Eva's Vision (Valentine Mail Order Bride 6) Read online

  In fact, he hated having to come into this place every day with the stench of rotting meat wafting up from the back of the butcher’s shop in summer that made his stomach churn.

  He thought about it for a moment. There was a lot of work here to be done and the good Lord knew that he didn’t have even one organisational bone in his body. Just three months ago he had accidentally sent a young mail order bride to the wrong man to be married!

  Thankfully it had all worked out, but by the time he had found the paperwork for the right girl, their wedding ceremony had been conducted and he’d had to refund the angry young girl’s money. Her father had threatened him with harm should he set up an office in his town again.

  “All right then. I’ve got an old typewriter in the attic. I’ll go up and get it.” He turned and headed to what looked like the beginning of a flight of stairs from what Eva could see.

  Mr Monroe climbed the familiar steps quickly. The attic stored much of his earthly belongings. He also had his small bed there, with the springs that stuck harshly into his body at night.

  Mr Monroe quickly found his Remington Standard 2 typewriter partially hidden under a stack of his clothes. He pulled the heavy machine free and clomped down the wooden stairs to the cramped office, where Eva had already made a start.

  “All right, first of all, let’s get this office re-arranged so that it works a little better.” Together they managed to shift the heavy desk to a better position that allowed more open space between it and the doorway. They stacked the pages of loose paper and folders into a pile, ready for her to type up.

  Already the office was looking much neater but there was still a lot of work to be done. Eva discovered a tiny window that was hidden by a small pile of books. When she removed the books, a good stream of daylight from outside brightened the office somewhat. She shifted the potted plant into the sunlight and gave it some water. Already the little plant looked happier in its new home.

  Mr Monroe left and got them some sandwiches for lunch while Eva tackled the mountain of paperwork. They ate in companionable silence then she showed him how to operate the typewriter efficiently.

  “Now, when you do a questionnaire with your clients, you can type it up directly.” Eva worked the keys to show him, the heavy clack-clack of the typewriter’s inner workings drilling through the office.

  Eva enjoyed herself typing up all the papers they had gathered earlier. By day’s end, she was finished.

  “Mr Monroe, I’ve finished all the typing so if there isn’t anything else, I’ll be going now.”

  He smiled warmly, grateful that his office was now neat and tidy and a place that he was more than happy to work in.

  “If you ever have trouble, I know there are a lot of young ladies who would be more than happy to work for you. Just head to the Young Women’s Christian Association and ask at the office. They are the ones who run the typing schools.” Eva got to her feet and thankfully stretched her arms above her head and twisted her back to loosen the tight muscles.

  Mr Monroe got up and handed her a sheet.

  “I can’t thank you enough. You’ve done more than I’ve asked, so here is the name of a gentleman whom I think might be a good fit for you. He runs a printing company in Colorado.” He watched as she opened the folder. It was one she had missed typing up because he had withdrawn it from the pile to put aside for her. Eva read Mr Monroe’s cursive handwriting scrolled over the pages.

  Tom Wright, Bishop’s Run, Colorado.

  Chapter 3 – Tears, Blood and More

  Bishop’s Run, Colorado

  “Mother, please take good care of yourself while I am gone. I’m going to send you money as often as I can and will also soon send you a ticket to come live with me.” Tears streamed down Eva’s face as she held her mother’s face in her hands and kissed her cheeks over and over.

  “I’ll be fine, Eva. I just miss you so much already.”

  A burst of steam billowed up into the sky as the last ‘All Aboard’ call was bellowed by the train’s conductor. Eva hugged her mother tight one last time and dragged herself away for the umpteenth time.

  Her mother sobbed heavily as Eva boarded the train. Eva’s meagre possessions were bundled up in a trunk and loaded into the luggage car of the steam train. The smoke billowing out the stack on the engine and the screeching of metal-on-metal irritated her excited ears. Eva’s mother reached up and placed her hand on the glass just before the train slowly chugged out of the station. Eva pressed her own gloved hand against the glass, feeling the chill from the late February morning through her thin gloves.

  Hot tears rolled down her face as she waved good-bye to her mother. She worried if this would be the last time she would see her. Eva had never before been away from her for even one night and now she was leaving her all alone in New York until she could send for her. The train pulled away from the platform, rocking and swaying roughly as it began to travel along the iron track that would take Eva to Bishop’s Run and her future husband.

  Tom Wright had sent a telegram back within a day of receiving confirmation of her interest in him. The one way ticket had been paid for, hand written and addressed to Miss E. Lewis. She now clutched it tightly in her hand. The trip would take almost two weeks and she would have to change trains at least six times just to get to Colorado.

  The trip was mainly uneventful but she enjoyed the changing scenery as she travelled across the country. Soon the vistas changed to the beautiful mountain regions that were Colorado’s own pride and joy. Her heart fluttered at the thought of so much open space, compared to the busy and dirty city which she was born in.

  She wondered what her new home might be like, if it would be a grand house, or a simple little cottage. She didn’t care. It had to be better than a single room that she shared with her mother and a bathroom that was shared between several families, one which had seven children. Often there had been no time for her to wash before someone barged in requiring the use of the facilities.

  No, she decided, this would be a much nicer place for her to live, and she would indeed enjoy it. She would make a home and a life out here for herself, standing by her husband as a good wife should. Bearing him good and happy children and ensuring that he was happy himself. It was quite an unconventional courtship but Eva was determined to make the very best of it.

  Eva took out his telegrams and letters and read them, one by one. They spoke of his little town as a quaint place to live. He described his work, his hopes and his dreams for their future together. They were often short and to the point with few flowery words. He was obviously a man of business rather than a poet, which made him seem cold and uncaring at times within the pages she held. But she knew that he must have a heart beating within his chest somewhere.

  The terms of their agreement included a two-week courting period before the final decision was made. If they decided it would not work, she could choose to return to her home at her own expense or choose to remain in the town, to seek another husband on her own. Eva had no intention of failing this courtship. It was going to be an interesting two weeks.

  The train finally pulled in to Bishop’s Run. It was a small station where the conductor had to pull out a set of wooden steps for her to disembark. She was the only passenger getting off. The bag of mail was dumped out and the train lurched forward. She looked around the empty station. No one was there to greet her despite Tom being aware that she was to arrive today.

  The second thing she noticed was that her trunk had not been offloaded from the train. It, along with the train still in sight, was now heading merrily off towards the next station, wherever that was. Eva shouted for the train to stop, running onto the tracks behind the last carriage. She was desperate. The trunk held all her worldly possessions and she had no money to buy additional clothes or anything else.

  Smoke and steam from the departing train covered her from head to foot, making her cheerful red travelling dress filthy with soot and dirt. The wind blew her matching red
bonnet from her head and it hung limply across her back, the fine ribbons holding it to her body. If not for that, it would have been blown away by the high Colorado winds.

  Eva watched helplessly as the train continued on, the conductor blissfully unaware of the extra luggage that would be unclaimed at journey’s end because it’s owner was the lone passenger who got off at Bishop’s Run.

  Eva’s boot caught on one of the wooden sleepers and she fell to the ground. Her dress soaked up even more dirt and grease left by all the previous trains that plied the route. The train grew smaller as she watched it. She got to her feet and brushed herself down. Her hands shook and a sob escaped her lips.

  For the first time since crying as she left her mother at the start of this trip, she felt a wave of desolation overcome her. It took a monumental effort not to cry. She wouldn’t cry. She would be brave and face the rest of this journey with the courage and gumption that her mother had raised her on.

  She turned back to the small building that served as the train station and stopped.

  Leaning casually against the wall and watching her was a man.

  “Excuse me, are you Miss Lewis?” he asked, taking his Stetson hat from his head.

  Eva nodded. “Yes, I am, and you are?” she asked him, continuing to brush her skirts free of dirt.

  “I’m Jacob Wright, Tom’s brother. I’m here to collect you. Where’s your baggage?” he asked as he came to stand before her.

  “Still on the train. The conductor forgot to take it off.” Eva’s voice broke.

  “Miss, do you know you’re bleeding?” Jacob asked her, pointing to her dress where she had wiped her hands.

  “What?” Eva saw the blood smeared over her skirts and looked at her hands. The skin was ripped and torn from her fall and she hadn’t noticed. Completely overcome, Eva fainted and was only saved from further injury by Jacob, who caught her in the nick of time.

  Chapter 4 – A Bad Beginning

  A rousing scent drifted through her senses, bringing her back to wakefulness. Her eyes fluttered open and she came face to face with a kindly looking old gentleman. Behind him stood a man whom she knew but couldn’t quite place in her semi-conscious state.

  “Easy now, Miss, you had a spell there.” The older gent said as she tried to sit up. “You’ll best be taking it easy for a bit. Give it a few minutes before you get to your feet and try walking.”

  Eva reached up to touch her head, a pounding headache coursing through her skull. She looked at her hands. They had been wrapped in white linen bandages.

  “Now your hands were pretty cut up. What were you doing? Breaking liquor bottles?”

  “I fell on the train tracks. I was foolishly trying to stop the train to get my luggage back.”

  Behind the gentleman, whom she took to be the town’s doctor, the young man grinned.

  “Well, you’re just lucky that Jacob here was able to catch you before you fell,” the doctor chuckled. They all heard the noise of a door opening from beyond the white cloth-covered privacy partition and a man’s demanding voice rising with angst.

  “Where the devil is she?” the voice challenged the feminine protests of the nurse.

  “That would be my dear brother,” Jacob smirked, stepping around the partition. “In here, Tom,” he called.

  The curtain was roughly pulled aside and Eva quietly sucked in a breath at the handsome man who stood before her. His face was reddened with an emotion that looked like anger, yet his eyes spoke of something else - concern.

  Eva was touched. This man did not even know her. He had agreed to marry her, sight unseen. And yet he showed concern for her wellbeing already?

  “So, this is the new typist?” he asked, casting a cursory gaze over her. “She’ll be no good to us with her hands bandaged like that,” he said gruffly. He pulled a pouch out of his breast pocket, revealing an ornate pipe. He proceeded to pull a pinch of tobacco from the pouch and tamp it down into his pipe.

  “Outside with that, if you don’t mind, Thomas,” the Doctor said to her future husband, who obviously thought she was there to work for him. He grumbled as he turned and left, lighting the pipe defiantly as he stood on the porch of the doctor’s office.

  Eva looked down at her hands. They ached with the cuts and stung with whatever unguents the doctor had smeared over her wounded flesh. She looked at Jacob.

  “But, I’m his bride… I’ve travelled all this way to be his wife, not his worker, though I had hoped to work a little…” she said, a little confused.

  Jacob looked embarrassed, his face reddening and he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

  “I, ah, I may have had a hand in my brother’s confusion. I’ll explain once we get you back to the family ranch.” He looked at the Doctor. “Can she leave now, Doc?” he asked.

  The Doctor nodded. “She’ll be fine, as long as she keeps those bandages clean and puts this ointment on her cuts morning and night.” He handed him a small glass jar filled with a white ointment in it. Jacob nodded. “You’ll be able to use your hands normally in a week or so, Miss.”

  “Thank you so much, Doctor. You’ve been very kind.”

  “Sorry this had to happen as you arrived, but welcome to Bishop’s Run and I’m sure we’ll be seeing you around town often.”

  “Thanks, Doc. We’ll take care of her so you don’t have to see her back here in your office for now though,” Jacob said as the Doctor helped her from the bed to her unsteady feet.

  Jacob escorted Eva towards the front door. “I’m sure my sister will be able to help you with dressing and changing your bandages,” he assured Eva.

  They walked out the door into the afternoon sunshine where her unwitting fiancé was awaiting them. He turned as the door to the clinic shut, his eye casting back over her blood stained dress and bandage-wrapped hands.

  “How long until you can type?” he asked her.

  “The doctor said about a week.” Jacob said.

  “Can’t she speak for herself?” Tom snapped, irritated that his new worker would be out of action for a week already.

  “Yes, yes I can.” Eva said, trying to fight the tears of anger from falling down her face. She’d had about enough. “I have been travelling for a good two weeks now, and the first thing I do when I get off the train is watch it depart with my worldly possessions still in the caboose. I fall foolishly chasing the train, cut my hands terribly, faint, then awaken to find a bear of a man growling about his new typist not being able to work…” she scowled.

  “I also have news for you, Mister. I’m not just your new typist…” Jacob made a choking noise in the back of his throat, trying to stop her from continuing. She looked up at Tom, her hands on her hips and a frown deepening her pretty face. “I’m your new wife, as per the agreement that we both signed.” Behind her Jacob groaned and in the shadow he cast upon the pressed dirt of the street they stood upon, he wiped a hand over his face in apparent consternation.

  “Agreement? Jacob, would this be the ‘terms of employment’ form you said I had to sign?”

  “Tom… let’s just get back to the ranch and we’ll talk about it there.” Jacob said pleadingly, as people doing their late afternoon errands and shopping stopped to gawk at the scene they were making out on the street.

  “Oh no, brother, I think this is a most opportune time. Please, tell me, what other secrets are you hiding? You don’t have the newest printing press in your pocket do you?” he sneered. Eva’s opinion of the man was dropping faster than a stone to the bottom of the ocean.

  “Brother, I only did this…”

  “Why? Because you feel sorry for me? Because you want a shred of happiness for me? I have news for you, dear brother… I am happy.” With that, Tom stormed off.

  “Are you?” Jacob asked his brother’s retreating back, his voice no louder than a whisper. Eva heard the sorrow and despondency that Jacob felt for his brother.

  She turned to face him, her anger dissipating at the look of near hopelessness
on the man’s rugged face.

  “Well, let’s get you to home. A good meal and a nice hot bath should be in order. I think you might be the same size as Melinda, my sister.” He eyed the soiled and near-ruined dress she wore.

  “Yes, that would be nice.” Eva turned and walked with him over to his waiting wagon.

  Once she had settled in with his help, Jacob clambered up beside her, took the reins and flicked the leathers gently over the backs of the two horses. The ear of the dappled grey on the left twitched as it made the first step, the bay following suit less than a heartbeat later. The wagon jolted forward, small clouds of dust kicking up from the horse’s hooves and its spinning wheels.

  They passed a small business area, where the tannery, blacksmith and butchers were located. A bit further down, there was also another building. The large doors were open to the side and she could see the printing presses hard at work.

  Wright and Son Printery

  She looked in through the open doors of the print shop as they passed, curious to get a glimpse of the inside of the building she knew she would probably be spending a lot of time in.

  “That’s where he works, the stubborn oaf,” Jacob quipped as the horses walked past, the wheels of the cart groaning over the rough sections of the hard earth-packed road. “I swear he’d be living there if he could.” Eva looked up to the second floor, where just beyond one of the windows, she thought she saw movement.

  She sighed, wondering if this whole idea was a mistake. She came all this way to marry a man who thought he had hired a typist. Eva decided to take things one step at a time. She was exhausted and worrying about this now would not help solve the problem. Even if there was no marriage, she would give it her all and try to keep at least a steady job as a trained typist.

  Chapter 5 – Wright’s Homestead