Would you become a mail-order bride?
Tabitha Masterson is certain whatever awaits her in Radford Springs, Texas will be better than what her brother and that awful William have in mind in Boston. After her father’s death, her brother has become a tyrant. She escapes to start her new life in Texas, but trouble can’t be far behind. She believes if she’s married when trouble arrives, she’ll be safe. But her fiancé is reluctant to accept her as a substitute for the mail-order bride he’d courted.
Bear Baldwin is crushed when he receives a wire notifying him that the woman with whom he has corresponded for almost a year has passed him off to her friend. Do the two women think he’s like an old shirt to be handed down? His mother urges him to give the substitute fiancée a chance, but his pride is stung and he hasn’t decided.
Tabitha’s Journey
Chapter One
Boston, Massachusetts, February 1874
Tabitha clutched the chair arms with white knuckles and stared at her late father’s attorney, Mr. Horace Percival. The room’s tan walls and dark paneling swirled in front of her and she forced back the urge to scream. Instead, she swallowed hard and fought to compose her face while her heart appeared to be shrinking.
The elderly man raised his eyes from the document he’d been reading to meet her gaze. “Your father assured me your brother,” Mr. Percival stopped to stare toward her brother, David, and then at his wife, Bertha, “would care for you. You’re to remain in their home until you marry.”
“Th-Their home?” Her shoulders dropped and she hitched them up again. “I had thought it would belong to David and to me, the same as the company would.”
Her brother patted the sleeve of her black wool dress. “Now, Tabbie, you know you’ll always be welcome to live with Bertha and me. Likely you’ll be marrying soon. At least if my brother-in-law has his way.” David glanced at his wife and chuckled knowingly.
“No,” she whispered. Tabitha stared at him and raised her courage to confront him. “Why do you persist in suggesting I marry William Forsythe? If you hadn’t married his sister, you would never allow the man in our…your home.”
“You have some nerve.” Bertha turned red and her beady brown eyes almost bulged from her head. “William is paying you a compliment to show interest in a tall, gangly spinster who’s long been on the shelf.” She patted the henna locks she insisted were natural.
David refused to meet anyone’s gaze, but gave another false-sounding chuckle. “William’s not a bad sort once you get to know him. And if you wed him, you can settle down near us and continue working at American-Atlantic Shipping.”
Bertha nodded. “With the dowry money you get when you marry, you and William could buy a nice little house in our neighborhood.”
So, Bertha knew about her legacy from her mother, did she? That partially explained the attention from her worthless brother. Tabitha wondered if Bertha knew how many pieces of furniture were supposed to belong to her as well. Probably down to each drawer pull and napkin rings.
“Ahem. Shall we get on with the reading of the will?” Mr. Percival adjusted the document he held. “All interests in American Atlantic Shipping, Limited, go to my son, David Masterson.”
Dread and hopelessness sent Tabitha’s spirits lower. Papa had excluded her from everything. Every single thing. Waves of nausea enveloped her and her stomach clenched. What could she do?
Why hadn’t she insisted Papa admit her contribution to the family business? Why had she tolerated his fawning over her slipshod brother while she worked long hours to ensure the company’s profits? Why, oh why, hadn’t she rebelled?
