Page 3 of Mail Order Mukluks (Brides of Alaska #1 | Brides of Beckham #68)

B elle watched out the window as the train pulled into the Oregon and Washington train station.

She waited until the train had stopped before picking up her carpet bag and leaving the train.

Her joints were stiff after sitting for so long, but she was excited that the first leg of her journey was over.

When she stepped out onto the platform, there stood a woman holding up a sign with her name in bold print. Belle walked toward her. “I’m Belle Montgomery.”

“Oh good! I was hoping you’d spot me easily. I’m Harriett Farmer.”

“Elizabeth told me a great deal about you. It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs. Farmer.”

“Call me Harriett,” the blond woman replied. “The carriage is this way. My former butler drove me.”

Belle walked along with Harriett toward the carriage, noting immediately that the other woman walked with a dramatic limp. “Should you be walking?” Belle asked.

Harriett smiled. “My limp is from a very old injury. It’s fine for me to walk, if I don’t do it too much.”

“I appreciate you letting me stay with you. This is a much longer journey than I imagined, and it’s nice to have a respite.”

“It’s good to have company from Beckham. I lived there for a long while.”

“I’m happy to have a bed that doesn’t rock for a couple of nights.”

Harriett laughed. “I understand. When I came here to marry Max, I did a little tour of all the women I’d sent to be mail-order brides.”

Belle stopped walking. “Wait. You were a mail-order bride as well?”

“I was. I insisted on getting to know Max before I left Beckham, so we wrote for more than two years. And I passed the business on to Elizabeth.”

“I want to hear all about it!”

“I’ll tell you everything after supper tonight. I hope you’re hungry! The cook is making beef wellington. I don’t get to have it often, but when I have a guest, I like to have her make some special dishes.”

“I’ll gladly try it! The hotel I worked in offered that as an option on their menu, but I’m afraid the waitresses had meals provided that weren’t quite as...expensive.”

“I’m glad you had meals provided.” Harriett shook her head. “I had a few brides come to me who hadn’t been able to eat.”

“Thank you,” Belle said softly.

“What are you thanking me for?” Harriett asked, obviously confused.

“For reminding me that having a roof over my head and food in my belly made me a great deal more fortunate than many women. I don’t need to feel sorry for myself.”

Harriett stopped in front of a carriage, and an older gentleman jumped down and helped her up to her seat before assisting Belle. “Thank you,” Belle said softly, feeling a bit out of place. No man had ever helped her into a carriage before.

She felt very fortunate to be in such a lively city with a woman who obviously cared about people. She couldn’t imagine a better respite from her travels.

*****

B ELLE ENJOYED HER TIME in Seattle so much, she was disappointed when it was time for her to board the steam ship to Alaska. Most of the people aboard the ship were men, and Belle was given a small stateroom away from most of the others.

She spent her entire journey sick to her stomach from the rocking of the ship and chose to stay in her quarters as much as possible.

After the miserable seven-day voyage, Belle was relieved when the ship docked and she was able to step out onto solid land.

She looked around her and stopped a man asking for directions to the general store.

There was a boarding house above it, and it had been deemed the most desirable place for a woman traveling alone to stay overnight.

When she finally found the general store, she asked about accommodations and was led to a room. The woman running the boarding house wrinkled her nose at Belle. “It’s not moral for a woman of any age to be traveling alone,” the woman said, her nose in the air.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. Is there an extra charge to have a bath brought up?”

The woman frowned. “No extra charge. And I insist you take meals in your room. You shouldn’t be around the men.”

“That’s perfectly acceptable. I leave in the morning on a steamship up the Yukon River.”

“Good. I want you gone as soon as possible. I’ll see to your bath.”

Belle wanted to roll her eyes. If she had treated a guest the way she’d just been treated, she would have lost her job instantly.

Belle waited while the woman carried water up the stairs for her bath. She was aching from head to toe after her journey, and she knew a bath would be just what she needed to feel better.

As soon as the woman—Mrs. Fitch—had left, Belle undressed and stepped into the tub, soaking up to her shoulders.

She thought about the rest of the journey.

Soon, she’d be meeting her fiancé, but she knew she had much to endure first. It was no wonder to her that no one had wanted to marry Everett before her.

It was difficult to even reach the area he was in.

The following morning, she would take a steamship up the Yukon River on a journey that would take four days.

She would stop in Skagway where Everett would meet her.

Then they would travel together, mostly by foot, to Chilkoot path, which was a difficult, steep terrain from what she’d been told, and it would take around ten days to arrive in Lake Bennett.

From there, would be even more travel by boat.

She wished she’d known before she left that she would be a poor traveler by boat.

The rocking seas just seemed to leave her queasy and puny.

She had no idea what would happen from there, but she knew the journey was going to be extremely difficult. She’d packed lightly, so they would be able to travel more swiftly. Thankfully it was early June, and everything was green and beautiful.

After emerging from the bath, Belle sat on the side of the bed, and she wrote about her time on the ship. She’d decided to journal the entire voyage, so her children would know what had happened to bring their parents together.

After Mrs. Fitch took the bath away and brought her supper—a hearty stew with warm bread—Belle sank into the bed and slept well for the first time since leaving Seattle.

She had no desire to ever set foot on a boat again, but it seemed that even if she wanted to go back, she would have to take another boat.

Forward or back, only a boat would work.

She would have seriously considered staying there in Ketchikan if it had been possible, but it was clear to her there were no jobs for respectable women there, and she refused to do anything else.

She sank into a deep and dreamless sleep, waking with difficulty to a knock on the door. “Get up or miss your ship!” Mrs. Fitch yelled through the closed door.

Belle opened the door for the food the older woman had prepared and quickly ate while packing the few things she’d removed from her bag. It would only be a few more days before she met her future husband, and she had to keep that thought in her head, or the voyage would be too much for her.

Belle had always considered herself a strong woman, but this journey was showing her otherwise.

She quickly left the boarding house, happy that she wouldn’t have to speak with Mrs. Fitch again, going outside and once again asking for directions, this time to the dock on the river.

She put her hand over her stomach as she hurried toward her destination, praying her stomach would handle the boat ride better this time.

This time she was given a room near the captain’s, and Captain Drummond promised to keep an eye out for her.

Most of the men on the ship were hoping to strike gold in the Yukon, and they were an unsavory bunch.

Captain Drummond told her that Everett was a personal friend, and he would be sure to deliver her safely into her fiance’s hands.

Thankfully, the river was not nearly as rough as the ocean, and this voyage was a great deal more pleasant. The captain even invited her to eat with him, telling her that she reminded him of his daughter.

Finally, the day came when the ship would dock, and she would meet Everett, the man she would spend the rest of her life with. The captain offered Belle his arm as they disembarked, raising his other hand in a wave.

A man in the distance waved back, and Belle felt her heart jump into her chest. That man with his dark hair and closely shaven beard.

Every other man in the small trading post was bushy and unshaven, but not her Everett.

Already she thought of him as hers, and she hoped meeting him was as good in reality as it was in her daydreams.

Captain Drummond kept her close as they moved through the crowd, and soon she was standing in front of him. The man who had filled her dreams for a month and was now...right in front of her. “Hello,” she said.

He smiled. “Hello.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I wondered what we’d say when we were finally face-to-face, but I guess ‘hello’ says all we need to say, doesn’t it?”

She laughed softly. “I suppose it does. I’m Belle Montgomery.”

“Everett Thompson.” He paused for a moment, his brown eyes looking like giant pools of chocolate. “I have a pastor waiting to marry us.” He looked at Captain Drummond. “Thanks for keeping her safe for me.”

“I would do that and so much more for you, son.”

Everett and Captain Drummond clasped hands and the captain looked between Belle and Everett. “I hope you’re very happy together. Best wishes.”

As the captain walked back toward his ship, Belle wondered what to say. She was standing with a man who she would legally belong to in a short while, and she knew nothing about him. After a moment, she blurted, “Do you enjoy reading?”

Everett smiled and nodded. “It’s a good way to pass the long Alaska nights.”

“Are the nights really as long here as the books say?”

“They are. Did you have a lot of time to read at the hotel?”

She laughed. “Never. But Elizabeth let me use her library while I stayed with her for a week before embarking on my journey. When I wasn’t sewing, I was reading.”

He relieved her of her bag and steered her toward a man who was dressed like everyone else. “This is Reverand Hollister. He’s agreed to marry us.”

Belle inclined her head slightly. “It’s good to meet you, Reverand.”

To Belle’s surprise, he began the wedding ceremony right there in the middle of the bustling trading post. Within minutes, she was married.

When the Reverand invited Everett to kiss her, she was astonished that he leaned down and kissed her square on the lips, his hands pulling her body against his.

She’d expected a brief kiss on the cheek, but no.

..this was a kiss meant to stir her desires, and to her surprise, it worked beautifully.

All the dread she’d felt for her wedding night faded away.

She was ready for a soft bed and this man over her.

He gave her a wolfish grin as he pulled away from her. “The next part of our journey will be by foot. I have a donkey, who will carry out belongings, but she’s not fit to ride. Are you ready?”

“We’re not staying here for the night?” she asked, surprised.

He laughed. “There’s nowhere to stay. This place is bustling because the ship just came in, but it will be mostly deserted within an hour.”

“So, where will we stay?” she asked, surprised. She’d known there was a portion of their trip where they’d be walking, but she’d imagined sleeping in shelters along the way.

“I have a tent on the back of Bessie. We’ll sleep under the stars, but we’ll use the tent if it rains.”

“But...” Belle didn’t know why she was surprised. The difficulty of the journey hadn’t been hidden from her, but she’d imagined a wedding night in a nice hotel somewhere.

“We should get going,” Everett said. “I’d like to cover at least the first three miles today.”

Belle wanted to protest, but she knew better. “Then let’s get going,” she said. He obviously knew how to survive in the wilderness, and she would have to rely on him to protect her...and to teach her along the way.

He took her hand in his and started walking toward a steep trail. She had a feeling that she would be much stronger by the time they reached his home. How could she not? Yes, she’d worked hard back in Beckham, but she’d never climbed mountains. But she would.