No One's Bride (Escape to the West Book 1) Read Free Page B

her knees. Everyone gasped as Adam grabbed her to stop her from falling, much to her relief. Going down the first time she’d hit her elbow and it hurt.
    “Maybe I should just take her home,” he said. “Could we possibly have the ceremony tomorrow?”
    “Of course we can,” Pastor Jones said. “That’s a good idea. I’m sure all she needs is some food and a good rest.”
    Sara untangled her arm from Daniel’s and came over to them. “Are you well, Amy? Can I do anything?”
    “No, I’ll be fine.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You go and marry your handsome cowboy. I know you want to.”
    Sara smiled and leaned in close to her. “He’s wonderful, isn’t he?”
    After more refusals of help and some fussing from Mrs Jones, everyone crowded into the white clapboard church and Amy and Adam continued past towards the centre of town.
    He had let her go when Sara came to talk to her and now he didn’t seem to know what to do. He hovered at her side, looking like he expected her to keel over at any second.
    “I’m not going to faint again,” she said. “You don’t have to worry.”
    He continued to look concerned, but he did move away a little.
    “I’m sorry,” she said as they walked.
    “What for?”
    “For spoiling everything for you. The wedding and everything.”
    The sound of his laughter caught her by surprise.
    “Oh, don’t be sorry about that. To tell the truth, I wasn’t looking forward to it.” He gasped and looked at her. “I mean... I don’t mean I wasn’t looking forward to marrying you. I just meant the whole idea of a mass wedding was a little... I don’t know. Unromantic. Just the two of us will be much nicer.” He smiled and looked at the ground, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
    Amy couldn’t believe he still wanted to marry her, even with her looking like she did and having fainted like one of the pampered princesses she saw in the city. She couldn’t imagine what she’d written in her letters to make him so enamoured of her. Maybe she’d tried too hard in her desperation to escape from Mr Courtney. Now she’d met Adam, she wished she hadn’t been so... whatever she’d been. This would be so much easier if he was disappointed.
    They came to a halt on the wooden walkway in front of one of the shop fronted buildings towards the end of the main street. Lost in her thoughts, Amy hadn’t been paying attention to where they were going. She looked up, but with the wooden awning above her she couldn’t see any sign to indicate what kind of store it was. It looked closed. Adam produced a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, stepping aside to let her in.
    “Just go on through,” he said, indicating a door in the back wall as he locked the door behind them.
    She looked around as she moved through the room. A whole wall of cubby holes sat behind the counter, filled with letters and parcels. A set of shelves nearby held paper and pens and pencils and other writing related paraphernalia along with brown paper, string and envelopes.
    A post office.
    Beyond the door was a modest sized parlour with a pale green settee and two brown armchairs. Against the back wall was a kitchen area with a sink and large dresser and a table surrounded by four mismatched chairs. Through the window over the sink, Amy glimpsed a fenced in yard. A door in the far right corner led outside.
    “Please, have a seat,” Adam said, removing his hat and jacket and hanging them on a coat stand. “May I take your coat?”
    He owns the post office, Amy thought as she put down her bag, shrugged off her jacket and handed it to him. He seemed so young to be a postmaster. She wished she’d read his letters, but she hadn’t wanted to know about the man she was going to use to get her across the country and then abandon. It occurred to her how selfish that was now. He had paid for her train fare, a significant amount of money, and would be getting nothing but betrayal in return. She should at least