Indiana Wake - Christmas Wishes and Brides

Christmas Wishes and Brides

Welcome to these Christmas Wishes and Brides. This is a set of new mail order bride romances all set in the wild west in the 1800s.

The books are all sweet and suitable for all ages and we aim to leave you with a message of hope and love.

The first three books are all a series in the town of Sandy Cross this is close to another town Serenity Point and some of the characters cross over. You can find the Serenity Point books in this 31 book box set that is on special offer at 0.99 and FREE on Kindle Unlimited for a limited time. Grab 31 Sweet Christmas Brides now

Blessings,

Indiana

S ally Dowell flicked a duster over the cans nearest her for the hundredth time that morning.

We should get some stock in for Christmas, Marshall Dowell said as he leaned back and stared up at the higher shelves.

Marshall, its only October. His wife, Irene, laughed. We dont want food going off before Christmas even gets here.

Well, maybe we could stock other things. I dont know, maybe fancy stuff that folks might want to buy as gifts. He turned to his wife and shrugged hopefully.

Oh, I dont know, Marshall. Weve always sold groceries here and nothing more. There are other stores for that kind of thing. Irene sounded uncomfortable. And I dont reckon theyd like that much. Wed be stepping on their toes.

We wouldnt like it if they started selling potatoes and canned peas and soap, would we? Sally Dowell joined in for want of something better to do.

It had been a busy enough morning in the store, but with three of them working there was hardly enough work to go around. Sally was bored and just wished that something exciting would happen for a change; something beyond her pa causing an uproar with the other store owners in Sandy Cross, that was.

You both make a fair point. Marshall sighed. I reckon Im just thinking of ways to raise our sales.

Why? Are we struggling? Sallys ma sounded suddenly concerned.

No, weve never done better. Marshall hurriedly soothed her fears.

Then we dont need to go stealing trade from others.

Irene laughed, and Sally could hear the tension leaving her voice. Maybe we should just concentrate on being grateful for what we have, honey.

Aint that the truth. Marshall laughed too, and husband and wife embraced lightly.

So, another little problem was solved before it had even begun. Sally sighed. Not loud enough for her beloved parents to hear, just loud enough to satisfy herself.

With a wistful gaze she stared out the window of the grocery store her mother and father had run since before she was born. There wasnt a great deal happening on the main road through Sandy Cross that day. In that respect, it was much like any other day.

Is Emma coming for her meal this evening, Sally? Ill peel a few extra potatoes if she is. Irene leaned against her husband and smiled at her daughter.

She sure is, Ma. Sally smiled; Emma Coleman came for dinner every Friday evening.

Still, every week her mother asked just to be sure and now that felt predictable and boring, even if the idea of an evening in her childhood friends company was anything but.

As her mother set about taking a few potatoes from the box that was supposed to be for their customers, Sally returned her gaze to the street outside. Finally, there was some movement and Sally, since there was nothing better to do, gave it her fullest attention.

A man on the other side of the street was tying a horse to the wooden post outside the hardware store. Sally could only see the back of him as he made his way inside and she was sure he wasnt somebody she knew.

He looked tall and was wearing heavy denim trousers and battered tan boots. His shirt was a deep brown corduroy and he didnt wear a hat like so many men of Sandy Cross did. His hair was thick and very dark, reminding her of Bryce Driscoll.

But it couldnt be Bryce, hed left town for California three years before, taking Sallys young heart with him in his pocket; unbeknownst to him, of course.

Sally had just turned seventeen when Bryce had left town. He wanted to try his hand in the gold mines of California while his own father was still young enough to carry the responsibility of the large Driscoll family farm alone.

And Sallys broken heart had suffered in silence ever since. As a shy young woman she had kept her admiration for the older man a secret from all, her best friend included. Shed always just admired Bryce from afar, smiling at him in church and fighting against the inevitable blush whenever he came into the grocery store for supplies.

The wonderful romance they had in Sallys head, however, was fulsome and detailed in every respect. Sally pictured herself living on the Driscoll farm with her handsome dark-haired husband in perfect bliss. Every day was a fairy tale of love and wonder. She had been kissed by Bryce Driscoll in her imagination more times than some wives were kissed by their husbands in a lifetime.

But he just up and left one day without having the smallest idea how much the young woman in the grocery store dreamed of their happy future. And since shed kept her dreams to herself, shed had to keep her sorrow to herself too, smiling through her pain for month after month so that nobody would see.

Sally sighed again and kept her eyes on the hardware store. She wanted to get a good look at the man who had so reminded her of the one who had spoiled her for any other. She wanted to see if he was as handsome as Bryce. If he was, maybe she would finally be able to let go of her old dreams and live again.

Sally was hardly a hermit, but shed never set her sights on any man since. No matter however much her mother cajoled, and Emma tried to push. She just wasnt interested in any man who wasnt Bryce and that was all there was to it.

But what if he never came back? Shed never known how long he was set to be away for and certainly didnt know the family well enough to question his father when he came into the store.

Not for the first time, Sally tortured herself with the idea that Bryce was never coming back or, worse still, that he would return but with a beautiful Californian wife in tow.

Finding sighing to be her greatest activity of the day, Sally gave just one more before deciding to give up her study across the street. But just as she had determined to look away, the dark-haired man came out of the hardware store.

She sucked in her breath as she stared at him; he looked so much like Bryce Driscoll it was uncanny. As she continued to watch him, her heart began to beat faster and faster. He was putting his purchases, whatever they were, into the saddlebags on his horses back. Sally squinted hard and tilted her head to one side as if it would somehow gift her with better focus.

He really did look like Bryce, so much so that it made her heart swell with excitement. It wasnt until the man straightened up and began to cross the street that Sally realized that it