The Widow's Mail Order Husband (Mail Order Brides) Read Free

luck in your quest for companionship and don’t let Cora get to you. She means well, but doesn’t know better. Please write and let me know how you’re doing. (s) Your special friend, Minerva.”
     
    “What a nice letter,” she thought. “I’m happy for her.  It encourages me. I’m going to follow through on this. I’m tired of living alone.” That afternoon, she went to the bank and spoke with Jasper Stirnbaum, with whom she had previously had dealings.
     
    “Jasper, I’m thinking about getting married and it would involve my moving away. I’m wondering about my house. I don’t know whether I should sell it, and the contents or keep it and rent it. Is that something the bank could handle for me?”
     
    “As a customer of the bank, you would have access to that type of service from the bank.” He cleared his throat. “There would be a small fee associated with the service. We could certainly handle the sale or we could manage the rental, and pay the associated taxes from the rental account. It would be necessary for you to maintain an account for that purpose. When will the ceremony take place?”
     
    “I don’t know. I haven’t met him yet, but I’m exploring the possibilities,” she said. He looked at her strangely. “I wonder what this is all about?” he mused to himself.
     
    “Mrs. Cartwright, as your banker and friend, I would be remiss if I didn’t encourage you to proceed with extreme caution,” he said.
     
    “I understand,” Mary said, “and I appreciate the advice. I shall be careful.” Mary returned home, buoyed by her actions of the day. She fixed dinner and ate… alone. “Hopefully, I won’t be eating alone much longer.” She reread the letter from the man whose name she did not know and who might be her husband. “Strange circumstances, but this is where the terrible war has brought us.”

Chapter 3:  An Answer To My Letter
    Mary’s Home…
     
    It was two weeks before she received an answer to her letter posted to account number 875. While waiting for answers to her ad, Mary continued her normal activities, such as church on Sunday, shopping, and dressmaking. She had also been going to the Ladies Sewing Circle. She did not mention her ad and subsequent correspondence. The subject of Minerva’s marriage and leaving Hagerstown was revisited when she mentioned the letter she had received from Minerva. “Minerva’s letter said she had married and was living on a cattle ranch near Fort Worth, Texas. She also said she was very happy and satisfied with her situation,” she reported.
     
    “Well, I still think it was foolhardy to undertake such a thing,” Cora said. Of the eight other women present, two were nodding their heads in agreement. Two other ladies indicated they were happy for Minerva and while they would miss her, she had made the right choice. Mary was content to let the subject drop and the ladies moved on to other topics and events. Once again, not a stitch had been made by members of the Ladies Sewing Circle.
     
    She had received no mail for the past week, and it had been two weeks since Mary had answered the letter from account number 875. Today she found a letter, the return address showing Kansas City, home of The Matrimonial News. Enclosed were two letters, one of which was from number 875. It read, “Dear Account Number 920, I am in receipt of your recent letter and take pen in hand to respond. I would be pleased to correspond with you further. My daughter, Emily, who’s five, and I live on a busy ranch outside of a small community near Grapevine Texas. We have a housekeeper who also helps in the care of Emily. Rosa, the housekeeper, has been with our family for years. It is a busy time of year for us on the ranch. We have been rounding up the cattle and branding the calves that were dropped over the winter. It has been a wet spring so the grass is abundant, and we don’t have to move the cattle as often as we do in dry years. The yearlings will