Judith loved the idea of pinstripes to be added to her bag, but insisted on a pale yellow. Barbara shrugged after pointing out the impracticality of pale anything for luggage that would be handled and abused, but Judith remained firm of resolve. The end result was charming, and helped distinguish hers from any other, and Barbara so liked the look that she modified Judith’s dress to include the detail.
~~~
Barbara had taken a number of the bolts back to the store from which they had been purchased and, with careful negotiation, traded them for other fabric more appropriate for day dresses, thriftily obtaining fabric swatches and bolt ends to use for décor.
Their current wardrobes would serve for work dresses. But they would need new dresses for church if they were to make a good impression.
With the travel garments complete, the new day dresses came next, and because space in their luggage would be quite limited, Barbara designed drapes and fichus to modify each basic garment to appear to be three different costumes. And then, in a brilliant stroke of genius, if she said so herself, she created a separate bodice for evening wear, a bit lower cut, although still tasteful, which would be useful should they ever again have the opportunity to dance. A bit of basting to attach it would be required, but all the girls, even the fumble-fingered, could manage that chore quite nicely. And the modification would also serve for evening entertainment at home.
Judith’s clothing featured pleats rather than ruffles, while Maria’s flounces had flounces. Each dress was unique.
These were the dresses the girls would wear to Gracie’s wedding.
And now for the wedding dress, thought Barbara, as she gently stroked the ivory muslin she’d gotten for Gracie. She’d also purchased some pure white thread and four different nuns were creating exquisite lace with which to trim the bodice and veil. Everyone was pitching in.
CHAPTER 17 – Wedding Plans
Gracie had been a great favorite among her classmates at the academy, both with the orphans and with the society girls whose parents cared enough about them to insist upon a rigorous education. Her wedding to a popular class member of the St. Francis graduates, also an orphan, became a cause célèbre, and, somehow, a focus of the fundraising the Lady’s Sodality had been doing for the mail-order brides. Aided and abetted by the Knights of Columbus, they took over the affair, turning it into an end-of season social event.
The newspapers had gotten word of the upcoming affair and requested the opportunity to take photos. After consulting with Mrs. Arbuthnot, current President of the Sodality, Mother had agreed, but only if the photographer would first do portrait photos of each of the girls who would be traveling plus a group photo to send west. She suggested at least two copies of each would be appropriate so each girl would have a memory to pass on to her children.
All of the girls had agreed to have individual portraits made so Mother might have a copy, but Christine, Maria, and Elizabeth had requested they not be included in the group photo as they were not going as brides and didn't want to cause confusion.
The photographer, Ned Shanks, was anxious to use the orphans’ story, especially since he had the photos. But Sister Benedicta suggested that doing so now would interfere with the wedding feature and that it might be better to wait and take a picture of the group departing on the train which he could caption “Mail-Order Bride Adventure.” She promised that she herself would write an appropriate paragraph for the newspaper and give to him when the group departed. Satisfied, Mr. Shanks took off to have the pictures developed and returned the next morning with the prints.
~~~
Mother Evangeline had written a letter the night before and she quickly slipped in the group picture and had sent it off to the post office and on to Kansas within ten minutes of Mr. Shanks’ arrival.
There, the prospective bridegrooms now have something of substance, faces to match the brief descriptions, she thought, satisfied to have checked another item off her ever expanding list.
CHAPTER 18 – Love Letters
Billy stared at the picture that had accompanied the letter from Mother Evangeline. There were seven girls, but one, with a solemn face and abundant hair, seemed to stare straight at him, sharing his sadness. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
She looks like an angel, he sighed. She looked just like what he imagined his mother must have looked like. She had died before he was three, and his father and older brothers had dragged him up and taught him how to ranch.
He knew about all there was to know about horses. He could practically “whisper” unbroken stock into becoming calm and powerful trail and cattle animals. It was his talent with horses that had gotten him the job with the Tri Brand. But the time he had spent learning the tricks of his trade was time he had not spent in school, so he could barely write his name or print his letters.
Reading was pretty much beyond him although he could pick out some of the words. A number of the other hands had read the accompanying letter out loud, not much better at reading than he was but they could at least sound out the words. He had made Jeff repeat the names until he had all the girls memorized.
The one who had caught his eye was called Barbara. That was a beautiful name. He knew there had to be
