Shaun and Jon Read Free

had rained last week when he’d ridden to the general store to pick up
supplies. Now he’d have a companion to ride with him each time he did that. How
quickly his life was about to change.
    Sarah
had said she knew how to cook and that was one of the reasons he’d selected
her. Even if she wasn’t attractive, he’d have a good meal waiting for him at
the end of each day.
    “They’re
probably both going to be dead on their feet,” said Shaun, jarring him out of
his train of thought.
    “You
remember how we slept for days when we first traveled here?” asked Jon.
    “Do
you ever regret leaving New York?”
    “No,
nothing for me back there. How about you?”
    “Same
here and now we’ll both have wives. Children too one day soon.”
    Jon
swallowed. A wife and kids. Less than a year ago, he’d never thought of himself
as a family man. A loner if anything but
there was something about the sheer beauty of this place that made a man what
to share it with another human being.
    And
yes, he was lonely too. He had Shaun to go drinking with, but a man also needed
to take care of the physical side of his being too. He’d visited the bordellos
and while fun, and took care of his immediate itch, that wasn’t how he saw the
rest of his life playing out. He wanted to snuggle up to a warm body on a cold Montana
winter night and have that lady still in his bed the following morning.
    Jon
hadn’t realized he’d dozed off until the wagon went over a bump in the road and
his head jerked upward, almost sending his hat flying back off his head.
    He
clung onto the flowers while seeing the station up ahead. The train hadn’t
arrived yet which was perfect because it would give them a chance to dust themselves off, and actually
greet the ladies as they stepped off it.
    “You
ready to do this?” asked Jon.
    “Yep,
let’s go wait for our wives.”
    ****
    Sarah
looked out of the window as the train slowed. It had been almost twelve hours
since Nina had passed away. They’d placed her on a table in the carriage that housed the mailbags and trunks
belonging to the passengers. They’d also allowed Sarah to sit with her for as
long as she’d wanted. She’d thought about getting off at the train’s last stop
and taking Nina back home to be buried, but she’d been too tired and
heartbroken to do it. They’d been more like sisters than cousins. Nina’s
parents her taken her in when she’d become an orphan. Sarah hung her head down.
She’d miss her every single day.
      Would Nina want to be buried in a place she’d
never seen? Sarah bit her bottom lip, drawing her teeth over the delicate skin.
Being that Sarah had no relatives out west, and even though she’d be in a grave, technically Nina would still be with
her. She could visit her grave and talk to her, share her news, tell her what
was on her mind, just like they always had.
    Sarah
knew in her heart that Nina would want her to go ahead with their plans. She
looked over at her cousin’s body now draped with a cloth over it. She’d have to
break the terrible news to her bridegroom. How awful for the poor man,
expecting to greet his bride and learning she’d passed away on route.
    “Grantsville,”
shouted the train master.
    Smoke
from the train flew by the window as the brakes cried out and the train began
slowing down. She was hot, and dusty, her cheeks swollen, her eyes red from the
tears she’d shed for her cousin. What an awful mess she’d look when she first
greeted Jon.
    She
wiped her cheeks with the back of her sleeve and secured the tendrils of hair
that had fallen down onto her face. Sarah grabbed the handle of one of the wire
cages in the baggage compartment when the train pulled up sharply almost
sending her flying forward.
    “Miss,
is anyone meeting you at the station?” asked the guard.
    “Yes,
two gentlemen.”
    She
wasn’t sure if she should mention her and Nina were to be mail order brides.
    “I
can offer assistance in getting your cousin off the train