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

lose.”
    “ What if she is?  She could be back in Boston already.  How would you know?”
    “ I’ve been holding back a little money from my factory job to bribe a member of the couple’s staff here in Boston.  So far, there’s no word that they’re coming back.  Nor is there word that they’re giving up their Boston home.”
    “ I’m confused—didn’t they move to Montana?.”
    “ Not exactly.  They went there to visit a sick relative.  She’s been sick for months now.  There’s a possibility they could stay in Montana, or they could come back.  No one knows for sure.”
    Chloe frowned.  “But what if you go out there and marry that man, and find out Nell is on her way back to Boston with them?”
    Mollie ’s heart seized.  She’d lain awake at night, dreading that very idea.  “I don’t know.  My intention is to be a very good wife to him.  But if Nell was taken back to Boston…I’d have to find a way to follow her.  I can’t be a good wife to anyone without my daughter by my side.”
    Chloe gaped.  “But…you can’t leave your husband.  Isn’t that…illegal?  Or something?”
    Mollie laughed.  “No.  It’s not illegal.  But it’s also not considered proper.  I never said I’d leave him, though.  Not permanently.  I just have to find Nell first—then I’d go back.  I’m not a whole person without her.”
    “ Yeah.”  Chloe glanced around the room with a heavy sigh. 
    The narrow space between the beds seemed cavernous without Nell in her little bassinet.  Their mother had sold Nell ’s clothes to someone on the same day she’d taken Nell.  Then she sold the bassinet the first day Mollie had gone out looking for a job after Nell’s disappearance.  Mollie didn’t have a shred of clothing or anything to remember her child by.
    “ It doesn’t feel the same here, without her, does it?”  Chloe asked.
    “ Nothing is the same without her.”
    When Chloe turned to look up at Mollie, her eyes were shining with tears.  “When you find Nellie, will you bring her back so I can see her?”
    Mollie shifted and looked away.  “Maybe…someday.  I don’t think I’d be very welcome here, with Nell.  And it’s a long trip.  I’d have to talk Noah into it.”
    “ Is that his name?”
    Mollie nodded.  “Noah Jamison.”  She looked down at the letter in her hands.  “He sounds like a very good man.  I think I could be happy with him.  That is, if…”
    “ If you find Nell?”
    She nodded, fighting back the tears.  “Now let me read the letter, will you?”
    “ Can’t you tell me what it says?  Please?”  Chloe leaned over Mollie’s lap, trying to read the letter for herself.
    “ Hey!” Mollie nudged her away with her shoulder.  “Fine, I’ll tell you anything important, but I’m not reading the whole thing to you.”  She perused the letter in silence, and when she saw his answer to her question, her heart beat faster.  “He sent a ticket!”  She looked in the envelope, and around her on the bed quilt.  “He says he’s enclosing a ticket with this letter, but I don’t see it!”
    “ I’ll find it!”  Chloe leapt off the bed and searched the floor, until she bent over and jumped up, holding something aloft in her hand.  “Found it!”
    Mollie gasped in relief.  She must have been distracted by Chloe, and didn ’t see the ticket fall to the floor when she pulled out the letter.  “He sent it!”  She grabbed the ticket from Chloe’s hand, and read the date.  “It’s for January twelfth.”  She clutched the letter to her chest.
    “ How long does it take to get to Montana?”
    “ I’m told the trip takes nearly three weeks.”
    “ Three weeks!  That’s forever!”
    “ I know.  But after so many months of waiting…” she clutched the letter to her chest “…I could find Nell by February!”
    “ I wish you could bring her home.”
    Mollie put her arm around her sister.  “I know.  Me too.”  Except I