Mail Order Match Maker (17 page)

Mildred looked startled at the number.  “I’ve never entertained more than five or six people in my home.”

“I’ll send our cook over as well as the maids then.  We want everything to be perfect.”  She looked over at the ballroom which was closed off from the rest of the house.  “I think we should have a huge party with dancing in the ballroom and everything.  The guests I’m thinking about inviting will expect that.”  She pulled a piece of paper and pencil from her purse.  “I’ll look into hiring a band.  Can you handle the menu, or do you want to go over that together?”

Mildred looked at Harriett with wide eyes.  “I’m just a poor farmer’s daughter who was married to a man who chopped down trees for a living.  I’m not used to big
, lavish parties.”  Her eyes showed the fear she felt at this new role she was being thrust into.

Harriett smiled, patting her shoulder.  “You’ll get used to them. 
Higgins says you’re a wonderful cook.  It’s a good way to help other women like us.”

Mildred nodded gravely.  “John told me about what happened to you.”

“I thought he had.  Now you understand why I feel so strongly about helping women who are in the situation we were both in.  I think we’ll work well together.”  She looked around the lower floor.  “I’d rather not go upstairs if I don’t need to, but are all the rooms ready?  Are there beds and dressers and everything a woman will need in each room?”

“Yes, I made certain of that.  The only thing I think we should add is a cradle or two for the women who come in with young babies.”

Harriett scribbled a note to herself.  “I’ll take care of that.”  She looked up as Higgins entered the room and went straight to his wife, kissing her cheek.  “Or rather, I’ll tell Higgins to take care of it.”  She grinned up at Higgins thankful that even though he was no longer her butler, they were still able to see one another as often as they did.  “Your wife thinks we need cradles for the women who may come here with young babies.”

Higgins nodded.  “I’ll take care of it right away.”  He looked down at Mildred.  “
Can you think of anything else we need?”

Mildred shook her head.  “I think everything is as it should be.”

Harriett smiled at the byplay between the two.  Higgins really was happy.  “I’m going to have some business cards printed up with the address here for all of us to carry.  I’d like us to each give them out to the pastors in town who may know of women who need to come here, and we’ll each carry them so we can give them to women who are in need.”

“That’s a great idea, Mrs. Farmer.  I’d love to be able to help another woman like you helped me.” 

Harriett shook her head.  “I never helped you.  Higgins did.  I just set the ball in motion.”  She headed for the door.  “I’ll go take care of the things on my list, and we’ll get together in a couple of days.  Everything will be planned perfectly.  You’ll see.”

Once she was gone, Mildred looked at Higgins.  “She seems very happy.”

“She is.  Finally.  She’s married to a good man who is slowly easing her fears.  He’s exactly what she’s needed all this time.”

Mildred hugged her husband tightly.  “I can see that.  And you’re exactly what I’ve needed all my life.”

Alex walked into the kitchen then, his hand reaching into the cookie jar to take out a cookie.  He grinned at his mother and new step-father.  “Take it upstairs.”  He didn’t say another word as he headed to the table to do his homework.  Someday, when he was a lawyer, he’d come back here and help the women who lived here find their voices.  He was glad his mother had found hers again.

Chapter Ten

With Max and Mary’s help, they raised enough money to keep the
home for battered women open for a long time. 

Harriett sat in Mary’s parlor quietly sipping tea with her while the girls were at school.  “I’m at a loss for what to do about Rose.  I’ve talked to her about
waiting to find a husband until she’s eighteen, but she just won’t listen to me.” 

“I wouldn’t have listened at sixteen either.  I met the man of my dreams.”  She eyed her sister-in-law for a moment and decided it was time for her not to be so shy about her past.  “He started beating me on our wedding night.  He finally pushed me down a flight of stairs and killed the child I was carrying.  My leg will never be the same.”  No one was around, and despite how improper she knew she was being, she lifted the skirt of her dress and showed the scars from her surgery.  “It was broken so badly, they didn’t think I’d ever walk again.  A surgeon was able to put the pieces back together, but he said he’d be
surprised if it worked.”  She pulled her dress back down and looked at the shocked look on Mary’s face.

“Your parents didn’t try to stop you from marrying him?”

Harriett shook her head.  “No, and I doubt I’d have listened to them.  Arthur had been beating his maids for years.  If they’d investigated, they’d have heard at least one of the rumors and stopped me.”  She shrugged.  “Even after his death, people were certain he was the most wonderful man who had ever live
d.  He made fools out of everyone.”

“How did he die?”

“My butler shot him.  He could see he was going to kill me.”  Harriett sighed.  “Please let me talk to Rose.  I won’t tell her my story if you don’t want me to, but she needs to understand there’s a reason for waiting until you’re a little bit older before marrying and for investigating every man thoroughly.” 

Mary seemed to consider it for a moment.  “Tell her as much as you need to
in order to convince her, but as little as possible.”

Harriett nodded.  She was no longer ashamed of what had happened to her.  She felt like women needed to know that there were men out there who would hurt them if they were given a chance, and she was going to shout her story from the rooftops if she had to.  “I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you.”  She looked into her tea cup for a moment before asking, “Would you still be willing to investigate potential suitors for her when she turns eighteen?  For all the girls?  I want to give them choices of husbands, but I don’t want them to make a stupid mistake.  When I married, there was only one man, but I’d known him all his life and my parents had known his parents.  It’s different here.  There are so many men for each woman and they’re all clamoring around my daughters, because we’re obviously rich.  I don’t care if one of my daughters marries the poorest man in town as long as he’ll love her and he’s a good man.”

Harriett nodded.  “Higgins and I will help you all you need, but I don’t approve of marriage before the age of eighteen, and I won’t be the one to find them a husband before then.”
 

“I understand.  How old were you when you married?”

“I was sixteen when I married and a widow on my seventeenth birthday.”  She shook her head.  “I was too young to marry and already a widow.  I don’t want that for your girls.  I don’t want that for anyone.”

“I don’t either.”  Mary stood and went to the maid who was hovering outside the door
ready to help them.  “Would you bring Rose down here?”  The maid nodded and hurried off to find Rose.

“Do you want me to talk to her privately or with you here?” Harriett asked.  She wasn’t averse to either one, but felt she could make more of an impact one on one.

“I’d like to stay if you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine.”
Harriett thought it would be good if Mary knew what she said to Rose.

Rose walked into the room, her hair done perfectly.  “I was about to go for a walk.  What is it, Mother?”  She was scowling as she asked the question, obviously still angry that Mary had made her stop having boys over all the time.

“I have something I’d like to talk to you about, Rose,” Harriett said, patting the sofa beside her.  “Can you spare your new auntie a minute of your time?”  She watched the young girl carefully, hoping she was open to what she was about to share with her.

Rose looked at Harriett
, startled, but nodded.  “What do you want to talk to me about?”

Harriett sat back against the back of the sofa and studied Rose, wondering the best way to start.  “Do you think you’re old enough to marry?”
she began carefully.

“Of course, I am!  I’m sixteen!”  Rose stuck her nose up in the air as if she knew that being sixteen meant she was the queen.

“You are sixteen, and a very beautiful sixteen.  Let me ask you this.  Do you think you know more about life than Iris?”  Harriett had spent the time while waiting for Rose thinking about the best way to broach the topic with her.

Rose made a face.  “Of course, I do.  Iris is just a baby.  She’s five.”

Harriett nodded.  “She’s eleven years younger than you, so you have a great deal of life experience that she could benefit from, don’t you?”

Rose nodded.  “Yes, I do.”

“Do you know how old I am, Rose?”  Harriett kept her voice soft and sweet.  She definitely wanted Rose to think she was an ally and not the enemy.

Rose shrugged her shoulders.  “No idea.”

“I’m twenty-seven.  When you were Iris’s age, I was sixteen.  Do you know what I did when I was sixteen?” she asked carefully.

“No.”

“I got married when I was sixteen.  The man I married wasn’t a good man.  I’ll go so far as to say I picked a very bad man to marry the first time.”  She paused, studying her niece.  “I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.  In my extra eleven years of life, I’ve come to the conclusion that no one should ever marry at sixteen.  I think a girl needs to be at least eighteen to marry, and then she should have help choosing the man she marries.  She should have someone who will look at the man and tell her if he’s good or bad.”

Rose made a face.  “You mean like let my mother and father pick out my husband for me?”

Harriett shook her head.  “Oh, of course not!  Here’s what I’m thinking.  I have a lot of experience matching the right man with the right woman because of the mail order bride agency I used to run.  When you are within two months of turning eighteen, and I don’t think you should have suitors before you’re eighteen, I think you should give your parents a list of the men you like the best.  Up to ten names.  I’ll take that list and go through the men, talking to them and investigating them.  I’ll pick the best three of the men on your list.  If there are only two good ones, I’ll add another man.  You can then spend time with those three men and pick out the one who you like best.  Whoever you pick, as long as he is one of the three, will be your husband.”  She paused.  “Provided the man feels the same way about you, of course.”

Rose seemed to think about it for a moment.  “Do you really think all that’s necessary?”

Harriett nodded.  “There are some very bad men out there.  Let me find out whether or not they want to marry you just because you’re young, pretty and rich.  I want to make sure they care about you and will take care of you the way they should.”  She watched Rose’s face carefully, hoping she’d presented everything in a way that would make Rose listen to her.

Rose hesitated and then nodded.  “I’ll start working on my list now.”  She leaned over and hugged Harriett.  “Thanks, Aunt Harriett.  I know you just want what’s best for me.”
  She jumped up and ran from the room, looking like the excited girl she was.

Mary looked at Harriett.  “That was wonderful.”  She shook her head, shocked.  “How did you do that?”

Harriett shrugged.  “I think she knew I was sincere.  That helps.”

“I was sincere too!”  Mary sighed.  “My girls respond to you better than they do to me.  I’m glad you’re on my side.”

Harriett grinned over her teacup.  “We’ll settle down and make a plan for them when they’re ready.”  She set her cup down.  “I have an idea for how to make them more aware if you’re willing.  I think the girls should all do some volunteer work in the homeless shelter as they get older.  Probably only Rose and Lily are old enough now, but the others are still much too young.  As they sit and talk to the women, they’ll learn that some men aren’t afraid to hit the women they are supposed to love.  It’ll be good for them.” 

Mary seemed to think about it for a moment.  “You don’t think it will shock them too much?”

Harriett sighed.  “I wish someone had thought to shock me that way when I was that young.  Girls need to understand what the world is like.”

“I’ll talk to their father about it.”  Mary was hesitant, yet not totally against the idea.

Lily bounded into the room, wearing blue pants that day instead of her normal black ones.  “Hi, Aunt Harriett.”

Harriett smiled.  “Hi, Lily.  Are those new pants?”

Lily looked down.  “They are!  Do you like them?”

Harriett nodded.  “They look very comfortable.  I wish I had the courage to wear pants.  They’re so much more practical than skirts.”  She didn’t think Max would like
other men looking at her backside in pants, though.  Lily’s figure was just starting to show, and within a few months, the girl would look positively indecent.

“Don’t encourage her!” Mary said with a frown.

Harriett laughed.  “I have to encourage her.  She’s Max’s favorite niece.”

Lily rolled her eyes.  “Along with Rose, Amaryllis, Daisy, Jasmine, Hyacinth, Violet, and Iris.  The man can’t make up his mind about who he likes best.  But I’ll be
your
favorite, Aunt Harriett.”