She went on to list her qualifications as a potential wife.
Although I am only eighteen years old, I have had much experience. I’ve tended my grandmother’s house since I was ten. I am a churchgoer too and believe strongly in God’s love and care.
Despite the circumstances, she still believed in His provision, although it was hard to see His hand at work in the moment. Nevertheless, she clung to the thinning threads of her trust.
She was about to sign her name when Zach spoke.
“Best add that you’re able-bodied and pretty enough.”
He’d read over her shoulder? She jerked so hard that a blob of ink landed on the envelope Mr. Jarvis provided.Pretty enough. It had always been so. Her sister was pretty. Amelia, prettyenough. Not that she resented her sister for that assessment. Debra was always kind to Amelia. Well, mostly.
If he found her such, why wasn’t he giving her a chance rather than abandoning her to an uncertain future?
Her hand shaking, she added that she was able-bodied. “Where shall I tell him to contact me?”
She had no home, no address, no bed upon which to find rest. And how was she to provide food for the two of them while she awaited a reply? Her meager funds wouldn’t last long. All her letters had been sent to and from an address in Fort Macleod, the place where she’d last seen any sign of civilization. Her instructions had been to board the stagecoach and continue west. She’d done so with a heart full of hope. She’d endured the stagecoach ride cheerfully, believing a new and welcome life awaited her at the end.
How was she to know this had all been a cruel hoax? Her knees turned to pudding, and she leaned against the counter to stay upright.
“He can send it here… to Golden Valley.” Zach seemed to think this was satisfactory.
She did not. But she added the information, affixed her signature, blotted the ink, and waved the page to dry before she folded it, inserted it into the envelope, and glued it shut. She added the address for theMatrimonial News.The paper would forward it to the Dakota farmer.
The dark letters of the words on the rectangle in her hand danced before her eyes. This was all a horrible nightmare.
She handed the envelope to Mr. Jarvis.
He fumbled with it. “Zach, this doesn’t seem right.”
“Don’t seem right for whoever pretended to be me not to show up.” Not a smidgen of relenting in his firm words.
Mr. Jarvis lifted the letter in a sign of agreement, or perhaps confusion at this drama taking place in his store. He glued on a stamp and set the letter in the pile of outgoing mail.
Zach nodded, satisfied. “Well, that’s that.” He again headed for the door.
Amelia considered her options, but she had none. “Guess Poppy and I will stand here and wait for a reply from that man. Mr. Jarvis, how long do you suppose it takes to get a letter to this place in the Dakota Territory and for a reply to make its way here? I expect we will have to correspond back and forth for a few weeks.”
Zach stopped, his back to her.
“Oh, don’t worry about us, Mr. Taggerty.” Her voice was sharp, perhaps a bit accusing, but she couldn’t help it. She’d been misled far worse than he. “We’ll be just fine. Yes, just fine. Poppy is such an agreeable girl. She won’t fuss at all when we sleep outside and beg for food scraps.”
“Zach.” Mr. Jarvis’s voice carried a warning note. “What would your ma want you to do?”
Zach ground about. “She’d want me to look after my sister, my father, and the ranch. But no doubt she’d think I should show a little Christian charity.” He managed to make it sound like he’d swallowed some bitter seeds and couldn’t wait to spit them out. “Very well. You and the young one can stay at the ranch until you hear from this man. You got luggage?”
“Yes. A trunk at the station where the stagecoach stops.” Just in case he didn’t know, but of course, he would. She was the one confused.
“It all you got?”
“That and the box beside it.” She clung to her traveling case.
“I’ll give you a hand.” Mr. Jarvis hurried around the counter and out the door to help Zach. “Good thing you brought the wagon.”
“I had to pick up a few things while I was in town.”
None of which was an eager new wife and a sweet child.
Holding Poppy by the hand, Amelia went to the wagon. Her day had started out full of promise as she anticipated marrying a man she thought she’d grown to love in the weeks they’d corresponded. But there was no such man. Only disappointment and, if she were honest, a large dose of fear. Had God abandoned her? No, her circumstances might have taken an unexpected and unpleasant turn, but God’s faithfulness had not changed.Never will I leave thee nor forsake thee.
