A Chance Encounter - Book One of the Western Girls Trilogy

Chapter 6

Nathanial finished his business meeting and wandered around the house looking for Miss Quinn and his brother. Finally, he found Nick sitting on the back porch steps with his head in his hands. "Well, what on earth did you do now?" he asked.

"I made her angry," Nick said. "But that should make you happy. She's just one more step closer to marrying you."

Nathanial sat down beside him. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "She doesn't want to marry me."

"Don't patronize me," Nick growled.

"I'm not. Maybe she hasn't realized it yet, and it's obvious that you haven't either, but I realized it quite some time ago."

"What are you talking about?"

"So, I'm assuming you didn't let her explain everything?"

"What is there to explain?"

Nathanial laughed softly. "No, of course you didn't."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, I had really high hopes for her and I. When I first met her, I immediately thought she was beautiful and just the temperment I was looking for, so I was excited to get married. But the more we got to know each other, the more I realized that there was more to the story. When she asked for time, I was happy to give it to her. I figured I could spend the time getting to know her......really getting to know her. And maybe you should have done the same thing instead of going off half-cocked and accusing her of lying to you."

Nick wanted to argue. She had specifically said she didn't understand why women would choose to be mail order brides, and yet that was exactly what she was. "She purposely deceived me!" Nick said.

"Did she tell you she was forced to come?"

"Oh please," Nick shook his head.

"Why would she lie, Nick?"

"I don't know. To pull you in further?"

"It would have been completely unnecessary." Nathan replied. "But if you'll listen for just a minute, I'll tell you what she told me."

"Fine. What did she tell you?"

"Ms. Desmond, the woman I sent the money to is actually the director at an orphanage for girls in Abilene. I didn't know this when I was corresponding with her or I would have rethought the arrangement. Miss Quinn is pretty sure she's done this before, but what she told me is that Ms. Desmond led her to believe she was signing documents for the orphanage, not a contract saying she would be a mail order bride. When she refused to go, the woman threatened to hand over the younger girls to the owner of a nearby saloon. She felt she had no choice but to come, in order to protect the other girls. So, when she told you that she didn't understand why any woman would choose to be a mail order bride, she wasn't lying to you. She didn't choose this."

"I'm an idiot!" Nick hissed.

"I'm sure that's true." Nathanial grinned.

"She was trying to tell me and I completely blew her off,"

"Nick, she's probably the most honest person you'll ever meet. I don't know why you let this whole thing upset you so much."

"I accused her of trying to marry you for your money,"

Nathanial chuckled. "I happen to know that because you haven't touched hardly a cent of the money Father left you, that you're nearly as wealthy as I am."

"I've touched it." Nick said. "I just gave you five hundred dollars. You don't think I carry that kind of money in my hat, do you?"

"I knew that's where you got it," Nathanial said. "You know, I offered to try to get the money back from Ms. Desmond and Miss Quinn refused to let me. She said if she were to find out that the wedding never happened, she might go through with her threat to harm the girls. It's the only reason I accepted her offer to repay me."