Mail Order Sweetheart Page 24

  Her smile could have lit a city street. “But how is this possible? It sounded like you barely had enough to refurbish the main part of the hotel.”

  “I’ve thought about it, and there’s only one way I can see to make it work.”

  She looked genuinely puzzled. “I can’t afford to rent the space.”

  He wanted to reassure her, but he had to take this slowly so she didn’t retreat. “No. Another arrangement. One that benefits both of us.”

  Now she looked wary. “And that is?”

  If he hadn’t seen the slight tremble of her chin, he would have thought her completely in control of her nerves. A fool would take advantage of it. A man in love wanted to calm those nerves as quickly as possible.

  He dropped to one knee and took Fiona’s hand in his. “Miss Fiona O’Keefe, I do not deserve a woman as talented, beautiful and intelligent as you, but if you would do me the honor of agreeing to be my wife, I will spend a lifetime trying to please you.”

  A wee gasp came from behind Fiona.

  Sawyer spotted Mary Clare before she ducked behind Fiona’s skirts.

  “Well,” Fiona said slowly.

  A fold of her skirt jerked noticeably. “Do it,” came the whispered advice.

  “Mary Clare!” Fiona pulled her hand from Sawyer’s grasp and extracted her niece from behind her. “This is between Sawyer and me. I don’t need your prompting.”

  He gave the little girl an encouraging smile. “Maybe you do.”

  Fiona looked him in the eye. “Don’t you think I can make up my own mind?”

  “Of course, but this decision affects Mary Clare too. You said you intend to raise her.”

  Fiona jutted her chin. “I do.”

  Sawyer sat back on his heels. “Then this is a family decision.”

  Fiona’s hackles eased. “I suppose you’re right.”

  She looked to Mary Clare, but Sawyer wasn’t done.

  He bowed before the little girl. “I would love to have the grand duchess join my family, if her aunt agrees to marry me.”

  The corners of Fiona’s mouth twitched upward a moment before she reined in her amusement. “How can I trust you to keep your promises?”

  “Ouch! But I deserve that. I made a lot of mistakes, Fiona, but they were all because I didn’t want to upset you.” He rubbed his chin. “Except I ended up doing just that.”

  “Yes, you did.”

  She was giving him nothing. “Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

  Her expression softened, and a ray of hope burst through the clouds over Sawyer’s head. “I might need to ask your forgiveness too. I should never have put so much hope in marrying a wealthy man.”

  Sawyer blinked, unable to believe what he’d just heard. “Then...”

  “I do like you, no, more than like. I love you, and not for any inheritance or money you might one day have.”

  “That’s good, because there isn’t any.”

  She nodded but surprisingly didn’t look disappointed. “Then I accept your apology.”

  Relief flooded through him. “Does that mean you’ll consider my proposal?”

  An eyebrow quirked upward. “Is that what that was?”

  Sawyer choked. He’d gotten on one knee to ask her. What more did she want? He’d give his all.

  He took her hands. “Fiona O’Keefe, you’re the only woman I’ve ever truly loved. I don’t have much to offer you but a place to live and a dream. But the fact is, I love you. I’ve loved you from the moment I first set eyes on you last August. You stepped off that ship like a queen, your hair blazing in the sun, and I knew I’d never meet another woman like you. I fought the attraction a long time. You don’t do much to encourage a man, after all.”

  She actually blushed and averted her gaze, and Sawyer’s heart skipped a beat. He’d gotten to her. He’d actually gotten to her. Maybe, just maybe...

  “I love you, Fiona, and that means I want to include in my life everyone you consider important. That means Mary Clare, if she’ll accept me. I’ve always wanted a family, and I can’t think of a better way to begin. Well, Mary Clare, what do you say?”

  The little girl looked up at her aunt, who was still delightfully pink-cheeked. Sawyer longed to hold Fiona, to kiss her, to assure her that he would do all he could to give her what she wanted and needed. But a gentleman waited, and he didn’t want to do anything that even hinted at what his father and the other louts had done to her.

  Mary Clare next directed her attention to him. “Is the hotel that big building over there?”

  Sawyer looked in the direction of her outstretched arm and nodded.

  “Then I say yes,” Mary Clare declared. “My mama’s in heaven, and my daddy ran off before I was born, so I need a new one of each.”

  Sawyer’s heart about broke. This time when he looked in Fiona’s eyes, he saw tears there. She didn’t even try to hide them. Instead, she hugged Mary Clare close and nodded.

  “Is that a yes?” Sawyer had to be certain.

  Fiona smiled then, not the carefully crafted smile she used on stage but an almost shy smile that trembled ever so slightly. She was strong, but she was vulnerable too, and the combination was irresistible.

  “Yes,” she said softly. “I accept.”

  Sawyer could have dropped to his knees in relief. The next instant joy overpowered him, and he swept her into his arms in an embrace. Mary Clare slipped a thin arm around his waist, subtly reminding him to keep the kiss short.

  The soft, sweet kiss wasn’t nearly enough. He looked deep into Fiona’s eyes. The resistance was gone. For the first time, she really looked at him. Judging from her expression, she liked what she saw.

  “After a proper courtship,” she added, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

  “Courtship?” Sawyer hadn’t expected that, not given her attempts to marry before Mary Clare’s arrival.

  “Courtship. Three months.”

  Sawyer didn’t want to wait. He wanted to begin this new part of his life at once. Fiona would be his sounding board on ideas for the hotel. They would work together building a life and a family.

  She grinned. “Disappointed?”

  He couldn’t hide anything from her. “A little, but I’ll honor your request.” It was now his turn to grin. “If you change your mind and want to shorten the courtship, I’m all for it.”

  She laughed. “Don’t think you’ll be ordering me around, Mr. Evans.”

  “I’m no fool, Miss O’Keefe.”

  His reward was the sweetest smile he’d ever seen. Then, before she could add one more stipulation, he kissed her again.

  Epilogue

  Three months later

  Louise arranged the veil that covered Fiona’s hair and flowed to the bottom of her exquisite wedding gown. Shimmering white silk taffeta rustled when she moved. It was far too dear, but Sawyer had insisted. His mother had sent it from Chicago, and Amanda Decker made the alterations.

  Fiona dabbed at her forehead. July was no time for a wedding. The heat was oppressive, especially on the upper floor of the boardinghouse. With the itinerant preacher’s approval, they’d moved the wedding to the boardinghouse since there were too many guests to fit in the former bunkhouse, which had been turned into a church and temporary school last fall. Both locations were hot. She should have decreased the length of courtship, but Linore’s insistence on keeping her promises kept ringing in her ears.

  Three months gave Sawyer time to fix up the public rooms in the hotel. When he was turning a profit, they would begin work on the west wing school. That delay was her gift to him, and it was an easy one to give. There wasn’t any money for her school—yet. In the meantime, she and Sawyer would work together to make the hotel a thriving business. Mary Clare would attend school,
and with musical parents like Sawyer and Fiona, she would get every chance to explore her God-given talent.

  “You’re beautiful.” Louise sighed. “I’m honored you chose me to attend you today.”

  “I wouldn’t want anyone else.” That was the truth. Louise had been her truest friend and had tried to talk sense into her when Fiona couldn’t look past old hurts to see the honorable man standing in front of her. She took her friend’s hands. “Without you, there wouldn’t be a wedding. You convinced me to trust Sawyer.”

  “But you took the step. I’m not certain I would be that brave.”

  Fiona laughed. “You might be quiet and reserved, but there’s a courageous woman inside you.”

  Louise had endured worse than Fiona had ever faced. In her friend’s shoes, she doubted she could have been that strong.

  A knock sounded on the door, and then Pearl Decker peeked into Fiona’s room. “There’s someone here who wants to talk to you.”

  Fiona froze. Had Sawyer’s father returned to spoil her wedding day?

  “Don’t look so frightened,” Pearl said with a laugh.

  She opened the door to reveal a woman Fiona had never met. Gray hair topped a formidably built stature. The woman’s clothing was expensive and exquisitely tailored if conservative in its muted coloring.

  “Miss O’Keefe.” The woman extended a gloved hand as Pearl shut the door behind her. “I’m Paul’s mother. I hope you will call me Rachel.”

  Fiona took the woman’s hand, which grasped hers with warmth. “Please call me Fiona.” She couldn’t help but wonder if Winslow Evanston had joined his wife.

  Rachel smiled. “You are as beautiful as Paul described.”

  “Thank you.” Fiona wasn’t sure what else to say. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

  “I had to meet the woman who captured my son’s heart and shook me from my complacency. You see, I’ve allowed Winslow to intimidate me for far too long. Not anymore. But I’m not here to talk about me. This day is all about you and my son.” She opened her bag and extracted an envelope. “All the details are in here. Read it later. But I will tell you now that sufficient money has been sent to Paul’s bank to build that school of yours.”

  Fiona’s jaw dropped, and she couldn’t pull it back up. That must be an enormous sum. “You did this for us? How?” She couldn’t fathom Winslow Evanston giving a penny to a women’s school.

  “By standing up for what is right. When I heard that you wanted to help young women in desperate circumstances, I had to make it happen. All I had to do was convince Winslow that he could begin paying for his wrongs by funding your school.”

  Mr. Evanston had given the money? Fiona’s admiration for Sawyer’s mother blossomed. The woman had discovered the power she held in her marriage and was using it to help others less fortunate.

  “Thank you.” Fiona glanced toward the closed door. “Is he here?”

  “Mr. Evanston?” Rachel lifted her chin. “I thought it best not to bring him.”

  Fiona smiled at the idea of Winslow Evanston being directed by his newly empowered wife. “That was a good decision. Sawyer has forgiven his father, but he doesn’t want to see him. Not yet.”

  “Sawyer.” Rachel sighed. “I can’t get used to that nickname. But he’s happy, and that’s what matters. You gave my son hope, my dear.” She dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. “I feared he’d given up. Now look at him. A businessman in his own right and, more importantly, a man of faith and integrity.”

  “Yes, he is.”

  Music began pealing from the piano in the parlor. The smattering of wrong notes told her Mrs. Calloway was playing, not Sawyer.

  “Oh, dear.” Rachel gave Fiona a parting smile. “It’s almost time. I need to take my place.”

  A twinge of sorrow hit Fiona. None of her family was here, no one but Mary Clare, who was doubtless being instructed on her duties by Pearl. The little girl would walk down the aisle with Garrett Decker’s son, Isaac. Though they made all sorts of faces when told what they were supposed to do, they would manage just fine. Fiona had hoped her parents might make the journey west, but they demurred, even when Sawyer offered to pay the fare. That left only Mary Clare.

  Louise gripped her arm. “It’s time.”

  “Then let’s go.” Fiona had waited long enough to marry. Though she’d searched in all the wrong places for a husband, God had brought the right man into her life.

  Louise led the way down the hallway to the staircase. Guests were assembled below to usher Fiona into her new life. Tonight she would no longer live in a boardinghouse. She would have a home and a family of her own.

  As she descended the staircase, she looked at the joyful faces of the friends she had made here. Pearl and Roland, Amanda and Garrett, the VanderLeuvens, men from the sawmill all cleaned up and in their Sunday best. All smiled up at her. It brought tears to her eyes.

  Then, as she entered the parlor to Mrs. Calloway’s off-tempo accompaniment, she saw Sawyer and everything else faded away. He stood at the end of the room, tall and so handsome that she could barely breathe. She’d never seen this suit before. The coat was elegant and expensive. The crisp white shirt and silk tie marked a gentleman. But it was the expression on his face that captured her attention. Adoration, excitement, love. All that and more.

  When she took Sawyer’s arm, her heart raced like a schoolgirl’s. With joy she repeated the vows that bound them together as one in God’s sight. Sawyer loved her, and she loved him. Best of all, Mary Clare adored him. Today, they were more than sweethearts. They became a family.

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed MAIL ORDER SWEETHEART,

  look for the other books in

  the BOOM TOWN BRIDES series:

  MAIL ORDER MIX-UP

  MAIL ORDER MOMMY

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for joining Fiona and Sawyer through the ups and downs of their journey. It was fun to take two characters with opposing backgrounds and hopes and find a common ground for them. Sometimes things are not as they appear!

  That’s true of Astor House, the local hotel, which according to some sources did exist in historic Singapore. I love the pretensions of naming a lodging establishment in a small lumber town after the first luxury hotel in New York City. Someone had a lot of optimism!

  The village of Harmony is fictitious, however, the islands of Lake Michigan have been host to some breakaway sects that established their own “colonies.” The first and most recognizable was established by James Jesse Strang’s followers who broke from Brigham Young and settled on Beaver Island in the mid-1800s. Books, articles and a museum on Beaver Island detail that episode in history. In the early 1900s, the House of David established a colony on nearby High Island. When I visited that island as a child, there were still remnants of buildings left, and I imagined they belonged to that colony.

  It’s been fun incorporating snippets of history in the novels in this series. I hope you will join me for the fourth book. Questions or comments? Contact me through my website at www.christineelizabethjohnson.com.

  Blessings,

  Christine Johnson

  Keep reading for an excerpt from TAKING ON TWINS by Mollie Campbell.

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  Taking on Twins

  by Mollie Campbell

  Chapter One

  May 1859

  Spring Hill, Nebraska Territory

  “Not again!”

  Murky green liquid fizzled in a glass beaker as Coralee Evans pushed a strand of hair out of her face and slumped back in a wooden chair. She let out a deep breath, ruffling the bits of herbs and papers that littered the table in front of her. Unfortunately, Papa’s extensive notes weren’t getting her anywhere today. How would she ever discover the right formula when every herb burned or turned into a bubbling mess?

  “How is this one going?” Her youngest sister, Cat, peeked into the room from her post at the apothecary shop’s counter. Cat’s face grew skeptical when she caught sight of the mess on the worktable. “I suppose it’s no better than yesterday’s experiment.”

  Coralee pushed away from the table with more force than necessary. “I’m going out to clear my head for a bit. You’ll be all right here alone?”