Escaping to Southern California: A Mail Order Bride Romance

By Doreen Milstead

A lower class woman in England writes away and becomes the mail order bride to a Los Angeles hotel owner, to escape the dangers of Victorian London and all of it’s crime ridden streets. Her potential husband is wary of getting a gold digger so he has his guard up and several safeguards in place. This leads her to wonder if she’s chosen the right man to marry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329777651

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Escaping to Southern California: A Mail Order Bride Romance

Escaping to Southern California: A Mail Order Bride Romance

By

Doreen Milstead

Copyright 2015 Susan Hart

Synopsis: A lower class woman in England writes away and becomes the mail order bride to a Los Angeles hotel owner, to escape the dangers of Victorian London and all of it’s crime ridden streets. Her potential husband is wary of getting a gold digger so he has his guard up and several safeguards in place. This leads her to wonder if she’s chosen the right man to marry.

Friday, June 15, 1888

Back Alleys and Streets

London England

Blonde twenty-three year old Marlowe Mouret and Viola Pennelle, her girl friend the same age, ran frantically down the dirty, grimy trash littered back alleys of Bethnal Green, London's East End running from Marlowe's pimp Einhard.

Jack the Ripper killed three girls already. Marlowe and Viola didn't know if Einhard was Jack the Ripper or not. Einhard wanted money she didn't owe. The John told Einhard he paid her more than he did. If she or Viola paid, someone else simply mentioned a higher price paid to Marlowe.

You owe me one thousand pounds!

The girls heard the harsh thick raspy voice of Einhard chasing them. His bellicose threats able to catch their ears, even though, physically, Einhard was out of sight.

My mom was right about dating older men without a job, Marlowe panted. Marlowe's cute heart-shaped face grimaced as the cobblestone street's smell, which was slick with urine and feces, greeted her nose. But she had to breathe. She had to keep up their sprint from being maimed or even killed by her angry blonde, mop-top, thirty-year old pimp.

What did she say about them? long, curly-haired brunette Viola pointed quickly, This way.

The young girls turned into yet another slum alley, worse than the one they just left--many rubbish tins tipped over. The girls held up the hems of their long Victorian dresses. Their black granny boots smacked against the cobblestones in rapid succession as they fled.

Marlowe gasped. She said, ‘Never marry an older man. And never marry a man without a job. He'll try to control your life.’ She took a deeper breath. And she said, Never marry . . . a man with a single name.’

They both gave each other a shocked glance and said together, Einhard!

Viola yanked Marlowe's peach colored Lucille walking dress sleeve when the girls reached a T shaped end of the filthy alley.

Are you sure where we're going, Viola?

The streets may be getting dirtier and smaller, but I grew up in these parts.

I'll have my thousand pounds or I'll cut your flesh, Marlowe!

Their feet padded the streets and they could hear the occasional cry of a baby, yelling argument of a love couple. It was only ten o'clock at night. Street lamps provided just enough light to see the squalor and decay.

"I miss my quiet