll die knowing that I’ve done right by her and by you.”

  As her parents argued, Molly listened. She was in her bedroom, a small room that was originally a closet, but Da had said that, as they hadn’t enough belongings to justify having a room to store them, she could have her own room. Now, as she listened at the door, her parents’ voices and her mother’s sobs were plain to hear. Was Da going off to the war? She knew there was a war somewhere; Mr. Turner read the newspaper and then shut himself up in his study for most of the day.

  Mr. Will and Mr. James had gone off to the war, but they hadn’t gone to the same place. Da had tried to explain it to her. Virginia didn’t want to be part of the United States anymore, and Mr. Will agreed it shouldn’t. That was why he had worn a gray uniform when Da brought out his horse, Hannibal, to him. Mr. James wanted Virginia to stay in America; he had already left, but he rode away in a blue uniform.

  “It’s all a great deal of nonsense,” Maggie O’Hara retorted. “They’re fighting over slavery, and you know it.”

  “But I’m not fighting for slavery. I’m going North; I’m going to meet Mr. James in Washington D.C. He said I could take one of the horses; Mr. Turner didn’t object.”

  Molly had heard enough. She raced out of the closet bedroom and flung herself at her father. “Da! I don’t want you to go away!”

  “There, do you see what you’re doing? Your daughter would rather have her father here with her. What does she want with $500 and no father?” Maggie’s accent was as strong as the day she’d gotten off the ship, unadulterated by the drawling tones of the Virginians around her. Molly’s English was a mixture of the accent of her parents and the leisurely speech pattern of Reddington. Whenever she answered a question, Mr. James would pull at her braids and tell her she was speaking Southrish again. She wasn’t sure what he meant, but Mr. James always seemed to have a grin in his eyes when he spoke, the kind of grin that made her smile in return, even if she wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Mr. Will smiled often, too, but even though he and Mr. James were twin brothers, their smiles were as different as they were.

  Liam O’Hara bent down so that he and his daughter were on the same level. “Molly, girl, you know that I love you more than a leprechaun loves his pot of gold, don’t you?”

  Molly nodded.

  “But sometimes, a father has to do what he thinks is right, even if he won’t be there to see it. I’m looking out for you, Molly girl. You remember that, even if you don’t see me or hear me. I’m always with you.”

  November 1862

  Mr. James didn’t have that grin in his eyes; that was the first thing she noticed. But he forced a smile when she came into the room.

  “You’ve lost your braids,” he said. It was a feeble joke, but nobody felt much like joking. Mr. James had brought Liam O’Hara’s body back to Reddington for burial.

  “Mother says it’s time,” she answered. “I’m twelve now.”

  He nodded, but she sensed that he was not thinking about her braids being gone. He had arrived yesterday morning after riding through the night. Mother knew, of course, she’d gotten the telegram and she’d fainted when she read it. But Mr. James riding in a wagon with Da’s body in a coffin was proof that the telegram wasn’t a mistake. Mother had sobbed through the funeral. There wasn’t a priest in Reddington, but Mr. Turner had done his best to give a funeral reading that would comfort her. After the service, Mr. Turner had served a luncheon for the other servants on the plantation, but Mother had been too distraught to stay. She’d gone back to the cabin, leaving Molly in her place. She was eleven-years-old.

  When morning came, she had dressed as usual. She helped in the kitchen at the main house. Usually, Mother was already up and dressed, chiding Molly for dawdling. But Mother was still in her bed. She wasn’t crying, but when Molly hesitantly asked her if she was going to get up, she just shook her head. She shook her head again when Molly asked her if she needed anything. Uncertain of what to do, Molly left the cabin.

  Molly went to the kitchens first. They were located outside the main house. Mae Rollings, the cook, was already at her work, rolling out dough for the luncheon meal.

  “Land sakes, child, I didn’t expect to see you today. Where’s your Ma?”

  “She won’t be able to work today,” Molly answered.

  “No, well, I expect not,” Mrs. Rollings sighed. “It’s a bad business, this war. You can see it in Mr. Turner’s eyes. It’s like he can never hear good news; what’s good for one son might be bad for the other.”

  “Is Mr. James still here?”

  Mrs. Rollings nodded. “He got a pass to bring back your father. He’ll be here for a couple more days. It’s a shame Mr. Will couldn’t get a pass. I wonder if the brothers will ever see each other again?” she sighed again. “Well, it’s best to be busy when the heart is heavy. Since you’re here, you might as well get started peeling those potatoes.”

  The chore was so ordinary that it seemed impossible to understand how Da could be gone and here she was, peeling potatoes as if it were any other day. But Da had not just gone to war, but gone to heaven. How could everything be exactly the same as it had been before, with Da gone?

  After lunch had been served, she was helping with the dishes when Betsy, one of the maids, came down to tell her that Mr. Turner and Mr. James wanted to see her in Mr. Turner’s study.

  “Me?”

  “That’s what he said. Get along now; I’ll finish these up. Tidy your apron, girl and wipe your face; you’ve a smudge on your cheek.”

  Molly didn’t see what difference it made whether her face was clean or not. She was just a servant girl in the household, and no one was ever going to take notice of her. But she did as Betsy ordered and didn’t object when Betsy gave her hair a brisk combing, using her fingers to work out the tousled locks.

  “Lord have mercy, girl, but you do have the tangliest hair. Maybe it’s on account of being red.”

  “Mother’s hair is red, and she never has tangles,” Molly said.

  Betsy didn’t answer. “Go on now; they’re waiting for you.”

  Molly wasn’t used to being in the main part of the house. Her work was in the kitchens and downstairs; the maids tended to the upstairs cleaning. She made her way to Mr. Turner’s study, expecting with every step to be told to return downstairs. But no one saw her; the house was still. It hadn’t been like that when the twins were at home, before they went off to war. Mr. James seemed to travel in laughter and his brother and father, who were serious and solemn on their own, brightened up in his presence. He had noticed everyone, he greeted all the servants by name and had a joke for everyone, even a skinny little redheaded servant girl who thought he was a
prince.

  Molly knocked on the study door.

  “Come in,” Mr. Turner’s voice called.

  She opened the door and entered with trepidation. Mr. Turner and Mr. James were sitting on chairs by the fireplace; it was autumn, and the fire took the chill out of the room.

  “Sit down, Molly,” Mr. Turner told her.

  She obeyed him, although it didn’t seem proper to be sitting with them. She didn’t know what Mother would say to that; Mother was very firm about remembering her place.

  “Molly,” Mr. James said, leaning forward, “I’m so sorry that we’ve lost your father. He was a good man.”

  She nodded. Tears stung her eyes, but she knew that if she didn’t blink, they might not fall and the tears would cease.

  “He talked about you at the end. I was with him.”

  “How did he die?”

  Mr. James looked to his father.

  “Molly, you’re very young to be hearing things like this. It would be better if we told your mother and then she can tell you when you’re old enough.”

  “I want to know. I’ll need to tell Mother.”

  Father and son looked at each other. They seemed to understand something that Molly didn’t, even though she was the one who had spoken.