A New Family Awaits Her: A Mail Order Bride Romance

By Doreen Milstead

This is a beautiful love story about a woman who is pregnant, then finds herself widowed, and with the only means for her survival open to her, becomes a mail order bride to rancher in Colorado, who is a widower himself. He’s left to raise his daughter all alone and there is conflict right from the start, because the man’s daughter has a tendency to run away for days at a time, and he has lost his faith because of his wife’s death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329780521

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A New Family Awaits Her: A Mail Order Bride Romance

A New Family Awaits Her: A Mail Order Bride Romance

By

Vanessa Carvo

Copyright 2015 Quietly Blessed & Loved Press

Synopsis: This is a beautiful love story about a woman who is pregnant, then finds herself widowed, and with the only means for her survival open to her, becomes a mail order bride to rancher in Colorado, who is a widower himself. He’s left to raise his daughter all alone and there is conflict right from the start, because the man’s daughter has a tendency to run away for days at a time, and he has lost his faith because of his wife’s death.

Chapter 1

Ruth braced herself against the jarring bounce of the stagecoach as it brought her ever closer to the sweltering, dusty Colorado town that she’d now be calling home. Born and raised in New York City, this open land bordered by tall mountains was quite a change for her, but in that hot summer of 1855, she was doing her best to remain confident and keep her faith.

She’d been through hard times, withstanding the loss of her beloved husband, Joshua. How I miss him, she thought, placing a gentle hand on her belly at the memory of the soft touch of her husband. Joshua had died in a fire at the factory where he was the foreman of a crew that built firearms.

The day that Joshua had died, it had been their wedding anniversary. She’d made him a breakfast feast before he left for work, and then she’d asked him to stay with her a while. He sat drinking his coffee in the kitchen and she had gently told him that she was going to have a baby.

He had jumped up, his face glowing with excitement and pure joy. He’d hugged her, and put his hand on her belly. He’d told her he was so happy and that he’d love them both forever. They’d bowed their heads and prayed together for the health and happiness of their baby. And that had been the very last time she’d ever seen her husband.

Later that same day, a man she’d never met had come crashing through her door, making her scream. Then he’d held his hands up and told her a story that left her sobbing on the floor. It had been the worst moment of her life when she lost her sweet Joshua. The love of her life.

For a man who had become an expert in making guns, Joshua had been shockingly sweet and kind. He’d never had a harsh word for Ruth, and had lovingly guided her every day in a Christ-like serenity. Losing him had broken her heart and devastated her, and the only thing that kept her going was her faith and her love for God.

She kept God close to her now as she began to see small farms and then some larger buildings as the stagecoach drew into town. She’d been sent here with no choices left to her. The little money that she and Joshua had put aside, in hopes of buying a home suitable for many children, had instead been spent on his funeral costs. She’d moved in with her Aunt Pauline for a few weeks before this arrangement was made.

A mail order bride…

She fumed silently for a moment at her fate. She was to meet with a rancher, who was a nephew of her Aunt’s best friend. She recalled Pauline’s raspy, elderly voice as she had explained the Rancher’s situation:

Now my dear, she’d said, taking a quick sip of the mint tea she favored with a gloved pinky properly pointing to the ceiling. I know you’ve been through a tragedy. But you can’t shirk your duties. When God called Ruth to remarry, she did so and she was rewarded with a healthy son and a loving life. We all have our weight to carry in this world, and you must find a new place.

Ruth had nodded. She agreed with this, and she knew that the Biblical Ruth Pauline spoke of was a good example to follow. She certainly didn’t want to live off her aunt’s charity. She fully expected to pull her weight, she just hadn’t quite figured out how yet, and her grief was still so fresh. Her aunt, however, had already found a situation for her.

And that’s why you’ll be going to Colorado. Sarah White’s nephew owns a ranch there and he’s lost his wife. He has a young daughter who needs a mother. I know this is hard, Ruth, but it truly is what God is calling you to do.

Ruth had taken a very deep breath. Aunt Pauline knew that Ruth was out of money, but she didn’t know about the growing secret in her belly. Ruth had to provide for the baby somehow, and if Pauline’s house couldn’t support her, that would only leave the option of getting paying work. There were some jobs for women available in the city, mainly nursing.

She’d volunteered as a nurse at the hospital before and she was confident she could get a paying job there. But then there was the question of who would keep her child each day. Aunt Pauline was old and not always healthy. And her husband was long since passed.

Ruth was the oldest child of Pauline’s only sister, Esther, and the two sisters had been separated by 13 years. When Esther passed away giving birth to Ruth’s brother, it was a shock to everyone. Ruth and John had been raised by their father, who passed just after Ruth’s marriage to Joshua.

Now, her only surviving family was Aunt Pauline and her brother John. John couldn’t help her. He was struggling to make ends meet as he went to law school. One day, he hoped to be a secure lawyer, but for now he lived in a small bachelor’s apartment and barely made enough to eat each week and pay for his tuition.

Thinking of nothing but the blessed child in her womb, the only thing that survived of her lost husband, Ruth agreed to go to Colorado. It was not an ideal situation, but it was the only option available to her. She only hoped that her aunt told the truth when she said that this rancher was a good, Christian man.

This can be a new life for me. If he’s a good man, perhaps I could love again, she thought as the stagecoach came to a stop. And have a good father for my child.

She stepped out and bid goodbye to the stagecoach driver who had agreed to bring her to the store where he was delivering some fabric. He nodded and placed her one bag on the porch of the store near a bench, then headed back to his coach without a word. As he began to unload the bolts of fabric, Ruth looked up and down