Annie's Letter: Prequel to Lantern In The Window: Western Prairie Brides, #1

By Bobby Hutchinson

 

1885--WIFE WANTED, OLDER WOMAN, MUST HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF HOUSEWIFERY AND FARMING. OBJECT, MATRIMONY.
Annie answered Noah's newspaper ad for a mail-order wife because her deaf sister, Bets, would die if she went on working in Lazenby's Cotton Mill.

Annie's landlady, Elinora Potts, assured Annie that the not-so-little lies she told in her letters were necessary.

Does the end ever justify the means?

Elinora is certain it does.

˃˃˃ BUT ANNIE IS TERRIFIED.

What will happen to her and Bets when Noah finds out the truth?

THIS PREQUEL TO LANTERN IN THE WINDOW WILL SURPRISE AND DELIGHT YOU.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sunflower Publishing
• Release date: Dec 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516309269

Bobby Hutchinson

Bobby Hutchinson spends her time reading, writing, riding a three-wheel bike all over the place and towing Calamity Jane, her refurbished old travel trailer, to camping spots all over B.C. Getting old is fantastic; she can do whatever the heck she pleases and write what fascinates her. She loves hearing from readers and appreciates any ideas they have for interesting situations. 

Book preview

ANNIE’S LETTER

ANNIE’S LETTER

Prequel to Lantern In The Window

Western Prairie Brides

Book 1

bobby hutchinson

Sunflower publishing

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Afterword

1. Sample, LANTERN IN THE WINDOW

Also by bobby hutchinson

Chapter 1

December 24, 1885

Elinora Potts glanced again at the thick envelope propped against the sugar bowl on the kitchen table and offered up a prayer that it might be good news. God only knew Annie could use some good news for a change.

The girls would be home soon; Lazenby’s Cotton Mill closed early on Christmas Eve. She bustled about the kitchen, stirring the brown gravy and peeping at the fat goose roasting in the oven, but her mind was on the envelope.

Mrs. Annie Tompkins, 2518 Maple Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the address read. But it was the return address that had Elinora’s hopes high.

N. Ferguson, Gen Delivery, Medicine Hat. North West Territories.

Annie had written to the man a good three months ago, answering an ad in the Toronto Sun’s matrimonial column, the one labelled, MEN WANTING MAIL-ORDER BRIDES.

They’d exchanged letters back and forth, Annie and this Ferguson man. But in the last one, at Elinora’s prompting, Annie had asked him to make a decision.

That had been weeks past now, and she and Annie had both given up hope of a reply. Goodness knows none of the other fools Annie’d written to had bothered even to put ink to paper and tell her no. No common decency, some fellows. No manners.

She heard the back door open and close and a moment later, Annie entered the kitchen with her sister Bets close behind her. They were wrapped in knit shawls against the December chill, and their hair was thickly tufted with bits of cotton from the mill.

They were both shivering from the cold, skinny wee things that they were. Elinora had tried to put some meat on their bones, but bloody Lazenby’s mill melted it right