Mail Order Mirage: Brides of Beckham, #49

By Kirsten Osbourne

Ethel Brown is bored with her life as a socialite in Beckham, Massachusetts. Every week is exactly the same under her mother's watchful eye. Every weekday she works as a volunteer at the local orphanage. Every Saturday she goes to parties to meet the man she will marry. The problem is she would never marry one of the men at those parties.

Walt Prewitt is a rancher in Montana, who feels like there's only one thing missing in his life: a wife. When he spots an advertisement for mail-order brides, he knows it's the perfect solution, and he immediately sends a letter to the matchmaker in Beckham.

Shortly after, his new wife arrives, everything he'd dreamed she would be and more. Ethel is unsure of Walt, though, because his moods seem mercurial. Quickly she discovers the secret to his good moods and knows she will live out her life with this man and be happy.

When Walt discovers the jewelry she brought from Beckham, he fears she will sell the jewelry and leave him for a richer man. Will they be able to work out their differences?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Unlimited Dreams
• Release date: Oct 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223907152

Book preview

Chapter One

Ethel Brown walked toward the orphanage there in Beckham, Massachusetts, where she’d been volunteering since she’d finished school four years before. She smiled at all the same people and waved at the wagons driving through town.

Oh, how she longed for a different life. One where she could create a whole new world around her, and not do the same things day after day, month after month, and year after year.

At the orphanage were all the same children she worked with daily. She helped the girls plant, weed, water, and harvest a garden every summer, and now it was harvest time again. She showed them all the right way to harvest the raspberries and blackberries that were ready, and later that day, she would show them how to can the berries, just like she’d shown them last year, and the year before that.

Her life was just a series of repetitious cycles. Sundays she always went to church, and her mother tried to spot a young man she hadn’t already rejected as one she didn’t want to marry. Monday through Friday, she worked with the girls in the orphanage, sometimes working in the garden, sometimes cooking with them, and sometimes sewing with them. She got excited when she was allowed to help them clean windows because it was something different.

Saturday nights were always filled with some sort of party or soiree. She truthfully hated parties. She was expected to dance with the most eligible young man there, who usually bored her to tears. Sometimes her mother dragged her all the way to Boston in hopes of finding her someone who wouldn’t make her want to sleep in the middle of the dancefloor.

Day after day. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. Nothing ever changed in Ethel’s life, and she needed something different. She wanted to go west for adventure. She wanted to go to Europe and meet new people, who spoke in all the foreign tongues her mother had made her learn.

That day, she and the girls picked all the berries they could find. We’re doing something new today, Ethel announced. We’re going to combine the blackberries and raspberries into one jam. It’s going to be delicious.

The girls all shrugged, and she realized they were in endless cycles as well. It would be so wonderful to be able to do different things once in a while. She’d seen many girls about town riding bicycles, and she’d thought about getting one herself, but her mother had told her that she absolutely couldn’t get one.

Nothing would ever change.

As she walked home that afternoon, she passed her neighbor’s house. Elizabeth Tandy and her husband Bernard were well-known throughout the region for sending women off to marry strangers in the west. The idea had never been appealing to Ethel, but that afternoon, there was nothing more appealing.

She stopped in front of the house for a moment, and then, gathering all her courage, she marched right up to the front door, and she knocked loudly.

Mr. Tandy was the one who opened the door. Miss Brown.

Mr. Tandy, she replied. I would like to see your wife about going West as a mail-order bride. Does she have a bit of time for me?

Oh, of course, she does! Mr. Tandy said, opening the door wide. He walked to the end of the hall and opened the last door on the left. Elizabeth, Miss Ethel Brown is here to see you.

Cookies and tea, please, Mrs. Tandy said as her husband closed the door softly.

Ethel took a seat on the sofa across from Mrs. Tandy’s desk. I want to be a mail-order bride, she said.

Mrs. Tandy studied her for a moment. Why?

Ethel sighed. Nothing ever changes here. Today is Monday, and I’ve done the same thing I do every other Monday of the year. I just...I need to do something different than what I’m doing.

I can understand that, Mrs. Tandy said. I even have a letter from a gentleman who I think might suit you. She flipped through a stack of letters on her desk. Ahh...here we go. Walter.

Ethel took the letter that was offered her, and she read through it carefully, wanting to make sure there were no signs of this being a person she didn’t want to meet.

Dear Potential Bride,

I trust this letter finds you in good spirits. My name is Walter Prewitt, a humble rancher here in  Montana. I find myself reaching out to you with a proposition, not of business, but of the heart.

As I pen this letter, I am in my cabin at the end of a long day out on the range. My life is simple yet fulfilling, filled with hard work and the rewards it reaps. But at the end of the day, I miss having someone to talk to. To share my life with.

I have many reasons for seeking a bride. For one, I desire the warmth of shared conversation and laughter, to have someone to share the day's tales with. The silence of the plains can be deafening, and the echo of a lone voice just sounds pitiful.

Secondly, I believe in the strength found in partnership. As a rancher, my days are replete with challenges - tending to the cattle, mending fences, battling the harsh Montana weather. A helping hand would be more than welcome, not merely for the chores, but to share my burdens and triumphs.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I seek love. The kind of love that warms you on a cold winter's night. I seek a partner to share in life's joys and sorrows.

Life on the ranch is not easy, but it holds a unique charm. The sunsets here are unrivaled. The air is crisp and clean, filled with the scent of fresh hay and wildflowers. Each day brings with it a sense of fulfillment that only honest hard work can provide.

In you, I hope to find a companion. I offer you a life filled with honest work and simple pleasures, which will hopefully lead first to friendship, and then to love.

I eagerly await your response, hoping this letter finds you well and willing to consider life here in Montana with me. Please use the telegraph to reply to me, as I would love to have you here as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Walter

As she read the letter again, Ethel could see the small cabin he called home, and she could imagine the sunsets from rocking chairs at the front of that cabin. It was so different than the life she led there in Beckham, which is why it seemed absolutely perfect in her mind. I want to marry him, she said simply.

Elizabeth Tandy smiled. I’ll send him a telegram today.

Can I leave tomorrow? Even as Ethel knew it was irresponsible, she had to get away from her life, which was nothing but repetition.

Elizabeth frowned. Have you spoken with your mother about this?

Ethel shook her head. No, and I don’t intend to. She would lock me in my room. I’m going to leave a letter on my pillow for her to find after I’m gone.

Are you really that unhappy with your life?

I don’t think I can bear another week, Ethel replied simply.

"All right. I’ll see to getting you a train ticket for the first