And Then Came Spring: A Bride for All Seasons Novella
3/5
()
About this ebook
It all started with an ad in a mail-order bride catalogue . . .
Mary-Jo has traveled halfway across the country to meet her match, arriving just in time . . . for his funeral. Returning home seems like her only option. Then her would-be brother-in-law proposes a more daring idea.
“An enchanting tale about a superstitious woman who is down on her luck, a needy boy whose luck has run out, and a lonely man. Readers will delight in this story, where faith proves more powerful than luck, and marriage, the third time, really is a charm." —Vickie McDonough, award-winning author of 27 books, including the Pioneer Promises series
“A delightfully, romantic tale of a mail-order bride who discovers only love and trust in God can erase the label of "unlucky in love” from her superstitious heart.” —Maggie Brendan, author of The Jewel of His Heart
Margaret Brownley is a New York Times best-selling author and has penned more than twenty-five historical and contemporary novels. A Lady Like Sarah was a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist.
Margaret Brownley
New York Times best-selling author Margaret Brownley has penned more than twenty-five historical and contemporary novels. Her books have won numerous awards, including Reader’s Choice.Though successful, Margaret decided to leave behind the secular publishing world to follow God’s will for her: to write inspirational fiction. Since then she has published the Rocky Creek series and A Lady Like Sarah was a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist.Happily married to her real life hero, Margaret and her husband have three grown children and live in Southern California.
Read more from Margaret Brownley
Courting Trouble: A Four Weddings and A Kiss Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grieving God's Way: The Path to Lasting Hope and Healing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrieving God's Way: The Path to Lasting Hope and Healing: A 90-Day Devotional Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to And Then Came Spring
Related ebooks
Autumn's Angel: A Bride for All Seasons Novella Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Groom Wanted Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maggie's Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5His Most Suitable Bride and The Marshal Meets His Match Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarried by Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove's Sweet Beginning (Sisters at Heart Book #3): A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brides of Wyoming: 3-in-1 Historical Romance Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Reluctant Outlaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love Letter to the Editor: A Four Weddings and A Kiss Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wed by Necessity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brides of Ohio: Three Historical Tales of Love Set in the Heart of the Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrides of Montana: 3-in-1 Historical Romance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sheriff's Promise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlots and Pans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Husbands for Hire Trilogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Marshal's Ready-Made Family and Conveniently Wed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristmas at Dove Creek Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Christmas in Whispering Pines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnywhere with You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrides of Kansas: 3-in-1 Historical Romance Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White River Brides: Missouri Couples Find Unexpected Love in Three Historical Novels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tywyn's Trouble: Tales from Biders Clump, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Chance for the Newcomer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRomancing the Widow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gift Of Twins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Outlaw's Heart: A Southern Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Calico Brides Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Runaway Bride Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Edge of Light (At Home in Beldon Grove Book #1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stolen Hearts Collection: Stealing Jake / Claiming Mariah Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Historical Romance For You
The Highlander's Bride Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bred By The King In Public: Dominant King Erotic History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fill Me Up! Double the Pleasure: MFM Threesomes Romance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Barbarian's Concubine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Once Upon A Time: A Collection of Folktales, Fairytales and Legends Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lover Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lady's Tutor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil’s Submission Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Kingdom of Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pride and Prejudice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pride and Pleasure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Bit of Rough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Years to Sin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bound To Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Havamal - The Sayings of Odin: Ancient Norse Proverbs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bastard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cold-Hearted Rake: The Ravenels, Book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ransom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Something Wonderful Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5West Side Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Dweller on Two Planets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhitney, My Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Home Child Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Visitors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5True Alien Seduction: Outing the Flames of Passion Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Last Garden in England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Memory Keeper of Kyiv: A powerful, important historical novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kent Family Chronicles Volumes One Through Three: The Bastard, The Rebels, and The Seekers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for And Then Came Spring
2 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
And Then Came Spring - Margaret Brownley
© 2013 by Margaret Brownley
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.
Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The Holy Bible, New Living Translation. © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Holy Bible, New International Version®, niv®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
ISBN 978-1-4016-9021-2 (ebook)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
[Novellas. Selections]
A bride for all seasons : a mail order bride collection / by Margaret Brownley, Debra Clopton, Robin Lee Hatcher, and Mary Connealy.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-4016-8853-0 (alk. paper)
1. Mail order brides—Fiction. 2. Christian fiction, American. 3. Love stories, American. I. Brownley, Margaret. And Then Came Spring. II. Clopton, Debra. An Ever After Summer. III. Hatcher, Robin Lee. Autumn’s Angel. IV. Connealy, Mary. Winter Wedding Bells.
PS648.L6B753 2013
813’.08508—dc23 2013000168
To Natasha Kern, literary agent extraordinaire!
Natasha is my guardian angel. I’ll always be grateful to her for believing in me—and leading the way.
Contents
Glossary
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Reading Group Guide
An Excerpt from An Ever After Summer
Other Books by Margaret Brownley
About the Author
Glossary of Mail-Order Bride Advertising Terms
(And What They Really Mean)
Eager to learn—can’t cook; can’t sew; can’t clean
Accomplished—can ride, shoot, and spit like a man
Modest dowry—poor as a church mouse
Independent means—mean face and mean disposition
Loving nature—keep her away from the ranch hands
Traditionally built—you may wish to reinforce the floors
Matrimonially inclined—working on husband number three
Maternal—has six children and one on the way
Possesses natural beauty—don’t let the false hair, cosmetic paints, or bolstered bosom scare you
Industrious—give her a dollar and she’ll figure out how to spend ten
Young looking—doesn’t look a day over sixty
And they lived happily ever after—AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.
Proverbs 16:33
nkjv
Prologue
The Hitching Post
A mail-order bride catalogue for the discerning, lonely, or desperate . . .
What in the name of Betsy was she thinking?
Melvin Hitchcock reread the letter from one Miss Mary-Jo Parker and shook his grizzled head. Not only was her spelling atrocious but she also expressed interest in a fine Christian man,
then carelessly described herself as a gambler’s daughter!
No, no, no, that would never do. As owner and editor of the Hitching Post Mail-Order Bride Catalogue it was Melvin’s duty to present clients in the best possible light. To that end, he had no qualms about rewriting clients’ ads or editing letters exchanged between couples wishing matrimony. In his not-so-humble opinion, his clients were fortunate to have him looking out for them.
Men often described themselves in glowing, even mythical, terms. The more a man lacked in height, hair, or bank account, the more exaggerated his pen. If Melvin didn’t know better, he would think the Wild West was populated by rich, tall, and handsome men with an abundance of head fur and charm.
And the women . . . ah, they were a different story. The fair sex tended to be so disarmingly honest that he wondered if they really wanted husbands at all. Or perhaps worried or overbearing mothers were pushing their daughters into the realm of holy wedlock. That would certainly explain Miss Parker’s disregard for propriety.
No matter. Melvin had a reputation to uphold. Following the War Between the States, mail-order bride catalogues had sprung up like mushrooms, though none could claim as many successful marriages as the Hitching Post. That was because Melvin, with a swipe of his pen, turned a chunky
figure into charming,
homely
to comely,
and undomesticated
into a willingness to learn.
Melvin would have no trouble making the gambler’s daughter sound like a pillar of virtue and innocence.
He wasn’t dishonest—heavens no. He was simply looking out for his clients’ best interests. If that charitable action benefited him and his company, what possible harm could it do to the soon-to-be happily wed?
Chapter One
Colton, Kansas
1870
Sure as God made little green apples, Mr. Daniel Garrett would rue this day. Mary-Jo Parker would make it her business to see that he did. For two solid hours he’d kept her waiting at the train station. He didn’t even have the courtesy to leave a message or arrange for someone to pick her up.
Well, Mr. Garrett, I’ve got news for you. You’d better have a good explanation for keeping me waiting or the wedding is off!
Now she was talking to herself, but that was the least of her problems. She was cold and tired and hungry and . . .
She hated admitting it, but she was also scared. What if she’d traveled all the way from Georgia for nothing? Her aunt thought her crazy to marry a man she’d never met, but his kind letters convinced Mary-Jo that she was doing the right thing. Don’t let me be wrong about that, God.
She dug in her purse for her watch. Two hours and twenty-two minutes she’d been waiting! If her errant fiancé bothered showing up at all, it better be on hands and knees.
She slipped the watch back into her drawstring bag and reread the dog-eared telegram. All correspondence was screened by the proprietor of the Hitching Post Mail-Order Bride Catalogue, so the telegram was signed by Mr. Hitchcock. It clearly stated that her fiancé would meet her train. They would then drive to the church to be married posthaste by a preacher.
She stuffed the telegram into her bag and marched back into the telegraph and baggage office for perhaps the eleventh or twelfth time. Her high-button boots pounded the wooden plank floor like two angry woodpeckers. Nearly tripping over the threshold, she froze.
The last time her foot had caught in a doorway, a tornado blew the roof off her aunt’s house. Mary-Jo gave the wood panel wall three quiet knocks. Warding off bad luck was a full-time job, but no matter how hard she tried not to tempt fate, misfortune seemed to follow her wherever she went.
Careful not to step on any cracks, she paced the length of the counter, waiting for the youthful operator to finish tapping the gilded telegraph key.
After a while, he swung around