Page 36 of Miles. Alton & The 9:04 (Modern Mail Order Brides #19)
L as Vegas
Coraline ended her story of Thom Brown and his train driving wife to a thunderous round of appreciative applause. Hands popped in the air like Meerkats bobbing up heads to check the status of predators on the Kalahari. Coraline didn’t want to answer any of their questions, but it was unavoidable.
“Yes, in the red blouse,” Coraline said, pointing at a woman who was bouncing as if she had to tinkle and repeating the word oranges wasn’t helping her dilemma.
“Did the client get his jazz fest, and everything he wanted? Did he open his museum to the public, and did he work with the ghost hunting group? Better yet, did his wife drive a trolley for the ghost hunting tour?” The woman with the frazzled hair asked still bouncing up and down.
Coraline smiled as hands in the audience went down. “Ah, I see most of you had the same questions. Let me see if I can answer this for you all.”
She took a breather, taking a sip of water. “The client opened a virtual museum of his train collection. Visitors can view the collection through the internet, learning about the different trains, the uses and purposes of the different train cars.”
“And his wife, does she drive the trolley car for the ghost hunting?” Another woman asked.
“No, she has a simple living lifestyle channel on YouTube, and last I heard, one of the home style channels was offering her a television series,” Coraline said.
A silence fell over the audience. A lone voice in the back yelled out, “does he get his money back since you didn’t actually make him a match?”
Coraline’s green eyes sparkled. “Technically, I made him ten matches, which he narrowed down to three, but chose none. I provided the service, the testing and the background information on his three choices.”
“So that is a, no?” The snide person commented as the audience gasped.
“Love isn’t something we can schedule or plan,” Coraline said.
“There were ten choices. He narrowed the ten to three based on what he believed would be the perfect match for himself, not understanding his own biases led to those choices. Fortunately for him, fate intervened and showed him what he actually needed versus what he thought was required for a happy life, and in my estimation, it was worth the price and technically, he didn’t make the payment for the services. ”
The lone figure would not let it go. “Not all of your matches have a happily ever after. Tell us about the one in Alaska, and the one who went missing in Georgia!”
Coraline scowled, “obviously you’re late to the conversation because I started it there with the bride who was catfished by a man who was mauled by a bear in Alaska.
Honestly, I’m unclear on what are you trying to accomplish here with your line of questioning?
Sometimes what we do for others works well and the bride in Georgia did get her happily ever after, but not with the intended groom.
She came out better, just as Mr. Brown came out better with a woman who not only checked all the boxes but lit up his heart. ”
Some person in the corner yelled, “I want to know about the porcupine man! Did he and the lady get married?”
“Yes, and she got her happily ever after and the little house in the back is her work space where she expanded her business and shares items she makes on the YouTube channel with her new best friend,” Coraline said.
The rabble-rouser in the back was not willing to let it go and still wanted to pick a fight. “There is no such thing as a perfect match,” the woman said. “You are simply using a personality test to match answers and based on those answers the computer matches partners.”
“Yes, and?” Coraline said.
“Then it’s not you, but a computer match making service,” the person yelled causing a shift in the audience.
“It is I that personally meet with each groom, and I interview each potential bride. I travel to their homes, especially after the Alaska incident to see the properties, visit the jobs of these grooms and in some instances, meet the immediate family,” Coraline said.
“None of that is done by computer. I have had a few potential brides on the shady side which were dismissed, but I had a potential bride come into my office, who paid the fee for me to find her a husband, not the other way around.”
“What?” Came from several people in the crowd as Coraline nodded her head up and down.
“True,” she said holding up her right hand as if she were taking an oath before entering the witness stand. “The lady had a list of qualities she wanted in her man, and she wanted a husband who didn’t want kids. Believe it or not, I found her perfect match. In the end, it is all about connection.”
A lady in a pink top stood up, “wait, after all of that, are you telling us, that train man, gave up his dream of the jazz festival, the haunted train ride and his choo-choo museum because of a woman who pulled into his train station?”
Coraline did something she rarely does; she frowned at the lady. “Have I been talking in circles and no one is understanding me?”
“Must be, because I’m not understanding how he spent so much time building all of that, simply to toss it to the side because he married someone who was pretty and drove a train,” the lady in pink said.
“What we have in our minds regarding love and relationships isn’t reality,” Coraline said.
“In the business of love, it becomes a tug of war between our hearts and the logic in our head. Logically, what he wanted for himself and the vision he saw for the land simply didn’t work.
In his day job, of dealing with the public, would mean in his free time, at his home, he would also have to deal with the public.
His wife didn’t sign on for that and in reality, neither did he.
Coming home each day to peace was a heck of a lot better than coming home to crying kids leaving a sticky residue on his train collection. Does that make sense to you?”
“It does,” the lady in pink said. “We know there are times when it goes wrong and time when it goes right, but what are or rather what is, the oddest match or story.”
Coraline thought for a minute, and she burst into laughter. “Colorado!”
The crowd leaned in, wanting to know more. Ice clinked in glasses as bodies shifted in seats. Coraline’s assistant tapped his watch letting the boss know time was almost up. She nodded in acknowledgement looking at Rudy her right hand man.
“Funny story,” Coraline started. “A lady named Goldi, registered with the service to get her a husband to help keep the men in the area from trying to steal her silver mine in Silverton, Colorado, I kid you not. Her brother, convinced his best friend, a good-looking chap, almost too handsome for his own liking, to sign up for the service, and yes, they matched. The rest of the story is simply amusing.”
The crowd went wild wanting to know more. Coraline sipped another bit of water, looked at her watch and said, “I call that one Goldi, Locks and Silverton.”
- The End -