Luke's Mail Order Bride Read online

  LILY WILSPUR

  Luke’s Mail Order Bride

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  No one got off the train except Kathy Sullivan. The stationmaster opened his mouth to speak to her, but stopped and shrugged his shoulders instead. Kathy watched the conductor unload her trunks. The shriek of the whistle announcing the departure of the train echoed through the empty station. The conductor didn’t bother to call “All aboard.” There was no one waiting to board the train.

  There was no one in the entire station besides the stationmaster. Kathy could almost believe there was no one in the whole town. Opposite the platform, wild woods stretched as far as the eye could see. And she couldn’t see any other buildings on the other side of the station. She couldn’t hear the usual sounds of horses or voices shouting or wagons rattling that usually accompanied train stations.

  The stationmaster disappeared into the station to be seen no more. The conductor swung up into the car, and the train plowed out of the station. The whistle shouted one more time from the curve at the top of the hill. Then the train slithered around the corner of the woods and its chugging voice faded into nothing.

  Kathy watched it out of sight. Silence reigned through the station, through the woods, and through the whole world. Was this the end of the line for her? The man she arranged to marry told her he’d meet her at the station, but not a living soul moved.

  She stared across the tracks at the woods for another brief moment. Then she turned on her heel and strode off the platform. There was nothing else to do.

  But she didn’t make it more than ten steps before she stopped with her mouth gaping open. From the other end of the platform, a crowd of people approached her, laughing and chatting in gay merriment. Children capered around the periphery of the crowd, darting up to adults and engaging them in snatches of conversation before flitting away again.

  Two men led the procession with their arms locked around each other’s shoulders. They looked exactly alike in every respect, from their curly brown top knots to their laughing blue eyes. One of them was bigger than the other. Kathy couldn’t see any other difference between them.

  The closer they came, the more people flooded onto the platform behind them until the crowd filled the whole platform with living voices and movement. Kathy stared at them. Was this a vision out of her imagination? They couldn’t be here to welcome her. The whole town must be in this train station.

  But here was the larger of the two men laughing to the smaller one and smiling at her. “You must be Katherine Sullivan.” He pretended to look around the platform. “You’re the only one who got off the train.” He laughed again and clapped the other man on the shoulder. “No one gets off the train here.” For some reason, he found that fact unbearably funny.

  “You must be Luke Ferguson,” she replied.

  The larger man clapped the smaller one on the shoulder again. “This is Luke. I’m his brother, Max.” He laughed more uproariously than ever. “I don’t blame him for not telling you about me.”

  Kathy exchanged a quick look with Luke. He blushed and suppressed a shy smirk. “He told me he had a brother. I just didn’t know you’d be so….”

  “So similar?” Max offered. “That’s what everyone says.”

  “Are you twins?” she asked.

  “I’m three years older,” Max replied. “And much better looking, too.” He roared with laughter. Luke chuckled and lowered his eyes. “Well, Katherine, here you are.”

  “Please, call me Kathy,” she told him. “Everyone does.”

  “All right, Kathy,” Max corrected himself. “Here you are. And here we are. We’re here to escort you to the church. That is,” he jostled his brother’s shoulders. “If you’re absolutely certain you want to marry this guy.”

  Kathy stiffened. “Do you know of any reason why I shouldn’t?”

  “Don’t listen to him, Kathy,” Luke interjected. His voice sounded soft and gentle, but the tone resembled his brother’s in every other way.

  “I’m only joking, Kathy,” Max added. “You’ll learn not to pay attention to anything I say. Nobody else does, especially Luke.” He slapped his brother on the back. “Now, are you ready to go?”

  “I’m ready to go if you are,” she replied. “I didn’t know you wanted to go straight to the church from the train station.” She glanced toward her trunks. “My wedding dress is in my trunk.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Max told her. “We have the whole thing arranged. We have a house lined up next door to the church where you can go to change your clothes. We’ll go back there for a reception party afterward, so one of the lads will bring your trunks there. That way, you can change back into your regular clothes when you’re ready to leave. How does that sound?”

  “That sounds perfect,” Kathy exclaimed. “Thank you.”

  “You can thank Annabel. She’s my wife.” He craned his neck to look behind him. “She’s back here somewhere.”

  “I’m right here.” A woman called out from somewhere in the crowd. The tide of bodies parted, and a slender blonde woman not much older than Kathy shouldered her way to the front of the throng. She smiled at Kathy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last.”

  Kathy blushed. “Likewise.”

  “Annabel arranged for you to go to Mary Jenner’s house,” Max put in. “It’s the closest to the church, and Mary’s a widow, so all you women can sequester yourselves there and do whatever you do to get ready for a wedding. The boys and I will take Luke and rough him up a little bit, you know. Then you two will meet at the altar all official-like. We have the whole thing planned out.”

  “Don’t worry about Max, Kathy,” Annabel added. “We don’t have the rest of your lives planned out, just the wedding part of it. Luke had the idea he was going to sneak off and get married to you all alone. Well, when we found out, we weren’t going to let him get away with that.”

  “Max got this parade thing together,” Luke told her. “I just want you to know this wasn’t my idea. I thought you might like something a little more understated and inconspicuous. So I hope none of this makes you uncomfortable.”

  “Inconspicuous?” Max shot back. “We’ve been waiting all this time for you to get married. This is the biggest thing to hit this town in years. We weren’t going to let you rob us of the pleasure of watching you tie the knot. Annabel and I weren’t, anyway, and when they heard what was going on, everyone in town wanted to join in, too. So here we are.”

  Chapter 2

  Kathy shifted from one foot to the other, still staring from one to the other. Just when she thought she was all alone in this isolated train station, the whole town turned out to greet her. Now she was caught in the middle of a family discussion all about her. Annabel noticed her discomfort. “I think Kathy’s ready to go now. We have plenty of time to talk and get to know each other. Let’s get off this platform and over to the house. Kathy, you walk with me.”

  The brothers marched away. Annabel took Kathy by the arm. “You stick close to me,” she murmured in Kathy’s ear. “I’ll take good care of you. You can’t trust those men to take much consideration of a woman on her wedding day.”

  She escorted Kathy off the platform behind the brothers. They stepped down from the platform to the sidewalk, where Kathy suddenly remembered her trunks. She glanced back to ask Annabel about what wo
uld happen to them. But just at that moment, a couple of young men picked the trunks up and carried them along behind the crowd.

  “Don’t worry about your trunks,” Annabel said into her ear. “They’re coming with us.”

  Kathy let Annabel lead her out into the streets of the town. The church stood at the far end of the street, and the atmosphere of celebration continued all the way across the town. Luke freed himself from his brother’s clutches just enough to look back at her over his shoulder.

  Gangs of children shouted and ran around, ducking in and out of doorways and waving colored flags. A little blonde girl skipped up to Annabel. “Can I come to Mary’s with you, Mama?” she asked. “I promise I won’t get in the way. I could help you and Mary get the food and decorations ready for the party. Can I come, please, Mama?”

  “All right,” Annabel replied. “But you’ll have to leave Kathy alone. She’ll want to spend some time getting dressed before she goes to the church, and she won’t want you running around and getting underfoot.”

  She turned to Kathy. “This is my daughter, Adelaide. You’ll have to forgive her. She can’t wait to be all grown up. She’s been as excited about this wedding as anyone else, and she’s dying to see you in your dress.”

  “The dress isn’t anything special,” Kathy replied. “My parents couldn’t afford a very fine dress.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it will be lovely,” Adelaide exclaimed. “If it’s a wedding dress, I’m sure it will be stunning. I just can’t wait to see it.”

  “This will be the first wedding dress Adelaide has ever seen,” Annabel told Kathy. “She’s heard all about them, but she’s never seen one.”

  “Doesn’t anyone get married in this town?” Kathy asked.

  “Not in a long time,” Annabel replied. “The town is too small. Most of the young people leave to find spouses. Sometimes they come back here to live, but sometimes they stay away.”

  “That’s too bad,” Kathy remarked.

  “The town is just growing,” Annabel explained. “It wasn’t that long ago when the first settlers carved this area out of bare wilderness. It started with just a few families and single men. We only just built that church up there. And this train station—before last year, we never even had train service.”

  “That explains why no one gets off the train,” Kathy observed.

  “What do you mean?” Annabel returned. “You got off the train here. Every now and then, someone comes. The town is growing little by little. It grows bigger every year by just a few people. Soon, it will be thriving and the young people won’t have to leave to get married.”

  “Luke didn’t have to leave to get married,” Kathy pointed out.

  “That’s true,” Annabel replied. “This mail-order bride service they have going is the best thing to happen to the frontier West. The country will fill up with people, now that all these single men are getting married. It makes the business of finding a wife much easier.”

  “I just hope it works out for everyone,” Kathy murmured to herself.

  Annabel squeezed her arm. “Don’t you worry about that. Luke is the salt of the earth. You won’t find a sweeter, kinder, more polite man in the whole world. He deserves a good woman.”

  “Do you and Max have much to do with him?” Kathy asked. “I guess you must, living in the same town with him.”

  Annabel laughed. “I can tell he didn’t tell you much about his life in his letters to you. That’s just like him. We live together—well, not exactly together. But we all live on the same homestead outside of town. Max, Adelaide, and I live together in the big house, and Luke lives in a little cottage on the other side of the farm. Max and Luke farm the land together.”

  “So I guess you do have a lot to do with each other,” Kathy replied.

  “We sure do!” Annabel exclaimed. “We share all our meals together. Luke comes up to the house for breakfast and supper just about every day. When you move into the cottage that might change. I can understand if you two want to take your meals together in your own house. But I would think we’ll still get together for Sunday dinner just about every week—if you want to, that is.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Kathy replied. “But I like the idea of sharing meals together more frequently than that. I wouldn’t want to be the cause of any distance coming between Luke and his family.”

  “You don’t have to explain,” Annabel returned. “It’s only natural for a newlywed couple to want to spend time alone. But once you start having children and all that sort of thing, you’ll appreciate all the help you can get. Take my word for it!”

  “I’d be grateful for any help you can give me,” Kathy replied. “I’d love to have you and your family over for meals, and I hope I can help you, too, when you have another child.”

  Chapter 3

  By that point, the parade had nearly reached the church. Max and Luke stopped together and faced the crowd.

  “Now, then” Max announced. “You men come with me to have a few hard words with my kid brother here. Ladies, you go on to Mary’s to prepare the bride. Maybe you’re going to give her a milk bath or something. I don’t know what you do, and I don’t want to know. We’ll meet at the church in—let’s see. Let’s be safe and make it two hours.” He glanced at his wife. “Is that okay with you?”

  “That will be fine,” Annabel replied.

  “Good,” Max declared. “You kids, try not to get into too much trouble in the meantime.”

  Annabel turned around and addressed the crowd herself. “The girls can come to Mary’s to help get the food ready. Adelaide’s coming with me and Kathy. I guess the boys can either go with you men or entertain themselves.”

  “Right,” Max replied. “You people—you have your orders. Now be off to your respective duties, and we’ll see you all back at the church.”

  The crowd broke up in a general hubbub of noise and excited talking. Just before, Max and Luke vanished, Kathy caught Luke stealing glances at her again. Every time she caught him, his cheeks turned red and he laughed shyly and looked away. His quiet demeanor intrigued her. She’d like to find out more about him. He looked like a nice man.

  Well, she was about to find out all about him, and then some.

  The rest of the townspeople divided up, drifting off in different directions. A few men went after the brothers, but most of them departed to destinations unknown. The women formed a more solid company and headed toward a little house just next to the church.

  Annabel kept a firm hold on Kathy and brought her along after the rest of the women. Adelaide stuck close by her mother and the bride, while some of the older girls accompanied the women to Mary’s house.

  When they arrived, the women went straight to the kitchen. Only the two young men carrying Kathy’s trunks came afterward. “You can take those upstairs to the spare room,” Annabel ordered as soon as they got in the door. They obeyed her without a word, and immediately left the house as soon as they came back downstairs.

  “Now if you’ll come with me,” Annabel said to Kathy. She took her upstairs and showed her into a neat little room with lace curtains in the window and a spotless china pitcher on the washstand. Kathy’s trunks sat on the floor against the far wall. “You can change in here. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Thank you,” Kathy replied. “I think I’ll need your help to tighten my corset laces.”

  Annabel laughed out loud. “Oh, how long it’s been since I tightened anyone’s corset laces!” She dissolved in peals of laughter. “I’d be happy to help you. Just call me when you’re ready.”

  Annabel turned away toward the landing at the head of the stairs, and Kathy found herself face to face with Adelaide, who’d been standing directly behind her mother. The two of them regarded each other for a moment.

  Annabel stopped at the top of the stairs. “Come along, Adelaide,” she called.

  Adelaide shot a quick glance at her mother, then continued to stare at Kathy.

  “Adel
aide,” Annabel called. “Come here and leave Kathy alone.” Kathy heard the edge of annoyance creep into the mother’s voice.

  Adelaide hesitated again. Annabel stomped over to her daughter, her heels ringing hard on the carpet. Kathy leapt to intervene.

  “Don’t worry,” Kathy told Adelaide. “There will be plenty for you to do, too. Just let me change my dress, and then you can help me do my hair and put on my jewelry and my veil. Then, when it’s time to go to the church, you can carry the train of my dress. How does that sound?”

  Adelaide’s face exploded into a glorious smile. She clasped her hands in front of her breast. “Could I really? Oh, please, say I can! Do you hear that, Mama? She’s going to let me carry her train!”

  “Yes, I heard her, Adelaide,” Annabel replied.

  “Oh, thank you!” Adelaide breathed. “I promise I’ll do a good job for you. I’ll be so careful. I promise!”

  Adelaide tripped away to the stairs, and Kathy and Annabel listened to the tap of her little feet diminishing toward the kitchen. Annabel glanced sidelong at Kathy. “Thank you.” And she followed her daughter downstairs.

  Kathy closed the door behind her and opened one of her trunks. Her dress lay across the top of it, and Kathy took it out and spread it on the bed. Underneath, she found her underwear, her corset, her stockings, her veil, and all her jewelry.

  She undressed hastily and got into her underwear and stockings. She put on her corset and laced it as well as she could by herself. She covered everything with a white cotton shift.

  When that was done, she stuck her head out the door to call Annabel, but she didn’t have to. There was Adelaide, sitting outside her door, waiting for her invitation to enter. She and Kathy smiled at each other.

  “Where’s your mother?” Kathy asked.