Want Ad Wife
Owner of general store looking for a wife to start a familyAbandoned as a child, John Bench has always craved a family of his own. Even if it means advertising for a wife from back East.Selina Montgomery must keep her new husband at a distance. Because if John discovers the truth about the secret she once carried, their mail-order marriage could crumble before it’s even begun! They’ve promised to love, honour and obey, but can the spark that flares between them transform Selina and John’s wedding vows into a passion that will last for ever?Wild West WeddingsMail-order brides for three hard-working, hard-living men!
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Katy Madison invites you to her
Wild West Weddings
Mail-order brides for three hard-working, hard-living men!
Three penniless East Coast ladies are prepared to give up everything they know for the lure of the West. Will they find new beginnings, new families and eventual happiness as mail-order brides?
Their advertisements answered, three rugged frontiersmen await their new bridesâwith eagerness and not a little trepidation!
What have they all let themselves in for?
Read Oliviaâs story in
Bride by Mail Already available
Annaâs story in
Promised by Post Already available
and discover Selinaâs story in
Want Ad Wife Available now!
This is the last story of three friends working in a Connecticut cotton mill who decide to become mail-order brides when the Civil War causes the mill to close. California was booming at the time, and was little affected by the war, but there was a severe shortage of women. According to census rolls, men outnumbered women by approximately seven to oneâso it was no surprise that many men decided to advertise for brides in the East, where women were far more plentiful.
After the exchange of a few letters, couples made the commitment to marry. Taking a complete leap of faith, mail-order brides travelled for months to reach virtual strangers who would become their husbands.
This is the story of Selina and John, and it begins with their marriage on the day they meet in person for the first timeâa situation that must have been awkward and scary, especially when they both arrive at the altar with baggage from their past.
I hope you enjoy their story.
Visit me on the web at katymadison.com or on facebook.com/katmadison.
Award-winning KATY MADISON loves stories. At the age of eight Katy went to her mother and begged for a new book to read. Her frustrated mother handed her a romance novel and Katy fell in love with the genre. Now she gets to live the glamorous life of a romance writer, which mostly means she stays in her pyjamas all day and never uses an alarm clock. Visit her at katymadison.com.
Contents
Owner of general store looking for a wife to start a family.
Stockton, California, August 1862
Selina Montgomery stood at the altar, marrying the man sheâd first laid eyes on that morning. Early afternoon sunlight streamed in through plain glass windows illuminating unused wooden benches and a bare plank floor. The empty church echoed the hollowness inside her.
Hardly believing the ceremony was happening so quickly, she stole a glance at her groom. Upon her first sight of him, she hadnât believed this could possibly be the distant man with whom sheâd exchanged letters. Convinced a less virile specimen would step forward and claim her, sheâd kept looking past his tall, broad-shouldered frame for her fiancé.
His smooth, low delivery of his vows made her shiver. She was soon to become Mrs. John Bench. But with each step closer to the completion of the marriage ceremony a knot tightened in her stomach.
Sheâd thought a man who had to advertise for a wife would have serious shortcomings as a suitor. In her mind what she offered as a wife was supposed to be an even exchange. Her looks, her willingness to work, her loyalty were supposed to balance out the drawbacks she brought to the table, but he wasnât a man who needed to make concessions to land a wife.
Her voice shook as she parroted the minister. Her closed throat allowed only a thin warble through.
Johnâs hand cupped her elbow, offering support. Support she didnât deserve. Heâd been nothing but perfect since sheâd stepped off the stagecoach. Heâd shielded her from the barrage of questions that assaulted her from the townsmen following her wild arrival. Heâd guided her away from the pandemonium to a dressmakerâs quiet parlor, where heâd left her while he retrieved her luggage. The soothing darkness of the room and the comfort of a cold glass of lemonade from the matronly, gray-haired Mrs. Ashe had gone a long way toward calming her after the attempted robbery of the stagecoach and the mad dash to town following the exchange of shots that had repelled the thieves.
But the robbery was no longer on her mind. Selina should have told him her secretâsecrets, she should sayâbut everything had happened so fast. She hadnât had a moment alone with him. Sheâd intended to tell him before he married her. Withholding that information wasnât fair, but it wasnât the kind of thing to reveal in a letter. She bit her lip. Would he have refused to marry her if he knew about the son sheâd left behind in Connecticut?
He might still repudiate her when he learned. No matter what heâd promised at the altar. A quiver ran through her and she tried to stop shaking.
