Mail Order Bride: Bitter & Pregnant, An English Widow Heads Off to Her Cowboy Rancher In California

By Doreen Milstead

A stubborn and pregnant English widow makes the long journey to California in the hopes of safe haven for she and her child, and intent on not marrying her mail order fiancé because he is merely a means to an end. Her companions are a young married couple – the man is one that her husband saved before he fell into the ocean and drowned, so she has a hatred for him at first. When they all arrive they are met by a far different man that the woman had come to know through a couple of letters, and she is quick to try and figure out, if she can, what on earth is happening.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Hart
• Release date: Aug 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310977404

Book preview

Mail Order Bride: Bitter & Pregnant, An English Widow Heads Off to Her Cowboy Rancher In California

(A Clean & Wholesome Historical Romance)

By

Doreen Milstead

Copyright 2015 Enduring Hope & Love Press

Synopsis: A stubborn and pregnant English widow makes the long journey to California in the hopes of safe haven for she and her child, and intent on not marrying her mail order fiancé because he is merely a means to an end. Her companions are a young married couple – the man is one that her husband saved before he fell into the ocean and drowned, so she has a hatred for him at first. When they all arrive they are met by a far different man that the woman had come to know through a couple of letters, and she is quick to try and figure out, if she can, what on earth is happening.

Jeanne Harrow had been feeling ill for weeks, she couldn't figure out why, and the worst part of it was that her husband was nowhere to be seen. He worked for a shipping company and was usually gone for long periods of time, but he had simply gone over to France to try to set up a new partnership with a company based there. He should have been back by now and perhaps even off on another task. This concerned Jeanne and as she lay on her bed to wait for her stomach to settle, she heard a knock on the door.

She groaned, stood up, waited for her head to stop spinning and went to answer the door. A young man was standing there, hat in his hands and a frown on his face. She recognized him from the shipping company's warehouse and she recognized the face as one that was ready to deliver some bad news.

Oh no, said Jeanne. What's wrong?

Your husband didn't make it home, said the young man. Mister Harrow went down on a ship that was crossing the Channel. I'm sorry.

He could swim, said Jeanne, angrily. What do you mean he went down? He could swim!

He couldn't swim enough I guess, said the young man. He might have gotten dragged down.

Jeanne felt that she should be sad, but all she felt angry. Did anyone even try to save him?

Yes, and Mister Harrow saved me, said the young man.

So it's your fault that my husband is dead, said Jeanne, and she slammed the door in his face. He tried to say something, but Jeanne couldn't hear him through the door and her heavy sobbing. She slid down to the floor, her head swimming with sadness and nausea, and she spent the rest of the night there.

The next few weeks were especially hard on her, with the sickness coming and going without warning and people coming from her husband's company to try to make some sort of amends. After some time insisting that they simply bring her husband back, she acceded to their request to at least give him a proper memorial service. She went to the ceremony, her eyes dry and as she looked around at all the people who had come to see her husband off she felt a deep loathing for each one of them.

It wasn't their fault she knew, but each one was a reminder of what she had once had and was now lost to her. She needed to leave the country and she needed to do it quickly. The only problem was that she had no place to go and no desire to deal with the rest of Europe. That only really left the Americas and she didn't have nearly enough money to get over there. She could only see