“Where’s Elizabeth?” she asked. She was always a little intimidated by Bernard, though she wasn’t certain why. He was a handsome man, but he seemed dangerous somehow.
“In her office.” Bernard would have taken anyone else to Elizabeth’s office, but she was family. She knew where her sister worked.
Trudie nodded and hurried down the hall, not bothering to knock as she walked into her sister’s office, which doubled as a parlor. “Elizabeth, I need you to marry me off to someone. I’d rather stay close to home, but I can’t wait another minute. Put me on a train this afternoon. Please!”
Elizabeth’s grin told Trudie she’d been slightly melodramatic in her declaration, but she wasn’t going to let it worry her. “I do think I have a letter for you. I was going to show you at Sunday dinner, but I can see you’re not interested in waiting.”
“Not at all. Please tell me he wants his wife delivered immediately.” Trudie plopped down on the sofa in a way she could only do with family. There was no point in her pretending to be a lady around Elizabeth. She certainly knew better. “Let me see the letter.”
Elizabeth giggled. “You’re really ready, aren’t you?” She flipped through a pile of correspondence on her desk, finally choosing one of the letters there.
“I am. Can I leave Friday? Saturday? This afternoon?”
Instead of responding, Elizabeth handed her sister a letter.
Trudie unfolded the paper and read it carefully.
To whom it may concern:
I’m hungry. I’ve been living alone on a ranch just outside Coyote, Colorado for years, and I’ve been cooking for myself all that time. Or you could say, I’ve been botching the meals I try to make. So far, I’ve mastered scrambled eggs, but only if I don’t mind shells in them. I’ve ruined a few pans trying to make bacon.
I can’t keep existing on jerky and eggs. I swear I’m going to go insane if someone won’t marry me. I’m including a bank draft to cover her train ticket and the cost of travels, as well as your fee. Please, by all that’s holy, send me a woman who can cook.
I don’t care what she looks like. I don’t care if she is twenty years older than me. (I’m twenty-six, by the way.) I don’t even care if she can’t sew or clean. As long as I’m fed, I’ll be happy with her.
Please don’t bother to write back. I want my mail-order meals immediately.
Sincerely,
Douglas Charleston, the hungriest man in all of Colorado, and probably the entire United States of America
P. S. Please make sure she can cook!
Trudie stared at the letter before a smile slowly grew. “He has a sense of humor. I want this one.” She knew she could fulfill his requirements, because she happened to be an outstanding cook, but more than that, she thought he just might be what she needed. Someone who knew how to laugh.
“Are you sure you know how to cook?” Elizabeth asked.
Trudie stuck her tongue out at Elizabeth, realizing her siblings really did bring out the worst in her. “I’ve never gotten eggshells in my scrambled eggs.” Elizabeth was consistently called the worst female cook in their family, and Trudie knew she was just teasing. That wasn’t to say Elizabeth wasn’t a good cook, because she was. They were simply from a family full of good cooks.
Elizabeth grinned. “He sent more than enough money to send you out as soon as you want to go. I don’t think this afternoon is reasonable, but you could go tomorrow afternoon. Then you’d have time to say goodbye to the family.”
Trudie tilted her head to one side. “It’s Wednesday. How about I leave Friday? I’ll go talk to Melvin after I leave here. I’ve got money saved, so I can buy some fabric and work on the train. Does he say how far he is from the nearest train station? Oh, and who is going to meet me at the station if I go right now?” Was it even feasible for her to go before the man was notified? Elizabeth knew all these things about mail-order brides, but Trudie didn’t.
Elizabeth shrugged. “You could probably hire someone to take you out to his house. I’ve had brides do that before. I would say find the church in town and ask someone to take you to see him. He said the town is a whistle stop only.”
Trudie knew that a whistle stop was a place where they stopped for a short while for people to get on and off. “I could do that. I’m going to hurry and talk to Mel. He deserves as much notice as I can give him.”
“Yes, he does. All right. You go home, tell the family, and get everything ready. Stay here on Thursday night, and I’ll make sure you have a train ticket for Friday afternoon.”
Trudie bit her lip. “Make it Saturday. Then I can work tomorrow and Friday and not feel so guilty about leaving poor Mel high and dry.” She’d been working for Mel for so long, it almost felt like she was betraying him by moving away and leaving her job.
“Sounds smart. You just show up with what you’re taking, and you’re welcome whenever you want to come stay.”
As Trudie left to go talk to the owner of the diner, she had a little skip in her step. That hungry guy wouldn’t know anything about the demon horde, and he wouldn’t know what hit him.
TRUDIE’S MOTHER WASN’T at all surprised when she told her she was marrying a man in Colorado. “I’m going to have children to visit in every state and territory, once I get done raising the ones left at home.” She seemed sad, but understanding at the same time. Of course, she’d been down the road of sending a daughter off to marry
