From

Mail order bride beginning

She could feel the perspiration trickle down her neck and moisten her already dust covered flesh. Her garments would take a lot to get clean. Oh…what heaven a bath would be. She checked the pins holding her hat to be sure they weren’t dislodged. She was nervous, and not even traveling for so many days could take the edge off.

 

From inside her reticule, she grasped the advertisement and letters they had exchanged. “Wife Wanted”, she read. “…Not necessary to be dainty. There’s lots of things need doin”. She had exchanged two letters with this man who she imagined as a big, strong, handsome rancher with beautiful hair and blue eyes. His letters weren’t fancy but they seemed honest. It was obvious he loved his ranch, animals and land. She refolded the letters and advertisement and placed them back into her reticule.

 

Tucking them in gently, she discovered a locket she had forgotten about. She had slipped it into the bag prior to leaving. Handling it gingerly, she pressed the clasp, opening the locket to the photos inside. She could feel a pressure in her chest, and tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at the images of her parents. What was she doing? What was she thinking? She had pretended, (or had she?), to be excited about this adventure so her parents would be supportive. She snapped the locket shut and composed herself. She had made this decision for very good reasons and here she was now.

If her parents had known her "very good reasons", they very well might not have let her go. She didn't give her parents enough credit; they were smarter than she thought. They at least knew what they were doing.

 

She thought of her siblings and what they would most likely be doing at this time of day, Marvin, the youngest at five, would of course be playing ball with the Nelson boys. Sherrie, seven, would be helping mom make bread for the evening’s meal. Cindy, ten, would probably be feeding the goats. She loved those silly animals. Fred, who was twelve, should be splitting firewood right about now, probably blathering on to Frank as he usually did. You see, Fred had once had a twin, Frank, but he had died when they were both just babies. Sally, the very definition of a vain fourteen year old girl, was definitely brushing her hair. Day and night she sat in front of her mirror combing her "silky strands". Roger, the oldest boy at seventeen, had a fairly level head. He was probably reading a large educational tome. To get ahead in school of course.

 

That just left Mary and her.  Mary was her twin, they were nineteen years old.   Mary had up and gotten hitched six months ago, and that was what had really started this adventure. Identical twins, she and Mary had always been close. Well, perhaps close was a relative term seeing as how Mary had stolen her fiancé, Ted Barnes and married him. Well, that was the end of that. She just had to get away. So here she was, steeling herself to spend the rest of her life with a complete stranger.