Double Wedding: Sweet Historical Mail Order Brides of Lowell Read Online Free Page B

lost you.”
    Molly was beside him. “Is she alright?”
    Annie nodded her head and leaned into George.
    Molly hurried to stay ahead as George took long strides back to the house. He sat in a chair at the table with Annie still in his arms.
    Annie savored the feeling of being in George’s strong embrace. She felt safe and protected. He had saved her. When she’d been certain she was going to die, George had saved her. He sat rocking her on his lap murmuring endearments to her. Annie felt like she was in a dream.
    But wait. The fog was lifting from her mind. She pulled back to look at him.
    “The letters.”
    “I should have told you as soon as you got here.” He looked into her eyes. “When Molly told me what she’d done, she handed me all your letters. The night before you came, I read those letters and half fell in love with you then and there.” His hand played with a lock of her hair that had fallen loose. “When I saw you get off the train, you were so beautiful and proper that I couldn’t let myself believe that you would want to give up the city to live on a farm. So I tried to stay away from you. Since you were going to be headed back, there was no need to tell you about the letters."
    His fingers caressed her cheek and despite the words he was confessing, she leaned into his touch.
    “But I couldn’t stay away. Each moment I spent with you I fell more and more in love. At that point, I was afraid to tell you about the letters. Afraid you would leave me.”
    He held her face in his hands. “I was wrong. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”
    She stared into those same beautiful, hazel eyes that had mesmerized her that first day at the train station. “When I thought I was going to die, I realized God had given me this wonderful gift of a life with you and I’d thrown a tantrum because of the way He’d seen fit to bring us together. My dear sweet George, can you forgive me?”
    George didn’t speak. Instead, he leaned in and kissed Annie. All her fear and all the years of yearning flowed out of her as she returned his kiss.
    After a few minutes, he lifted his lips from hers. “Our wedding on Sunday cannot come soon enough.”
     
     
     
     

 
     
    CHAPTER TEN
    The sun shone brightly in the sky without a cloud in sight. Annie’s toes inside her pearl-buttoned boots danced to the fiddle music as she stood wrapped in the arms of her husband on their porch steps. She wished she could have worn her periwinkle blue dress that she’d gotten married in last summer. But as she looked down on the sleeping face of their new daughter, Annie didn’t mind the few extra inches she still carried around her waist. And from the squeeze George gave her, he didn’t mind either.
    It was hard to believe so much had happened in her life. A year ago, her life had revolved around spending her days inside a dark, dirty factory with no hope of a husband or children.
    Annie and George stepped down into the yard. Annie handed her daughter, Daisy, to Auntie Molly whose swollen belly was keeping her in a chair for their double anniversary party. Her husband, James, hovering nearby.
    George took her hand and led her to the area where the dancing was.
    “May I have this dance, Mrs. Pulaski?” He asked as he wrapped his arms around her.
    “Yes, you may, Mr. Pulaski.” Not caring who saw, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. Annie’s last thought before the music started and the world began to spin was that she was so glad she’d answered that advertisement.
     
     
     
     

 
    Preview the next story in the Sweet Historical Mail Order Brides of Lowell series. Telegraph Bride
    Elizabeth Stemple stood on the station platform, next to her wooden trunks, waiting for the man who should have been here to meet her train. The station master, a handsome man with warm chocolate eyes and nice broad shoulders, had already stopped by to check on her. It wasn’t often that she met a man who was taller than she was.