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OUR FUGITIVE BRIDE
Ida Newton, matchmaker extraordinaire, stared at the letter in her hand. Winter was ending and it was always a struggle to keep her business going during this slow time. Years ago, after her husband died, she’d become a mail-order bride matchmaker.
And she loved her job, except when the cash grew low. This year, she was barely surviving.
The city of Charleston had slowly recovered from the war, but in the year of our Lord, 1875, people were still struggling. And men from the west were still looking for brides to keep them warm at night.
“Sweet pickles and fresh juniper,” she exclaimed, staring at the words on the page, unable to believe her good fortune.
“What?” her assistant asked.
“They want me to find eight women to go to Treasure Falls, Montana, as mail-order brides.”
A check slipped out of the folded letter and she gasped. The sum on that piece of paper was almost two years’ worth of living expenses.
Sweet hallelujah! Today was her lucky day.
“Oh my,” she said, sinking down into a chair. “They’re paying me upfront and it’s almost double what I would normally receive.”
It seemed too good to be true. How had the man heard about her ability to put couples together? Her reputation as a mail-order bride locator was well known in the south, but the west?
Her assistant picked up the check and gasped. “Ida, this is what you are needing. Business has been so slow. This will keep things going. You won’t have to sell your house. We can stay in business.”
Quickly she scanned the letter and frowned. What woman in her right mind would accept such an offer? What woman on God’s green earth would think this was acceptable?
And yet, oh, how she needed this money, but there was no way…
With a sigh, she shook her head. “I can’t do it.”
“Why not?”
“There are certain conditions.”
Suzanne leaned forward. “What conditions? Whatever they are, we will overcome them.”
How could she send women out west to be basically a concubine for not one man, but two? She still believed in love and marriage and helping couples find one another, but not two men.
“They share their women. There are two men for every woman.”
Her assistant leaned back and howled with laughter. “You’re right. No woman would accept such an arrangement.”
She glanced down at the letter. “The whole town lives this way. He says there is so much danger that the thought of a woman and his children being left to fend for themselves was too much. The men were afraid they would starve or be forced into other unseemly occupations. Years ago, this mining town made the decision that every woman would marry two men. That they would share her. Then if one man died, she had another man to continue their life together.”
Laughter bubbled up from Suzanne. “Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds. If one man was a bad lover, maybe the other one would be a good one. Or you could have two great lovers.”
“Suzanne. The very thought of two different men as your husband and lover is…” Ida shook her head. “What decent woman here in town is going to agree to that type of arrangement?”
A sigh escaped from Suzanne. “If I was younger, I might.”
Ida shook her head. “No, they will laugh at me. I thought we were going to have a good start to spring. I’ll have to send him his check back.”
She laid the letter down and Suzanne picked it up.
“Wait a minute. He says that if the women arrive in Treasure Falls and they don’t like the area or the people, they will pay for them to return home. It says they will have two weeks to make up their minds and if this town is not for them, they can take the next stage home.”
