Olivia's Obligation (The Alphabet Mail-Order Brides Book 15) Read online

  Olivia’s Obligation

  The Alphabet Mail Order Brides

  Peggy McKenzie

  Columbine Publishing Comany

  Copyright 2019 by Peggy McKenzie

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means , including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Also by Peggy McKenzie

  Peggy McKenzie & Friends

  About the Author

  Book 16 in The Alphabet Mail Order Brides

  The End

  Prologue

  New York City, New York

  Early Summer

  Olivia Palmer packed her trunks and prepared to leave the only home she had ever known. It had been eight months since she and her roommates had waited with trepidation at the Wigg School of Learning for their benefactor, Madame Wigg, to deliver the bad news that things were about to change for all of them.

  And now that Madame’s plan was in motion, Olivia couldn’t have agreed more. Everything had changed for the former orphan residents-turned-teachers. It was an unexpected turn of events for Olivia and her roommates, Nellie, Phebe and Quinlan.

  It wasn’t easy to be twenty-five and unmarried. Some of the people in their community referred to them as spinsters and old maids. They always followed their words with “no offense”, but Olivia knew the married women looked down their noses at the teachers.

  It wasn’t that she and her friends were social clods. On the contrary, they were all well-educated and skilled in the finer points of running a household and a business. And perhaps that was where their downfall lay. Men found their brains a bit overwhelming, considering most bachelors were used to silly nitwits parading around in fancy dresses and hiding their intelligence from potential husbands. As if women didn’t have brains. Ridiculous.

  Even more ridiculous was that most people who lived near the school didn’t even know what went on behind the vine-encrusted gates at the school.

  She had even heard rumors that many thought they might be nuns of a sort and opposed to the idea of marriage.

  Olivia could admit she may have perpetrated the rumor from time to time. She was happy to live within the safe walls of the school and teach other unfortunate orphans the same way she had been taught.

  So when Madame Wigg brought up the prospect of marriage, she hadn’t been thrilled. But, when she learned the woman expected them all to choose husbands from a newspaper advertisement, she was appalled.

  Olivia shuddered. She had seen first-hand the heartbreak of a woman who gave her heart to a man only to be disappointed at the least, dead at the very worst. Most of the women in the school were orphans for that very reason. Their mothers had made bad choices. Why would any of them entertain the idea of giving over control of their lives to a husband?

  But when Olivia had sought out the elderly woman in her office after the announcement and voiced her objections, Madame Wigg offered Olivia an alternative point of view.

  “Don’t look at this opportunity as a marriage, but more like a business arrangement. And you, my dear, are in charge of negotiating your own agreement. But remember, think it through carefully and choose wisely, for there are always consequences even to matters such as these.”

  Olivia could get behind that kind of an arrangement where two people came together for a mutual purpose. She wasn’t much for matters of the heart, but she had learned from Madame Wigg the art of negotiation. Could she find someone who would be agreeable to such arrangement? Perhaps, but she had seen too much heartache to expect the possibility of a real marriage.

  Olivia and her fellow orphans were given few choices growing up in the school. They were instructed where they would live, who their roommates would be, and what chores they would do.

  Now, they were grown women who were making their own choices for the first time in their lives and those choices would take them in new directions. She just hoped she chose the right one.

  Olivia had poured over those newspapers for days until she found three eligible prospects she thought could be wise choices. Then, in her practical, logical manner, she began to correspond with them. The only way she could get to know a person’s true character was through his letters, and she wouldn’t stop her search until she found the best fit for her marriage agreement. After six months of correspondence, she notified her groom of choice that she was agreeable to signing his marriage contract.

  Chapter 1

  Two months after Olivia signed the marriage contract with Mr. Christopher Garrison of Creede, Colorado, she stepped up and onto the wooden train platform and boarded the Denver-Rio Grande rail car for the last leg of her journey to her new life. Pictures of her groom and his four young and adorable children were tucked inside her luggage. She couldn’t wait to meet them in person because those children were to be her children.

  The shadow of the mountains gave the cloudless early summer day a chill that made her shiver. She pulled her traveling cloak closer to her body and looked around for a place to sit. The train was much more crowded than she’d anticipated. There wasn’t an open seat on this car anywhere.

  She supposed she should have arrived at the depot sooner, but it took longer to pen and mail her letters to her friends, Nellie, Phebe and Quinlan than she planned.

  She could have waited until she arrived at her destination, but her groom had warned her that the small town of Creede wasn’t a bustling metropolitan town like she was used to and to prepare for a slower pace with fewer amenities. She wanted to keep the promise she made to her friends when they said their final goodbyes at the train station in New York. They promised to stay in touch, but life had a habit of getting in the way of good intentions.

  Olivia walked down the center aisle and into the next car searching for a seat. It was so crowded and noisy. She wondered how many of the train’s passengers would be going to Creede. Perhaps some of them would be her neighbors.

  Christopher had warned her that the town might be too quiet for her at first, and although he was confident she would love it as much as he did, she would have to allow herself time to adjust.

  Olivia didn’t mind. In fact, she was looking forward to living in the quiet she associated with mountain living. It seemed like just the place to help raise her husband-to-be’s young children and rebuild their town’s school lost in a fire.

  The widower, with four children under the age of six, had explained to her how the town’s original school had been burned down by a drunken miner celebrating the discovery of a new silver vein in his mine. She had laughed at Christopher’s descriptions and she had fallen in love with his sense of humor. She couldn’t wait to meet him and his children.

  “Ma’am, you need to find a seat. The train is leaving in—” the train conductor standing next to her pulled his pocket watch out of his pocket and flipped open its gold cover “—ten minutes. I suggest you try another car. This one seems a bit overcrowded.”

  Olivia
nodded in agreement. There were certainly no seats in this car. She walked down the center aisle carrying her small travel satchel in front of her.

  “Excuse me. Pardon me. I’m so sorry,” she repeated over and over again, dodging men’s feet and women’s dresses that partially blocked her way.

  She reached the opposite end of the car and pushed the door open, crossing the deck between the cars and stepping into the next one. Another full car. How could she sit if there were no seats available?

  Another conductor met her at the door. “Hurry, Miss. It’s almost time to leave the depot and the conductor gets in a right unpleasant tizzy when we don’t keep his train on schedule.”

  “I understand, sir, and I’m trying to find a seat. There just don’t seem to be any seats available, and this is the second car I’ve visited.”

  “Yes, yes, it does seem a bit more crowded than usual. It’s the beginning of summer and tourists are heading to the hot springs up at Wagon Wheel Gap. Let me see if I can find some place for you to sit. Follow me,” the man instructed.

  “That would be so kind of you.” Olivia followed the round man in the blue railroad uniform down the aisle.

  “Ah, there’s a spot fer ya, miss.” He pointed to a seat on the back row where a man in a dark suit sat by the aisle.

  She followed the conductor down the aisle to where the man sat.

  “Thank you,” she said to the conductor. He left her and turned back up the aisle with his ticket punch in hand ready to help someone else along the way.

  Olivia stood next to the man and waited for him to stand for her, but he didn’t seem to be aware she was waiting.

  Olivia cleared her throat. “Excuse me, sir. Would you mind letting me by so I may sit by the window?”

  The man never looked up from his papers. “No, you may not sit here, young woman. I paid for two tickets so I would have room to work. Please find somewhere else to sit.”

  Stunned by his rudeness, she took a moment to gather herself. She looked around for another seat but there were none. Not one.

  The train whistle blew shrill and long, followed by two short bursts signaling the train would depart at any moment. Desperation pushed Olivia’s courage past her hesitation.

  “Sir, perhaps you don’t understand the situation correctly. There are no more seats and the train is leaving the station—”

  The man set his papers on his lap and leaned back in his seat crossing his arms over his chest. Under other circumstances, she would have said the man was very handsome, but the condescending way he speared her with his gaze made her want to kick him in the shins with her pointed-toe traveling shoes.

  “Madame, I do understand the situation, and I’m not interested in striking up a conversation with you. Besides, as I said, I paid for two tickets. Two. That means, I am entitled to both of these seats.”

  The man pointed to his seat and the one next to him as if she were an imbecile. What an arrogant—

  “As charming as you appear, and under other circumstances I would be enchanted to make your acquaintance, but I have a great deal on my mind and I really must get back to my work. Now if you will excuse me, please look for another seat. The train is about to leave the station and it isn’t safe for you to be standing in the aisle.”

  He gave her a tepid smile and returned to his papers, ignoring her once more. She wanted to hit him over the head with her satchel but she was aware the other passengers nearby were listening to their exchange. She noted some were finding her situation quite amusing. She, on the other hand, did not.

  Using her best negotiating skills, she tried again. “Sir. I apologize for bothering you since you have made it obvious you desire not to be disturbed, however, I must point out there are no other seats available. I have no place to sit.”

  The man kept reading his papers, but Olivia could tell by the clench of his jaw and the set of his shoulders, he was not pleased by her persistence.

  Olivia stood in the aisle next to the man and waited. Would he continue to deny her that seat? She heard the whispers of the passengers close by. This situation was untenable.

  When he continued to ignore her, she turned her back on the pompous man and looked one last time around the car for a seat. Any seat, but every seat was occupied.

  She heard another long blast of the whistle. The train jerked forward with such force, she fell backward and into the lap of the very man who made it clear he wasn’t interested in her company. Well, she didn’t want his company either. She just wanted some place to sit. But right now, she wished she were sitting on top of the train rather than in the man’s lap.

  Her face heated with embarrassment. She looked up and met the iron gray eyes of the man whose lap and paperwork she now covered. “I’m sorry, sir. I—” What else could she say?

  His gaze impaled her with eyes the color of a dark gray winter sky just before a storm. She feared the storm was about to erupt.

  Humiliation surged through her body, forcing her to look away. Her skirt was bunched around her ankles and every eye in that train car was on her—including the man whose lap she occupied.

  “Madam, it would seem you are determined to get my attention.”

  She stared at him, incredulous. “The only attention I want from you, sir, is to obtain your permission to sit in that seat by the window.”

  He observed her for a moment longer and then helped her find her footing and pushed her out of his lap. “Very well, but please don’t take this as an invitation to converse. I have important work that needs to be finished before I arrive at my destination.”

  He stood and allowed her access to the seat next to him.

  “I wouldn’t dream of disturbing you further, sir.” She replied and slid into the seat, pulling her skirts close to keep them from touching the irritating gentleman. She settled in as quickly as possible and stared out the window. The train was now in full steam and the depot gone from sight. In its place were moving landscapes of desert scrub brush and snow-capped mountains in the distance.

  She only had to endure this last leg of her long and difficult trip from New York to Colorado for a few more hours. She was exhausted, so she had no problem leaving the gentleman sitting next to her alone as he requested. Even if she hadn’t signed the marriage agreement to Christopher, this man could rest assured she had absolutely no interest in him.

  She had met his kind before. His attitude reminded her of some of the men who had visited the school hoping to capture the attention of one of the lonely spinster school teachers. “Tell them what they want to hear and they’ll fall at your feet.” She heard one of them tell another as they waited for admittance in the school’s foyer.

  She smirked at the memory of Madame Wigg chasing them down the long hall and out of the building with the business end of her cane leading the way.

  It wasn’t hard to understand the disappointment of the young women when they learned their potential beaus were gone and not likely to return.

  When they protested to Madame Wigg, she sat them all down and explained in no uncertain terms what she thought of the men.

  “You all deserve better than the likes of them. They want something from you and when they have what they want, they will leave you behind. They will make promises they have no intention of keeping. Protect yourself. And for goodness sakes, ladies, protect your heart.”

  Shoulders tense, Olivia took a deep breath and settled back against the seat. The steady clickety-clack of the iron train wheels against the rails lulled her tired body into a boneless state. She leaned against the window, closed her eyes, and allowed her mind to drift.

  She couldn’t wait to meet Christopher and his family. She was a bit nervous about living with a man she had never met, but she knew him well enough to know he was a kind man and he assured her she would have all the time she needed to adjust to her new surroundings.

  She had chosen Christopher because he had made it clear, he was looking for a partner, not a wife in the truest sense
of the word. “I’ve had the good fortune to find my soulmate in my beloved Tessa. And now that she has passed, I’m looking for a partner to help me raise my children.”

  It was the best news Olivia could have hoped for. She would have the benefit of the man’s financial support, the joy of knowing what it was like to raise her own children and rebuild the town’s school. She would have the chance to offer every child the opportunity to learn and fulfill her obligations to Madame Wigg. As Christopher had explained to her in his last letter, it was a win-win for everyone. She couldn’t disagree with his assessment.

  This marriage agreement was the perfect solution for her. She wasn’t some starry-eyed young girl dreaming of love when she embarked on this journey. She wanted her own school and through tenacity and courage, she had found a way to have it. She and her groom-to-be had a business arrangement and she was thrilled.

  Olivia blew out a deep sigh and settled into the seat a bit more searching for a comfortable spot.

  The motion of the train pulled at Olivia’s exhaustion and lulled her into an uneasy sleep. Soon, vague images of Christopher’s face floated in and out of her dreams, but something wasn’t quite right. His smile was less quirky and his eyes accusatory. Deeper and deeper she slipped until the images floated all around her.

  The Christopher in her dreams was different than the one she had gotten to know through his letters. This one looked down at her with a sultry sardonic smile that made her knees weak. He leaned his dark head closer and brushed his lips across hers, his kiss light as the whisper of a bird’s wing in flight. She leaned into him. She wanted more.