Janette Oke - A Bride for Donnigan

A Bride for Donnigan

Books by Janette Oke

Return to Harmony Another Homecoming
Tomorrows Dream

A CTS OF F AITH

The Centurions Wife The Hidden Flame The Damascus Way

C ANADIAN W EST

When Calls the Heart When Comes the Spring
When Breaks the Dawn When Hope Springs New

Beyond the Gathering Storm
When Tomorrow Comes

L OVE C OMES S OFTLY

Love Comes Softly Loves Enduring Promise
Loves Long Journey Loves Abiding Joy
Loves Unending Legacy Loves Unfolding Dream
Love Takes Wing Love Finds a Home

A P RAIRIE L EGACY

The Tender Years A Searching Heart
A Quiet Strength Like Gold Refined

S EASONS OF THE H EART

Once Upon a Summer The Winds of Autumn
Winter Is Not Forever Springs Gentle Promise

S ONG OF A CADIA

The Meeting Place The Sacred Shore The Birthright
The Distant Beacon The Beloved Land

W OMEN OF THE W EST

The Calling of Emily Evans Julias Last Hope
Roses for Mama A Woman Named Damaris
They Called Her Mrs. Doc The Measure of a Heart
A Bride for Donnigan Heart of the Wilderness
Too Long a Stranger The Bluebird and the Sparrow
A Gown of Spanish Lace Drums of Change

www.janetteoke.com

with Davis Bunn

A Bride for Donnigan
Copyright 1993
Janette Oke

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

E-book edition created 2011

ISBN 978-1-5855-8733-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

To the special cousins
I grew up with
Bob, Don, Richard, Tom, Kenneth Archie
And Eva

JANETTE OKE was born in Champion, Alberta, to a Canadian prairie farmer and his wife, and she grew up in a large family full of laughter and love. She is a graduate of Mountain View Bible College in Alberta, where she met her husband, Edward, and they were married in May of 1957. After pastoring churches in Indiana and Canada, the Okes spent some years in Calgary, where Edward served in several positions on college faculties while Janette continued her writing. She has written forty-eight novels for adults and another sixteen for children, and her book sales total nearly thirty million copies.

The Okes have three sons and one daughter, all married, and are enjoying their fifteen grandchildren. Edward and Janette are active in their local church and make their home near Didsbury, Alberta.

Contents

This series of Women of the West has presented a number of different personalities in various circumstances that women of the past faced, and it seems right that a little attention be given to those who came, sight unseen, to the Americas to be brides of frontier men.

We know from history that these marriages did occur. But what do we really know about them? What would move a man to seek a complete stranger to be his lifelong mate? What kind of woman would respond to such a request? How might she feel as she traveled over oceans and frontiers to get to her unknown destination? Did the marriages indeed work ?

I dont pretend to have all the answersbut from a little research and with a little imagination, we can journey with one such couple to that significant first meeting and experience some of the emotions they must have felt on the way to that momentand afterward.

She stood for a long time, staring through the dark of the morning mist at the posted notice. Her lips moved ever so slightly as she read again the strange words by the aid of the flickering streetlamp beside themthen read them once more to make sure she understood their meaning.

Ladies! The word seemed to shout off the printed paper. The Opportunity of a Lifetime in the New American Frontier! Well-Secured Ranchers, Farmers, and Businessmen Desire Wedded Partners to Share Their Life and Prosperity. INQUIRE WITHIN.

Surely it doesnt mean She mentally began an argument with the words. But she didnt even finish the unspoken statement. Her eyes were locked on the notice, and she read it through for the fourth time.

Would a girla woman really think of ? Her argument picked up again. No, surely not. I never could eveneven think of such a thing.

But a few of the phrases still clung to her mind. Well-secured. Prosperity. And then the strange little phrase wedded partners. Did it really mean what she thought it did? She could only imagine one possibility. But she had never heard the phrase wedded partners before. Was the sign really saying that mensomewherewere advertising for wives?

Her slight shoulders gave just a hint of a shrug. The thin coat, much too small even for her tiny frame, was reluctant to allow even that much room. She seemed to shrink back within its strained seams. The chill of the early morning made her shiver slightly in spite of her resolve to endure the cold.

Sure now, and Id best be on or Ill be late for my hawking, she scolded herself and was about to leave when two other young women approached quicklyexcitedly.

Thereya see it for your own eyes. I wasnt yarnin. Lookright there.

Kathleen did not have time to move away from the notice on the wall. The girls seemed not to see her, so intent were they on their mission. They shoved right past her, and the taller of the two read the notice aloud for the shorter, more sturdy one. Kathleen took a step backward and hoped she was hidden in the shadows.

Ladies. The opportunity of a lifetime in the new American frontier. Well-secured ranchers, farmers, and businessmen desire wedded partners to share their life and prosperity. Inquire within. There could be no mistakethe now-familiar words had been confirmed by another.

Well, I never! exclaimed the shorter girl, and the two clutched each other and hooted and squealed. Kathleen found her cheeks staining red. For a reason she couldnt quite understand, she felt embarrassed.

And youre thinking to apply? demanded the shorter girl.

Aye, Erma, answered the taller, a bit of Scottish brogue tinting her words. And Ive already done.

No! Go on with ya, lass!

Another squeal. Another shriek of laughter.

And why not? Theres no prosperity to be had here in London. Not for the likes of me.

But to leave home

Home? Home has been little more than the streets for me

She broke off, but her words trembled in the cold, early morning air. Both girls became instantly serious, and Kathleen again shivered in her thin coat.

Do you think? I mean, do you really think that a bodywell, might ? The one called Erma was unable to finish the sentence.

Whats to lose? said her companion with an obvious shrug of her broad shoulders. We have nothing here.

Erma nodded. And youve already signed up? What do you have to do? I mean, do you need to have a dowry? Make promises?

Just give your name and promise to be there on the day of sailin, thats all.

It cant be that easy.

But it is, I tell you. Theyre already holdin a passage ticket with my name on it. I saw it for myself.

Kathleen stirred in the shadows. She had to get to work. She would lose her job if she didnt; and though it wasnt much, it was all she had, and it did bring in a few pence each week.

It was the first time the two girls seemed to notice her. Their heads jerked around in quick attention, but when they saw the slight girl move into the light they visibly relaxed.