Mail Order Bride: Searching For Love (Brides Of The West Book 3)

By Leah Wyett

A historical western cowboy romance story about a mail order bride.
While Hazel and Heath plan for the birth of their first child, and John and Becky get married and prepare for their lives together, another bride is making her way to Texas. Louise is from Massachusetts. She’s a well-educated, well-bred young lady whose father chose to send her to Texas to marry a pastor in a church in the town where Key Ranch is.
Upon arriving in Texas, Louise will first meet the man of her dreams, and then realize that man is not the one she’s here to marry, but instead her betrothed is a man over twice her age and with less than honorable intentions.
Searching For Love is about friendship, love, resilience, and above all the strength that we all find deep in our souls if we’re willing to look.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gold Crown
• Release date: Aug 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311998057

Book preview

LEAH WYETT

Mail Order Bride: Searching For Love

Brides of the West: Book Three

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Smashwords Edition

Copyright

Copyright © 2014 by Leah Wyett

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

First Printing, 2014

Dedication

To YOU, The reader.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you for your emails.

Thank you for your reviews.

Thank you for reading and joining me on this road.

Contents

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Recommended Reads

Chapter One

OCTOBER 1, 1871

Are you ready for this? Hazel asked Becky as she sat the veil down gently on her head so as not to disturb the hair the two women had just spent an hour fixing up.

Becky was smiling broadly and her eyes shone with the excitement of love and the promise of a long, happy life stretching out in front of her. She was always pretty, but Hazel thought she had never seen her look as beautiful as she did today, due solely to the glow she had about her.

I think I’ve been ready for this my whole life. I love him so much, Hazel. He’s such a good man. Becky had grown accustomed to the fact that her husband loved Hazel. She loved her too, so she had accepted the fact that he would just love them both and she would be the lucky one who got to be his wife. She trusted them both implicitly, and that was all that mattered.

Hazel smiled back at her and said,

Yes, he is. I think you and I are the luckiest girls in Texas. She absently rubbed her swollen belly as she said it.

What about my girl? A gruff voice behind them said. Hazel turned towards the voice and Becky moved the wheels of her chair so that she could also see in that direction. The voice belonged to Pastor Henry Cummings. Henry was going to officiate the wedding of Becky to John today. He was fairly new to the parish and no one in town knew him very well yet. There was something about him that bothered Hazel immensely. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, so she had so far kept her feelings to herself, but she thought that pastor or not, he bore watching.

Hello Pastor Cummings, Becky said.

Yes, hello, Pastor, Hazel said as well. I must say that I’m sure that your girl is a lucky one as well. I just wasn’t aware that you had someone you were courting. Is she someone that we may know?

The Pastor laughed and said, Well, since I’ve been in town, I’ve gotten to know both John and Heath very well and I see how happy you ladies have made them. Heath is beside himself with excitement over the baby coming in a few months and I don’t doubt you and John will be long to follow, he said, glancing down at Becky. I was so impressed by it all in fact, that I’ve sent for a bride myself.

You’ve sent for one sir? Hazel said.

Well, I’ve arranged for one. The young lady is a schoolteacher living in Massachusetts with her parents. I’ve been corresponding with her father. The pastor was an older man; at least forty-five, Hazel would have to say. His hair and beard were snow white and his belly lapped significantly over the front of his trousers. He had a bulbous nose that had likely come from years of indulging in the parish wines and, although Hazel was never on to base her feelings about others on their looks, there was just something ugly this man exuded even from within. He’d told John and Heath that he’d been widowed for almost ten years. Hazel wondered why a man of his age would be corresponding with a lady’s father and not the lady herself. She doubted that he had sent the girl a photograph.

Curiosity got the better of her and she asked,

So you haven’t talked directly with the woman, Sir?

Not as of yet. She’ll be coming in by train tomorrow. I’ve been meaning to get out to the ranch to talk to you, Mrs. Key. Louise was supposed to be staying with Mrs. Trundle over at the boarding house, but she’s taken in several young males that I don’t find appropriate for my intended to be living amongst. I was hoping that I may offer you and your husband some type of incentive in exchange for her board until we can arrange for our marriage.

Hazel wondered if his concern was that they would be inappropriate towards her, or that she might find a man who was younger in years and nicer to look at to marry. She chastised herself for the thoughts almost as soon as she’d had them. It was just that uneasy feeling he gave her that made her feel that way about him.

Well of course, Pastor, she told him, I’ll discuss it with Heath but I’m sure he’ll be open to it. Shall I have Mr. Lee arrange to gather her at the train, Sir, or will you be meeting her there?

I’ll be meeting her and then I shall bring her out to the ranch in the afternoon if that suits you.

That sounds lovely, Hazel said, I look forward to meeting her.

I’m sure she’ll be happier staying with you. She’s close to your own age and I’m sure you’ll all get along well. Miss Becky, I will see you at the altar soon.

Thank you, sir, they both said.

When he left the girls looked at each other and Hazel said, Our age? and they both burst into giggles. She and Becky had become such good friends that sometimes they didn’t even have to use words to communicate.

They heard the music strike up then and Hazel gave her friend one last hug before she headed down the aisle. Hazel loved her life here and it was getting better every day closer to her and Heath’s baby being born. She missed her parents and Laura like crazy, but she felt like she was with family here, and that helped a lot.

The article in the Brownsville Post the following day read:

The wedding of Mr. John Hartwell, foreman of Key Ranch, to Miss Rebecca Dodd took place yesterday at Brownsville Evangelist Church. Miss Dodd wore a classic white dress adorned in pearls and Mr. Hartwell was dressed in a smart tuxedo suit. Mr. Hartwell’s best man was Heath Key, the owner of Key Ranch. Miss Dodd’s matron of honor was Mrs. Hazel Key. The wedding was performed by

Reviews for Mail Order Bride

[Kim Jones Babbitt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Leah Wyett's trilogy of mail order brides is well written, and an historically accurate depiction of Texas after the Civil War. You will fall in love with the characters; their bumps on the road to happily ever after are engaging and memorable.