Mail Order Brides of Band of Sister Outlaws (A Western Romance Book)

Chapter 02

Anne awoke during the night to the sound of Clara crying from her nursery. She put a robe on over her bedclothes, noting Edward's absence beside her, thinking he had simply gone to his study to do some work. In the nursery, she found Edward holding Clara in his arms, rocking her back and forth while she looked up at him with blue eyes that spoke of love and trust. Anne thanked God that she had made the decision to remain with Edward. Clara would have a good life now.

Edward smiled as she stepped into the room. "Here's Mama," he said to Clara, passing her over to Anne. Anne smiled as she took her child. "I thought I'd let you sleep a bit," he told her, his cheeks turning pink. "I had hoped her cries wouldn't wake you."

"I am a light sleeper," she told him. "But thank you so much. You have already done more for me than my last husband ever did."

She regretted the words as soon as she spoke them. She never wanted to think of Joseph again. She wished she had not told so many deceptions to Edward. What would he think if he knew about her past?

The morning sun brought a lightness to Anne's heart that she had not felt since her father's death. Edward left for the jailhouse, and Anne decided to take Clara for a stroll in the new buggy Edward had purchased for them. She pushed Clara along the street, exploring the city with its many shop windows and restaurants. She had never seen anything like it in Montana Territory.

Anne missed her mother and sisters terribly, but she had only to look toward Paw Paw Forest in the distance, with its thick covering of green, and know that they were not so very far. She longed for the day they could all be reunited. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a familiar face—a man's face with jet black hair and eyes as dark as the night. She turned toward him but then he was gone, and Anne imagined that she was seeing things.

Anne pushed Clara along, turning down a side street that intersected the main road. She found a barbershop and a second general store. She could hardly fathom it. A town with two general stores! She passed it by, but reaching the end of the street, which led to nothing but dirt and gravel, she thought she would turn and go back. Perhaps there was something in the general store that Clara might use.

Upon turning the buggy around, the man she had seen earlier stepped from behind a door and blocked her path. Anne's mouth dropped open.

"Joseph!" she whispered.

"Good afternoon, Anne. Or should I say, Mrs. Wilmot?"

Anne took a step back without thinking, and her heel stuck in some mud. She pulled it free to see that Joseph was mere inches from her.

"What do you want, Joseph?" she hissed.

He looked toward the buggy. "Is that my child?" he inquired. "What are you calling her?"

Anne's throat had run dry. "Clara."

"Clara," Joseph said. "A beautiful name for my beautiful daughter." He reached out one hand toward her, but Anne pushed it away. She hadn't realized until this very second how much better their lives were without him. Joseph had never been anything other than a gambler and a cheat during their two years of marriage. He'd duped her into marrying him by pretending he was a good, Christian man, and almost overnight, he had changed.

"You leave Clara be," Anne said. A man walked by, a young girl beside him. They both glanced at Anne and Joseph.

"I think your husband might be interested to know that he's married to a felon."

"Joseph," Anne warned him. "You stay away from him. Edward is three times the man you were."

He smiled at her, but it was crooked and unsettling. "That's all I wish as well," he said. "To stay away. Only, of course..." He gestured toward Clara with his right hand.