Pioneer Love: Damaged Hearts Head West: Mail Order Bride 5 Bundle (14 page)

Chapter 2

A little further off, in the same town, a man in his fifties sat in a chair. A momentous decision was on his mind and he knew he had to make it. On the last day of the term, he had told the head that he was thinking of retiring and moving West. Was thinking of going to visit his daughter who had become a mail order bride and maybe to settle down somewhere close to her.

Just this morning he received a letter from the same girl. There was another invitation and another personalized note. This one, however, greeted him with the words "Dear Father.” It was a letter written to let him know, in excited words, that his daughter had found the man of her dreams. She had found someone who would keep her happy until the end of her days and that they were to be wed. He was requested to come to her new home at once so that he could walk her down the aisle and give her away to her new husband.

David Montgomery smiled down at his daughter's long and excited letter. She had been gushing about her new family and house throughout. He was happy to hear from her and to know that she was content with the choice of going so far away from him. As much as he had wanted a better life for her than she could ever have hoped to find here, it was only natural that he missed her and worried about her. So, it was a relief to know that she had found someone that she cared so deeply for and seemed to be happy with.

With a permanent smile etched on his face, he began making plans in his head. He had some things that needed taking care of. Some business that needed attending to, but he hoped to have that completed by the end of the week. Then he would be on a train and his daughter would be, once again in front of his eyes. Then he could check out this Ian person for himself. Anna leaving like that had been a strange and devastating blow. Now all he wanted to do was see if this Ian was good enough for his little girl. Taking out a pen and paper he quickly wrote his reply. Oh, if only he could be there now?

A week later David walked into a carriage on a train heading West. Finally, he was on his way to see his daughter. A decision still hadn’t been made about his teaching position, but maybe this trip would help with that. How could he come back home and leave Anna? What did he have to come back to? His thoughts had been ranging from the euphoria that his little girl was so happy to dread at what he would find. What if this Ian was a rogue? What if he could not look after Anna?

Entering a further carriage he stowed his carpet bag beneath the seat. How things had changed in the last few months and even though he missed Anna he had to admit that this may be the best thing for her. She had longed for marriage and a family of her own, but the local men merely made fun of her limp. If not for him and her best friend, Jolene she would have been completely alone. Now she had a fiancé and a new family and he would make sure that he was happy for her.

His thoughts strayed to his long deceased wife, Elizabeth and how proud and happy she would have been if she were alive to see her daughter married. Thinking of his wife always made David feel sad but alive at the same time. She had passed away from an illness many years ago, but David still had a hard time forgetting her. Often, he would find himself daydreaming about one time or other. There was one day when they had taken a picnic down by the river; they had felt like the happiest people alive.

He was deep in memories of his wife, when a lady, with a sweet face and neat brown curls piled up high on her head, walked into the carriage. Her case caught on the door and she struggled to pull it free.

“Ma’am let me,” he said and took the case from her. Lifting it with ease despite its weight he placed it at the side of the seats before sitting back down.

“Thank you, that was most kind,” she said. Smoothing out her skirts she sat down opposite him and pulled a book from out of a smaller bag.

It looked like some form of ledger to David and he watched with fascination as she stared down at it. In a neat hand, she began to add up columns of figures and David almost laughed. In her concentration, her tongue was sticking slightly out the side of her mouth as she puzzled over whatever it was she was looking at.

For some reason, David could not help but look at the woman seated in front of him. Her curly brown hair was all piled on top of her head and she had the cutest nose he had ever seen. What was wrong with him? He moved his eyes away but they were instantly pulled back to this woman. Though around his age, maybe a little younger she had the prettiest face he had seen in a long while. Her dress was finely made and complimented her figure perfectly.

She turned around and caught him staring. She had eyes the color of honey and they silently admonished him. Feeling heat flame his cheeks, he quickly looked away and cleared his throat slightly to hide his embarrassment.

He was looking out the window, watching the houses race by and hoped the woman would leave him alone. The last thing he wanted was to talk.

"Hello, I'm Mary Hawkins,” she said with a light sweet voice that pulled his head towards her. “Since we're going to be traveling together, I think it's only fair we get acquainted."

David managed a slight smile, he supposed it was inevitable. "Hello errm Mrs. Hawkins, my name is David, and I am at your service. So, what brings you on this train and where is your husband?"

Did he see sadness, like a shadow, shroud her face in darkness?

Chapter 3

Mary managed a smile despite the pain that question caused. She had no husband and did not wish to talk about such things. Maybe she would be better saying she had, would it be safer? But then she recognized this man in front of her. She had seen him a few times at church, but it seemed that he hadn't recognized her. He was handsome for a man in his fifties, with a firm jaw, calloused hands, and piercing blue eyes. He seemed to come from a good family and had an air of sophistication about him. Turning back to the question he had just asked, she bit down the sigh that wanted to escape.

“My husband passed many years ago,” she said. "I am traveling because a friend invited me to visit her. She is getting married soon and wanted me to be part of it."

"I am so sorry to hear that, but what a coincidence. I myself am traveling to attend a wedding. My daughter's wedding to be exact," he said and smiled in reply.

That was marvelous, Mary thought. "Oh, congratulations. If you don't mind me asking, where is the mother of the bride? Has she already headed off for the wedding?" She asked, blushing slightly at her brazenness.

David’s eyes seemed to see into a distance beyond the wall he was staring at. The smile stayed on his face, but it no longer looked right. "No, she isn't already at the wedding,” he said. “You see she passed away a long time ago."

Feelings of embarrassment, guilt, and shared sorrow overwhelmed Mary. It seemed serendipitous that two people with so much in common should find themselves in the same carriage. "I'm so sorry to hear that,” she said. “You must have been really close to her."

David looked up at her, surprised by her line of thought. "What made you think of that?"

She looked at him with a knowledgeable expression. "When I asked about your wife, your eyes glazed over, your smile went away suddenly, and you are still wearing your wedding ring. This all just indicates that you must have been very close and that you still love her."

David looked impressed by her skills of observation. Raising his eyebrows and smiling at her, he nodded his assent. "Yes, I loved my wife very much and probably always will. She was a magnificent lady. But if I may say so… you too still wear a wedding band."

Mary fiddled with the gold ring on her finger. It was small and scratched, but it was perfect and beautiful in her eyes. A deep understanding seemed to pass between them and she felt a respect for him that she had not felt in a long time. To still love one's wife after so many years was a show of what true love was all about. "If you don't mind, how did she die?" Her mouth opened in shock. Why had she asked such a question?

"She was sick, but we didn't know for the longest time,” he said as he rubbed a hand through thick hair. “She always pretended that she was well and that her entire body wasn't always hurting. Later the doctors said that it was something in her brain, that it had spread throughout and there wasn't anything any of them could do. Towards the end, she was too sick to even get off the bed. I used to spend as much time with her as I could, making her laugh, reading to her, talking about the future and our dreams for our daughter. I like to believe that she was happy before she died. However, eventually the sickness got to her and she died right there in my arms." David stopped with a feeling of utter exhaustion. He had said much more than he had ever planned on saying. For some reason, this woman made him feel comfortable enough around her that he had ended up telling her all about the last days of his wife's life.

Feeling awkward, he turned away and started to look back out the window. After a few minutes of silence, Mary said with a gleam in her eyes that made her look very strong, "I'm sure she was very happy. You did the best you could and she must be looking down from heaven and glad to know that she was married to such a caring and loving man. She was very lucky, not everyone gets someone who loves them the way you seem to have loved your wife."

David turned to her and smiled thankfully at her words. They were kind words and they spoke to him on a different level, for unknowingly, she had reached a root problem of his. It was that he blamed himself for not realizing earlier that she was ill and not getting her the help she needed, in time. He felt that if he had only been a better husband, taken better care of her, she would've been alive to watch their little girl get married.

Mary's words seemed to quiet down the monster inside him that was always shouting at him for not saving his wife. "Thank you for your kind words, they mean a lot to me. How, may I ask, did your husband die?"

Mary went very still, but she held the smile on her face. "I meant every word,” she said, “and I hope that you will believe in them and not blame yourself for anything. My situation was very different to yours. My husband was a soldier. All I know is that he died in battle and I received that knowledge in a simple letter."

“I am so sorry,” David said. “It seems as if we have been brought together by tragedy and now by a joyous union.”

Mary nodded and found herself mesmerized by David’s blue eyes. Although they had just met, she found herself rather comfortable in his presence and it appeared he felt the same. Maybe it was because they attended the same church. Well, when she went they did. Maybe that was why it felt as if she had known him for quite a while now.

After a few minutes, David cleared his throat and looked out the window. Mary refocused her attention on her ledger and they sat together in companionable silence. Somehow her deep sadness had gone. Perhaps the fact that someone else had gone through the same made the pain more bearable?