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Prologue
Jasper
“So let me get this straight. You want me to marry some woman I don't know, and you want to choose her for me?” I ask, unable to keep the anger out of my voice. What the hell is he thinking? I look around the room and notice that every single man in this town is in the room. There has to be at least forty of us. Only my closest friends are being vocal about this, though I am sure every man in the room has something to say about this harebrained scheme.
“Yes, that is what I am saying. I, of course, will also be finding a bride the same way at the same time,” Lloyd Hollow, the town mayor, says. He says it so matter of factly that I could start to believe that this isn’t the most insane idea I’ve ever heard.
“I don’t know, Mayor. I am a simple man. I live a simple life. No woman is going to want what I can offer, which ain’t much,” I tell him, putting my hat back which is a universal gesture that I am done with this conversation. The mayor steps forward and halts my move to leave.
“You’re wrong, Sutton. A woman bred for a simple life would be more than fine with it.” A huge laugh erupts from somewhere on my right. When I turn to look, I see the new sheriff, Paul Reynolds, laughing. He was hired by Lloyd about six months ago to be the sheriff after the last one retired. We had no deputy, so he had to go outside the town for one, which simply wasn’t done before now. Lloyd tried to get someone in town to do it, but no one wanted the job. Crime is pretty much non-existent here, but bored teenagers do tend drink and fuck shit up.
“Look, I have been out there far longer than I have been here and trust me when I tell you, women like that don’t exist,” Paul says.
The conversation goes on around me, but I don’t have anything else to say. The more I think about taking a wife, the more I like the idea. Maybe a bride won’t be so bad. I’m fucking lonely as hell out on my ranch. Sure, I have my friends, which are pretty much the men assembled here now. I also have a ton of ranch hands, but I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. My house could use a woman’s touch to turn it into a home. Even when my parent’s owned the place, I wouldn’t say it had much of a homey feel, but damn Mama could cook. It’s a working ranch so we all had a job to do.
About four years ago, they retired to Sunny Haven, a retirement community closer to Charleston. They don’t really need to be there, but they do enjoy hanging out with other like-minded couples who like to travel the US in rented RVs. They drive out to a national park, see the sights, and come back. It’s kind of cute. The only time I have a home cooked meal that’s not crock-pot chili is when Mama comes over to scold me about my lack of wife and children. The food makes the lecture worth it. My younger brother, Carter, is in the last few weeks of his residency in LA before he comes home and starts working at the one and only doctor’s office with Fletcher Blake.
I haven’t been on a date since college and that was seventeen years ago. God, has it really been that long? If that’s true it’s been even longer since I fucked a woman. Yes. The more I think about it, the more appealing a woman to call my own sounds to me. I start listening in earnest to what Lloyd has to say. Basically, he’s going to play matchmaker with the replies to ads that were already placed all over the country. He’s a persuasive politician through and through. It’s only a matter of time before the others get on board too.
I can’t wait to see who he thinks would be the perfect bride for me… should be interesting.
Prologue
Sadie
Two Months Ago
“Are you sure you want to do this, Sadie?” I grab Hannah's hand and nod my head.
“I can’t stay here. I have to go. I know what we have been taught, but I refuse to believe that this is the only way to live. I love Daed and Mamm, guys. But I want to see something else, and I definitely don’t want to marry Jacob.” Thinking about the son of our preacher gives my stomach the aches.
“I understand. We all do,” Rachel says with tears in her eyes. A part of me feels guilty about this. I made this decision for myself, but deep down I knew none of them would stay if I left. Still, I have to go.
Growing up Amish, our life is simple and non-cumbersome. We make our own food, clothing, and furniture. We live by a strict law, and we don’t socialize with the English. My people consider them worldly and not following the way of God. I don’t agree. On my trips to the town to retrieve flour and such, I have met some nice people, one of which is how I have a way out of here.
“Are you sure this is how you want to do it?” Lavinia asks, passing me a piece of pie.
“Absolutely. I might be unworldly, sister, but I am not stupid. There is no way I would make it out there on my own. No, marrying is the best option.”
“Yes, but to someone you have never met?” I definitely don’t need her to point it out. As it is, my head has not stopped pounding since I placed the ad in the paper. But, I would rather follow my own destiny than one picked out for me.
“I know it is unorthodox.”
“To say the least,” Miriam says, mouth full of apple cobbler.
“But, it is the path I am choosing. Not you. Stay here. Fulfill the path Daed and Mamm have set for you and live happily, sisters, in peace.” I touch each of their hands letting them know I expect nothing from them. I want them to live their dream, whatever that is, knowing it is what they chose. Even if it is here in our community where I will never step foot again once my ad is answered, for I will be under the Bahn and shunned my entire family and community.
“How will you know if someone has answered?” Ada asks.
“I am going to go to the general store once a week to check with Charlie. She has agreed to collect the letters for me and keep them.” Charlie is the granddaughter of the nice old lady who runs the store in town. We go there to buy flour and such since we don’t have our own mill.
One day I went there, and my eye was caught on a magazine of a young girl staring at the New York skyline. I couldn’t help it, I was transfixed. Charlie noticed and struck up a conversation. An hour later I had told her my true wish. To leave this place. I don’t want to go somewhere extravagant like New York by any means, I am not tough enough for that, but to a small town like this where I can find my way.
She told me about mail order brides and what it means. I thought it over for weeks, terrified and unsure. I mean it is a stranger. Then one night, my father came in and told me my husband would be Jacob Lapp and I thought I would die. He is the worst. The absolute worst. He is lazy, disgustingly unclean, and dare I say unattractive. My mind was made up then.
The next day I went to Charlie, she helped me write an ad and mailed it for me. I came home immediately and told my sisters. “You have to know we are coming with you, Sadie.”
“Hannah, you don’t have to.” I want them to be sure.
