Mail Order Devastation (Montana Mail Order Brides, Book 4) by Julianna Blake Read Free Book Online

year.  Let it go.  I don’t care how pretty Mary Beth is.  She’s a spoiled brat who just wants me to buy her a fancy carriage.”  He rolled his eyes thinking of the disastrous dinner he’d been tricked into, when his mother invited Mary Beth and Mrs. Downing over, and then took Mrs. Downing out to see her garden for nearly an hour.  It had been the longest hour of his life.
    “ Are you sure, Noah?  What if she turns out to be hiding things from you?  What if she’s ugly?”
    “ Mother, I showed you her picture.  She’s lovely.”
    “ Oh bosh, that could be anyone.  She could have stolen that picture.”
    “ Mother.”
    “ Oh, alright, alright.  If I can’t persuade you, and you go through with it, and she doesn’t just sell the train ticket and spend the money you send her—“
    “ Mother.”
    “— then yes, yes, I’ll accept her.  I’m not a rude woman, you know.  I have manners.  As long as she treats my baby well, she’ll be a friend to me.”
    “ When are you going to stop calling me your baby?”
    “ When I’m six feet under, my love.”  She patted his cheek, then went to hang up her shawl. 
    “ I’m going to see to the rest of the delivery.”  He swept the letter off the counter while his mother’s back was turned, deciding to stay in the back room after the delivery driver was gone, so he could enjoy Miss Quinn’s letter in private. 
    The delivery driver took ages to finish bringing it the crates —in spite of how few there were.  Noah shifted a few things around to make room for them, thinking about the picture Mollie had sent of herself. 
    She was very pretty, and he was astonished at how perfectly Mrs. Porter had chosen his match.  Miss Quinn was everything he was looking for.  She had experience as a kitchen maid, kept house for her mother, and had even helped raise her sister, who was much younger than she was.  Miss Quinn must be a very hard worker, he thought.  He imagined that kitchen maids worked long hours, and to care for an infant after a long day at work must have been difficult.  She seemed to have a quick wit, and they shared many of the same interests.  He thought she’d make a fine wife and mother.  He couldn’t believe his luck.
    After his mother turned in for the night, he decided, he ’d write a letter back, asking Mollie Quinn to marry him.
     
    ***
     
    January 3, 1891
    Boston, Massachusetts
     
     
    It’s here!  It’s finally here!   Mollie clutched the letter to her chest as she entered the house and ran up the steps to her apartment. 
    “ I have a list of chores for you,” her mother muttered as she walked in.
    “ In a minute,” Mollie replied.
    “ No, now .”
    Mollie ignored her and set the family ’s mail on the dining table, keeping her eyes down on her own letter as she walked back to her bedroom and shut the door.  As she started to open the envelope, a voice startled her.
    “ You’re going to get it for that.  You know how Ma gets when you disobey her.”
    Mollie looked up, noticing for the first time that her nine-year-old sister was sprawled on her own bed, reading one of her dime novels. 
    “You should talk.  Does Ma know you’re reading that?  I thought she threw that out.”
    Chloe shook her head.  “That was the old one.  I bought this one with my candy money.”
    Mollie fought to keep a bitter expression from her face.  Candy had been a very rare treat when she was growing up, and when she did receive some, it usually came from generous neighbors, not her mother.  Chloe, on the other hand, actually received a candy allowance every week.  And if Chloe wanted a toy or something else on top of that, it wasn’t very hard to wheedle it out of their mother, as long as the price wasn’t too dear. 
    It ’s not Chloe’s fault, she reminded herself, that Ma was so stingy with me, and so generous with her.  It’s Ma who taught Chloe to be so spoiled.   But sometimes it was extremely difficult not to