Mail Order Bride: Overcoming Adversity: A Pair Of Historical Romances: Redeemed Mail Order Brides Western Victorian Romance Pair, #1

By Kenneth Markson

**A Pair Of Clean Historical Mail Order Bride Western Victorian Romances (Redeemed Mail Order Brides Western Victorian Romance Pair)** 

Mail Order Bride: Redeeming The Crippled Cowboy 
Tess, a spunky young woman, leaves an abusive stepfather in Boston and travels to a small town in Texas, to be a mail order bride. Clay, the ruggedly handsome foreman of a large cattle outfit, is crippled saving a young cowboy during a stampede. He returns home to his ranch to drown himself in drink. Can spirited Tess bring him back to become the man he once was? Will love prevail, and can the evil which comes to town be stopped? 

Mail Order Bride: Redeemed By The Scarred Bride 
Amy's face is badly scarred by fire at the age of twelve. Tired of the taunts and living in the shadows, Amy longs for a new life, and decides to become a mail order bride. Donald is blind due to a severe fever, and seeks to withdraw from life. The last thing he wants is a wife. Can Amy teach him what is truly important? Will love triumph in San Diego? 

If you enjoyed these stories, you may also enjoy the other books in Kenneth's mail order brides Redeemed series, or Kenneth's mail order brides Rescued series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Markson
• Release date: Jul 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536558814

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

MAIL ORDER BRIDE:

REDEEMING THE CRIPPLED COWBOY

BY

KENNETH MARKSON

Chapter 1

A gruff voice greeted Tess as she entered her Boston home on a cold night. 

Is that you coming in? her stepfather growled.

Her teeth were chattering from the bitter wind, as she took her woolen coat and scarf off.  Tess hoped to avoid her stepfather, and slip upstairs to her room.  She could tell he had already been on one of his frequent drinking binges.

The tell tale signs were all about.  The front room was a mess, and stank of whiskey.  She would clean it all up in the morning, she thought to herself, while he was still asleep.

How she loathed the man.  He had led her mother to an early grave, and had never shown any remorse.  Now he was back to his drunken and abusive ways, not more than two weeks after her mother had been laid to rest.

Tess had resolved to ignore him, when she heard his lumbering body approach.  Jack Farnham was a big man, both in height and girth.  He had managed to use his size to his advantage, frightening most people with his nasty looks and manner.

But not Tess.  She was one of the few, who saw him for what he was; a small man hiding under a lot of bluster.  Rather than fearing him, she was revolted by his behavior.

Where are you going? Farnham growled.  I was calling you!

I was going to my room, Tess replied. 

She glared at him with disdain.

You're drunk, she remarked, and smell like you've spent the night in a saloon.  Sleep it off, and we'll talk in the morning.

Her stepfather moved towards her.

Don't give me any of your fancy airs, he snarled.  Your mother isn't around to shield you, now.

Tess flung back her red hair, and her pretty blue eyes flared at him.

Keep my mother out of it, she snapped.

Infuriated, Farnham lunged to grab her.  Tess swatted his hand away.  When he sought to grab her again, Tess kicked him hard in the shins.

The big man grunted in pain, and fell crashing to the floor.  His head struck the ground hard, and he laid there still.  At first, Tess thought that she had hurt him badly.

Tess bent down to see if he was alive.  Then he began snoring loudly.  He isn't dead, she reflected, just dead drunk.

Tess resolved at that moment, that she wasn't going to stay another night in the same house with Farnham, even if it was freezing outside.  It was simply unsafe for her to reside further with her stepfather.  There was no telling what he would do, when he awoke from his drunken stupor.

She ran upstairs to her small room, and opened a worn travel bag.  Tess laid in it a pair of nice dresses, and the small amount of clothing which she had.  She also placed there a framed photograph of her mother, a few pieces of jewelry which her mother had left her, and the modest sum of money which she had managed to save from her employment as a maid.  When she was satisfied that she had taken everything that was necessary, she slipped on her woolen coat, scarf, and shawl, and headed quietly down the stairs.

Farnham was still snoring loudly, when she passed by him.  For a moment, Tess had the desire to grab something heavy and give Farnham his just desserts, but she did not yield to that temptation.  She was certain that he would ultimately have to answer to God, for the brutal way that he treated her mother.

Tess took one last look at the cramped quarters that she had called home.  She recalled some of the good times she had there with her mother, when her stepfather was out.  Then she closed the door behind her, and walked out into the cold Boston air, determined never to return to that place again.

She found a rundown boardinghouse on Tremont Street to stay in for the night.  Even though the front desk clerk was sullen, and the clientele was a bit unsavory, she took a room.  It was far less dangerous than wandering about in the streets on a cold dark evening.

Chapter 2

The next morning, Tess walked through the Boston Common to the home of her employers, Cynthia and Jared Fairchild.  The Fairchilds were part of Boston's elite aristocracy who resided on the south slope of Beacon Hill on Chestnut Street.  Tess had worked there for the past year as a maid.

It was a lovely town house with a large front terrace, much like the rest in that area with quaint gaslit streets and brick sidewalks.  During the day, she cleaned and tidied the living areas and the reception room of the home.  At afternoon tea, she served the refreshments to the socialite friends of Cynthia Fairchild.

Jared Fairchild returned home from the bank early that day, around four.  He was a prominent Boston banker in his early fifties, with prematurely gray hair and moustache, and pale blue