A Pretty Bride (Mail Order Romance Short) Read Free Page A

with her mother to stop, but her mother wasn't looking at her anymore, she was looking at George.
    He walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek as well. “Hello, my darling. Yes, do tell me about this trip, please.”
    “ You might want to sit down for this.”
    “ Sit down?” He looked at her with eyes full of curiosity.
    “ We were talking about Josie's wedding trip,” Charlotte told him.
    George laughed heartily, as if it was a joke. “Wedding? She's planning out her wedding trip now? Why she's only a schoolgirl. Honestly, there's no need to rush things along, Josie, you'll be all grown-up before you know it.”
    Charlotte looked at Josie to see if she would explain and when she didn't respond, she said, “Josie has told me she's made up her mind. She's decided that she is going to marry a rancher named Sam who lives in Texas. They've been corresponding with each other for quite some time and have, apparently, fallen in love, so Josie says.”
    “ I do love him,” Josie interrupted, “I feel that he we are meant to be together. The trip I'll be taking is to Texas, where I'll marry him. But you needn't have to pay for anything; Sam will take care of the arrangements.”
    George looked at Josie as if she had three eyes. His mouth was gaping open and he looked from Josie to her mother and back again. “This isn't a joke? She's serious? Josie, how can you possibly be serious about getting married ?” He spit the word out as if it were a curse.
    “ I'm eighteen now, it's my right, my choice, and it's one I've given a lot of thought to.”
    “ But you have the perfect life here, and your mother is here. Texas is very far away you know.”
    Not far enough, Josie thought to herself. How dare he tell her that she had the perfect life. She could feel her blood pressure rising as he tried to convince her to stay.
    “Do you not know how beautiful you are, Josie? You'll have local men fighting for your hand, why go off to marry someone so far away, to a man you've never met?”
    “ You wouldn't understand if I tried to explain it to you. I hate being beautiful. It is a curse and I don't want men 'fighting' for my hand who only want me for my looks. Beauty fades...what happens to me when I age and am no longer beautiful, will I still be a great prize? I want someone who wants me for me. The real me. This was the only way for that to happen. I know Sam, I know his soul, I love him without caring a bit what he looks like and he feels the same way about me.”
    Josie did not give George a chance to respond. She turned around and left the parlor and went straight to her room without looking back. She locked her door, plopped on her bed. She missed her father terribly at that moment and would have given anything to have him back to hold her in his arms and to have him protect her. He was the only one who never told her that she was pretty, he said that much was obvious. But without fail, every night, after bedtime prayers, he would tell her that she was smart and good and kind and to always remember that being beautiful on the inside was more important than physical beauty. If only she could have one more day with him...She buried her face into her pillow and cried.
     
    mn
     
    Finally coming out and telling her mother the truth about George as well as her plan to marry Sam had been cathartic for Josie. She felt a weight lifted off of her chest, yet at the same time there was a new kind of burden, that of the elephant in the room. At first, after the announcement, though her mother told her she wouldn't stand in the way of Josie's decision, life just seemed to go on as normal, as if they thought it just a phase and Josie would change her mind. It wasn't spoken of at all. Dinners consisted of pleasant, if not awkward, conversation and the few times Josie attempted to bring it up, it was met with a “we'll discuss it later” or an abrupt change of subject. George continued to make her feel uncomfortable, even more