Matched in Minnesota (At the Altar Book 22) Read online

  Matched in Minnesota

  At the Altar

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Kirsten Osbourne

  One

  Marissa Salchel worked diligently at her computer, until she heard the doorbell. Ugh. She wished her family and friends would respect her work hours. It wasn’t like she hadn’t told them what those hours were a million times over. They thought since she worked from home, they were free to drop in whenever they wanted, or worse—leave their kids with her while they did some shopping or whatever else they wanted to do.

  She was sick of being taken advantage of. She was honestly working during the day, not just sitting around eating bon bons, though sometimes a Dove chocolate might appear magically on her desktop!

  Perhaps it wasn’t smart for her to live in the same town where she’d grown up, with her entire family and group of friends as well. Though, her fiancé, John, lived there too, and she certainly wasn’t moving away from him. She just wished he’d be willing to set a date soon. She already had her dress.

  She went to the door of her small apartment and opened it wide, ready to tell off whoever had disturbed her work day for the umpteenth time. She had a scathing retort on her lips when she saw—instead of a friend or sibling—two uniformed police officers standing at her door. She choked down the words she’d meant to say, and instead stared blankly. What did one say when police officers came to their door?

  They must have been state or county officers, because she didn’t recognize either of them, and she knew everyone who worked on the police force in the town of Bobville, Arkansas. Of course, so did everyone else in town.

  One of the officers, a young woman with dark hair pinned atop her head spoke first. “I regret to inform you that Mr. John Daily has been killed in a car accident. I understand he was your fiancé.”

  Marissa put her hand to her mouth. “I talked to him this morning.” He’d called her to let her know of an urgent, unexpected business trip. “Are you sure?”

  “Very sure. He was in the company of a Shelly Chambers.”

  Marissa frowned. “Shelly didn’t work with John. They were old friends.”

  “It appears they were more than that.” The officer had kind eyes. “Did your fiancé tell you where he was going?”

  “He said he had to go to Chicago on business, and he’d be back in a few days.”

  The officers exchanged a look. The male officer, older than the young woman who had been speaking, responded. “Ma’am, there was nothing business-like about the trip. Both of them were killed, but based on the items they packed, I would say they were leaving town together for more pleasurable reasons.”

  Marissa stood there numb for a moment. How was she supposed to respond? Finding out her fiancé was both dead and cheating on her at the same time was just too much of a blow. She didn’t know if she should cry for his loss or rage at his cheating. “I see. Thank you.”

  The female officer frowned at her. “Is there someone I can call to be with you?”

  No one that won’t make me feel like the biggest idiot alive. “No, thank you. I’ll be all right.” And she would. It would just take a little time. “I appreciate you letting me know.” With that, Marissa shut the door and went back to her computer, sitting down.

  She stared blankly for a moment at the itinerary she had been working on before the doorbell rang. For some reason, she just didn’t care any longer about creating the perfect Disney vacation for random strangers. She shook her head and walked away from her computer. She had time to get this one done, and she could work hard later.

  Marissa couldn’t believe how betrayed she felt. He was dead, after all, but…how could she stop feeling that way? The man had promised he would love her forever, and he was leaving town with Shelly? Why Shelly anyway? She was known all over town as someone who stole other women’s men. She should have known, but John had always protested her suspicions, and patted her on the head as if she was just jealous. Now she knew the truth.

  She rubbed the back of her neck as she headed to the kitchen. It was lunchtime, and though she wasn’t hungry, she knew she needed to eat. Even though her heart had been shattered into a million pieces, she had to keep going. She wasn’t going to let John and Shelly destroy her.

  Dr. Aaron Christiansen kept the smile plastered on his face all through the meeting during which a younger, less qualified professor was given tenure. After the meeting, he politely shook Marcus’s hand, congratulating him, but he waited until everyone but the head of the history department was gone before approaching.

  “Bob, I don’t understand why other people keep getting tenure over me. I’ve got the publications to back up my knowledge. My student ratings are fabulous, and I work harder than anyone else I know. What am I doing wrong?”

  Bob sighed. “It’s the way the female students react to you. It gives the image of impropriety.” He shook his head. “I have asked that you be the one given tenure the last three times we’ve had an opening. All three times I’ve been told that if you don’t marry, we can’t do anything about it. Are you seeing anyone? I know you’re involved in your work, but we’ve got to get the girls to leave you alone.”

  Aaron shook his head. “In this day and age, you can keep from giving me tenure simply because I’m not married?”

  “The girls wait in lines outside your office for office hours. Each one is convinced she’s going to become Mrs. Christiansen. Maybe if you shaved your head or wore a paper bag over it. You can’t even get through the halls half the time.”

  Aaron was a little angry, but he saw Bob’s point of view. The girls had been following him in flocks since he’d started working there. His classes were three quarters girls and a quarter boys. It was ridiculous! “All right. Maybe I’ll get married then. You don’t happen to know a girl who wants to marry a stranger, do you?”

  Bob shook his head, a slight smirk on his face. “No, I really don’t. I guess you could pick from one of the girls clogging up the hallways in the history department.”

  Aaron grinned briefly. “I don’t think that’ll help me get tenure.” He picked up his briefcase and headed out the door. “I’ll figure it out. I guess.”

  He walked toward his office which was right down the hall, hoping that there wouldn’t be anyone waiting for him. When he spotted his office door, he almost turned and walked the other way. Six. Six pretty young college students vying for his attention.

  He walked to the door and unlocked it, going into the office and sitting behind his desk before talking to the girls. It was always good to have a solid wooden object between him and the students. “What can I help you girls with today?”

  “We were wondering what the number one cause of death was on the Oregon Trail. I thought it was dysentery but Amy says it was cholera. Amy knows more than anyone about anything, so I’m inclined to believe her, but I don’t want to risk failing the exam because I don’t know something so basic.”

  It was only then that Aaron figured out where the girls had come from. They were in his Oregon Trail class, his favorite to teach, because it was truly his passion. He spent all of his time research the trail except when he was in class or being thronged by girls during his office hours. “It was definitely cholera. That’s also why the Mormons died at a rate of four-point-seven percent as oppose
d to the average of three-point-five percent for other pioneers. They didn’t boil their water, because they didn’t drink coffee.”

  “Thank you so much for the information, Dr. Christiansen. I don’t think anyone of us would have been able to sleep tonight if you hadn’t solved our little dispute.”

  “Tell your friend Amy she was right.” He reached for a bound journal on his desk of a preacher named Jedidiah Scott who had married a young woman, Hannah Moseby, just before setting out on the trail. She’d been a stranger to him and they’d “honeymooned” on the Oregon Trail.

  “I’m Amy,” a young woman who had dark hair and glasses said from behind the girl who had been speaking. He looked at her for a moment, and realized she sat in the front row of his class three days a week, and he had no idea what her name was.

  “You were right, Amy. Good job paying attention in class.”

  Amy gave him a lovesick look that turned his stomach a little. Why were all these girls in his office anyway? “I listen to every word you say.”

  He wanted to groan out loud. “Shouldn’t you ladies be studying for finals? Monday is going to come awfully soon!”

  “Yes, of course,” the first girl said. He had no idea what her name was, and all the other girls seemed to be there just to look at him. A paper bag over his head was sounding better by the moment.

  After the girls left, he ran his hand over his face. How was he supposed to get the girls to quit following him around and find a wife all at once? Ugh. Tenure was important to him, but even more important was the ability to work in peace. Could he find someone to marry him and then put her on a shelf in the corner of his spare room until he needed her for another party? It sounded smart to him!

  He booted up his computer to put some notes on the journal into a word document, and he had an email from an old friend in Albuquerque. Dirk had married the previous spring, and he was deliriously happy. He was so happy that it made Aaron a little sick to his stomach at times.

  The email talked about his new bride and a hike they were going on. As he read the message, it occurred to Aaron that Dirk was as socially awkward as he was. He hadn’t dated at all, and Aaron knew he was married. Maybe Dirk knew something he didn’t.

  After reading through all of the glowing praises about Dirk’s new wife, Aaron wrote out a quick response. “How did you meet Alexis? It seems like you met her one day and married her the next. I need to meet someone and marry fast. I keep getting passed over for tenure.”

  After he sent the email, he concentrated on typing out the notes about Jedediah and his wife. For some reason, they’d both left a journal, and he had access to both. Usually you could only find one journal for a family, if that. He hoped to get an even more complete picture of the trail by comparing the two journals. This was research gold.

  An hour later, he was still making his notes, when he noticed he’d gotten an email from Dirk.

  “Don’t tell anyone, but I met her through a matchmaker. The company is Matchrimony, and her name is Dr. Lachele Simpson. Contact her. She introduces people at the altar after some pretty serious interviews. She’ll hook you up, and you won’t even have to date.”

  Aaron felt a slow smile spread across his face. Matchrimony. It sounded stupid, but he’d give them a chance to find him a wife. Why not?

  Marissa didn’t bother going to John’s funeral. It would have made her a hypocrite, and that was one thing she was determined to never be. Being the butt of all the jokes in town was hard enough.

  She was working extra hours to make up for the days she hadn’t worked at all after the car wreck. Her entire world had come crashing down around her. Of course, she’d missed a little work.

  As she was working on a Disney World itinerary for the Stevens family, she saw something on Facebook that surprised her. A friend was talking about how she’d been introduced to her husband at the altar. The idea was intriguing.

  She did a quick Google search for companies that would introduce people at the altar, and she only came up with one. Matchrimony. Before she lost her courage, she dialed the number and made an appointment to go through the psychological testing the following weekend. Maybe she was making a mistake, but she was doing it with her eyes wide open. She wasn’t going to stay in the same place dealing with the same problems for the rest of her life. Instead, she’d move to a new place and find new problems.

  Marissa was up early on Saturday, ready for Dr. Lachele. She felt like she was being interviewed, so she’d neatened up her house and had some snacks on hand. She had no idea what to expect from the other woman or the testing, so she made sure everything was “company ready” as her mother would have said.

  She’d lived her entire life in this same small town in Arkansas, and her mother still had something to say if she left her house without her hair fixed properly. She never wore her pajamas to the store like some people she knew, but she didn’t spend a lot of time on her hair, and she hated when someone snapped a picture of her with their phone and sent it to her mother.

  Marissa glanced at the clock and saw that Dr. Lachele was a few minutes late, so she sat down at her computer, thinking to get a little work in before she arrived. Apparently, the woman just jumped on a plane and went wherever people were interested in being married. It was strange to Marissa, but she certainly wouldn’t mind that kind of travel.

  She’d only been working for a few minutes when she heard a loud sound from the direction of the parking lot. She hurried to her window and spotted a middle-aged woman with bright purple hair standing in front of a car that had a decent sized dent on the front fender. It looked as if it had hit a small tree.

  She stared for a moment, not sure what to do. Finally, she walked outside to see if she could help. “Are you all right?”

  The woman nodded. “Oh, yeah, sugar. That’s my third tree this year. Three trees, four mail boxes, and a partridge in a pear tree!”

  Marissa just stood there. “Well, I guess it’s good you’re not hitting other people.”

  “It is.” The woman narrowed her eyes. “You’re not Marissa, are you?”

  “I am. Dr. Lachele?” Oh, good grief. This crazy woman was the one there to administer a psychological test? Who had let her out of the asylum?

  The woman spread her arms. “In the flesh! Now get over here and give me a boobie bump!”

  Boobie bump? Oh, my goodness. Maybe she’d made a mistake. She walked to the other woman and hugged her carefully, almost afraid whatever was making the woman crazy was catching.

  “Okay, girl, let me call the car rental agency, and then I’ll be up. I always buy the insurance to cover me. Then my real insurance company doesn’t need to know about these little fender benders. You go back inside, and I’ll be right there.”

  Marissa went back to her apartment obediently. She was more nervous than she had been. Oh, it was definitely a different kind of nervous now. She no longer worried the woman would judge her housekeeping skills, but would someone as crazy as her be able to spot normal? It was definitely something to think about.

  When Dr. Lachele joined her ten minutes later, she was fanning her face with her hand. “Spring in the south is so goldang hot! I won’t come in the summer, but the springs are almost as bad!”

  Marissa smiled. “You get used to it after a while. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Water is fine for now. We need to get started. So much to cover so I can find you the perfect man. As soon as I saw you, I was pretty sure which man, but we’ll see as the day goes on.”

  “Oh? Who do you have in mind?” Marissa asked as she filled a glass with water for the older woman.

  “I’m not telling you that.” Dr. Lachele let out a laugh. “It would ruin half my fun if you knew who you were marrying before the wedding.”

  “So, you enjoy torturing people?” Marissa asked.

  “Well, yeah! How do you think I got into this business?” Dr. Lachele accepted the glass of water. “Let’s talk about you. Tell me abou
t why you called me first.”

  Marissa quickly related the events of her fiancé’s death and her finding out he’d been cheating on her.

  “Well, he sounds like a snake! And she sounds like a hussy. Are you willing to relocate if I find just the right man for you somewhere else?”

  “I want to relocate. This is the only place I’ve ever lived. I even did most of my university courses online.”

  Dr. Lachele jotted something down on a notepad. “Then it’s time you spread your wings and fly. Now, let’s talk about what you think you want in a man, and I’ll let you know if you’re right.”

  Marissa no longer questioned what the older woman was thinking. It would be so much easier just to go with the flow. And if she could really find her someone to spend the rest of her life with who wouldn’t cheat on her…well, she was sure she’d be happy.

  Tucking her legs under her, Marissa forgot she was being tested and fell into conversation mode. Dr. Lachele was someone she would enjoy having as an over the top eccentric wacky friend. She’d have to be sure to get to know her better.

  Two

  Less than six weeks later, Marissa sat in the back of a church in Minnesota, more nervous than she’d ever remembered being. She was marrying a stranger, and the only person there to hold her hand was her best friend Janelle. “Am I losing my mind?” Marissa asked.

  “Probably. I mean, who agrees to marry a stranger, sight unseen? It’s a pretty crazy move, but I think it’s one you need to make. So yes, you’ve lost your mind, but in the best way possible.” Janelle had been extremely supportive as Marissa had gone through the loss of her fiancé, but more importantly, the mental anguish of knowing he’d been cheating on her.