Free Mail Order Mistake by Kirsten Osbourne

laughed out loud.  “You should have seen the look on her face when I told her Ellen was the most beautiful woman in the world.”
    Wesley laughed.  “Why did you lie to her?”
    “I didn’t!”   Patrick walked into Wesley almost knocking him over.
    “You really think she’s prettier than Malinda?” Wesley asked in surprise.
    “Absolutely!  You don’t?”
    Wesley shook his head.  “I’ve never seen a woman more beautiful than Malinda.”
    “I guess you can believe that if it makes you stay away from Ellen.”
    “They’re turning us into a couple of love-struck idiots.”
    Patrick nodded.  “ Yes, they are.  I don’t mind, though.  Ellen’s worth it.”
     
    *****
     
     
    First thing the next morning, Ellen cornered her again, demanding she make a decision. 
     If she hadn’t been so bossy about it, Malinda had planned to tell her she’d made one.   She’d been planning on telling her that she was going to marry Wesley.  She still
     wasn’t certain she was making the right decision, but she knew she couldn’t marry
     anyone else while she was in love with him.
    Ellen’s bossiness made Malinda so angry she said she wasn’t making a decision until
     she was ready, though.  Malinda loved her sister, but her bossiness was her one contention
     with her.
    After breakfast, they went for a walk to a park down the street that Patrick had walked
     Ellen to earlier in the week.  Malinda liked the looks of the small town.  Everything
     seemed peaceful.  At the park, she heard a mother call a little boy named Tommy and she smirked, wondering if it was the same boy Wesley had put in jail.
    Soon after they arrived, Ellen left to go and help take care of a group of children
     across the park.  Malinda would have helped, but Ellen didn’t give her the choice,
     so she settled herself under the shade of a huge tree to enjoy a book.  She read several
     chapters before Ellen came back.
    “Are you ready to go?” Ellen asked, standing in the shade of the large oak tree where
     Malinda was reading.  Ellen’s cheeks were flushed from running across the park to
     her, and Malinda wondered if her sister would ever stop running in public.   Malinda had always liked to run but at least she knew that it should only be done
     when there weren’t people watching you.
    “Yes.  Did you have fun with the children?”  Malinda could see by her face that she
     did, but if she was talking about the kids, she wouldn’t be trying to force Malinda
     into a decision she’d already made.
    “I had a wonderful time.”   Ellen grinned.  “I was holding this sweet baby for most of the time, and when the woman , Ida, came back, I called him a ‘ he ’ .  I guess I probably should have checked down the front of her diaper, but I just
     assumed it was a boy.  The baby was bald.  I guess it never occurred to me that girls
     are born bald as well.”  She laughed at herself as they walked.
    Malinda laughed.  “It never occurred to me either, so I guess we’re together in our
     ignorance of small babies.”   She’d never really thought of having a baby before, but she liked the idea of having
     a little Wesley.
    Once they were back at the house, she went up to the spare room where she was sleeping
     and changed for dinner.  She loved dressing up for Wesley.  Seeing his eyes light
     up when she walked into a room made her day.
    They h ad a good dinner, and afterward she went with Wesley into the parlor to talk to him.  Somehow, the talking never
     happened.  She had hoped she could get him to agree to marry right away, but to wait to consummate the marriage. B ut as soon as they sat togeth er on the couch, their lips met and his arms were around her, and all thoughts of anything but him left her mind
     immediately.
    She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him.  His hand skimmed up and down her side, much too close to her breast for comfort. 
     She could tell he wanted to touch it, but it