Angie's Hope (Valentine Mail Order Bride 7) Read online

  The next morning, Nancy was full of questions and conversation as they busied themselves about the house. “What will you wear? Do you think he is handsome?

  “I’m going to wear what I planned to wear to Bible study, since Elmer will drop me off there,” Angie answered. At the shocked look on Nancy’s face, Angie added, “Well, I may have had my lace collar and new hat.”

  “Do you like him? What would I give to have an intended,” Nancy said.

  Angie laughed. “He may be mother’s intended for me, but he’s certainly not my intended. He’s not even my beau! He’s an old friend, and we’re going out for a ride. That’s all.” But Angie couldn’t help wondering what it was he so earnestly wanted to talk to her about.

  “What did you think of his friend, Mr. Harkins? Was he the handsomest man you’ve ever seen?”

  It was fun to see Nancy so excited, and she had to admit the attention Stephen had paid to Nancy did seem genuine. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that he was after something, after the way he had pounced on the information about Henry owning a stake in gold mining, and how he forced Elmer to rush off to the gentleman’s club. Nancy was young and vulnerable and easily impressed by a handsome man with a flattering tongue.

  “Yes, Mr. Harkins is very handsome. But do be careful of a man like him, Nancy,” Angie warned.

  “What do you mean? He’s educated and about to start his profession. Do you know something about him?”

  “No, but I’m not sure I have a good opinion of him just yet. Please be careful and guard your heart. I’ve a feeling Mr. Harkins enjoys beauty in women and gives every impression he is interested in them. I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nancy said, sounding put out. “I only said he was handsome and well-positioned. It’s not like I’m in love with him or anything.” She held his calling card in her hand, looking at it longingly and tracing her fingers across the letters of his name.

  Angie smiled at her and raised one eyebrow, holding her gaze until Nancy looked up. Nancy hastily tried to mask the dreamy look in her eyes, but when she saw Angie’s face, the two burst out laughing.

  “Oh Angie, let me hope a little!” She said, and put the card in the pocket of her dress.

  Angie hugged her and pulled away to look at her face again. “Dream all you want, sweetheart. Just keep your heart for a man you know truly deserves you.”

  ~*~*~*~

  Elmer called for her at exactly at three o’clock. As much as Mrs. Simmons wanted to make him stay and talk so she could press him for his intentions, she practically shoed Angie into his arms as they left together.

  “Have a good time, you too! It’s such a wonderful season for love!”

  Angie had no words as she accepted Elmer’s help into the carriage. She arranged her shawl and muff, and shook her head to clear it of her mother’s instructions. This day was about friendship, and possibilities.

  “She is certainly excitable,” Elmer said politely. “I can understand that she wants to see you well-married.”

  “I apologize if it embarrasses you,” Angie said. “She does mean well, but doesn’t always know when to quit. Can we forget about my mother and enjoy the afternoon?”

  “I’d like nothing better,” Elmer said. “We’ll have tea and then I want to show you something.”

  They entered a tea room and were seated at a small table adorned with a white tablecloth and one rose in a vase. Angie and Elmer soon began catching up on the years since they had seen each other, with Elmer talking more since he had been away and had so much more to tell.

  Angie watched him and took notice of the feeling in her chest. Or rather, the lack of feeling. She was struggling to detect a sensation of heat, or dizziness, or tingling that she felt certain accompanied feelings of love, as she had read in books. While she enjoyed the conversation, however, she felt as if she were talking to her brother, Henry, instead of a potential suitor. It wasn’t just her feelings; it was the way Elmer looked at her.

  Actually, the way he didn’t look at her. Throughout tea, Elmer looked at his cup, at the waiter, at the wall behind Angie’s head, just about anywhere but in her eyes. The lack of connection was starting to become uncomfortable. Finally, he couldn’t avoid her face and he fell silent as he stirred his spoon in his near-empty cup.

  “It seems like something is bothering you, Elmer. Do you want to tell me what it is?” Angie wondered if a man in love acted as distraught as Elmer did. Was he too shy to express his affection?

  “All right, I brought you here to tell you, I might as well get on with it,” Elmer said. He fumbled with something in his pocket and brought out a small velvet box.

  Angie’s breath escaped her lips before she could stop it. A ring? He was giving her a ring, so soon? They had only just been re-introduced, and Angie had no strong feelings at all for him. She shifted in her chair as she began to devise ways to avoid hurting his feelings if he was about to propose. She knew her mother advocated putting off accepting at least once, to better seal the man’s affections, but in this case, she would not be lying by saying no.

  “I have something to tell you that may seem awfully forward after being reacquainted for such a short time. But I feel our long friendship makes it possible for me to share my heart with you,” Elmer said. “You see, I would like to get engaged… “

  “Elmer—really – this is just too sudden… ”

  “Wait, Angie, hear me out.” Finally, he looked her directly in her eyes. The pain and confusion Angie saw looked nothing like love.

  “I’m going to propose to a woman I met at school. Her birthday is Valentine’s Day, and I wondered if you could tell me whether she would like a ring like this.”

  Angie’s head spun as she took in Elmer’s words. He opened the box on the table and slid it toward her. Her hand flew to her throat in protest, but her eyes were glued to the box.

  She reached across the table and snapped it shut.

  “I think you better take me to the Bible study now. I’m not sure I can be of any help to you.”

  She pushed away from the table and gathered her bag and her skirts. The sudden motion caused the waiter to rush over and grab the back of her chair before it hit the floor. Elmer was standing in a flash, pulled out his wallet and laid money on the table as he scooped up the ring box and chased Angie to the door.

  “Wait! Angie, I –“

  The waiter chuckled as he mopped up the spilled tea from the tablecloth. It wasn’t the first time he’d witnessed a proposal gone wrong.

  ~*~*~*~

  Angie rushed down the street, not sure if the direction she was going was taking her closer or further from the YMCA where she longed to see her friends. How dare he? She hadn’t expected to feel in love, and didn’t, but to be brought out in public to be humiliated on purpose? It was just too much.

  In a few quick strides, Elmer caught up to her and held her arm to turn her toward him. This time, he couldn’t stop looking in her eyes even as Angie averted hers so he couldn’t see the confusion and shame in them.

  “Angie, that came out completely wrong. Oh, I’ve made a mess of this. Please, allow me to explain—“

  “There is nothing to explain,” Angie said, now able to meet his gaze directly. “Elmer, I expected nothing of you, but when you took me out and told me you had something to tell me, oh—I don’t know, it must be mother’s vanity filling up my head!” The thought that she had even considered he would propose to her on such short notice embarrassed her more than the event she had just witnessed.

  “Please, Angie. We are both caught in untenable positions, and I need your help.”

  “Well, I’m certainly not one to advise you on engagement ring styles, as I’ve never had one of my own.” Her tone sounded harsher to her ears than she had intended. “Elmer, I’m not upset. What is it really that I can do for you?”

  He steered her back to the carriage and helped her in. “I’ll drop you of
f directly, but please hear me out.” As the horse pulled into the crowded street, Elmer continued. “I know our parents want us to marry. My mother has been no less insistent over the years than yours has. And it’s not an entirely unattractive notion to me—“he paused as he felt her body stiffen next to him. “What I mean is, I’ve always liked you, Angie.”

  “I’ve liked you too, Elmer,” she said quietly.

  “But once I met Maribelle, I how it felt to more than like someone. I found how it feels to be in love. I love Maribelle, Angie, and she loves me. I’ve been completely honest with her. I told her about you, and that I had an obligation to our families.”

  Angie could tell Elmer was being completely honest. She envied the sound his voice took on as he described his feelings for Maribelle. She knew, deep in her heart, she only wanted to marry a man who could feel that way about her.

  “Now that you’ve told me, you’re free from all obligations,” Angie said.

  “I do so appreciate your understanding,” Elmer said. “I felt sure from our friendship and knowing your love of honesty that you would release me. Our mothers, however, will be quite a different matter.”

  “Hmmm. Yes, I agree it will be a blow to Mother. But surely, Cousin Esther will understand.”

  “She’s from the old ways, Angie, and she is indebted to your mother for her own marriage. She won’t tell me why, but somehow, she feels only my marriage to you can repay it.”

  The carriage pulled up inside the YMCA. Angie could see her friends Mae and Jewel hurrying to get inside and out of the cold.

  Elmer stopped and held her hand. “Angie, if you can help me in this until I get on my feet in business. Say we are engaged. Allow me the time I need to break free financially from my family. In six month’s time, we can announce a mutual decision not to marry. Our families will be disappointed, but I won’t be under my mother’s power.”

  “And what about me?” Angie couldn’t help the cry that escaped her lips. “Six months in a false engagement will leave me a year or more away from finding my own suitor. Elmer, this is a lot to ask.”

  “I will find a way to help you,” Elmer promised. “I’ll be meeting the best of New York society at my new firm and will introduce you to only the most qualified suitors.”

  “I can’t tell you right now, Elmer.” Angie said. “Please, let me go in; I have to think about this. I need to pray about this. I’m not used to engaging in such deception.”

  Angie climbed down from the carriage. Elmer reached out and handed her the box. “It’s the truth our families laid out for us, Angie. It will be as natural as sunshine. And in the end, isn’t it more important that we both find true love? I will call again tomorrow. If you’re wearing the ring, I’ll know we are engaged.”

  Angie didn’t want to take it, but he tucked the ring box inside her muff. In a moment, he was gone, and she fled the street to the safety of the warm room inside and her friends.

  Chapter Four

  Angie slipped in to a seat in the back of the room and tried to stop her hands from shaking before any of her friends noticed. She opened her Bible and read along with the leader the passages the group had been studying. Her mind kept wandering back to her conversation with Elmer. Her own longing for love, which until now had lain mostly dormant in her heart, now seemed to course through her veins as hotly as her own blood.

  All the while Elmer had been away, she had quietly gone about her life. She didn’t really expect to marry him, but in the back of her mind, the knowledge that their family’s wished them to marry must have steadied her over the years. While her friends and other girls her age obsessed about men and finding the right one to marry, Angie had not been concerned. It was only recently as the girls had become women that she had felt the true pull on her mind and heart to want her own husband and family.

  The tea kettle sang and Angie rose to pour for her friends. The girls had been meeting for Bible study at her father’s church since the finished school.

  “Love is patient, love is kind….” The words from Corinthians were etched in her heart, the verses chosen to highlight Christian love during the span between Christmas, when many engagements were announced, the New Year, when many gentlemen made social calls in hopes of new connections, and St. Valentine’s Day, named after the saint who married young couples in love against the edict of the Roman Emporer Claudius II.

  And now Angie had received a fake marriage proposal. To consider it went counter to her faith and her upbringing. The risks to her future eligibility were high, as surely scandal followed broken engagements. And yet … She couldn’t help wanting to help Elmer. She knew she could never marry him now and try to claim his heart. And she wanted a husband who loved her as desperately as Elmer obviously loved Maribelle.

  She prayed for guidance, but no answer came. Finally, the study was over, and she could confide in her friends.

  Maddie Burns brushed crumbs from the serving table while her friends straightened up the room and collected tea cups from the departing Bible study group members. She bit back a sigh.

  Jewel joined her, setting down the half-dozen cups she’d managed to carry without spilling a drop of tea on the church’s threadbare carpet. “Don’t be sad, Maddie. It’s just a silly holiday.”

  Sarah joined them, while Caroline and Eva lined the meeting chairs up against the walls and Mae divided leftover tea cakes into six piles and wrapped them in napkins.

  “It doesn’t mean anything,” Sarah agreed.

  “But we never get flowers or cards.” Maddie blinked back tears. “How are we going to find husbands if we’re already old maids?”

  Normally, Maddie found the study group inspiring. But somehow, the peace she usually found in reading God’s word eluded her today. Seeing the other girl’s Valentine’s Day gifts had saddened her. Cards, flowers, candy—two of the older girls even sported engagement rings. Would anyone ever love her enough to want to be her Valentine?

  “You’re too pretty to be an old maid.” Sarah patted Maddie’s shoulder. “Your time will come.”

  “I’m not sure it’s about being pretty,” Mae pointed out as she handed Jewel a napkin full of cakes. “Most of those girls have families to help them out. Dowries. Connections.”

  “We need to make our own connections.” Caroline wiped her hands on her skirts and approached the table.

  “And pray on it,” added Jewel.

  “I’ve been praying,” said Eva as she, too, joined her friends. “I don’t think we’re going to find husbands here in New York City. There are too many other women in better circumstances than us. We need to look somewhere else.”

  Caroline’s eyebrows went up. “Where else would we go?”

  “I don’t want any old husband,” Mae chimed in. “I want a man I can love. A man who will love and respect me in return.”

  Maddie laughed. “That rules out all the young men around here. I can no more see myself marrying one of the boys from the factory than I would jump off the roof of this building.”

  No one noticed how unusually quiet Angie was, or that she had set a new pot of water to boil for tea. She responded to the sound of the tea kettle and rose to pour for her friends. Always quiet and reserved, Angie enjoyed her doing small things to please others and like her father, wanted to serve the church and its members in any way she could.

  “Tea?” She asked quietly as she carried the kettle around the small gathering. In turn each girl raised her cup and held it steadily while Angie poured. When she was done, instead of returning to her seat, she spoke.

  “I’ve had a proposal.”

  “What?!” The girls cried, “Angie, is it true?”

  “Wait, there’s more to it,” Angie said before they could all crowd around to congratulate her. “It’s not real, but I’ve been asked to pretend it is.” She sat down and told them everything Elmer had said. In the end, she pulled out the ring from the box and held it for everyone to see.

  “I can’t decide if it�
�s a low-down trick or one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard,” Jewel said.

  “What should I do?” Angie cried. “If I accept, I’ll have to carry on a ruse while Mother makes arrangements, and I won’t have any chance of meeting another young man in the meanwhile until Elmer can ‘break’ the engagement and marry Maribelle.”

  “Wait.” Sarah held up one finger as if she’d just had an idea. “A few months ago, I was at the library and I overheard two of the librarians talking about the Matrimonial Times.”

  “Marry a stranger? Move out west?” Jewel pursed her lips. “I can’t believe you’re suggesting it.”

  “It’s not going to hurt to buy a copy.” Caroline looked at Jewel, who hadn’t yet offered an opinion on the idea.

  “I suppose there’s no harm in reading it,” Jewel admitted.

  “The worst that could happen is that we’d get a letter we wouldn’t want to answer.” Mae passed the last of the napkin-wrapped cakes to Eva.

  Eva tucked the neat package into her reticule. “No one’s going to make us write back.”

  A moment of silence fell upon the group, as each girl contemplated the possibilities.

  For Angie, the idea was the first thing to excite her in ages—actually, ever. The idea of leaving New York to marry someone, out from under her mother’s disapproving eye, appealed to her more than she could have imagined.

  “If we do this, we might never see each other again,” Jewel said quietly. “We need to pray on it. What if God has another plan for us?”

  “God put the idea in Caroline’s head,” Maddie said.

  “And if it’s not a good idea, God will send us a sign that we should stop,” Sarah added.

  “But, the frontier? It’s going to be so much different.” Eva bit her lip. “What if we hate it there?”

  “Everything worth doing is a risk.” Mae held her hands out to her friends. “A risk and an opportunity. We don’t know what life will be like on the frontier, but it will be a fresh start. And no matter what, we’ll remain friends. We’ll write. We’ll visit. We’ll keep each other in our hearts, no matter what.”