Refuge in Sweet Water

By Mildred Colvin

Adam is hardworking, honest, and kind, but is tired of being lonely. He’s longed for a wife since his next-door neighbor married a mail-order bride. The only woman who’d caught Adam’s interest turned up her nose at his farm, which caused him to doubt his ability to ever be loved for himself. Sometimes he feels like the only single man left in a land of couples. He’d like nothing better than to fill his house with a wife and their children. When he takes a leap of faith and sends for a mail-order bride, he spends every moment either excited or scared out of his wits. Expecting to receive letters from potential brides, he’s shocked when he gets a telegram saying his bride is on her way, and he has less than a week to decide what to do with her.

Emily is quiet, unassuming, and peace-loving, but stronger than she looks or knows. She isn’t ready for marriage, but has no choice since her stepfather learned of an inheritance she’s set to receive when she marries or on her twenty-fifth birthday. Greedy for a share of the wealth, he’s forcing her to marry his boss, a man she detests and fears. Praying for an escape during her wedding, she is shocked when Pinkerton agents take over, and her life changes in a way she could never have imagined. But is being a mail-order bride God’s answer to her prayers? All she can do is trust His leading, and really, what can be better than that?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mildred Colvin
• Release date: Mar 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005194208

Mildred Colvin

Mildred Colvin is a wife, mother of three, and grandmother to three beautiful girls. She started writing when her children were young as they asked for stories. Not from a book. No! They were only satisfied when she made up stories. As the stories grew, she wrote some down and sent them off to magazines. Eight were published before her imagination turned toward love stories, which is what she enjoys reading.She has been writing Christian or clean and wholesome romance since 2001. Over the years several readers from pre-teens to older kids in their eighties and nineties have written expressing their interest in her books. She always loves to hear about one of her stories touching someone's heart. Her purpose in writing is to encourage, entertain, and bless someone else.She lives in the United States and sets her characters in the middle states from Texas to Nebraska and Iowa and reaching across Illinois to Colorado. She also has an Oregon Trail series, but the Great Plains states are her favorite setting.She is active in a very special critique group and has written and published over 60 books in both historical and contemporary themes, and plans to continue writing as long as God allows. He has been good in giving her many ideas for stories. Maybe more than she will be able to finish, but she enjoys each one.Please take a moment to visit her website at www.mildredcolvin.weebly.com, and sign up for her Romantic Reflections Newsletter to learn when new books are released. Also learn of promotions and free books through her newsletter.And take a look at her books. You might find something you don't want to put down.

Book preview

Refuge in Sweet Water

Mildred Colvin

Historical Christian Romance

Refuge in Sweet Water

Copyright ©2021 by Mildred Colvin

All Rights Reserved

Cover photo copyright © Mildred Colvin

Model © Periodstock.com

Smashwords Edition

Scripture portions are taken from the King James version of the Bible.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events is entirely coincidental.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from its author except for brief quotations in printed reviews. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Epilogue

About the Author

Note from the Author

More Sweet Water Mail Order Brides

Other Historical Romances

Chapter 1

Outside Sweet Water, Kansas, 1892

A trickle of sweat ran down Adam Jacobs’ back as he drove the mower across the field while his two friends worked together, spreading and fluffing the hay so it would dry. The brothers’ voices rang with laughter as they worked, making Adam feel more lonely than usual. The fact they were helping him in his field didn’t matter. Isolation was becoming a way of life for him.

The June sun overhead announced dinnertime even before the ringing of the farmhouse dinner bell brought the men and mower to a standstill.

Adam stepped down from the bare metal seat. As he stretched to release the kinks in his sore arms and back, his gaze swept over the mown field with its straight rows of felled grass being scattered to dry by the two men following his mower. The hay should be ready to stack day after tomorrow. Satisfaction for a job well done swelled his chest.

Turning, he gazed across an expanse of tall, undulating grass to the simple five-room house surrounded by a whitewashed board fence and backed by large barns, corrals, and sheds. The roses his mother had planted were a splash of red against the fence. He’d grown to adulthood there. Now it was his home since his mother’s death three years ago. Whatever good spirits Adam felt over the morning’s work vanished at the thought of his house sitting alone on the prairie. Alone and lonely—like him.

Hey, Adam! Matthew Tucker hollered when the dinner bell rang out. Sounds like the girls are ready for us. We’re heading in. You coming?

Adam glanced up at his friends. Sure, give me a moment. He unhitched the huge work horses and led them to the shade. After he made sure they had water and staked them out to graze, the three men walked toward the house.

We should have your hay put up by the end of the week. Matt chewed on a length of grass.

His brother, Luke, nodded. Should be able to move into our fields come Monday morning.

If it doesn’t rain. Adam scowled at the cloudless blue sky.

Luke gave a good-natured slap to Adam’s shoulder. It won’t rain before we get the hay put up. Where’s your faith, man?

I’ve got faith. Adam shrugged his friend’s hand from his shoulder. But that doesn’t keep all the bad away.

Luke shook his head. Maybe not, but there’s lots of good in this world. All you gotta do is look around.

I’m looking. Adam turned back toward the small desolate house sitting alone on the prairie. Just gets lonely out here sometimes.

Maybe you ought to try filling that house with someone who’ll help you make something good out of it. Matt looked thoughtful. You don’t have the same problem I had last year when the Wilson brothers took matters into their own hands and sent Danya to me, do you?

You mean am I secretly married? For the first time since the conversation started, Adam found something humorous about it. No, Matt, I’ve never married. I just don’t think bringing a woman I don’t know into my life will solve anything. And don’t be giving any ideas to Claude Wilson about ordering one for me. When I decide I’m ready for marriage, I’ll find a bride.

I respect that, Adam. Matt gave a quick nod as if it were a promise. Made me pretty mad when he sent off for Danya, but I’m over that now.

The three men chuckled at his understatement. Matt and Danya appeared to be deeply in love after a few months of marriage. Sure, he’d resisted at first, but it didn’t take her long to win him over.

The Tuckers were good neighbors. Good friends. So were the Wilson brothers who lived on the south side of them and John Langdon on the north. They all attended the same church that Elliott Cooper pastored. Adam thought of their pastor. Now, there was a man who needed a wife! His young daughter was entering her teen years and could use the guidance of a mother. But thinking of the preacher’s problems didn’t help solve his.

Truth was, he’d welcome a wife, if he could trust one. Like Matt, the first woman he’d thought he loved had burned him. Not that he’d married her, even though that had been his plans. She’d taken one look at his little house in the country and walked out. At least she’d been honest when she told him she had no intention of being a farmer’s wife, so why couldn’t he get over the hurt of losing her? Or was it his pride?

He followed the others to wait his turn at the wash basin Danya and Gwyn, Matt and Luke’s wives, had put on the porch for them. He appreciated them taking over his kitchen to prepare a meal for their husbands and him. If they hadn’t, he didn’t know what they’d be eating. Another good reason to consider taking a wife. Thankfully, the others had dropped the subject of his unmarried state. Not that he had anything against marriage. In fact, he hoped to marry someday. But a bride you ordered like you would a saddle blanket? He’d have to think long and hard before he did such a thing.

~*~

New York City, July 1892

Emily Foster fisted her fingers in the satiny fabric of her wedding dress, resisting the urge to tear it off and burn it. Not that it wasn’t the most beautiful dress she’d ever seen, but her soon-to-be husband had picked it out and paid for it without her knowledge or input.

She stood in the vestibule of the small church beside her stepfather, Curtis Powell, and looked for a way of escape. The door behind them leading outside was her only chance.

Don’t even think of it. Curtis tightened his hold on her arm. You wouldn’t make two steps and think of the scene. Anthony wouldn’t like that, would he?

Anthony Barker. Rich, powerful, and handsome in that order. But he was also ruthless, greedy, and disgusting. The thought of him turned Emily’s stomach. Yet, she knew there were women who’d gladly drag her down the steps and out the door so they could take her place. She wouldn’t fight them. In fact, she wished one would show up. Now, before it was too late.

Music swelled from the sanctuary, and two men pulled the double doors open, giving Emily a view of the last place she wanted to be. Why does he want to marry me? She whispered the words to Curtis, another man she would as soon see the last of.

He loves you, of course. Curtis shrugged. Besides, what Anthony wants, he takes. He wants you. Enough said.

Maybe. One thing she knew, Anthony Barker loved only himself. But Curtis was right. He’d stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Maybe even kill. She shuddered at the thought. Oh, Lord, where are You? Please deliver me from this evil.

At your age, be glad for the offer. Curtis tugged on her arm. There’s your cue. Let’s go.

As the distinctive tones of the Wedding March sounded, Emily’s heart pounded. Not from anticipation, but from fear. Her knees buckled as she stepped across the threshold, ignoring her stepfather’s cutting remark about her twenty-one years of age, and glimpsed her intended watching from the altar, a satisfied smirk on his otherwise handsome face. Please, Lord.

She didn’t have time for a proper prayer. It was too late for that, and she’d prayed so many already. Surely God had heard and decided she wasn’t worth saving. No, God’s love for her was great. More than she could ever imagine. He would not leave her alone. Surely, He would be with her even in this trial. Thank You, Lord. Give me strength.

Emily’s gaze shifted to the minister standing before the pulpit. Strange, she’d never seen him before. Not that she’d attended church regularly or often, but he wasn’t the same man who’d preached a couple of weeks ago when she was here. That was just like Anthony to bring in his own minister. And organist. A young woman sat at the organ. She played well, but she wasn’t the older woman Emily remembered. The wedding wasn’t hers at all, but Anthony’s. He’d taken over from the moment he told her they would get married, and wouldn’t listen to her protests, until now as she walked down the aisle in a dress she hadn’t chosen. Even the attendants were strangers to her, as were the guests since none of her friends had been invited. Not that she had many friends. Not since Mama died. Lord, here I am at my wedding, and I feel so alone and frightened. If possible, take this from me. If not, please strengthen me for what is coming.

She needed strength. Her stomach hadn’t settled down since she awoke this morning and realized today was her last day of freedom. She’d scarcely been able to pick at her breakfast and had lost her dinner within minutes of returning to her room. Even now, her queasy stomach and light head begged for the comfort of her bed and the chance to be alone without so many eyes turned toward her.

The music stopped, and Emily stood before Anthony. He took her hand, his sneer never relaxing. His eyes, cold and hard, searched her face as if looking for something. Why, when he could have almost any woman he wanted, did he want her?

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here tonight in the sight of God to join this couple in holy matrimony, not to be entered into lightly but reverently, passionately, lovingly and solemnly. If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together, speak now or forever hold your peace. The minister lifted his head, his right hand covering the open Bible held in his left as he looked from one side of the congregation to the other.

Emily held her breath. Please say something. Someone speak. Lord, deliver me from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the—"

Well, I got somethin’ to say.

Emily jerked her hand from Anthony’s and swung around to see a man standing in the back holding a rifle pointed straight at her. She swayed as the room seemed to move in a slow circle.

Anthony Barker, you’re under arrest. Call off your henchmen and come peaceably. The voice seemed unreal, each word pounding in Emily’s head. She stepped back.

Anthony lunged for her, but another arm hooked her waist, pulling her away from him. It was the preacher. Somehow a gun had replaced his Bible. A woman screamed, and a man yelled garbled words. It was too much. The room swirled and darkness closed in on Emily as the church and voices faded into oblivion.

~*~

Miss Foster? The tapping at the door wasn’t loud, but it pulled Emily from a