A Blissful Encounter of Two Hearts (Preview)

Chapter One

Wyatt O’Reilly rolled over in bed with a groan. “Matt! What are you doing in my room?” He rubbed his eyes and fixed them on his brother. “Get out of here! It’s not even the crack of dawn yet. Where’ve you been tonight? Have you been in town, drinking?” 

Matt leaned over the table by the bed and lit the kerosene lamp. “Nope. You have to come with me and a few of the men. That train is getting in from Denver. I would have solicited you anyway, but now Pa doesn’t have to pay you. I mean he does, but he might as well just give it straight to me. I won it fair and square…”

Wyatt blinked and ran his hand through his brown hair. “Wait, what did you win?”

“Your day’s wages.”

“The whole day? Today’s wages?” Suddenly Wyatt was fully awake. “I have office work to do today.”

“You have to remember our card game last week, Wyatt. You, Dad, and Tom took me out for my birthday?”

“Yeah, yeah. I remember going to Justine’s Fun Palace. Ugh. How many hurdy girls did you dance with? Ma will tan all our hides if she finds out about that one. Especially Pa’s.”

“She won’t find out about it. Unless, that is, you don’t get out of bed this instant. I distinctly remember you wagering your pay for your time today because you were out of money when we played our last hand. Of course, I won. Four aces and here we are.”

Wyatt, who’d been propped up on his elbow fell back onto the bed with a huff. “I can’t believe it. Look, this…wager I made. I’d been drinking whiskey. A lot of whiskey. You can’t hold me to it.”

“I can and I will.   Last week, the next day as a matter of fact, you were sure about the bet’s stakes and you said yes. You said you would work for free today.”

“Great. I spent until one o’clock this morning going over the ranch books.”

“I’m sorry, Wyatt. I need the help out on the land today. It’s Saturday. Come on. I’ll take you out for supper in town tonight. How’s that sound?”

Wyatt grinned. His little brother was a cajoler, but it was actually a part of his charm. It was clear to him why everyone liked his younger brother. It was because Matt was light and amiable, not dark and brooding the way Wyatt was. Even when Silvia Miller left town to go back East and tend to her ailing mother, Matt had kept his spirits up. Of course, the spirit he spent the most time with was whiskey, but Wyatt wasn’t worried about him. He was on the job on time every day, worked harder than any of the other hands, and then had a drink or two in the evening. In fact, Wyatt had been amazed at how well Matt had taken Silvia’s rejection.

There was no question the couple had been in love. Everyone thought they would be married before Silvia turned twenty-one. That was two years earlier. Then Silvia had had to go back to Pennsylvania. The two had kept up by letter, avidly at first, but eventually the correspondence had dwindled and Matt hadn’t received a birthday card from his former love. Wyatt knew that it had affected his brother but had said nothing. If Matt wanted to talk about it then he’d talk about it. So far, he hadn’t gone near the topic and Wyatt knew better than to ask any questions. That was the surefire way to get Matt to clam up permanently.

Still, Wyatt knew, in spite of Matt’s mask of joviality, he hadn’t had an easy time with things the last two years. That was the guilty thought Wyatt needed to sway his mind from sleeping in. He’d need to put working in the office downstairs off in order to help with the short drive from the livestock train depot in Crandall to the ranch three miles away.

“Ok. Is Rachel up? Is she getting breakfast? I smell coffee. Did you put it on the stove?”

“I put the coffee on and Rachel, bless her heart, smelled it, and woke up. She came out to the kitchen. In answer to your question, yeah, she’s getting breakfast and packing lunches for us too. We won’t make it back to the house for dinner. I want to put the new herd in the north pasture. The work won’t be so hard, but it’ll be a long day. I’ll see you in the dining room.” With those parting words, Matt left the room and Wyatt heard him bound down the steps.

He got up out of bed and went to the basin to splash water in his face. His head was throbbing from not enough sleep, but a wager was a wager and it was time to pay the piper. He changed into his dungarees and secured his chaps to protect his legs from brambles and such. A red work  shirt, a bandana around his neck, and his broad-brimmed Stetson completed his ensemble and he headed downstairs. The family was already seated in the dining room.

“Good morning, Wyatt.”

He nodded. “Pa.”

“Did you sleep well, dear?”

“I did, Ma.” Wyatt gave his mother a perfunctory kiss on the cheek and took his seat across from Matt. He poured a cup of coffee which he gulped down as Rachel appeared with a big platter of ham and scrambled eggs from the kitchen.

“It’s chow time, y’all!” Rachel smiled and disappeared back into the kitchen. The girl had been with the family for two years. That had been when she’d arrived, fresh from Lafayette, Louisiana. She’d been dusty and bedraggled, and she’d been looking for work.

Alice O’Reilly had taken an immediate liking to the girl and had hired her on the spot, an action which had paid for itself over and over again. Rachel was an excellent cook, excelled in housework, and seemed to have boundless energy. While most young women were perfunctory in domestic positions, Rachel seemed to relish her work. She loved to cook, clean, and sew, she’d told Alice. All in all, the girl was a joy to have in the house and she was treated as family, as the daughter Alice had never had. Alice had even given her a room on the second floor with the family, but Rachel wouldn’t hear of it. She took the small cook’s quarters, consisting of a small sitting room and a tiny bedroom, and thought she’d never had it so good. She was proud to have aher own room of her own. She’d told Alice that she’d never had such privacy and she adored it.

Rachel returned from the kitchen with a basket of fresh-baked rolls and took her seat at the table. She sat on the side Matt was on, and Wyatt, as usual, was amused at the banter between the two. They seemed so much like brother and sister as to have been twins separated at birth. 

Of course it would be that way. Matt was easy to talk to. He was easy to get along with. As usual, Wyatt’s younger brother outshone him. It wasn’t that Wyatt necessarily wanted Rachel’s attention. He thought her sweet and lovely, but her friendship with Matt was just another example to Wyatt of Matt’s charismatic effect on others. In fact, when it had become clear that Silvia wouldn’t be back in Crandall, Wyatt thought that Matt and Rachel might begin courting. But the two remained as before…their feelings for one another appeared to be that of brother and sister.

When breakfast was through, Wyatt and Matt’s father, Myles, told Wyatt that he would work on the books since Wyatt would be out on the range. It was the way they did things. Myles had built up and owned the ranch for twenty-five years, but over time had gifted land to his two sons. Each one had thirty percent of the stock in the place. The remaining forty percent would be divided out in Myles’ will. 

Wyatt stood up, thanked Rachel for cooking, and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Well, let’s get going little brother. Thanks, Pa, for doing the office work today.”

The brothers left the house through the kitchen and walked down to the paddock to get their horses. It was just dawn and the softly colored sky above them gave Wyatt a sense of peace he rarely felt. He whistled and his filly, Opal, snorted, whinnied, and cantered over to the fence.

“Ready to go out on the range, girl?” The horse jerked her head up and down as if in agreement and Wyatt gave her a sugar cube and told her he’d be right back. Then he headed for the barn to get his saddle and a bridle.

Matt was in the barn already. “I’m going back out to saddle Smokie. I’ll wait for you.”

“Okay. I’m right behind you.” Wyatt hurried. He didn’t like to keep people waiting, for one thing. The other was that he sensed his brother wanted to discuss something with him. He couldn’t imagine what it was. He’d long ago given up any ideas that Matt might want to talk with him about Silvia. It had been two years, after all. 

He walked out of the barn and to the paddock. Matt was ready to ride, and in ten minutes, the brothers were headed at a good pace toward the far outskirts of Crandall where the big stockyard was. 

As they waited for the train, Wyatt looked at Matt. “So?”

“So? What?” Matt shrugged.

Wyatt decided to go out on a limb. “Did you get a card or letter from Silvia?”

“No. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, with all the rain we had the week before your birthday, some roads might be washed out. We’re lucky our train is arriving from the south. We don’t have to worry about any track being out.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Wyatt was one of the few people to ever see his brother in any mood besides a good one. Matt was actually moody, but people seldom realized it. His charming manner was all that they saw. Wyatt saw more than that, and at this moment, he was seeing it.

“What’s on your mind, Matt?” He reckoned he should just go ahead and ask. He hated the guessing game his brother was often guilty of playing when it came to his emotions.

Matt sighed. “Well, I guess it’s time.”

“Time? The train? You have to give me more than that. What’s going on?”

“It’s time for me to give up on Silvia ever being my wife. The last letter I had from her was at the beginning of the month. She basically said she was never coming back here, and I should move on and not wait for her.”

“Come on, Matt. You exaggerate too much. Stop jumping to conclusions. What exactly did Silvia write?”

“She wrote that she had to stay in Philadelphia to care for her mother.”

“Okay. That’s not news.”

“Well, it doesn’t look as if her mother is going to get well. She’s become an invalid. They can’t afford a nurse to come in and care for her. I offered to hire one and Silvia would hear nothing of it. It was her duty, she said. She couldn’t leave her mother with a stranger, no matter how qualified, and return to Crandall. It’s over.”

“Aww, Matt. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s taken an hour or so to get my head around it. I was handed the letter right after I left your room this morning. Now I know that as hard as it is, it’s easier to have the facts than to be making up stories in my head constantly to explain two years of absence. I’d been sure she met another. She said she will always love me but she will not hold me back.”

“Do you think she has a beau?”

“Nah. If she did, I think she’d tell me. Besides, she has her hands full caring for her mother. I offered to send her money but she said no, they’d get by with the sewing both ladies took in.”

“What’s your plan?”

“You know I’ve always wanted a family, Wyatt. Today after work, I’m going to the telegraph office. I’m going to put in an advertisement for a mail-order-bride.”

“No!”

“Yes. It’s perfectly acceptable. People do it all the time.”

Wyatt went on to explain that he had nothing against the practice, he just wasn’t sure if it was the best course of action for Matt to take.

“It’s the only course of action for me to take. I’m twenty-five and not getting any younger. I thought I’d be married and have a child by now.”

“What about love, Matt? Are you willing to give love up to have a family? I mean, what if you dislike the woman?”

“That’s what the mail part is about. Of course, it’s not as accurate as courting in-person. I reckon I just have to take my chances.”

Wyatt didn’t think his brother was actually mature enough to be a husband. He’d been terrified that his brother would run off and elope with Silvia since the day she turned sixteen while he was a young eighteen. But, Wyatt also knew it would not change his brother’s mind if he didn’t support him. So, he might as well go along with it. He wanted his brother to be happy. He wanted his parents to be happy, and so he gave his blessing.

Far off, they heard the train whistle and in no time the iron steam engine came barreling down the tracks and slowed to a chug as it pulled up to the depot. Two of the Kinkaid’s ranch hands were on the other side of the tracks and waved and hollered at the brothers. When they were all together, Matt went to the conductor to find the man who was in charge of the livestock. Once they were ready, it would take about two or three hours to drive the small herd to the Kinkaid Ranch.

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The drive back to the ranch was easy enough. It took three hours. Then, Wyatt handed the inventory list to the other two hands and asked them to count the cattle and make sure they got what they’d paid for. They’d all been checked as healthy at the stockyard and notice sent to the Texas rancher Wade had bought the animals from.

All the way back to the ranch, Wyatt was on the side of the herd. Matt was on the other side, and the other two hands split the front and back of the herd. Wyatt couldn’t get his brother’s words out of his head. He wasn’t aware until today how much Matt wanted to move on to the life he’d always dreamed of. The only difference was he wouldn’t be marrying the love of his life. He was going to be a desperate man and marry a desperate lady he met through a newspaper.

Wyatt wasn’t exactly sure how the mail-order bride industry worked, but it didn’t seem like something Matt would be able to fully accept. Wyatt had had no idea just how much his brother wanted to settle down even if it was only a marriage of convenience for both parties.

As for himself, he never thought about marriage and a family. It wasn’t that he didn’t want them, but he was a traditionalist. If it was going to happen, he wanted it to happen on its own. He wanted to be surprised and thrilled and excited at the prospect of seeing his ladylove. So far, none of the young ladies in town, and not for lack of trying on their parts, had caught his eye. Maybe his views were too practical. 

He worried about his brother’s plan. Couples married for life. Maybe he was afraid of marrying someone who might turn into a shrew. Or what if she was a secret drinker? Maybe she couldn’t cook. She could, essentially tell him anything she wanted to. Then she would travel more than halfway across the country to marry him. While it all looked perfectly pragmatic and romantic, it really was far from either. Wyatt only knew for sure that he couldn’t pretend to care about somebody. He couldn’t pretend to be in love. It seemed to him that was what his brother was going to do. Certainly, there were the odd arranged marriages where couples actually fell in love and had altogether happy lives. As happy as was possible. But that group would not include him and he was relatively sure it wouldn’t include Matt either.

So what was his brother doing jumping the gun like this? It seemed almost as if Matt was being defiant to Silvia. If she wasn’t going to come back, he was going to find someone else. It was good that he was willing to move on with his life. The problem was the reason he was so willing. As far as Wyatt was concerned, it appeared that his brother hadn’t given a thought to the innocent third party he’d be bringing into his relationship with Silvia. Matt’s former love didn’t need to be present and living in Crandall to come between Matt and any other woman. He’d hung on her every letter for two years. He’d been moody if a few weeks went by and he didn’t hear from her.

Wyatt felt for his brother. He sometimes wondered why Matt didn’t just go after Silvia. Maybe he should have followed her to Philadelphia. But he knew that hadn’t actually been possible. Their pa needed them on the ranch. It was their livelihood and one day the two brothers planned to occupy homes at either end of the vast expanse of land their Pa had amassed in Wyoming.

Wade sighed. He couldn’t stop Matt from doing what he planned on doing. He just hoped no one got hurt, and by that he meant the lady who might travel two- thirds of the way across the country to marry his brother.

That was all it took for envy to rear its ugly head. He wanted to be happy for Matt but there were so many reasons not to be. Would the woman who came to Crandall fall in love with Wyatt’s brother? Would she be educated and stylish? Would she be the most beautiful woman Matt had ever seen? After Silvia, of course. Once again, Wyatt felt for the lady who would respond to Matt’s advertisement in The Marriage Times.

Chapter Two

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Clara Macallister walked into the little book shop. She’d spent the day looking for work, but to no avail and she didn’t know what she was going to do. Her mother…actually the woman was her father’s second wife…was making her own arrangements for the future. Her future. It had nothing to do with Clara, of that the lady was clear. She was to be married again and wanted no more to do with Clara. Clara smirked. The woman had never wanted anything to do with her.

Tomorrow, Clara would have to try the cigar shops. Maybe one of them needed a fill-in girl. All she knew was that she had to think of something and think of it quick. She had to be out of the small house she’d been sharing with her stepmother. The house that should have gone to her in the will, but somehow hadn’t. So, she needed a place to stay and money to pay for it. Then she’d think about money for food.

However, all day she’d been formulating a plan. She’d still need a place to stay for a bit, but then she would be free to go somewhere new. Somewhere she could be happy and not have the specter of her dear father’s death in her mind’s eye most of the time. She supposed she’d always wonder about it. 

Joe Macallister had been just forty years old, had been newly married six months earlier, and had suddenly become very sick. Very, very sick. The doctor couldn’t place it and all they could do was keep Joe comfortable until the illness passed. But the illness didn’t pass. Joe Macallister had died one month to the day he’d first gotten ill.

Clara looked through the periodicals that were displayed and continued on with her thoughts. Something hadn’t been right about her father’s death and when, on the day of the funeral, she found a tin of rat poison under the bed in her father’s room, she’d known the truth. The problem was proving what she knew. Her father’s wife had poisoned him for his house and his money. Clara smirked again. So much for that! Clara knew how much her father had had in the bank before he’d died, and with the way her stepmother was spending, it wouldn’t be long until the money was gone. 

The day after the funeral, which had been on a Wednesday, Clara had gone downtown to the bank and closed out the savings account her father had started for her. She took all the cash, all $300. She knew if she didn’t, her father’s wife would come after it. That had been six months earlier and the woman had said nothing to Clara about it which led her to believe that the woman had visited the bank and been told the account was closed. Then there was the day, a week after the funeral, when Clara had gone out to look for work and had found her dead father’s wife rooting around in her room. When caught and questioned, she’d said she’d thought a rat had gotten into the room.

Clara had thought it a pretty brilliant cover-up, though it pained her to admit it. Her stepmother had covered the fact that she had rat poison upstairs in a bedroom by suggesting rats were getting into the second story of the house. It had been a clever ruse, but she wasn’t the only clever one.

After Clara had closed her savings account, she’d immediately turned around and opened a new account which Mrs. Macallister would never know about or find. If Clara’s plan worked out, she’d be closing up the second account too. She walked over closer to the counter of the book store and perused the sheets of stationery under the glass.

“Good afternoon. How can I help you today?” 

“Uh, I’m a, I’m wondering if you have the gazette called…,” Clara looked over her left shoulder and then her right…

“Do you mean The Marriage Times, dear?”

“Oh, yes. Thank you. That’s what I’m looking for.” She tried to squelch her excitement somewhat.

“Well, here you go, dear. This is the April/May edition.”

“Uh. Yes. Thank you.” Clara stood there at a loss as to what to do.

“Dear? Are you all right?”

She looked at the concerned clerk. “Yes. I’m all right. I, I just don’t know…”

“Oh, why didn’t you just say so? Do you honestly think you’re the only lady around who didn’t know how to get started in a correspondence with a potential husband?”

Clara hoped she didn’t look as embarrassed as she felt. “Ah, no, no I guess not. It just didn’t occur to me that there was some sort of procedure to follow in this…endeavor.”

The clerk smiled “I’ll help you. Don’t you worry about a thing. We’ll get you all straightened out.” She smiled and motioned for Clara to join her behind the counter. 

“Now, here is the procedure. First, when you get home, you’ll go over the columns of names. There are men from all walks of life and the goal is to get one who is well-to-do. As much as possible. Now,” and here the lady winked at her as if Clara was twelve, “if you like, I’ve developed a system that I’ve been told by many a lady, works like a charm.”

“You have?”

“Yes. Basically you go over all the advertisements. Really look at each one from start to finish. Circle six who appeal to you. Then you put the periodical under your pillow and sleep on it.”

“I see.”

“Don’t you worry a bit. It sounds like a lot, but it’s not familiar to you, that’s why it seems complicated. Once you have seen it happen in your own life or in the lives of the others who have chosen the route, it’s lovely.”

“Okay, so how do I do it? I mean, I pick six gentlemen as potential correspondents and whittle away at the group? Is that what I’m supposed to do? Oh, I forgot, there’s more. I have to sleep with them under my pillow. Isn’t that right?” Clara couldn’t believe the woman was serious and she almost walked out. “Let me apologize. I didn’t mean to be rude. It just seems so, so…simplistic.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be complicated.” The clerk giggled. “Okay. Let’s get you set up. You have the periodical. When you go home you’ll pick six names and that’s it. Don’t even say a prayer before bed about it. Just go to sleep.”

“In the morning, read the advertisements in the paper again. You might see someone you missed on your first reading. If that’s the case, you just add them to your list. But, whoever you pick must be written to tomorrow. Time is of the essence for the gentlemen placing the advertisements.”

That was a plus as far as Clara was concerned. Time was of the essence to her, too. She had to get out of the house and move to the hotel for ladies in town. She imagined that was the address she would tell her future correspondent to write to.

“Now,” the clerk continued, “peruse the advertisements, write to those chosen. A short letter, just a note really, that introduces you. You’ll describe yourself, your attributes…be confident, but do not brag.” She fell silent.

Clara waited for the woman to continue speaking but she seemed to have retreated into the confines of her own mind. Should Clara interrupt her?

“Uh, ma’am?”

The lady looked at her sharply. “Ah, please accept my apology, my dear. I got lost in thought. Most unprofessional, I know. Since you’re going to need stationery, allow me to make it a gift to you. I would hate my negligence to get around.”

Suddenly, Clara felt bad for the woman. She was pretty, in her forties most likely. Yet she worked outside of the home. She was either quite independent or her family needed the money. In other words, the clerk really needed to keep her job.

“I’m so sorry,” Clara spoke. “I would not mention this incident to anyone for the world, ma’am. You must rest assured of that. Now, I’d like to see that cream-colored paper, please.”

The clerk smiled and said no more. She reached into a drawer behind the counter. 

“Here we are.” She handed three samples of the creamy paper Clara was interested in. That way she could feel the richness and the lovely matte finish of each one.

“I would suggest using a very nice sheet for the introduction. Remember, the idea is to get the man to write back to you.” She smiled.

“Okay, then. I’ll take twelve sheets of my first choice. That way I’ll have some on hand if anyone writes back.” She was feeling insecure all of a sudden and didn’t know if the mail-order-bride phenomena was for her. Maybe she would be better off staying in Philly and living alone? She didn’t need a man in her life. Children seemed like a far-off blessing. But she knew herself. It was her nerves talking to her.

“Do you have the procedure down, dear? Write and introduce yourself. Wait and soon you will have a correspondence partner.”

“Yes, it sounds like I will be entertaining all the time.”

“Now, now. Give it a chance. Most girls answer an average of two letters. Let’s just say that a flawed companion is visible through the words they write.” She gathered up the items and rang up the sale in the small National cash register, and put the things into a bag. “Okay. Come and see me if you have any more questions, dear. All the girls do.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Clara wondered briefly if this was a crazy idea, but she’d already gotten the ball rolling. There was no stopping her now. She left the shop and commenced to walk home. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she did want love and marriage and children one day. It seemed that day had dawned sooner rather than later.

When she got home, she asked the cook to bring her supper upstairs. She went up to her room and changed into a long flannel nightgown that was as warm as it was comfortable after the confining corset she’d had on all day. The bed had been turned down as it was each night by the housemaid and Clara smiled. She would miss the girl when she left the house.

Clara curled up under the covers and lit the kerosene lamp by the sliver of moonlight that struggled through a crack in the drapes. She pulled her knees up and opened The Marriage Times.

The stories of the men were interesting, though it didn’t take her long to figure out that longer, more detailed advertisements spoke of a man with money. Others were just one line; in fact, one said Need Wife Now and that was all. Clara had laughed at that one as much as she’d felt sad for the fellow. If it was true, there was someone for everyone. Clara hoped the concise ad writer would find his wife soon.

Three hours later, she glanced up and saw that it was already ten o’clock. She got out of bed and went to the bedroom door. Outside, on a small table, stood a supper tray, the food sheltered beneath overturned bowls to keep it warm and to keep anything else that might be interested in it away.

Clara brought the tray inside and took a piece of bread and cut a bit of cheese. The food was long since cold. She poured a little wine and had a hasty meal while she thought about the men she planned to write to.

Part of her was excited at the prospect of the doors that would open to her. She was particularly interested in San Francisco, but there had been just one advert from a man there. He owned a goldmine, was forty-years-old, and a bachelor. He’d decided at this stage of his life that he would like to share it with a female companion. He wanted a family he’d said, and he could take very good care of the woman who might go West to become his wife. He had a large house and servants. The woman who married him was destined for a life of leisure. Could Clara do it? Could she be lazy and spend her days with fancy embroidery or watercolor lessons? She grinned to herself. It wouldn’t hurt to try!

The second advertisement she’d circled was from a farmer living in Iowa. The man grew feed crops, was well to do, and a widower. Clearly the man only needed a mother for his seven children who ranged in age from four to fourteen. The man himself was just thirty-five. There was something about the manner of his writing that had pulled Clara in almost from the start. But was she ready, at the age of twenty-two, to be stepmother to a boy just eight years her junior? Would she be able to walk into the farmer’s life and fit in neatly? The farmerr clearly didn’t offer the same kind of life that the gold baron did, but the farmer was more to the style of person, the style of man, that Clara was attracted to.

She liked hard-working men. Men, like her father, who didn’t let life issues or circumstances stop them at the very least, from achieving their goals. With that in mind, she decided to put the Iowa man’s advert to the side. She needed to be practical about this endeavor. This was about the rest of her life. It would be unfair to herself to go out West with the intention of saving someone when the person who actually needed saving was herself.

The third advertisement she was interested in was from a young man just a few years older than her. He and his father and brother owned and ran a cattle ranch in Wyoming. It would be a relatively easy life for her. She would be expected to keep housee, and oversee meals but she would have two or three other women to help her. The man in the advert made no bones about the fact that he was twenty-five years old and wanted to start a family. In fact, he wanted to start a family as soon as possible.

Clara sat back, shaking her head and marveling at the brusque nature of the whole process of the mail-order bride business. It was perfunctory. It was business-like. But that’s what she needed. She needed to go away from Philadelphia and the memories of her mother and father. It was imperative that she get away from her father’s wife. If anything were to happen to her, then the widow would inherit all that had gone to Clara. It made her almost paranoid. 

She’d thought her tea had tasted funny a couple of times. At the top of the steps, a piece of the rug had, somehow, folded under and Clara had tripped barely missing falling down the stairs. She planned to move to the hotel for ladies first thing in the morning. For the last two days, she’d quietly sent the things she’d want to take with her to the hotel. It was only a matter of a short time before she left Philadelphia for good.

 Falling back on the pillows in the bad, Clara looked up at the ceiling. She was at a crossroads, and she had no choice but to move forward with her life. The melancholic farmer in Iowa was exed out. She didn’t need seven children. Not yet anyhow. She was definitely going to write to the gold baron and the cattle rancher. There was another ad from a man who lived in Colorado, again a rancher, fifty years of age who was a widower with grown children who lived all around him. He was looking for a younger woman under the age of thirty. Clara knew what that meant. The man wanted more children.

The idea of a big family was attractive to her. She was an only child and her mother had been her best friend. But then her mother had died of a mysterious malady that none could explain, least of all the doctor. Clara sighed. Her stepmother used to work in the house when her mother had been alive. 

As much as she tried to find explanations, it was a firm belief of Clara’s that Jane had poisoned both of her parents and that she, Clara, was next. That way the woman would have everything that had ever been Joe Macallister’s. There was no proof of any wrongdoing though and no one in the Macallister’s circle had shown any suspicion. The deaths of Clara’s parents, who had died months apart, were chalked up to one of those strange coincidences that death was so interested in.

The bottom line was Clara needed to get out of the house. It was no longer hers and her stepmother had given her six months to make her own way. The six months was up and Clara had noticed two weeks before and again two days before that, her stomach had been severely upset. Ironically, both incidents happened after she’d walked into the kitchen and her father’s widow had offered her tea. The first time seemed strange. The second sealed Clara’s suspicions and her plan to leave home. When Jane Macallister woke up the next morning, her stepdaughter would be gone without a trace. 

Thinking about her stepmother and the stomach aches and the deaths of her parents made Clara angry. Jane had been quite clever in her plan. In less than two years she’d made a lucrative and independent life for herself by killing two people. There was no other explanation. Every house kept rat poison in a bottle high up in a cupboard away from the children and food. If Clara ever took her suspicions to the police she’d be laughed out of the precinct. That was that. She knew the officers would think her half if not fully crazy at the thought of her stepmother trying to kill her.

She sighed again. Leaving her childhood home wasn’t going to be easy. This was the last night she would sleep in the bedroom she’d slept in for twenty-two years. It was a bitter thought but there was no time to feel sorry for herself. She would duck out of the house before dawn the next day and go to one of the little breakfast nooks that served meals all day and all night long for the folks arriving into or leaving town on the early morning train.

Then she’d get enough cash out of the bank for her trip and to live on for her final week in Crandall. She hoped that she would be on her way West by then. So, she decided to take a chance. 

Of the adverts, she’d chosen the one that seemed the most hurried, the most desperate, was the rancher in Wyoming. What would happen if she only wrote to him? If he was no longer available, he would alert her to the fact and she could move on to another. It seemed like it would be faster than writing to six or four different men. It seemed to be a good plan and Clara committed to implementing it in the morning. Although every element of the situation pointed to leaving as the only choice, her only option was to pray that she was doing the right thing.

Chapter Three

Wyatt strolled into the dining room. His parents had just sat down to lunchdinner, but Matt was nowhere to be seen. Wyatt looked at Rachel and raised his eyebrows and the girl motioned him into the kitchen where she stood in the doorway.

“Where’s Matt?”

“The young lady gets in today, Mr. Wyatt. The train arrives at three o’clock.”

“That’s two hours. We have time to eat and take a leisurely ride into town to greet the lady.” Something else Wyatt didn’t understand about mail-order-couples. Why bother getting nervous over something that was a business arrangement? The man takes care of the woman, the woman gives the man a loving family. What was there to be nervous about? Everyone involved knew their part. “Where is he?”

“He’s on the side porch, sir.”

“Hmm. Okay. Thank you, Rachel. Will you try to hold things up for five minutes?”

“Surely, I’ll do my best, but Mrs. O’Reilly is not happy about Mr. Will’s turn of mood. She said she doesn’t care what he does, she’s hungry.”

Wyatt grinned. Yes, that sounded like Alice O’Reilly to him. “Okay, I’ll be back in no more than five minutes. Ask my mother something about the cake for my father’s birthday party. Call her into the kitchen. You know how much she loves planning parties and menus.

The girl nodded. “Yes sir’m. I’ll do that right now, Mr. Wyatt.”

“Thank you, Rachel.” Wyatt turned and headed through the hall into the sitting room and the door that led out to the side porch.

“Matt? How come you’re not inside. Ma’s waiting to eat lunchdinner. She’s hungry and you know how she gets cranky when she’s hungry.”

Matt didn’t answer. He was looking out over the range toward the mountains in the distance. 

“Matt? What are you doing? Did you just hear me?”

Matt sighed. “I did and I don’t care if Ma is hungry. Tell her to go ahead without me. That’s what I told her to do. I don’t have an appetite right now.”

“Nerves. Well, okay. At least come and sit at the table and have some coffee. The train’s not due in until three.”

“Wyatt, how can you be so nonchalant about…everything?”

“Look, you’ve been writing to this woman for a month. You said your letters were full of jovial and amicable conversation. Why would that change now? It looks to me you’re getting everything you asked for.”

“It’s not that, Wyatt. The lady I’ve corresponded with seems to be a lovely, caring woman. She is someone any man would be lucky to call his wife. And I’ll tell you I was going to go through with it…”

“Wait! What are you saying? You’ve brought this young woman all the way out here only to renege on your offer of marriage? For shame, Matt. No wonder you don’t want to sit across from Ma at the dinner table.”

“But there’s more.”

“More! Matt, what are you talking about? What more could there be?”

“Oh, a lot, never you fear.”

“Now what’s that supposed to mean? Is the lady in a delicate condition? Is that why she needs a husband so quick? Is she escaping a mad stalker? Or, wait, she’s fleeing a would-be murderer.”

“No. The lady, uh, Miss O’Reilly, only said that circumstances caused her to have to leave Philadelphia.”

“Philadelphia! Isn’t that where Silvia is from?”

“She is and, as you know, she went back there to care for her mother.”

“Hmm. Philadelphia…”

“It’s only a coincidence. I got a letter of introduction from Miss O’Reilly, so I answered it. I didn’t realize where she was until I put the letter in an envelope. Not that it matters. Philadelphia is a big city, Wyatt.”

Wyatt narrowed his eyes. “So then, why are you so glum?”

“I’m not glum. Actually, I’m ecstatic, but I’ve gotten myself into a quandary.”

“What happened? Did she send her photograph? Is she less than pleasing to the eye? Maybe it’s just a poor likeness.”

Matt was shaking his head. “No, no……that’s not it.”

“Then what is it, Matt? Stop, will you, talking in circles. Are you happy or not that your bride is arriving this afternoon?”

Wyatt was frustrated with his brother. It was typical of Matt that he would be given a number of options regarding any situation. It was just another part of the complications in Wyatt’s relationship with his brother. There was no way he could find the patience, though, to try and guess what it was Matt was having such a hard time saying.

“Look, if you’re not going to tell me what’s wrong, let’s go inside. I need to eat something. Like our mother, you know I get cranky when I’m hungry.”

Matt sighed and stood up. Wyatt surmised that his brother wasn’t going to let him in anymore about what it was that was bothering him. It was probably just jitters. Matt was making a huge change in his life, and he was doing it to get over Silvia.

Wyatt’s mind went back five years to Kathy. Kathy, the woman who had left him, quite literally, at the altar. She’d run off with the foreman of her father’s ranch and had been cut off from the family. The difference between Wyatt and Matt was that Wyatt had immediately taken pains to rid himself of any feelings he had for Kathy. He moved on and lost himself in his work on the ranch, and he’d vowed that no woman would ever break his heart again.

He wanted a life similar to his father’s, the kind that Matt also strove for, but he wasn’t willing to marry the first girl who came along. And he certainly wasn’t going to order one up out of a newspaper. The mail-order-bride practice, while seeming to be successful all over the West was something Wyatt didn’t understand. How could folks marry others without being in love?. He imagined it must have to do as much with survival as anything. An unmarried, unattractive, unbeautiful woman had a tough row to hoe once her male relatives were no longer around, or if they couldn’t take care of her. He’d heard stories of fresh-faced young women with peaches and cream complexions and pretty smiles aging ten years in three because they’d been forced to turn to the only means of survival available to them. Hard, back-breaking work.

The brothers entered the dining room and sat at the table.

“Well, to what do we owe the honor?” Alice smiled indulgently at Matt, and Wyatt rolled his eyes. For as long as he could remember there had been a double standard in the O’Reilly household, and that was that Matt could never do any wrong in his mother’s, or for that matter, his father’s eyes. If Wyatt had done what Matt had just done, he would have heard about how he’d ruined the mealdinner for everyone. He shrugged. It was just the way things were.

When they were through, Wyattt made the announcedment that they were leaving to go into town and meet Matt’s fiancé. Then they would get her situated at the hotel near the church. It was quiet in that part of town. There were no saloons and street noise. It was a more genteel place to stay.

“Oh but, you’re not going to bring her here? Rachel got the back guest room ready in order for the young lady. She worked on it all day yesterday.” Alice smiled at Rachel, who blushed.

“I’m sorry, Ma. I want for her to stay in town. It will be easier for her. She won’t be at the mercy of who’s driving into town or not.”

Wyatt smirked. His brother was good at twisting words and meanings to suit his goal. He should have gone to law school, Wyatt thought. His talents were lost out on the ranch, although he was an excellent ranch hand, second only to Wyatt who was the most skilled cowboy in Park County and three others as well.

“Are you ready, Matt?” Wyatt wanted to get on with it. He was annoyed. Annoyed that his brother’s moods were dictating everyone’s actions once again. “I don’t have all day.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Matt stood, and after saying goodbye, the men headed out the back door to walk to the barn.

“Do you want to use the carriage? The surrey is too light for three and I’m not staying in town.” Wyatt didn’t want his day to get away from him. 

“Yeah. Let’s take the carriage. The closed one in which she won’t get dusty or cold if the wind should kick up.”

“Okay.” Wyatt went about hitching the wagon to the team and in fifteen minutes they were ready to leave. It was half-past two when they climbed into the carriage and started off to town and the train station.

There were a lot of people in the downtown area enjoying the sunshine and the early spring day. Far-off, the train’s whistle blew, and Matt looked at Wyatt who noticed his brother’s eyes were filled with something more akin to fear than excitement. It appeared Matt was having second thoughts and didn’t know what to do about them.

As the train approached, folks lined up on the porch of the depot, craning their necks and trying to see. Two little boys each set a penny on the tracks and waited for the flattened pieces of copper they would get once the train pulled back out.

It seemed to Wyatt that everything was happening in slow motion. He had work he had to get to. What was taking the train so long? He tapped his foot in impatience and finally the huge engine rounded the bend and pulled past them, chugging to a stop.

Wyatt instinctively stood back and partially shielded himself behind a porch post. Matt, on the other hand, walked up to the train and waited for it to come to a complete stop. 

Within minutes, the passengers disembarked. There were families, young ladies traveling in twos or alone, young businessmen in suits, and then a woman with sable tresses, half pulled up, half cascading in a shower of curls over her shoulder. She smiled pleasantly as she took the conductor’s hand and stepped down from the train as light and airy as an angel. Wyatt thought her to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and he was so caught up in the vision of her that for more than a minute he was unaware of his surroundings. Suddenly, he realized that Matt and the beautiful woman were walking toward him.

“Wyatt, this is Miss Clara Macallister.”

She smiled at him, showing a dimple in her right cheek, and curtsied. “How nice to meet you, Mr. O’Reilly.”

“Uh, Wyatt will do just fine. We’re not real formal out here in Wyoming.”

She giggled a frothy tinkling of a laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Miss Macallister is going to rest at the hotel and we’ll meet for supper this evening.”

“Yes, of course.” Wyatt smiled. Her large, dark eyes were mysterious and compelling and it wasn’t lost on him that, once more, Matt had a prize handed to him that he didn’t seem at all happy to have gotten. Wyatt had seen none of his younger brother’s substantial charm all day. Not even in his remarks to Miss O’Reilly.

Well, who was he to judge? He clearly didn’t understand the inner workings of the intimate dealings of men and women who were couples. One thing he did understand though, and much too well, was that once his brother married Miss Macallister, Wyatt would need to leave Crandall. He’d known the minute he’d laid eyes on the lady that she was the one for him, but she’d promised herself to his brother. It was simply a repeat of so many other instances in his and his brother’s life. It was just the way things were. The way things had always been. 

They walked to the carriagebuggy and Wyatt turned to Miss Macallister to help her up. As he took her hand he nearly flinched and his heart turned over in his chest. She glanced up at him and he was lost in the depths of her black eyes.

“Uh, there you go, Miss Macallister.”

“Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly, but I think if we are to be brother and sister, we could employ a first name basis with one another. My name is Clara as your brother told you. I don’t think it’s fair for me to use your first name and you not to use mine.” She smiled and, once again, he felt something he’d never felt before. He only knew he liked it. 

Wyatt brushed past Matt and seated himself in the carriage. The plan had been for him to drive the couple to the hotel and wait outside while Matt secured a room. When they arrived, that was exactly what happened.

Matt and Clara left the carriage and went to the doors of the hotel, but not before Clara had thanked Wyatt for driving. He waited outside while Matt got Clara situated. They were going to have supper this evening. Then he imagined Matt would bring his fiancé to meet the family at dinner tomorrow.

Of course, there would be no big wedding. Mail-order-bride arrangements didn’t work out that way. In fact, Wyatt had heard tell of couples who were married by the judge at the jailhouse as soon as the lady arrived in town and stepped off the train. Matt and his lady friend would most likely be married at the ranch. Myles would hire the preacher to come out for the ceremony. It all sounded, to Wyatt’s mind, like a good plan. He just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with his brother who walked out into the sunshine just then. Wyatt wondered if he should ask, but being all-too-familiar with his brother’s mood swings and contrary nature, he decided not to. If Matt wanted to tell him…anything…he would tell him. Otherwise, it was best to keep quiet.

“Ok, well, she’s all settled. I reckon tomorrow Ma will want some kind of welcome-to-the-family soiree. Then the wedding will be on Friday morning.”

“It sounds like a solid plan, and she, uh…Clara agrees?”

“Yes. Ma said that Rachel fixed up the back bedroom for Clara to stay in. I guess she planned this for after the wedding; that room has a doorway directly into my room. Right now, my armoire is against it. I reckon I’ll have to move my furniture around.” He rolled his eyes.

“Matt, if you don’t mind me asking, what is the matter? You haven’t shown your new bride your sense of humor. She just came a very long way. You don’t seem like you’re very interested in her or in marrying her. So what’s going on? It’s not fair to Clara.”

“She doesn’t even know me. As far as she’s concerned, everything is spot on. And it is, I guess.”

“What do you mean, you guess things are spot on?”

Matt sighed. “I don’t know, Wyatt. I’m afraid I made a big mistake.”

“Whoa. Come on, let’s go into Suzie’s. I could use another cup of coffee.”

“Okay.”

To Wyatt, it seemed as if Matt had lost all excitement about his imminent marriage and, after seeing and speaking to Clara, Wyatt couldn’t understand why. They walked into the coffee shop and chose a table in the back, in the corner. There they could talk quietly and uninterrupted.

“So. Do you want to tell me what’s going on here, Matt? You haven’t been yourself since yesterday, but today you’re worse. This seems like more than nervous wedding jitters.”

Matt nodded, but after a minute of silence, Wyatt blurted out, “Tell me right now, Matt, or I, I swear I’ll tell Ma you don’t want to get married.”

“Aw, come on, Wyatt. Let’s leave Ma out of it, okay. There’s no reason for her to find out what I’m about to tell you. I mean, eventually she will, but today is not the day to tell her.”

“You’re acting as if I know what you’re talking about. I’m tired of this game you’re playing. Either tell me or not. I brought you here so I could hear what the problem is and I can help to the best of my ability. But if you won’t help yourself, I don’t see why I should help you.”

“I understand, and I’m not playing games, I swear. It’s just that I’m thoroughly confused. Clara seems nice enough and under any other circumstances I reckon I’d marry her, but…”

“But, what? What could possibly stop you from marrying Clara?. I can’t think of any reason not to. There’s nothing at all to stop you, that is unless…” Wyatt felt his stomach turn into a cold lump. “Matt, don’t tell me…”

Matt nodded. “Yes. Can you believe it? After all this time. After all these…plans I’ve made.”

“Silvia.”

“Yes. She’s coming back. Her mother recovered and married a very wealthy man. They’re in Europe and Silvia was left alone. I daresay I can’t believe how her mother used her, forcing her to give up her life here to take care of her, and now she’s better and married and my Silvia is alone. I must take care of her, Wyatt.”

“Hmm.” Wyatt studied his brother. No wonder the charisma and beauty of Clara had eluded him. He was still as in love as ever with his former fiancé and now she was coming back to Crandall. She was coming back to Matt.

“And what do you propose to do with Miss O’Reilly?”

“Why, I’ll have to tell her the truth. I’ll pay her way back to Philadelphia or to wherever she wants to go. I also plan to give her some money for her troubles. I reckon she could use it. It wasn’t lost on me that she was mainly interested in the ranch and a secure life than any notions of romantic love. I don’t want to renege on my advertisement and my offer of marriage, but I am going to marry Silvia. I will not lose her twice. Surely, you must understand.”

“I reckon I can imagine it, but I was never in love like that. If Kathy came back to me, I wouldn’t have her.”

“Yeah, but she ran off with another man. I’m sorry to mention it, Wyatt, but you brought her up. When Silvia left Crandall, she did so out of obligation. Duty. Duty to the woman who had raised her. It’s a completely different scenario.”

“Yeah. It’s different all right, but the outcome for Clara is the same. You offered her refuge, Matt. Shelter. You know it. When you let me read her letters, I knew she was in danger of some kind. Or at least she thought she was in danger. What are you going to tell her?”

“The truth, of course.”

Wyatt broke out into a robust guffaw that turned not a few heads in the coffee house. When he’d gotten ahold of himself he raised his hand to order another coffee. He looked across the table at Matt, who didn’t seem very amused byat his laughter.

---

“A Blissful Encounter of Two Hearts” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!

Clara finds herself in turmoil when her beloved father dies suddenly, six months after marrying their housekeeper. Her world is about to come crashing down though when her stepmother forges a will that leaves her with no assets and forces her to abandon the only home she’s ever known. Clara finds herself alone and unable to find work, and as a last resort, she answers an ad for a mail-order bride. As if her life was not already a tragedy in the making, when she meets her husband-to-be, he immediately cancels the wedding to marry the love of his life. She cannot believe how her life took a turn for the worst in a single day until Wyatt steps up to do the chivalrous thing by taking his brother’s place and proposing marriage to her. Will she dare to fall for him and manage to lay aside her fears for a chance at love?

Wyatt O’Reilly is perfectly happy running the family ranch alongside his father and younger brother Matt. He leads a peaceful life with no desire to settle and that is why he doesn’t agree with his brother’s recent decision to find a mail-order bride. When Wyatt’s fiancée left him, he vowed to seal his heart and never love again. As far as he is concerned there’s no sense in setting oneself up for a broken heart. However, everything is about to change forever when Clara arrives in town to marry Matt. Wyatt is surprised at his brother’s reticence to carry on with his part of the bargain and takes things upon him. Little does he know the sudden turn his life is about to take when unexpected feelings for Clara begin to fill his head. Will Wyatt’s determination to protect his heart destroy the possibility of finding happiness after all?

While Clara and Wyatt get to know each other and grow closer, they must find a way to unfold their complicated feelings. When problems on the ranch add to their doubts, a big misunderstanding threatens to tear them apart. With such a difficult beginning, can they ever hope to understand one another, let alone find love?

“A Blissful Encounter of Two Hearts” is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Get your copy from Amazon!