Scars of a Mail Order Bride

By Terri Downes

Kathleen is in a worse case scenario, she's a fresh widow with a baby. Poor and destitute, she decides that moving to the west coast and possibly becoming a mail order bride is the best option...Once there, her anxiety is immediately comforted by Sam Collins who seems to be a 'baby whisperer', gently cooing Kathleen's young child to sleep. Kathleen cannot help be attracted by his handsome features and pleasant manner. But why would he bother with a widowed woman and a crying baby? But Sam has his own scars. His own wife died while giving birth and he feels an inordinate sense of guilt. He sees Kathleen as both courageous and beautiful, falling for her himself. Problem is that his family has already taken steps to match him with someone else, a wealth woman from the next town over...Will Kathleen and Sam be able to reconcile their pasts and realize that they are meant for each other or will fate intervene to keep them apart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201465940

Book preview

Sam had been convinced it would be one of those nights. Andrew and Michael had been so excited to see the wagon train pull into town that evening, climbing onto the porch rail to see down to where the camp was being set up at the bottom of the hill. It had been all Sam could do to get them back inside for bed, and he had been anticipating an evening of no, go back to sleep, it's not morning yet, and so on.

He had been very surprised when the twins had agreed to his terms – go to sleep now and we'll visit the camp in the morning – and dropped right off to sleep.

Now, hours later, he was the one left awake, standing on the porch and staring down the hill at the campsite. His mother stopped beside him for a moment.

I thought you were asleep, he said quietly.

I wondered if they boys might be kept awake by all the ruckus, she said. Are you sure they're down for the night?

Yes, mother, said Sam, trying not to sigh.

How long are this lot going to stay? his mother said, sniffing at the sight of the camp.

Simon Granger told me most of them are stopping here.

Oh, that's all we need. This town's full enough as it is, said his mother.

Sam wanted to point out that he had arrived in a wagon train himself, along with his wife Marigold, six years ago. They had been poor enough, having used up his inheritance to buy the store. They had lived in a set of small rooms behind the shop, before building this house further out, and Marigold had had to work just as hard as Sam.

But he knew from experience it was never worth arguing these points with his mother.

He waited in silence, hoping she would leave. Then he felt guilty for wanting her gone, and then annoyed that he should have to feel guilty... there never seemed to be an end.

I'm just going to stretch my legs.

He started swiftly down the hill before his mother could ask where he was going; he didn't know. He didn't even stop for his hat or jacket, knowing he would not need them in the still-sticky summer night air.

Sam's mother never seemed to believe he could manage