Mail Order Love (Sweet Mail Order Bride Historical Romance Novel) (Oregon Mail Order Brides) Read Free

“dear” but she meant the opposite. Her voice was heavy with sarcasm.
    “Yes, ma’am, I have a bag here, and … Briggs has the other bag, please ma’am.” Ellie hesitated, not wanting to disclose she had been talking to Briggs.
    “Why did you get him to do your work? You really need to start taking your responsibilities seriously, Ellie. You can’t just please yourself and do as you wish.”
    Ellie looked at Ursula silently. She was blasted if she was going to apologize when she hadn’t done anything wrong.
    Ursula shot daggers at Ellie through her eyes and decided to move on to her next subject.
    “You met your husband-to-be. I wanted it to be a pleasant surprise for you. This has been a lot of work for me to set up, I hope you appreciate that. You are extremely lucky he agreed to accept you. You will be marrying into his house, which he owns, and you will then be a respectable member of society. It is for your poor deceased brother that I do this, God bless his soul.”
    Ellie stared at Ursula and kept her mouth firmly shut. She clenched her jaw and refused to say a word, which infuriated Ursula. When Ellie did not speak she could not be attacked so easily.
    Ursula raised her voice. “What is wrong with you, can you not speak?”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Ellie looked right back at Ursula. She was not going to be afraid of her anymore.
    “You will be expected to be there at the wedding. It will be held here at the house, five weeks from now on Saturday. Do you understand?”
    Ellie decided she must be totally compliant with her words. Agree to the wedding and behave as if she were cooperating. Go along with the plans as if she had reconciled herself to her new future.
    “Yes ma’am. May I be excused now, ma’am?”
    “Get away from me, I do not want to see your face. Once you have put away the provisions, mop the kitchen floor again. It was not done to a proper standard this morning.” Ursula turned back to reading the newspaper, sighing with an air of great suffering.
    Ellie removed herself from the room immediately, put away the provisions and re-mopped the floor as fast as she could. Finally she rushed up to her tiny attic room at the top of the house. It was more of a cupboard than a room. There was a miniature window in the roof and two thin mattresses where she and the other maid slept. She launched herself face first onto her mattress and lay there immobile like a doll, letting the tears come out as they would.
    The tears dropped from her eyes as a release of the shock she had endured, but Ellie did not feel so upset any more. She had made a decision to do something and she had acted on it immediately. That cheered her up better than any amount of wailing would have done. Now she had hope. She had a way out. A possible way out.
    Ellie heard a soft tap at her door and she drew herself up from her bed. Not wanting to look upset, she hastily swept away her tears and patted her hair into place.
    “Hello?”
    “It’s Briggs, miss, may I come in?”
    “Oh Briggs, come in.” His open face with its mild blue eyes and fluffy tufts of white hair sticking out above his ears popped around the door. Ellie smiled at him. “Be careful Briggs, Ursula will make your life difficult if she finds out you are talking to me.”
    “Huh.” Briggs rolled his eyes, showing just what he thought about that. He entered the room and perched awkwardly on the corner of the dresser. “Excuse me for coming in here, miss, I wanted to check up on you. Did you put the advert in? I feel responsible, having suggested it myself.”
    “I put it in, Briggs. I did it. Do you really think someone will reply? I said I would be a housekeeper.”
    “It worked for my sister.” Briggs studied the small patch of sky he could see through the window and appeared thoughtful. “In fact, I am pleased you are giving it a try, though I worry who might reply. I have heard rumors about this Gergmins man they want to marry you to. Bad things are