Christine

From Pixabay

The air felt heavy as Christine stood there with her suitcase, waiting for the train. She glanced over at Reverend Regland as he stood straight as a ramrod with a stoic expression as he stared straight in front of him. Christine wasn’t sure if she felt pity for the man or herself at that moment. She felt judged in fact that she had been judged. Her parents had deserted her upon hearing the lie that viper Ethel Woods had spread. Reverend Regland had volunteered to take the matter into his own hands and here they stood waiting for the train.

Reverend Regland had come to her 3 months ago and plopped an advertisement in front of her. She obediently answered the ad. At the time she cried every day begging her parents to believe her. But as the days dragged on the continued shunning and ostracizing by her parents and small community turned her grief into anticipation of a reply.

Christine glanced down at her simple attire and remembered how it all fell apart. She had been sitting in the front room finishing a tablecloth she was embroidering for her upcoming wedding to Jonah Wilson when her father burst into the room. His face was red with anger as he walked up and stood glaring down at her.

“Papa, what is wrong?” she asked.

“You have shamed us. It is all over town. How could you!” he shouted.

Christine sat there stunned at his anger. “Papa what have I done?” she asked.

“You and that outsider Tom were seen down by the lake! Ethel has gone to the Elders in tears and told of your indiscretion,” he yelled.

“What? Papa I don’t know what you are talking about,” she replied. “When did she say this took place?”

“Monday afternoon,” he replied as he started pacing back and forth in front of her.

“But Papa please believe me when I tell you I did not meet up with this Tom. It was not Tom it was…” she abruptly stopped her pleading knowing what they had done was forbidden.

“You told your Mama you were going to pick wild berries with Sara that afternoon. Sara has confessed you two never went,” he said stopping in front of her as he glared at her.

“Papa, please,” she pleaded as she looked up at her Papa. She could see tears forming in his eyes.

“You have been shunned. Reverend Regland is looking into a resolution to this problem,” he whispered as he turned and walked away. “You are no longer my daughter.”

Christine lowered her head and began to cry, recalling that Monday afternoon. It was not Tom that she had stolen away to the lake with but Jonah. Ever since she could remember she had dreamed of being joined with Jonah. When the day came and she had been promised to him she was elated. She knew Jonah must have felt the same way or why would he of insisted on their secret meetings? She could feel herself blush remembering the Monday meeting as he pulled her to the ground and began feverishly pulling at her dress. She had been shocked at his behavior. The other two secret meetings were just stolen moments of hand holding.

She had quickly pushed him to the side and stood up. “Jonah what has come over you!” she hissed. Jonah laid there smirking as he looked up to her.

“What? You can fool around with another and deny me?” he said angrily.

“What? I don’t know what you are saying!” she said.

“I ran into Ethel on the way here and she told me all about your other secret meetings,” he murmured as he stood up brushing off his trousers.

“I do not know what you are speaking about,” she replied reaching out to him.

“Enough,” he said pulling away.

“Jonah, please believe me. I will speak to Ethel and clear this all up. I promise,” she said.

The next day she had gone to Ethel and confronted her. Ethel assured her that Jonah must have misunderstood what she had said and that she would talk to Jonah and clear things up.

Christine stood there recalling Jonah’s reaction when she approached him the afternoon her father disowned her. After her father had left she had set her embroidery to the side and gone in search of him. Walking down the street she watched as the people she passed quietly turned their backs on her. She burst into the shop owned by Jonah’s parents and walked directly up to him. He didn’t even look her in the face but quietly turned his back.

Two months passed before she got the reply along with a train ticket. The note simply stated “I look forward to meeting you. Sincerely, Joseph Turner.”

Not long after that Jonah and Ethel announced their engagement.

The train slowly stopped in front of her. Christine felt a gentle breeze from the west with a promise of spring as she leaned over, picked up her suitcase and without looking back boarded the train.

Hope you enjoyed the fourth short story in a series we call Four Mail Order Brides.

Here are the three previous stories and their links.

“The Pearl Necklace” 

“The Advertisement”

“Stacie”

Please let us know if you are enjoying this series so that we can make a decision if we should continue it or not. I am considering just taking the idea and turning it into a novella series. Thanks!

Stacie

From Pixabay

Stacie watched as the young lady two rows up flicked her blonde ringlets while smiling up at the ticket conductor “Ticket please”, he asked smiling back. “What takes you to Casper, Wyoming?”

“I’m meeting my fiancé there,” she replied.

“Lucky guy,” he replied handing her ticket back. Reaching Stacie’s seat he never even glanced at her. “Ticket please,” he mumbled.

Stacie handed him her ticket wishing he would smile at her the way he smiled at the blonde passenger. “Thank you,” he said continuing on.

Stacie felt the hurt and sadness begin to surface, bringing with it the memory of that day that changed her life–her sister Brittany’s wedding day.

Brittany was almost two years younger than her and quite beautiful. Everywhere they went people would stop and stare at Brittany. Stacie never was jealous of her baby sister and enjoyed people’s reaction to her beauty. Their relationship was close, so Stacie was, of course, in the wedding.

It was on a cool autumn day that had started out so beautifully. The ceremony was simple but elegant. Stacie and Brittany had just gotten their plates from the buffet table and were heading for the bridal table when they overheard James, Luke, and Sara–three of Brittany’s friends, talking. “I know, you would never know they were sisters,” she over heard Sara say.

“She is so plain looking. I don’t think she will ever marry,” replied Luke.

“Who would want to marry her?” said James.

Stacie had just stood there, too embarrassed to say a word. “Stacie, oh my, how cruel, please ignore them,” pleaded Brittany grabbing onto Stacies arm.

She couldn’t forget or ignore those comments. They had brought to reality what she knew was true. No one will ever want to marry her. She would never find true love.

It was two days before Christmas that she had read the advertisement: “Wife wanted. Christian. Under 25 years old.”

There were lots of advertisements for mail-order brides but this one just caught her eye. Rereading it for the third time she carefully cut it out and set it aside.

Every day for a week she thought about going west and being a bride. The thought of the adventure intrigued her, but the fear of being rejected because of her looks kept surfacing. Finally, exactly one week after she clipped the ad she stopped at the bank to check the account her father had set up on her birth. The amount was substantial as her father was a wealthy man. This made her decision easy, knowing she could provide for herself if she was rejected.

That day she replied and walked the letter to the post. It was a cold day with flurries of white snow falling that not only helped mask her tears as she walked but also gave her a feeling of being refreshed as excitement filled her. Picking up her pace she smiled to herself as dreams of adventure, a beautiful wedding, and love filled her thoughts.

Stacie gently folded the pale blue dress she had commissioned the seamstress to make. Visions of standing next to her groom as they exchanged vows of love danced in her head. Sighing, she gently placed it along with other items she had stored in a trunk at the foot of her bed. It had been almost two months since she had posted the letter.

She had told no one that she had replied to an advertisement to become a mail-order bride. Her parents would not have allowed her to do anything like that, even though she was approaching the age of twenty-three with no prospects of marriage. Stacie, glancing at her watch quickly, made her way downstairs to watch for the postman from the library window. Every day for the past week she stood quietly waiting and anticipating the arrival of a response.

Spotting the postman she quickly darted for the door. She stood there glancing down as the mail tumbled through the door slot. Gathering it swiftly she began to scan each piece. Catching her breath she stopped as she saw a letter posted in neat handwriting addressed to her. Setting the rest of the mail upon the side table she dashed to her room.

With shaking hands, she slowly opened the letter. Removing a one-way rail ticket and a note neatly written that stated: “I look forward to meeting you. Sincerely Joseph Turner.”

All of that had led her to where she was today–sitting on a train lumbering towards an unknown future. She swallowed back the tears, recalling how her parents had reacted and objected to her decision. The day she left they hugged and pleaded with her to change her mind without success. Sitting back with determination she listened to the clickety-clack of the train as it brought her closer to her dream of marriage and hopefully love.

Hope you enjoyed the third short story in a series we call Four Mail Order Brides. The first one we posted “The Pearl Necklace” inspired us to continue with the short story and start the series. The second short in the series we posted is called “The Advertisement”. Click on each title to read them. Please let us know what you think. We are really excited about this series and hope it will become one of your favorite fun reads.