The next day dawned slightly cloudy and very cool. Megan went out to gather eggs and as she walked through the chicken coop checking the nests the way that Cecily had shown her she found herself amused by the process, and touched by it too.
When her basket held nearly a dozen eggs she headed back to the house, proud of her accomplishment. She stowed the basket then went out to the barn with Thom to milk the cows and help give them their hay. Charles owned two cows and it would be her job to milk them and then turn that milk into rich creamy butter and wheels of cheese, sour cream, and buttermilk.
She was so eager to learn to do all those things!
Cecily was making breakfast and she pitched in there as well. She peeled and chopped the potatoes and onions then fried them before stirring the rich sour cream into them, covering them with thick slices of yellow cheese and turned them out onto a plate.
The eggs were done. The potatoes gave off a heavenly aroma. The biscuits were light, fresh, and piping hot. The butter and milk and coffee all stood on the table.
They were just waiting for Charles and she was eager to see him.
Until he walked into the house with his face pale and a letter clutched into his hands.
He looked at Cecily and thom and said, “May I speak with Megan alone for a few minutes please?”
Cecily said, “But of course. We can wait.”
Charles waved a hand. “No you carry on and eat. Megan...if you could come with me please.”
Her eyes went to the letter in his hands. A sinking feeling hit her stomach and the world went gray but she managed to nod her head and say, “But of course Charles.”
She took off the apron and hung it neatly, small things that helped her to breathe a little before she followed him out of the kitchen and then out to the porch.
He turned and guided her toward a small little ell at one corner of the house. He held the letter out wordlessly and she took it, her hands shaking.
Dearest Charles,
Oh I know I am awful but I must tell you that if someone has shown up there claiming to be your mail-order bride she is an imposter.
An imposter!
Oh it is my fault. You see I was afraid and I was...well I was undecided as to whether or not I could actually do it, come all the way across the country and marry a man I had yet to see in person. I was afraid I would not do well in the wilds. I was afraid of such large and open spaces and I was worried that I might be too lonely out there.
So when Megan, and how funny that our names are the same!, knocked on my door to tell me she had heard me talking about what was happening in my heart and how I longed to...I don’t know how better to put it. I met someone and, in my youth and ignorance, I assumed that what I felt for him was love. It was not. I was merely infatuated by him because he was unlike any man I had ever known before and I thought that perhaps he was where my destiny was supposed to lie.
So when Megan knocked on my door and said she would be willing to go in my place I jumped at the chance to let her go. I must admit I do not have the fare. She said she did though, and that perhaps more than anything else made up my mind.
I was ashamed to admit that I had to use the fare that you so generously sent me to purchase some very necessary items. I hope you will forgive me for all of this.
I should have written to you straightaway, when I first realized I had to spend the fare and when my heart was rebelling against our arrangement. It was a terrible and unkind thing to do, to send to you a woman who was not me. Not the woman who you cared for due to the letters that she, I, sent to you.
In truth I know nothing about her other than she was renting the room nearest to mine and she heard me decrying so many things. She must be very bold to have done what she did, to knock on my door. She is also very persuasive!
I don’t feel as if she is your match. That is what changed my heart and mind. I realized how foolish I was being, and how hurtful. Also I realized how little regard I showed to you and it just broke my heart.
As I said I do not know anything about her but I do know any woman desperate enough to do what she did must have a lot of reason for such desperation and none of them could be very good reasons—at least it seemed to me that something about her character must be lacking for her to do that.
So again I must apologize and hasten to warn you that she is not the woman you are to marry. Please, I beg you, do not marry her. I know there may yet be time for this to reach you as the trains may stall and I recall you saying that you wanted to take a little time for us to know each other when I arrived, and that you also needed a little more time to finish the house we will be spending our lives in.
If you have yet to wed her—do not. I am on the first train out of this wretched city. I am coming to you. Me, the woman you wrote to and contracted to wed.
I take full responsibility for my own part in this horrid fiasco, and pray you can find it in your heart to forgive me for my mistakes and for sending you an imposter in my stead. I shall spend every day of the rest of my life making that up to you. I cannot wait to step off the train and meet you in person!
I shall be arriving on Friday next. The journey will be long and tiring and I shall endeavor to remain as patient as possible though I imagine that will be difficult for every clack of the wheel on the track shall tell me that I am on my way to you, to my fiancé and the man I am going to wed.
Again, do not wed her. I am sorry for this. I am sorry for the whole terrible thing. But we shall rectify it together and move on, I have no doubt. For I fell in love with you through your letters and we already have some large degree of feeling between us, which is a good thing to have in a marriage.
Yours sincerely,
Megan Hall
Megan finished reading the letter, gave it back to him, and turned away, her heart crashing to the floor and breaking into a million pieces. Charles held the letter in his hands. His face was ashen. “Would you like to explain it all to me Megan?”
No, not at all. She had no choice though. She held back her tears. “I was...I was a factory girl. My parents died when I was very young and...and I had to either get to work or go to a home for orphans. I had a friend, a little older, who worked in one of the factories. She made hats and dresses and suits for young boys.”
Charles blinked. “I don’t understand.”
She held out her hands. “I know. I don’t either, not really. I just don’t know how to get to the reason why I took her place without telling you all of the story. You see I got a job there. I made pieces, we all had a certain job. Some sewed brims or lapels or seams. Some cut the fabric into what they called raw pieces and then it would come to us in the sewing room on this big belt. It was dangerous in there, and very hot too.
The danger came from all sorts of things. The lint often caught fire when the candles or lamps got too close. There were not enough windows to see out of and the ones that were there didn’t always open properly. We were worked fifteen hours a day despite the laws against it. The belts were dangerous too. The pieces would get stuck and we had to pull them out of there but if we tore the pieces we had to pay for it. One ripped piece could cost an entire day’s pay and women often got desperate and grabbed at something just as it went through the teeth. It wasn’t uncommon to see women missing fingers or parts of fingers. Or to have bloody wounds from the belts either.
We were women and so...so most of us didn’t complain. I was especially afraid to complain because I was so young you see.
I got the job and then I took over half of a set of rooms one of the other women was renting because I needed a place to live. I was, for all intents and purposes, on my own despite my age.”
Charles frowned. “So what happened?”
She closed her eyes. It came back, the whole brunt of the horror. “There was a fire one day. We were used to fires. That one was bad. The...the fire spread so fast we couldn’t put it out. We couldn’t get out the door because that was where the fire was and the windows were stuck shut. We had to throw a piece of equipment at the windows to get out, and not everyone did. Many didn’t. Too many.”
Her voice trailed off. She stared at him. It was awful. Awful. The ones who were trapped did not die fast. The building burned to the ground. The strikers didn’t even try to help. Those who got out, they paid us off but...but it got us in trouble. I didn’t know it would. I didn’t know they...the government people...would try to get me to testify against the owners or that the owners would start sending out people to threaten us or beat us up or...”
Tears came to her eyes. Fell down her face. “I was hiding because I was scared. I heard Megan, the other Megan, through the walls of the boarding house, talking about you and her contract and it just seemed like the best option. I never meant to hurt anyone, or cause any harm. I never meant to.”
Charles looked down at the letter. His fingers clenched and the paper crumpled. “I understand why you did it but I don’t understand why you felt you couldn’t trust me and tell me before now.”
She sighed. “I was still afraid. I lost faith for so long. I didn’t see much of God or goodness anywhere. I was worried that you’d send me back.”
“I would never send you back there to deal with that.’
She bowed her head. “There’s more.”
His breath came from his mouth in a sharp exhale. “More?”
She nodded miserably. “I had a plan if you didn’t want me. I have the money you see. The money they gave me. I decided if you didn’t want me I would start my own ranch and stay right here but...but I fell in love with you and I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to stay right here with you.”
Her tear-soaked face lifted to his. She was afraid to look at him, afraid he would tell her he could never love someone who had lied to him in such a way. Who’d come into his life under such false pretenses.
His hands reached for her and he crushed her to his powerful chest. “Oh Megan. I wish you’d told me.”
“So do I. I suppose I should go now. I mean since she’s on her way and all and we haven’t been married yet.”
“You don’t want to marry me?”
His words brought hope. She stared into his face, trying to read his expression. Her voice was hoarse. “Do you want to marry me?”
“Of course.” His voice was rough. “I know we didn’t start off on the right foot but I think we’re on even ground now.”
Her throat ached, “What about the other Megan?”
He sighed and rubbed the flesh right between his brows. “There’s plenty of men here who would appreciate a wife. She will be all right. We can offer her a little help anyway. But a woman who would run off with one man after pledging herself to another then expect the first to take her right back afterward? I don’t think that is the woman I want to marry. In fact I know it isn’t.”
She couldn’t breathe. Her whole body shook. “You mean it?”
He smiled at her. “I have never meant anything more. You brighten up my entire life and if you’ve lost faith I can understand why. You came to the right place to find it again, though, and I hope that my not deserting you over a mistake helps go a long way toward helping you restore that faith too.”
Hope crashed down. He was a good man, a decent one. Was that the only reason he wanted to wed her? Because his decency demanded that he do? “Do you have any feeling for me at all?”
His eyes widened. Then he burst into laughter. “Megan, I love you! I think I fell in love with you the minute you stepped off that train and smiled at me and the sky. You know it isn’t every woman who can see beauty in this place, or who can come at things with as much zest and hope as you have. You’re strong, stronger than any woman I have ever met and how could I not love you?”
His arms wrapped around her more tightly. She leaned her face against his chest. The steady thump of his heart reassured her. Her smile was genuine and filled with pleasure and relief.
“I could think of a thousand reasons.”
He stroked a palm across the top of her head. “Don’t. I love you, and it doesn’t matter how you got here or why. What does matter is that you got here. What matters most is that you didn’t lie when I asked you, and you were willing to talk to me. Besides, for all I know maybe it was fate that you came instead of her.”
Was it fate? “You think so?”
His smile was large. “God does work in mysterious ways doesn’t he?”
“He does.” She rested against him for a moment longer.
His breath made his chest rise up and down. His hands rested on her head and then her shoulders. He stepped back. They stood looking at each other for a long time then he said, “Well, Cicely is going to think you ran away if you don’t get back in there.”
She smiled. “I would never run away.”
She wouldn’t. She’d never run away. She took a deep breath. “I want to buy the land beside ours. I want to buy more cattle too.”
Charles frowned. “I’d like that but there’s not enough money for that yet.”
She nodded eagerly. “Oh but there is. I still have that money. Remember? I still have it and I want to invest it in our future. In Montana.”
Charles’ eyes held nothing but kindness. “Well then, I suppose we should get you down to the office and the auction then.”
She hugged him again. It was all coming true. They were going to be wed and they were going to have a large ranch. Life had somehow become exactly what it was supposed to be. She had a family. She had a man who loved her and a home of her own. She had everything she’d ever wanted and she was in a place that she loved with people she cared about.
God did work in mysterious ways and while the way she had gotten there hadn’t been easy it had gotten her there.
Faith came back. It flooded in. These were good people. This was a good man. She was a good person. Life was good.
The End
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