Alma's Mail Order Husband (Texas Brides Book 1) (16 page)

“Now do you see?” Clarence shouted in
triumph. “That’s the mark of the Forty-sixth. They all had that
mark on their guns when they killed our men. I’ll never forget that
mark as long as I live. He was there. He massacred our men in cold
blood, as sure as I’m sitting here.”

Jude stared at him with wide eyes. “My father
gave me these guns when I first left home. He told me he had them
when he fought in the war. I always assumed he fought for the
Confederacy, but he never actually mentioned which Army he fought
with. I was happy enough to get the guns. I never asked where they
came from.”

The three sisters looked down at their
father. His head drooped until his chin hit his chest, and he broke
down in sobs.

“I didn’t know my father was a Yankee,” Jude
went on. “I didn’t know anything about that massacre, and I
certainly wasn’t there. I’m only twenty-five, you know. My parents
didn’t even meet until the war ended.”

The old man didn’t answer. He only sobbed,
his shoulders convulsing and his tears falling into the dust
between his legs.

Alma handed the pistol back to Jude, who put
it in its holster. “Come on inside, all of you. We’re all hungry
and tired, and we need to get supper on before it gets any later.
Tomorrow’s another work day.”

Jude nodded toward the old man. “What will we
do about him?”

“Nothing,” Alma told him. “Just leave him
there. He’ll come in later when he’s had a chance to calm
down.”

She went to the door and opened it. She stood
back as her sisters entered the house. Jude came toward her, but he
stopped and glanced back toward the wreck of the man in the yard.
“I don’t like leaving him out here. We ought to bring him inside.
We ought to clean him up and feed him and put him to bed.”

Alma smiled at him. “Thank you for thinking
of him, but he’ll come on his own. It’s bad enough seeing your
whole carefully constructed world come crashing down around your
ears. Don’t make it worse by being nice to him.”

“He’s a human being,” Jude replied. “You can
see just from looking at him that he used to be a fine specimen of
a man. He deserves better than this.”

“Come inside,” Alma told him. “Let him sit
alone with his grief for a while. That’s what he wants.”

Jude stooped under the door frame into the
dark house. Amelia lit the lamp and set it on the table as Alma
closed the door.

Allegra prepared supper for them. She set it
on the table, and Jude and the three women sat down to eat it, but
Clarence still didn’t come in.

“We ought to save him some food for later,”
Jude remarked. “He’ll be hungry.”

“I don’t think so,” Amelia told him. “He
won’t want to eat. He’ll go to sleep, or he might sit up in his
chair all night. Just carry on and let him work it out for himself.
That’s our way.”

“I don’t like it,” Jude muttered.

“You should be angry with him,” Alma pointed
out. “You should want to drive him out of house and home for
pulling a gun on you and trying to kill you.”

“Maybe I should be,” Jude replied. “But I
just can’t be mad at him. It’s like you kept telling me. He had a
reason to hate me, and he had plenty of reason to think I was at
that battle. He was wrong, but he had a good reason to think so. I
should have gone out of my way to find out what was eating him. I
should have given him the benefit of the doubt.”

A thoughtful silence fell over the table,
broken only by chewing. A slight sound outside the house brought
their attention back.

“Do you think he’s okay out there?” Jude
asked.

“He’s fine out there,” Alma told him. “Don’t
worry about him. You did the right thing by attacking him the way
you did, and you did the right thing by stopping after you’d beaten
him. He knows that.”

Jude sighed. “I guess I’ll have to take your
word for it.”

“I’m just glad the whole thing worked out in
the end,” Alma added. “I’m glad we got the matter cleared up. Now
we can move on.”

“So this is what getting a mail-order husband
does to a family,” Allegra remarked.

Alma shook her head. “If I had known it was
going to work out this way, I probably would have changed my
mind.”

“Do you really think it’s that bad?” Amelia
asked. “Do you really think it wasn’t worth it? I thought you were
happy with your decision.”

“I am happy with it,” Alma replied. “I just
didn’t know it was going to cause so much trouble.”

“It hasn’t been so much trouble,” Amelia
returned. “I don’t think it’s been much trouble at all, considering
how it could have gone. We’re all sitting here, having supper
together very amicably. And I can’t remember when I’ve seen you so
happy, Alma. You’re a different person since you got married.”

“You’re right,” Alma admitted. “I’m a
different person.”

“And are you happy?” Amelia asked.

Alma’s smile lit up the table. “Yes. I’m
happy. I’m very happy. I’ve never been happier in my life than
right now.”

“That’s good,” Amelia exclaimed. “Because
I’ve decided I’m going to get myself a mail-order husband,
too.”

The End

Coming soon….

Texas Brides: Book
2

Amelia’s Mail-Order Husband

In Book 2 of
The Texas Brides
Series,
Amelia Goodkind marries Bruce Manfield from El Paso, Texas. When
Amelia first brings Bruce home, Jude and Alma and Allegra laugh at
him. He’s a big, gangly hulk of a man, but he’s clumsy and ungainly
in his movements, unlike delicate, careful Amelia. Jude especially
sees Bruce as an easy target for his pointed sense of humor. The
sisters can’t figure out why Bruce doesn’t stand up to his much
smaller brother-in-law, when he could put Jude in his place with a
flick of his wrist. No amount of encouragement from anyone can prod
Bruce into asserting himself. He even seems to go out of his way to
bow to Jude’s will. Even Alma finds Jude’s behavior toward Bruce
disturbing.

But no one on the Goodkind ranch knows that
Bruce is hiding an explosive secret, one which will transform the
relationships of this family forever. The introduction of another
man into the family brings fresh complications to the fragile peace
established after Jude’s arrival. Competing loyalties and
affections breed conflicts and misunderstandings, until everyone
stands against everyone else. Only Amelia’s unwavering faith in her
new husband carries them through to the ultimate climax. In his
last battle, Bruce finds a strength he never knew he had in
Amelia’s love.

Thank you for reading and supporting my book
and I hope you enjoyed it.

Please will you do me a favor and review
“Alma’s Mail Order Husband” so I’ll know whether you liked it or
not, it would be very much appreciated, thank you.

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