Free Once Upon a Mail Order Bride: Mail Order Brides: Book One by Hannah West Page A

some letters last week and a few to pick up so I overheard the postmaster’s wife talking to another woman. She runs a mail order bride agency on the side! She said she had more letters from men than they could fill at the moment and I took a moment to go over and ask her about it.”
                  “Emmy!” Carrow gasped.
                  “Well, give me a moment and let me finish! She said that a lot of men were in need of a wife out west but there weren’t enough women to go around, so she helps girls here who are hoping for a better way of life find one out West!” Emmy said with a dazzling smile.
                  And Carrow realized it was the first smile she had worn since the death of their parents.
                  Tentatively Carrow smiled back. “You really think this is the answer?”
                  “Well it’s not traditional, but I think so. We would still be able to pick out our husbands from the letters and we would then be entitled to our inheritance from Papa. This way it could be done in secret until the day we leave and Uncle will have no idea.”
                  Biting her lip Carrow mumbled, “But I’m just not sure…”
                  “Carrow,” Emmy said taking her sister’s hands in hers, “Do you want to be in control of your life and be happy or do you want everything planned out for you and have no choice at all? I would rather be happy. Please say we’ll do this together.”
                  After a long moment of thought she nodded her head. Her younger twin sister was right. She would rather be in control of her life and make her own choices.
                  “But I have one condition.”
                  “What,” Emmy asked excitedly.
                  “If we do this, we must find men who are not too far from each other. I’m not willing to lose you too.”
                  Suddenly both girl’s had tears in their eyes and shared a tight hug. Emmy was the first to pull back.
                  “We’ll go see her first thing in the morning. We can pick out our men and write them a letter. If all goes well and if we like the letters, there is nothing stopping us from leaving within the month. If I were you, I would start packing.”
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
    With hurried excitement the girls raced the post office downtown and were greeted warmly by the post master’s wife, Mrs. Greene.
                  “Give me five minutes girls and meet me on the side of the building. There is a door there and go on inside to the kitchen,” she said kindly before ducking back inside to tell her husband and to retrieve a box bound together in ribbon.
                  Carrow led the way and they found themselves seated in high-backed chairs at a small table made for tea.             
    Mrs. Greene cam e in by another door and was all smiles as she set her box down and went to fetch tea. After all was settled she opened the box and pulled out a small stack of letters.
                  “These are letter from just this month’s advertisement. I wasn’t expecting so many. Usually there are only a few and I have more girls then I do letters! Any way go ahead, dears, and look them through, pick out the ones best fitted to yourselfs. Any man to get an answer from either of you will be one lucky duck!”
                  Carrow picked up half a stack and handed it to her sister and then took her half. She leafed through the first few with slowness reading the letters carefully. She placed them in two piles, the ones she liked and the ones that were a no for her.
                  After an hour passed she was through both stacks and had only four she liked enough to consider. Emmy had six. Now they compared locations to see if any of them were close enough together and they