A Mail Order Bride for the Miner (Love by Mail #2)
Christina Ward
Chapter 1
Spring Fort, Louisiana, November 1871
“Dunno what I woulda done without ya, Sarah.” Bart propped himself up in bed on his elbows.
Sarah blushed suddenly very aware of the fact that the doctor was tending to another patient down the long row of beds. “You’re not well yet.”
She fluffed the pillow behind his head and glared at him for good measure.
Bart chuckled and a lock of his brown curls fell over his eyes. He looked so young and charming. She glanced at her latest patient feeling a slight flutter growing in her chest. But it quickly dissipated when a loud gasp erupted behind her. Sarah turned her gaze away and stepped aside to see who was coming.
“Bart! I was so worried!” A blonde young woman rushed past Sarah and flung herself at Bart, who caught her around the waist.
“I’m fine, Elizabeth.” Bart kissed the woman’s forehead and nodded to Sarah. “Sarah here patched me up quite well.”
Elizabeth turned her blue eyes already wet from tears to Sarah. “Thank you so much!”
Sarah smiled, her modesty making her blush this time. “No problem. He can go home later, but he’ll need to take it easy on his left leg.”
Elizabeth sighed, turned back to Bart. “I told you not to join the sheriff’s posse after those brigands!”
Bart caressed her cheek. “Part of the job, sweetheart.”
Sarah cleared her throat and left the two to their own affairs. She looked around the physician’s stuffy room, which held several cots and tables for the sheriff’s men. Their run-in with the outlaws didn’t quite go as anticipated. As she turned around she came face to face with the small mirror beside the door.
Her heart jumped a beat. Would she ever get used to that sight?
Patches of skin pulled at each other like tree roots creeping over one side of her face. So hideous, she thought, and sighed. How could I imagine even for a moment… She turned away.
Someone touched her arm. “Sarah, there you are.” Martha’s voice rang in her ears, followed by a giggle. “What is it?” Sarah faced her friend.
Martha leaned closer and her voice lowered to a whisper. “You see that man near the window, the one with a bandage around his head and an eye patch?”
“One of the lawmen from next town? Why? Is he bothering you?” Sarah squinted in the direction her friend nodded to just a moment ago.
Martha giggled again.
Was she having seizures? The way her shoulders were shaking was not natural.
“Land sakes no!” Martha giggled yet again and gave a tiny wave to the man, who winked back at her. “I think he really likes me.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. She knew what that meant. Martha was going to get married in a couple of months. It also meant that Sarah would no longer have any close unmarried female friends.
“Oh, by the way, your sister’s here.”
“Which one?” Please don’t let it be Olive. Please don’t…
“The one who just had a baby last year? Olive, I think. She’s outside.”
Sarah stifled a sigh. Instead, she smiled at her friend and nodded. “Thanks, Martha.”
Sarah went outside the house and found her petite, older sister making cooing noises at the small bundle in her arms. Something painful reared its head inside Sarah’s chest, but she clamped it down. It wasn’t that Sarah didn’t want to see her sister, but every time she did, she remembered what she wanted and didn’t have.
“Olive!”
The brunette turned around and flashed Sarah a huge smile. “Sarah! Ooh, look, Li’l Jimmy, look, it’s Aunty Sarah!”
Li’l Jimmy grabbed his aunt’s index finger and closed his eyes while making a cute sound.
“How’ve you been?” Sarah asked.
“I should be askin’ you that,” Olive said, chocolate-colored eyes that mirrored Sarah’s widened. “Jim and I wanted to check up on you. Ma’s so worried! When she heard about those bandits…”
“The sheriff’s posse took care of them, so you can tell her to calm down.”
Olive sighed, she did not like being dismissed. “And you? How are you?”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t even in the fight.”
“I meant, generally.” Olive looked over her shoulder. Martha’s laugh, followed by a man’s voice was clearly audible even outside. “Are you – happy?”
Sarah was the one to sigh this time. “Quit beatin’ the devil ‘round the stump, Olive.”
Olive smirked. “All right then. Any man in your life?”
Sarah pursed her lips, much to her older sister’s amusement. “In time.”
“When’s that?”
“When the Lord deems it right.”
Li’l Jimmy gurgled, and Olive hushed and rocked him. “By the way, we’ll be stayin’ with you and Ma, and the others for a coupla days.”
“Why? Did something bad happen?”
“Pshaw! You always think something bad’s happened! It’s good news!” She lowered her voice. “I think I’m pregnant again.”
Olive smiled and Sarah couldn’t help smiling herself, but deep down she didn’t feel it. Her sister was going to have two kids now, and yet at twenty-three, Sarah still didn’t even have a suitor.