RNWMP: Bride for Theodore (Mail Order Mounties)(3)

To Jess’s surprise, her mother simply said, “I do agree.”

Father looked at Mother. “You do?”

Mother nodded. “I always wanted to see the world, but we married so young…I feel as if I missed something. I want my daughter to have what I missed. I will want letters every week, of course, because I shall worry otherwise. But yes, I think she should go.” She reached over and took Jess’s hand squeezing it. “You have the fun I always felt like I was meant to have.”

“Thank you,” Jess whispered to her mother. She rarely stood up to Father or had an opinion that could bother him, so it felt good to be supported.

Father seemed flabbergasted for a moment, but then he shrugged. “I suppose if your mother feels so strongly about it, you should go.”

It was all Jess could do not to stand up and dance around the room. She was going to travel around the world! A train, and a ship! Even if they never got past Boston, she’d never been on a train! “Thank you, Father!”

“Don’t make me regret it by marrying someone who isn’t even civilized.”

Jess shook her head emphatically. “I won’t. I promise.”



Two weeks later, Jess stood on the train platform saying goodbye to her parents. She was in a new traveling dress that Miss Hazel had insisted she needed. It was more fashionable than anything she’d ever worn, but it fit perfectly. Having someone other than her mother make her clothes for her had been a very new experience.

“I shall miss you both,” Jess said with a tear in her eye. “But I promise I will have the most marvelous time, and I will write every single week.”

Father looked for a moment like he was about to change his mind, but he shook his head. “Be sure you do write to your mother.”

Jess embraced them both, Miss Hazel bouncing excitedly beside her. Jess wasn’t sure a lady of Miss Hazel’s mature years should be bouncing like a toddler, but she didn’t question it. She was going to travel and see the world. Why would she question anything?

They walked to the sleeping car Miss Hazel had procured for them, and Jess looked at the top bunk. “I presume I’ll be sleeping up there?”

Miss Hazel surprised her. “If you don’t mind, I’ve always wanted to sleep up high off the floor. I believe it would feel as if I was floating on a cloud. Who doesn’t want to float on a cloud?” She scampered up the ladder with a speed and agility that astonished Jess.

Jess shook her head. This trip was going to be the most exciting thing she ever did in her life. She could feel it.



After changing trains in Maine, they headed south toward Boston. Jess couldn’t stop looking out the window. “We’re in a different country, Miss Hazel!”

“We certainly are! I think we’ll spend a week in Boston. We can shop for new clothes, go see a play or two, meet a handsome young man…” Miss Hazel winked at Jess, who blushed.

“I don’t know about meeting a handsome young man.”

“Why? Is there a beau I don’t know about back in Ottawa?” Miss Hazel tilted her head to one side, as if considering. “I’ve never heard of you setting your cap for a young man.”

Jess shrugged. “I never really have. Not since I was old enough for it to matter anyway.” She couldn’t lie to Miss Hazel, but it was hard to have this conversation, because the only man she’d ever really been silly about was her son.

“Hmm…There’s something you’re not telling me, but it’s too glorious a day for me to worry about that. In a few hours, we’re going to be in Boston. I can’t begin to express how excited I am. The first thing we’ll do upon our arrival is find out what plays are showing.”

“Yes, Miss Hazel.”



When a hired driver in a motor car pulled up in front of the Parker House Hotel, where Miss Hazel had booked them rooms for the night, Jess’s stomach was in knots. The hotel was so grand. A telegraph operator’s daughter shouldn’t be allowed to stay in such a magnificent place.

Her eyes were wide as the driver helped her down from the automobile and gave her luggage to a bellboy who was positioned out front of the hotel. “Have a nice stay, miss.”

Jess followed Miss Hazel inside. The older woman seemed to know exactly where she was going and had no qualms whatsoever about staying there…though Jess knew she’d not traveled before, either.

Soon they were in their room, all the way up on the fifth floor. Jess stood peering out the window, astonished at how small everyone looked. “This room is so high up.”

Miss Hazel nodded, obviously excited to have reached their first destination. “I shall use the telephone to find out what plays are in town, and we will decide where to go from there.”

Jess was still staring out the window when Miss Hazel finished her call. “We’re going to see The Duke’s Dilemma at the Forsythe Theater. The operator told me it’s filled with Spanish intrigue, and that sounds like something we have to see while we’re in Boston!”

“All right,” Jess told her. She didn’t care what they did. She’d someday be able to tell her children that she’d seen a play in Boston. She’d stayed on the fifth floor of a hotel in Boston. Well, if she ever found a man who could measure up to her Theodore.