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Jesus, keep me from all wrong
Ten days later, they arrived in Fort Robinson, Nebraska. It was flat and dusty, and Joanna and Katie were glad they wouldn’t be staying in that town long. The stagecoach didn’t leave until the next morning, so they found a boarding house and rented a room to share.
Neither one of them talked much. They were too tired from very little sleep on the train. After a quick supper from the proprietress, they took a quick bath, collapsed on their beds, and fell fast asleep.
Joanna woke with a groan. Her body ached everywhere and she knew it would probably only get worse on the stagecoach. She glanced outside and then at Katie. Katie lay in her bed, eyes open, but not moving.
“Katie? What time is it?”
Katie stirred. “Time to get up and head for the stage office.”
“Oh.” She sighed. “What about breakfast?”
“I think she might have already started cleaning it up.”
Joanna stretched and forced her legs to swing over the edge of the bed and hold her up as she brushed herself off. “I hope Lane doesn’t mind me looking dusty and wrinkled.”
Katie laughed as she stood up. “If he does, he shouldn’t have requested a mail order bride.”
They tidied the room and carried their bags down the stairs. The proprietress, a cheerful older woman, met them at the bottom of the stairs. “Here’s a little something to eat on the stagecoach. I know you missed breakfast, but I also wanted you to get some sleep.”
Katie swallowed. “Thank you very much, Ma’am. You have been too kind to us.”
“Nonsense. You remind me of my own daughters. I am simply treating you the way you deserve. God bless you both.”
They hugged the kind woman and hurried to the stage office. Outside the office stood three other young women, two of whom were twins.
Katie and Joanna stood next to them and the driver set down a box for them to use as a step after putting all their bags on top of the coach. He helped them all in. Katie didn’t like the assessing look he gave them, especially Joanna and the other girl who wasn’t a twin, but she didn’t say anything. With any luck, they would be out of the stagecoach and in Cheyenne by tomorrow at noon.
Joanna sat on the edge facing backwards and Katie sat next to her. The twins sat opposite them with the other girl. As the stagecoach swayed and started to move, Katie studied the other three girls. None of them could be more than twenty-one and none of them wore rings.
She smiled. “Since we’ll be on this stage together for some time, perhaps we should introduce ourselves. I’m Katie.”
Joanna lifted her head up. “I’m Joanna.”
The pretty blonde darted her eyes back and forth. “I am Adelaide. Are we all going to Cheyenne?”
Each of them nodded.
“Curious,” Adelaide muttered.
“We’re Evangeline and Eve,” one of the twins said.
Eve glared at her sister. “Evangeline’s the bossy one and likes to take over sometimes. Why are y’all going to Cheyenne?”
Joanna glanced over at Katie and Katie patted her hand. “Joanna and I are going to be mail order brides.”
Adelaide’s eyes narrowed. “So am I.”
Evangeline squealed. “So are we! This is so exciting!”
Katie kept her face blank, but inside, her mind was churning. What were the odds of all five of them getting on the same stagecoach in the same out-of-the-way town to go to the same large city in Wyoming?
She shook the dismal thoughts out of her head. What could possibly happen to them? There were five of them. It wasn’t like they had gone unnoticed in Fort Robinson.
“What a coincidence,” Katie said.
“I think it was Providence,” Eve mentioned. “Why else would we all be on the same stage going off on our biggest adventure?”
Adelaide wrinkled her eyebrows. “Yes, I’m sure you are right.”
Maybe I’m not the only one who has concerns that all may not be right here, Katie thought.
“What are the names of your future husbands?” Eve asked.
“Mine is Luke Williamson,” Katie said.
“Lane Paul,” Joanna whispered.
Adelaide pulled out her letter and handed it to Eve. “If you can read his signature, you can tell me what his name is. I know what it was in the ad, but the signature is unreadable.”
Eve studied the paper. “Evangeline, you’re better at this than I am.”
Evangeline took the paper with a sigh. “This is awful handwriting! The bumping on the stage doesn’t make it any easier, either. It almost looks like he’s normally right-handed, but is writing with his left hand. The name might be Benjamin Paul, though.”
Joanna’s head jerked up. “I wonder if that would be Lane’s brother.” She looked across at Adelaide. “That would be interesting.”
“Yes, it would,” Adelaide answered. “What about you two?”
“Well,” Evangeline said, “one of us will be marrying Allen Reese and the other one will marry his friend, Leland Granger. We don’t really know for sure who he is, though.”
Eve giggled. “Evangeline responded to the advertisement and asked if he had a friend who wanted a wife, too, because I didn’t want to be separated from her, and he sent two tickets.”
Katie shook her head. “I’ll be curious to know how that turns out.”
Evangeline nodded, causing her blond curls to bounce. “Isn’t it a grand adventure?”
Adelaide raised her eyebrows. “It’s also a serious commitment. Marriage is for life and you want to make sure the man you marry will be good to you because it is nearly impossible to get out.”
Evangeline rolled her eyes. “We know that. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be careful. If all else fails, Papa said he would send us money to go back home.”
Adelaide pursed her lips. Katie knew how she felt. The twins were being much too cavalier about the whole thing. Hopefully it would all work out in the end. She looked out the window and prayed silently, God, You are our Provider. Keep each of us safe in Your arms. I know I haven’t been the most faithful to You lately. Forgive me. For some reason, I feel very protective of these four young women. Is it my motherly instinct to care for everyone who comes into my sphere of influence? Perhaps. Even if it is for some other reason, I know I would do most anything to save them. Give me the courage if I need it.
