Second Chance Bride

By Mildred Colvin

Separated by over a thousand miles and five years, a couple once in love find each other again through matchmakers, but love is not so easy this time.
Abbie’s older sister is right. She was spoiled while their parents lived. But being forced to work for her demanding sister changed her in ways she hadn’t known she needed. Now she wants to escape and latches onto an offer from an old friend to become the mail-order bride of the boy she loved before he moved to Kansas. If only he will accept her.
Robert Tate has built a successful business, and now he wants a wife. But only one girl will do. He sends for the girl he left behind when his family moved, but is she the same as he remembers from five years ago? He expects the girl he fell in love with. The pampered daughter of a wealthy man.
Can he adjust to the woman who keeps a perfect house, is trying to learn to cook, and wants to help him with his business? She may prove to be more than he wanted. If he can’t accept the woman she has become, will he send her back to her sister?
If you enjoy mail-order brides and second chance lovers reunited in a clean and wholesome story of faith, love, and forgiveness, you’ll enjoy Second Chance Bride.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mildred Colvin
• Release date: Aug 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005016357

Mildred Colvin

Mildred Colvin is a wife, mother of three, and grandmother to three beautiful girls. She started writing when her children were young as they asked for stories. Not from a book. No! They were only satisfied when she made up stories. As the stories grew, she wrote some down and sent them off to magazines. Eight were published before her imagination turned toward love stories, which is what she enjoys reading.She has been writing Christian or clean and wholesome romance since 2001. Over the years several readers from pre-teens to older kids in their eighties and nineties have written expressing their interest in her books. She always loves to hear about one of her stories touching someone's heart. Her purpose in writing is to encourage, entertain, and bless someone else.She lives in the United States and sets her characters in the middle states from Texas to Nebraska and Iowa and reaching across Illinois to Colorado. She also has an Oregon Trail series, but the Great Plains states are her favorite setting.She is active in a very special critique group and has written and published over 60 books in both historical and contemporary themes, and plans to continue writing as long as God allows. He has been good in giving her many ideas for stories. Maybe more than she will be able to finish, but she enjoys each one.Please take a moment to visit her website at www.mildredcolvin.weebly.com, and sign up for her Romantic Reflections Newsletter to learn when new books are released. Also learn of promotions and free books through her newsletter.And take a look at her books. You might find something you don't want to put down.

Book preview

Second Chance Bride

Mildred Colvin

Historical Christian Romance

Second Chance Bride

Copyright ©2022 by Mildred Colvin

All Rights Reserved

Cover©Hdsidesign Dreamstime 11023302

©Artycrafter Dreamstime 219646722

Smashwords Edition

Scripture portions are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from its author except for brief quotations in printed reviews. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

Contents

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Epilogue

About the Author

Note from the Author

Sneak Peek at Proxy Bride

More Sweet Water Mail-Order Brides

Other Historical Romances

Dedication

To all my readers! If not for you, I would have no reason to write. Each time you download one of my books, it’s a vote to keep my creativity flowing. Thank you more than you know!

Chapter 1

Abbie Ann St. Clair swept her sister’s kitchen floor while her mind drifted to her parents and how much she missed them. It seemed she lost everyone she loved. First, Robert left before she was old enough to know how much she would miss him. Now her precious mother and father. She stopped a moment and leaned on her broom to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. Hadn’t she cried enough? Maybe someday, her tears would dry up. Crying never helped, anyway. And if she didn’t get the floor done, she’d be mopping it while her sister’s family slept.

Abbie Ann! Abbie Ann! Marissa’s strident voice reached the far corner of the enormous house.

Abbie wearily set aside the broom and trudged through the dining room and down the hall to the sitting room to see what her sister wanted.

Marissa was talking before she cleared the doorway. I’m sure I heard the postman. Go see if he left anything and bring it here at once.

Abbie turned without a word and continued toward the front door. After living the past six months with her older sister, she’d learned to do as she was told without question. She’d fought the upheaval in her life at first, but there’d been no talking her way out of anything after the accident that took her parents away. She was a servant in her sister’s home. If only she could change what happened. She missed Mother and Father so much. Her life would never be the same.

She shoved the memories aside and opened the door. As she stepped outside, a gust of wind blew rain into her face, causing her to gasp. She’d been working so hard, she hadn’t even noticed the weather. Her sister’s large, solid two and a half-story house served as a buffer from sounds and activity outside its four walls, and the kitchen seemed tucked away in the corner by itself where even sounds from the dining room didn’t reach. Only her sister’s voice carried so far.

She scurried across the wide covered porch as the wind whipped her skirts to one side. Winter would soon be upon them, and she dreaded the thought. Already, her bedroom, hidden from the others in the attic room was growing colder each night. She didn’t mind it had been designed more for storage than a bedroom, or that her room was less than half the size of the attic. She had few possessions now, and hung her clothing on pegs around the wall, but she could only imagine how cold it would get come winter. Oh well, she’d survived the heat of summer in the windowless room, so she’d get through this too. At least she’d be able to roll up in enough covers to keep from freezing. If she could get her hands on a fluffy comforter, she would feel especially blessed.

She pulled the mailbox lid open and took out several envelopes. As her gaze alighted on the top one, she gasped. Surely God was watching out for her. If the postman had tucked it within the others, she wouldn’t have thought to look. Her breath caught as she stared at the handwriting, scarcely believing it was for her. Quickly glancing toward the door, she snatched it from the stack and stuffed it in her dress pocket before closing the mailbox. Only then did the moist wind again penetrate her attention, causing a shiver to shake her body. She clutched the remaining envelopes and hurried back inside, closing the door firmly behind her.

Abbie Ann! Abbie Ann!

Why did Marissa always call her twice before she could answer? She shook her head and hurried into the sitting room at one side of the foyer. Her sister sat in a rocker near the window, nursing her newest baby. Well! Did I get any mail?

Yes, of course. Abby crossed the large room and held out the envelopes.

I suppose you took time to look through it. You were gone long enough. Marissa glowered at her. Is this everything?

Abbie held her head high and looked into her older sister’s eyes. I brought all your mail in, and I didn’t linger. The weather is getting colder with this rain coming down. If I’d known it was raining, I’d have stopped to get a coat first.

Just to run across the porch and bring in the mail? Marissa’s upper lip curled. Oh, I’m sure you would have. Raised to be a princess. Living in luxury and never having to lift a finger for anything. Go on and finish the kitchen, and be thankful you’re learning to live like an ordinary person now. It’s for your own good.

Yes, Marissa. Abbie turned to leave, determined to keep her counsel. When her sister first told her, after Mama and Papa’s passing, that she would live with her family as the unpaid housekeeper, she’d been devastated. She’d argued with every breath she could draw, but soon found it didn’t help. Her sister’s motto was, ‘If you don’t work, and work hard, you will eat nothing.’ After several days of surviving on water, Abbie did what she had to. The tongue lashings and reminders she couldn’t go running home to her precious parents didn’t stop, but at least her stomach no longer screamed for food.

Before her sister found anything more to say, she hurried to the kitchen and finished sweeping. As she knelt beside a bucket of soapy water and swirled a wet sponge over the floor, her letter, hiding in her pocket, crinkled to remind her of a pleasant time coming. Cleaning the kitchen was her job each week on the cook’s day off. Three times each day, she washed the dishes and pans used for the meals. But she didn’t have to cook. There was a blessing she’d never thought of in being unable to cook. Marissa and her husband, Arthur, enjoyed their food, and wanted it cooked right. So they hired a cook who knew what she was doing. The woman left enough to be warmed on her day off to tide the family over until her return. Abbie often wondered if her sister could cook, either.

But Abbie had plenty to do otherwise, and she needed to finish soon or she’d fall asleep before she could read her letter. As the day wore on, she thought of her friend, Eva Tate, and wondered what she’d have to say. They’d been writing occasionally since the Tate family moved to Kansas. Eva’s last letter said she was getting married. But that had been just before the accident. Abbie had sent a response, making sure Eva had her new address. It was the longest stretch between letters, and she could only imagine what interesting glimpses into her friend’s life might lie within the plump envelope. Surely Eva would tell about her wedding, and maybe some tales of her married life. But Abbie mostly wanted to hear about Eva’s older brother. How she missed him.

As she worked, she thought of Robert Tate. Tall, broad shouldered, and handsome, she thought of him more often than she should. And remembered their school days. He’d walked Abbie home from school each evening after the day he rescued her from a bully who was determined to steal a kiss. The bully soon was running for his mother, then Robert had walked beside her until she was safely home. He hadn’t touched her that night, but by the end of the school year, they’d been holding hands as they walked. Finally, he asked if he could kiss her, and she gladly went into his arms. She was fifteen, and he was sixteen then. She was twenty now. Had it really been five years since she’d seen Robert?

He’d asked her to come to Kansas with him as his wife. But she was too young. Her parents would have never allowed her to leave. If she’d known how lonely she would be without him, she would have begged for their permission. She’d told him she wasn’t ready to even think of such a thing. She couldn’t get married so young. And she couldn’t leave her mother and father. Maybe other girls would, but she couldn’t. Four and a half years later, her parents were gone, and she would have welcomed Robert’s proposal. Only it was too late now. When she turned him down, she saw how it hurt his feelings, but she didn’t know how to tell him how she felt. That she loved him, but she was too young. They needed to wait. If only she could have found the words, maybe he’d have understood, and would send for her now.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. She whispered the old saying her mother had often repeated. How true it was.

Finally, the house quietened as the children settled for the night, and Marissa and Arthur retreated to their chambers. Abbie Ann closed her bedroom door and curled up under the quilts on her bed with her lamp burning on the table nearby. There was just enough light to read Eva’s neat penmanship.

Dear Abbie,

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written, especially when your letter carried the sad news of your parents’ passing. To lose both at the same time must have been so terrible, I can’t even imagine. It was hard when we lost our father, and I sympathize so much with your anguish and grief. Then to live with an older sister who treats you as a servant must be horrible.

My only excuse for taking so long to write is that when I married and moved to my new home, I misplaced your letter and have only just now found it. I’m so glad I did, too. I have wonderful news for you, but will get to that soon.

Abbie wanted to skip the next two pages, which Eva filled with news of the wedding and the new life with her husband, Nate Sims. Surely she was in the family way. What other wonderful news could she have? Still, in reading Eva’s account of how wonderful married life was, a longing for the same filled her heart. Robert’s face came into her mind as he’d appeared that day when he asked her to marry him and go to Kansas with his family. If only she could have. Would he even speak to her now if he saw her? So much time had passed, and she was no longer the feisty girl of her youth. Some days, she felt so much older than her twenty years. Then she turned the page and Robert’s name jumped out at her. Had she misread? Carefully, she started again at the top of the page.

And now for the wonderful news I promised. I’ve been dropping hints every time I’m alone with Robert that it’s time he marries. He’s such a grouch about it and refuses to talk of sending for a bride. There are no girls here suitable for him, so he will need to send away if he wants someone to spend the rest of his life with. He needs you, Abbie, and I think he knows it. Never fear, I know you both still love each other. Call me a matchmaker if you will, but I won’t give up as long as you both remain unmarried. I may have to send you a telegram to warn you when he wises up and decides to ask for your hand. I think he will refuse for fear of being hurt again, but he may send to the lady who has successfully matched so many here in Sweet Water. Maybe you should go to her and explain your situation. I’ve heard she’s very understanding and insightful. She prays over each match! Isn’t that wonderful? She’s at Park Street Matrimonial Service.

Tears filled Abbie’s eyes as she realized what her friend was trying to do for her. She’d found happiness in marriage and wanted the same for her. Lord Jesus, if it’s Your will, please speak to Robert’s heart. I pray he still wants me, and we can find each other again. He came to my rescue years ago, and I need him more now than I did then. Please, speak to him.

After blotting her eyes, she read the address at the bottom of the page. This letter was important. She needed to keep it safe. But first, she would write a reply even though the hour was getting late. This was more important than sleep, as if she could sleep before pouring out her heart to her best friend.

Her pen fairly flew over the paper as she wrote to Eva. Yes, she would come as Robert’s bride. If only he would accept her. She was glad his business was doing well, and thrilled to learn how similar it was to what her father had done. She would love to help him in any way she could. Finally, her words ran out and her eyelids grew heavy. She closed her letter, then tucked the one from Eva in the box with the others and hid it far back in the corner under her bed. Her sister would never find it there because she would have to crawl under the bed before she could reach it.

As her head touched the pillow, she relaxed with a smile on her face. She’d watch for the postman tomorrow and give him her letter and coins for a stamp. If she couldn’t get away from her sister, she would never have a life of her own. She would never be allowed to marry because Marissa intended to keep her as a servant forever out of a misguided resentment caused by believing their parents had slighted her. But Mama and Papa had never slighted either of them. Surely, it was only her imagination.

~*~

Robert Tate slumped over his desk, trying to decipher the scribblings on the note in his hand. There it was. The delivery on this one weighed 426 lbs. And it went to the mercantile in