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  Mail Order Misfortune

  Book Fourteen in Brides of Beckham

  By Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright 2014 Kirsten Osbourne

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

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  When Anna arrives to meet her groom two weeks later than expected, she is more than a little surprised to find him already married. It's just her luck that she finds his new wife to be one of the sweetest women she's ever met. She reluctantly takes on the role of teacher for her new community, hoping that she will be able to make a place for herself there.

  Jesse moves to Wiggieville, Texas, with his young son, hoping the two of them can leave his son's mischievous reputation behind. When he's called in for a meeting with the schoolteacher, he's shocked when she berates him for the way he's raising his son. After getting her fired, he does the only thing he knows to do, but will he ever find a peaceful life with the little spitfire?

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  Chapter One

  Anna Simmons leaned back in her chair in the schoolroom and let out a sigh of relief. It was finally over. She'd been teaching in the little schoolroom outside of Beckham, Massachusetts for two years, and she wasn't going to go back. She couldn't. There had to be another job she could take. She loved children, but she hated teaching, and she just couldn't keep doing it indefinitely.

  She had enough money saved up that she could continue to pay her room and board to the family she'd lived with for a few more months until she found another job. There had to be something she could do that didn't involve teaching. It wasn't that she didn't like children, because she did. She just didn't feel like teaching was her calling. She hated disciplining the children, and even more, she hated trying to force them to learn things they had no interest in.

  At her little school, there was a group of siblings that obviously were not disciplined at all at home. They were so bad, it was almost impossible for Anna to teach, and they'd taken what little joy she'd had from teaching away from her, so now there was only frustration left.

  She shook her head. No, she was finished teaching, and no one was ever going to be able to convince her to go back to it. She gathered up the last of her things and erased the chalkboard, happy to know it was the last time ever her hands would be covered with chalk dust. She was thrilled to be closing the book on this chapter of her life and starting another, whatever it may be.

  She locked the schoolhouse behind her and walked the two miles to town without ever looking back. She was not going to miss a single thing about teaching. Why women wanted to do it year after year was beyond her comprehension. She wanted to spend her life with a man she loved. Not spend it in a schoolroom forcing disobedient children to learn. She wouldn't do it ever again.

  When she reached town, she wasn't certain where to start, so she went into the mercantile and slowly walked up to the owner. She'd always been excessively shy, and having to talk to strangers made her tongue swell in her mouth. She'd talked to Mr. Stanley many times over the years, but still, every time she saw him again, she had to start all over.

  She did her best not to mumble as she spoke to him. "Mr. Stanley? Are you hiring?" It was hard for her to get the words out. How was she supposed to ask for a job when she could barely talk around strangers?

  The middle aged man looked her up and down. "Why you looking for work? Need something to do for the summer?" He knew she'd been teaching for the past two years, so he was obviously surprised at her question.

  She shook her head. "No, sir. I'm not going back to teaching." It was the first time she'd said the words aloud, and she was surprised at how powerful they made her feel.

  He frowned. "I don't have work for you. Teaching's the best job for a single lady." He waved to the bulletin board at the back of the store. "Sometimes folks will put their jobs on the bulletin board so people looking for work can find it. Sometimes not. I don't know what's up there now."

  Anna nodded and whispered, "Thank you," before heading back over to read the notices. There were more than she'd imagined there would be. Most were people looking for farm hands and such. She slowly read each one. Only one really had potential and that one meant she would be a cook for a local wealthy family. She could do that. They wanted professional cooking experience, but what could be better than cooking in an orphanage?

  As she was about to leave, another advertisement caught her eye, this one printed professionally. She picked it up and pocketed it, preferring the idea of working as a cook, but knowing she would come back to it if she needed to. She wasn't too proud to do what she needed to do to survive.

  She walked the few blocks to the wealthy side of town to talk to the family looking for a cook, hoping they would at least give her a chance. She knew if anyone would just let her try to cook for them, she would have the job. Getting an interview and a chance would be the hard part.

  The family looking for the cook had just hired one, and told her she really didn't have the kind of experience they needed anyway.

  She walked to the small park across the street from the family's house and pulled the other advertisement out of her skirt pocket and slowly read it. "Mail Order Bride agency needs women who are looking for the adventure of their lives. Men out West need women to marry. Reply in person at 300 Rock Creek Road. See Miss Elizabeth Miller." She shuddered as she read the name Miller, but surely the family she knew couldn't be related to a woman who owned a mail order bride agency.

  Anna read the words three times before she realized they weren't going to change before her eyes. Did she really have the courage to go and talk to a total stranger and ask if she could be a mail order bride? And then would she be able to be a mail order bride? She really wasn't certain. It was hard enough to just speak to a man, let alone marry one she'd never met.

  She got to her feet and noted the address, knowing she had to do it immediately or she would lose the courage to do it at all. She walked through the quiet streets to Rock Creek Road, just two blocks over from the house she was starting at.

  When she reached the house in question, she bowed her head and said a quick prayer, before rushing up the sidewalk to the front door. She knocked and waited impatiently, wishing she'd taken the time to change into her Sunday dress instead of just wearing one of her school dresses. She looked down and saw chalk dust all over her skirt. She was just about to turn away and return the following day when the door opened.

  A tall blond man greeted her. "May I help you?" he asked.

  If not for the formal butler clothes, the man looked as if he should be in a boxing ring. Even with his suit on, she couldn't help but notice how thick his muscles were. "I'm here to see Elizabeth Miller," she mumbled.

  He nodded, opening the door wider and inviting her inside. "Your name, miss?"

  She swallowed hard, wishing she wasn't so nervous around men. "It's Simmons. Anna Simmons."

  "Right this way, Miss Simmons." He led her toward the back of the house to a room where a young lady sat at a desk. She had blond hair and green eyes, and stood when the door opened. "Miss Anna Simmons is here to see you, Miss Miller."

  Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you for showing her in, Bernard. Would you bring us some tea and cookies please?" She turned to Anna and smiled. "Please have a seat. I
hope you like tea."

  Anna nodded as she walked to the sofa. "I do like tea." She crossed her hands in her lap and gave all her attention to Elizabeth. She had no idea what to say, so she hoped the other woman would begin the conversation and save her the embarrassment. She just couldn't form her thoughts into a sentence.

  Elizabeth seemed to be waiting for something, but after a moment she asked, "Are you here about the mail order bride advertisement?"

  Anna blushed and nodded. Only a ninny wouldn't announce why she was there first thing. Why was she always a ninny? "Yes, I am."

  "Tell me why you want to be a bride," Elizabeth said, taking her seat again at the chair in front of the desk and giving Anna her full attention.

  Anna shrugged. "I was raised in the orphanage here in town, and I am too old to live there now, of course. So, I became a teacher, and I've been teaching for two years now. I hate it. I love children, but I hate teaching. I looked to see if there were any jobs for women in town, but there was only one for a cook, and the position is filled, and I really wasn't qualified anyway." Anna knew she was rambling, but she couldn't seem to stop. "So I saw your advertisement for a mail order bride, and thought that might work for me, but I'm so terribly shy, I'm not even certain that would work. I feel like there's something wrong with me that I can't talk to people at all, and here I am just saying anything that comes to mind, and I feel like an idiot."

  Elizabeth smiled. "You're not an idiot. It's got to be hard to be so shy and to be totally alone in the world." She turned and looked through her stack of letters, finding one halfway down and handing it to her. "I think Tom would be good for you. He lives outside a small town in Texas, and he's a rancher there."

  Anna read through his letter quickly. "Dear Elizabeth, I'm looking for a bride, as I'm sure are most people who write to you. I'm not particular about looks, but I would like to have a woman who is willing to work hard. I have a relatively large spread outside of Wiggieville, Texas, and I need someone who is willing to take care of my home and cook my meals. I'm easy to get along with, and I have enough money to support a wife, but there's not a lot left over at this point. I've taken over my ranch from my parents who moved back East. Please find me a bride who doesn't mind hard work, and is happy to live in the middle of nowhere. Thank you, Tom Harding."

  Anna read the letter one more time before nodding. "I think he's fine. What do I do now?" She felt her hand shaking nervously at the idea of responding to this man, but she knew it was the right thing for her future.

  Elizabeth handed her a pencil and a sheet of crisp white paper. "Write him a letter. Tell him about yourself, and we'll take it from there."

  Anna nodded, putting pencil to paper. "Dear Tom, I live in Beckham, Massachusetts, and I think I'd be a good wife to you. I'm a good cook, and I really don't mind cleaning. I would be a hard-working wife. I'm incredibly shy, though, so you'd have to be patient with me. I might even try to turn tail and run home once I get there. I've never been comfortable around men, but if you can handle that, I'm happy to marry you. I'm twenty-years-old, and I would be happy to live in the middle of nowhere, keeping house and raising a family. Sincerely, Anna Simpson."

  She handed the letter to Elizabeth, waiting while she read it. Elizabeth said nothing as she sealed and addressed the letter. "It usually takes about two weeks to receive a response. Once I have, I'll contact you, and we'll talk." She leaned back in her chair. "Did you grow up here in Beckham?"

  "Yes, I grew up in the orphanage here in town. My father died in the War Between the States, and my Mama died of the fever a few weeks after I was born." She shrugged. "There was no family left to care for me, so a neighbor dropped me at the orphanage." She'd told the story many times, and she wasn't sad about it, but she felt like something was wrong because she wasn't. Should she be sad about a family she had no memory of?

  Elizabeth sighed. "I'm sorry."

  "What about you? Did you grow up here?" Anna leaned back on the sofa, at ease for the first time in a long while. She'd lived as a boarder while teaching and didn't know the family well. She had no real friends outside of the orphans she'd grown up with, and they'd all moved off and had lives of their own.

  "Yes, I did. I grew up on a farm outside town. My sister was a mail order bride a few years back. She settled in Texas near Fort Worth." She frowned. "I wish I could travel out with you and visit her for a while. I haven't seen Susan since she married."

  "Is Susan happy?" Anna couldn't help but worry that she was making a terrible mistake moving somewhere where she knew no one to marry a stranger.

  Elizabeth nodded. "Oh, yes! She's very happy. She has four step-sons and three children of her own. We write every week."

  "Seven children? Oh my. Your parents didn't mind her going to Texas to marry a stranger?"

  "Not really. Susan wasn't happy at home. Our younger brothers and sisters are called 'the demon horde' around town." Elizabeth shook her head as if trying to deny her own words.

  Anna's eyes widened. "I had six of your siblings in school this year!" She tried not to shudder visibly at the thought of them.

  Elizabeth grinned, nodding to the butler as he came in and set down a tray with tea and cookies before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. "They've certainly earned their name, haven't they?"

  Anna nodded emphatically. "They're a great deal of the reason I've decided to quit teaching." After she said the words, she wondered if she'd gone too far. Would Elizabeth be offended and not help her?

  "I'm not surprised. I can't wait to write Susan and tell her, though." Elizabeth grinned. "They really are monsters. They always have been."

  "It's hard to believe one of the demon horde could grow up to run her own business. Do all of you have both of the same parents?" She couldn't imagine the woman in front of her once being one of the wild children who wreaked such havoc in the local school.

  "Oh, yes," Elizabeth answered. "Mother was much better about discipline when there were only four of us. It's the younger ones that were spoiled so horribly."

  "I see." Anna didn't really, though. All children were treated the same when they were in an orphanage. She didn't have any experience with having parents, though.

  "I wish I did," Elizabeth said with a laugh. "Where will you stay through the summer? I assume you board with a family near the schoolhouse?"

  Anna nodded. "I only spend enough money to keep myself clothed adequately. I have money saved, and I'll continue to pay for my room and board until it's time for me to go." She should be able to make herself a new wardrobe as well, but she didn't add that. Being raised to a life of frugality came in very handy when living on a teacher's salary.

  "Good." Elizabeth poured them each a cup of tea and handed a cup and a plate of cookies to Anna. "Do you like the family you board with?"

  Anna shrugged. "They're fine. I don't really know them well. I spend my time in my bedroom working on lesson plans and grading papers. I help with the dishes and eat meals with them, but that's about it." She knew she should have made more of an effort to get to know the family, but for her it truly was an effort, and she had no desire to work that hard at home.

  Elizabeth frowned. "Have you tried to get to know them?"

  Anna shook her head. "I don't do well with strangers, although I seem to be comfortable with you. I'm not certain why."

  Elizabeth gave Anna a half smile, obviously concerned about her. "How will you spend your summer?"

  "I'll sew and get things ready for my journey west. I know I'll need more clothes than what I have and a few good aprons." Anna was glad she wouldn't be starting her marriage with children. She didn't need to have that added stress as she got to know a man. She would be scared enough as she was. At least Tom sounded like a good loving man.

  "Have you thought about meeting someone here at home and not going out West to be a bride?" Elizabeth asked.

  "I have a hard time talking to men. I don't know how I'd get to the point of even being courted let alone
married." Anna shook her head. "No, I'll take my chances on a stranger."

  *****

  Jesse left Ernie with the housekeeper he'd hired after Deborah's death and walked down to the graveyard to visit his wife. She'd been gone for three years, and still, he thought about her every day. She'd been the only woman he'd ever met who'd been worth giving up his freedom for. He'd loved her more than he'd ever thought possible, and since she'd been gone, he only felt as if he were half a man.

  He sank down onto the grass beside her grave and spoke to her. "Oh, Deborah, I don't know what to do. Ernie is known all around the area as a hellion. He's only eight and already he's in trouble every day in school." He set the cup of flowers he'd put on her grave just the day before back up, and picked some of the weeds from her grave. "My housekeeper says she's going to quit at the end of the month. She can't handle him any longer. He's been expelled from school three different times now. You kept him behaving just the way he should, but I don't think anyone else could do it the way you did."

  His fingers traced over her name on her tombstone. "My papa died. He left me money, a lot more money than I realized he had. I think I'm going to take that money and go buy a ranch in Texas." He sighed. "You know I've always dreamed of owning a ranch out West, and I found a great opportunity. An older couple is going to sell their ranch, and they're including furniture as well as the cattle. Most of the cowboys will even stay on. I don't know what else to do, and I think we need a fresh start. Of course, that means I won't get to see you anymore, but I'll always love you. I promise. I need to do this for Ernie as much as for me. I wish I could explain just how bad it's gotten, but I don't know how. I'll find a housekeeper out there who doesn't know what he's like, and she'll be able to keep him in line." He stood up, tears filling his dark eyes. "I love you, Deborah. Don't forget it."

  He made the fifteen minute walk home from the graveyard, feeling as if he had his answer. When he'd told Deborah it was time to move on, he had felt an overwhelming sense of peace come over him, as if she approved of his plans. Yes, moving to Texas was the answer. He hoped he could get Mrs. Jenkins to stay long enough to help him pack everything up.