Mail Order Melancholy: Brides of Beckham, #25

By Kirsten Osbourne

Gretchen Jensen has been in love with the same person for years. There are only two problems standing in the way of her marriage to him. She's pregnant, and he's dead. Most of the people in her town won't even talk to her, because the woman who was to be her mother-in-law has shunned her. Unable to see beyond her love for him, she refuses to marry the mail order groom who has traveled across the country to be her husband.
Reginald Lindon left town at a moment's notice, but he took time to leave his fiancée a letter to let her know that he would return in six months. He entrusted his mother to give the note to Gretchen so she wouldn't worry about him. When he returns to town, he realizes everyone thinks he's dead. Gretchen claims his mother never gave her the letter, but his mother claimed she got it and said he was dead to her. How can he know who is telling the truth? And will they be able to get past this rocky time and trust one another again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Unlimited Dreams
• Release date: Feb 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393757429

Book preview

Chapter One

Gretchen sat in one corner of the school building with her friend Doris’s three-year-old twins on either side of her. Rica, the schoolteacher and a close friend of Gretchen’s, had decided to put on a dance, and though she was eight months pregnant and half the town wouldn’t speak to her because of her condition, Gretchen was there with her head held high.

Her fiancé had been lost at sea shortly before their wedding was to take place, and she missed him every day. His mother had led the other women in town to shun her after her condition became obvious to everyone, but she refused to let it bother her—at least outwardly. Inside she seethed with anger at both of their families for acting as if she’d done something horrible by getting herself in the position she was in. Never mind that it had taken two of them.

How was she supposed to get through her overwhelming grief at losing the man she loved when the people who had known him best were no longer speaking to her? It would have been so much easier if people had been understanding of her situation instead of condemning her for it.

She sat watching everyone else dance. Rica was obviously in love with her new husband—who had come to Salmon, Oregon to marry Gretchen. Gretchen hadn’t been able to go through with a wedding to a stranger, though. Not when she was still so very much in love with Reginald.

Reginald would always be the man she loved. She didn’t care how many years went by. She would remain true to him. Her mother told her she was stupid for holding onto her love for a dead man, but her friends seemed to understand. They worried what would happen once the baby was born, but they supported her anyway.

Pris tugged at her hand. I want to dance with Bobby.

Gretchen shook her head. Your brother is outside. You need to sit with me. Your papa said he’d dance with you after this last dance with your mama. She loved Doris’s girls even though they were a handful.

Pris sighed heavily. I want to dance. Pauline can dance with me.

Gretchen looked at Pauline. Do you want to dance with your sister?

Pauline nodded emphatically.

All right. You two dance, but make sure you don’t trip people and make sure you stay where I can see you.

Pris jumped to her feet and took her twin’s hand, the two of them wiggling wildly to the music. Gretchen smiled as she watched them. She wished she had a twin—someone who would be on her side through everything. Through thick and thin. She had that in Doris and Rica, but a twin would be even better.

She looked out over the crowd, wishing she could dance with someone. But who would want to dance with her when they’d be up against her stomach? No, she’d be alone for a very long time, and she knew it.

She turned her attention back to the girls, who were now holding hands and spinning in circles. The sheer joy on their faces lifted Gretchen’s spirits. She felt rather than saw someone sit beside her, and she turned to see who was there, expecting it to be Rica or Doris, her only two friends who stood by her during her embarrassment. She couldn’t wait until the baby was born, so people would stop treating her as if she was a leper.

When she had turned fully to the person beside her, she looked at him in confusion for a moment. The beard was new, but underneath it . . . she’d kissed those lips hundreds if not thousands of times. Reggie?

He nodded, his eyes going to her stomach. I’m so sorry.

You’re dead. Don’t tell me I’m seeing ghosts now, too. She felt panic rise up within her. She needed him to be beside her, but did she need him so much that she was imagining that he was there with her?

Dead? No! My mother was supposed to give you my note! He looked at her, his eyes full of sorrow.

What note? I was told you were lost at sea. Gretchen’s eyes filled with tears. If you weren’t dead, why did you leave without telling me? Why didn’t you come back? We were supposed to be married! From panic to anger took only a moment. The baby growing inside her had been messing with her emotions for months, but this was the first time she felt like they were changing so quickly.

He sighed. I explained everything in the note. Let’s go outside. How on earth did she not receive his note? He’d have been there for her every step of the way if he’d known about the baby. The guilt filling him was overwhelming, but he’d left for her!

She shook her head. I can’t. I have to watch my friend’s girls.

Could they come with us? His eyes pleaded with her to go with him. It was obviously very important to him they were able to talk privately.

I’ve got the girls. Introduce me to your friend, and then go walk. Doris was right beside Gretchen, looking down at her questioningly. Doris knew all of her hopes and dreams . . . and intense sorrows.

Gretchen looked at Doris, knowing she had tears flowing down her cheeks and wishing she could stop them. People already looked down on her for being pregnant. Emotional would soon be added to her prior sins. "Doris, this is Reginald. Apparently, he’s not dead, but he has a lot of explaining to do. Reginald, this is my friend, Doris." She didn’t add that Doris had made life bearable for the past six weeks. No, he didn’t need to know just how miserable she’d been without him there.

Reginald nodded to Doris, barely seeing her. He was too focused on his fiancé to care about anyone else. It’s nice to meet you. With those words, he took Gretchen’s hand and led her outside.

Gretchen walked along quietly as he wove them through the couples who were dancing in the schoolyard. This dance was the only social event in a town that desperately needed distractions from the gossip that propelled them from day-to-day.

When they were far enough away from the schoolhouse that no one would be able to overhear them, he said softly, My mother hounded me for a long time about not living before I married. She offered me a large sum of money if I would leave for just six months. I ignored her, but then she increased the offer, and I knew we’d have a better life if I took her up on it. One of her conditions was that I couldn’t see you before I left. I wasn’t allowed to take you with me. He sighed. I wrote you a note, and she promised she’d give it to you.

Gretchen shook her head. I received no note. She truly wasn’t surprised that his mother hadn’t delivered it. The woman had always hated her for some reason, though she’d been nothing but polite.

"Well, I wrote one, explaining that I was going to put that money into a bank account, and then I was going to earn as much as I possibly could