Mail Order Bride: A Bride For Jim: Redeemed Western Historical Mail Order Brides, #3

By Kenneth Markson

Mail Order Bride: A Bride For Jim: A Sweet Clean Historical Mail Order Bride Western Victorian Romance (Redeemed Western Historical Mail Order Brides Book 3) is a sweet, clean, inspirational western romance novelette. 

In order to inherit, Jim needs a quick mail order bride. Annie needs to get out of El Paso fast. Others want them both to fail. Who will prevail, and will true love triumph? 

If you enjoyed this story, you may also enjoy the other books in Kenneth's mail order brides Redeemed series, "A Wife For Charlie," and "Clara And The Outlaw," or Kenneth's mail order brides Rescued series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Markson
• Release date: Mar 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9780986252891

Kenneth Markson

While an English major at college, I wrote a column which was published weekly. I have been writing ever since. The old West and Los Angeles in the forties are eras which lend themselves to tales of romance, courage, and fast paced adventure. I particularly enjoy writing stories about the mail order brides who fearlessly took a chance and traveled West, hoping to find love and a better future. Many of the locales that I write about are places that I have either traveled through or actually lived in. I try to make my works richly accurate. My desire is to provide you with an entertaining and fun read. When I'm not writing, I enjoy spending time with my wife and two children.

Book preview

To my wife and children, always. 

Chapter 1

When the railroad came to El Paso, the growing city underwent a financial boom.  That is why Annie Dawson and her mother came there, seeking a better life.  That was two years ago.

Things hadn't worked out, like Annie's mother had planned.  Maureen Dawson ended up as a saloon girl in one of the city's numerous gambling halls.  She and her daughter Annie were living in a small cramped room, for cheap rent.

Annie Dawson was heading down the street towards their room, hoping to find her mother there.  It was a late afternoon in early spring, and Utah Street was already starting to pop.  The many saloons were beginning to fill up, and one could hear raucous laughter accompanied by tinny music, emanating from the gambling halls.

Utah Street along with Third, and Oregon, formed an area politely known as El Paso's tenderloin district.  This seedy spot was inhabited by gamblers, prostitutes, thieves, and worse.  There were fancy parlor houses which catered to wealthy clientele, and run-down shacks where crib girls plied their trade from open windows.

Annie noticed the two men leering at her, as she approached the entrance of the building where she lived.  They were dirty, bedraggled looking men, with evil minds and sordid souls.  Annie was a pretty young woman, with curly brown hair and pleasant blue eyes.

One of the men made the mistake of trying to suddenly block her path.

Get out of my way! Annie snapped, shoving him aside, and ramming the back of her elbow into his shoulder.

The man grimaced from the blow, and stood aside.  Force was something that this lowlife understood.  More surprised than hurt by the young woman's strength, he now knew that Annie was someone not to be bothered.

Annie entered the room, and saw her mother sitting on a chair, coughing badly, as she sipped on a glass of whiskey.

Please mother, don't drink, Annie said in a worried tone.  It's no good for you, and only makes your cough worse.

Her mother gave her a loving smile, when she saw her come in.  Maureen Dawson was not yet forty, but her face looked tired and worn.  The prolonged cough which had been with her for a while, was getting worse. 

Let me be, Annie, and have my little drink, her mother replied.  It won't cure what ails me, but at least it calms my nerves.

Annie put the bottle of whisky away.  She placed her hand lovingly, on her mother's shoulder.

You'll be okay, mother, she said comfortingly.  "It's those smoke filled rooms that you need to get away from.  A day out in the fresh