“W hat was it like? Deciding to come west in answer to Drew’s ad.

” Rebekah stirred the wooden spoon around the pot as the mixture of mashed up raspberries and sugar began to boil.

She was working in Aunt Opal’s kitchen alongside Kaitlyn the day after Ed had dropped her at home to find Heath Quade waiting.

A long night of wrestling with the placement of mail-order bride ads, one in particular, had left her full of questions this morning. Who better to ask than Kaitlyn? Living on neighboring farms had brought them together, and it hadn’t taken long for them to become friends.

“I wasn’t looking for a husband. I needed a way to escape my circumstances. But God knew better than I did.” Kaitlyn’s head tilted to the side, and her eyes became unfocused, like she was lost in a memory. She shook herself out of it. “You’re getting a nice rolling boil. It won’t be long now.”

“But what about meeting Drew? Was it love at first sight?” Rebekah’s real question bounced off the back of her mind. How would Isaac react if she dared to answer his ad?

“I did like him. But there were rough edges to file down.” Kaitlyn darted a glance at her stepdaughter Tillie, who was happily playing with a doll in the corner of the room.

The other two children had begged to stay with Drew and his brothers as they worked on repairs to the corral, or so Kaitlyn had told Rebekah.

“It must have been a big adjustment to marry into the McGraw family.” Rebekah continued to stir the bubbling mixture of fruit and sugar.

Four bachelors and three ornery kids couldn’t have been easy to manage.

After all, once Drew’s first wife had passed, there hadn’t been a woman’s influence near the place until Kaitlyn had come.

And since all the brothers had kept busy working the land and trying to prove everything up, well, things had been hard for them.

A gentle laugh escaped her friend. “It was. At first.”

“Once you were married though…” Rebekah felt her neck heat at the questions she wanted to ask about love and marriage.

As Kaitlyn’s brows rose, Rebekah stuffed her questions away.

She hadn’t decided whether she’d even respond to Isaac’s ad.

They hadn’t spoken in months. The fact he almost never came to town added to the mystery.

She didn’t even know where he fit in his own family anymore, much less the community, since he’d left his job with the marshals.

Her brain muddled. “What I mean is, married life has been wonderful, hasn’t it? Everything worked out fine?”

“Wonderful, yes. Trying at times too. All roses have thorns.”

Wonderful…

A love like Drew and Kaitlyn’s existed for her.

Had to. As a young girl back east, before her father had died, she’d sit on a chair next to his desk while he read his dime novels aloud to her as he wrote them.

The heroic cowboy had always won his lady’s hand.

Always. How Rebekah had longed for a romance like the ones she’d found between the pages of his novels.

A valiant hero who couldn’t live without her.

From her first sight of Isaac McGraw when she’d moved to Wyoming at eleven, he’d filled that role in her daydreams. But it seemed as if Isaac wasn’t going to come courting her—or any other lady in Calvin, for that matter.

Not if he planned to get a mail-order bride.

How could she catch his attention before he did if he never left the McGraw homestead?

“Ed mentioned Quade was here when he dropped you off yesterday. Are you all right?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Kaitlyn’s face tightened in concern. “He’s a dangerous man?—”

“Nothing to worry about, I’m sure.” Her words sounded more sure than she was. She’d heard all the same rumors as everyone else in these parts.

“Can I help?” Tillie had left her doll behind to wander over to the stove. She pulled at Kaitlyn’s apron.

“Of course. Hold the papers for us until it’s time,” Kaitlyn said.

Rebekah drummed her fingers as she stirred. Her friend’s concern made it harder to brush off Quade’s visit. Or Ed’s concern. But she didn’t want to think about Quade or Ed right now. She wanted answers about Isaac. And having Tillie interrupt only distracted Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn turned to explain to Tillie what she needed to do.

“Let’s test the jam.” Kaitlyn stepped closer with Tillie at her heels.

Rebekah spooned a bit of the jam above the pot and tilted the spoon. The jam trailed in a thick stream. “I think it’s ready.”

Rebekah reached for the ladle, filled it with jam, then placed it inside the jar that Kaitlyn set beside the large pot. Tillie shifted back and forth on her feet, growing impatient. With careful motions, Rebekah scooped and filled.

The whole time she worked, the ads she’d brought home with her pushed to the front of her mind, especially one in particular. Did she dare to answer Isaac’s ad? “You and Drew seem very happy.”

“We are.” Kaitlyn paused after placing another empty jar beside the pot. “Why haven’t you married yet? Have you thought about it?”

Thought about it? She’d written a story about getting married to her hero at twelve.

When asked to read it aloud to the class, all she’d gotten were heartless snickers and a heap of humiliation.

Now the mail-order ad for the man who’d filled her thoughts for so long sat amongst the others on the table in the front room.

“I have considered it. Like any other girl.” She let her answer fade as she filled the last jar. “Tillie, hand us the papers. One by one.”

“Like this.” Kaitlyn bent to help Tillie separate the papers before focusing back on Rebekah. “If there’s no one around here that suits you, you could always run an ad yourself.”

“I suppose.” Rebekah angled a glance at Kaitlyn in expectation. Did she know of Isaac’s ad? “Or I could answer one.”

Kaitlyn studied her for a moment, as if contemplating. “Now that I think about it, most mail-order brides move to be with their husbands. I know you’d never want to leave the paper.”

But Rebekah knew exactly where she’d be if she wrote an answer to Isaac’s ad. It wasn’t like when she’d written to her aunt after her father had died. That letter had taken her from her home in the East to the wide-open spaces of Wyoming. A letter to Isaac might be the means to help her stay.

“This jam will set in no time.” Rebekah wiped a damp cloth across the rim of the jar before reaching out to Tillie for a paper to seal it with. “Tillie?”

The little girl fumbled, dropping the paper to the ground, then bending to retrieve it.

Rebekah reached for the stack. “Here. Maybe it’s better if you let me do it.”

Tillie stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “But I want to help.”

“There now, Tillie, hold this one for me.” Kaitlyn offered a soft smile at Rebekah, then slid half the papers into her own hands, slowly doling them out to Tillie.

Finished placing the papers, Rebekah wrapped her hand in a dish towel before gripping the pot full of melted paraffin. She carefully poured it over the papers settled in the jars. The wax would harden to seal the jam.

“Together, we’ve done a fine job. Your aunt will be proud to find all these preserves when she returns.” Kaitlyn beamed at Rebekah while giving Tillie a little side hug. “I’m pleased you’re showing such an interest in domestic skills these days.”

Rebekah nodded, slipping the heavy canning pot into the sudsy water they’d prepared earlier.

The scalding water had cooled to a tepid temperature but was still warm enough to scour the pots.

She’d helped Aunt Opal with canning before, but never with enthusiasm for anything other than tasting the sweet jam at the end.

A glimpse of the ads all arranged on the front-room table reminded her why she wanted to improve her domestic skills.

If Isaac wanted a wife who could cook, she’d not disappoint him.

“Can I help some more?”

From the corner of her eye, Rebekah spied Tillie reaching up for a towel to help dry.

“Take this damp rag to wipe the counters.” Kaitlyn had settled into the role of mother for Drew’s children without a fuss.

When Rebekah felt Kaitlyn’s gaze shifted to her, she feigned being invested in scrubbing the canning pot to a shine.

“I imagine you’re missing your aunt and uncle.”

“Things are different with them gone. Their absence makes the night so quiet that all the noises are louder.” The old gate out by the barn had blown in the wind last night, keeping her awake. Being awake left her time to think about her options. Too much time.

Finished with the dishwashing, Rebekah helped Kaitlyn dry the pots and utensils as Tillie occupied herself pushing the washcloth over the counters.

Kaitlyn focused on the table full of ads in the other room as she dried a wooden spoon. “I think you might want to know?—”

A sudden crash from behind, followed by Tillie’s sharp cry, halted whatever Kaitlyn had been about to say.

The swiping washrag must have caught a jar of the jelly and flung it off the countertop.

It hadn’t broken the glass, simply spattered jam across a startled Tillie and onto the floor.

Large tears slipped down her cheeks as the girl froze in place.

“There, there. We’ll have this cleaned in no time.” Kaitlyn’s gentle words soothed the crying Tillie as Rebekah helped clean the mess of jam from the floor. As Tillie’s tears slowed, Kaitlyn caught Rebekah’s gaze. “Let me help you with this mess.”

At Kaitlyn’s words, Tillie stifled her crying, moving tentatively with her stepmother.

Rebekah continued her scrubbing, determined to get the jam off the floor without getting it on her clothes.

She moved in a careful pattern. Kaitlyn kneeled close by, motioning for Tillie to follow her lead.

After a few swipes of working in tandem, Tillie tried to wring out her “helper” rag, leaving more water on the floor than jam.