Pearl of Promise (A Sweet Mail Order Bride Western) (The Brides of Carville) Read Online Free

that.”
    “Well, I’d be happy to bring you a book, Nora, but…if Arlen doesn’t approve, I don’t think my Stanley would like me doing it.  Even if Stanley didn’t care for Arlen’s stance on the subject, he’d say I shouldn’t meddle.”
    Nora blushed.  “I wasn’t asking you to meddle—”
    “Oh, I know you weren’t!” Louise added quickly.  “But you know how menfolk are—they don’t want to step on each other’s toes.”
    Nora nodded, blinking back tears.  “I understand.”
    “Maybe you should talk to him about it.”   Louise leaned back, glancing toward the corner where her toddler, Mary, played quietly.  The older two children were home, helping their father with chores.
    “I tried!  The last time, when we argued, I tried to explain to him how important my reading is, but he was so angry, he wasn’t even hearing me.  He stormed off to the mine, and when he came back that evening, he pretended as if nothing had happened.”
    “I’m sorry this is happening, but don’t worry.  Stanley and I went through an adjustment period after we first married, and we worked things out.  I’m sure you will.”
    “But we’ve been married over a year already.  Shouldn’t things have worked themselves out by now, rather than getting worse?”
    Louise bit her lip.  “I don’t know.  You…you don’t think this is why Sylvie left, do you?”
    “I don’t know.  I’ve wondered that myself a few times.  But then I feel awful for even thinking it.  He said Sylvie just up and left, and didn’t even try to work things out.  He said she was just homesick, and didn’t like the loneliness.  To be honest…I’m starting to understand why.”
    “We didn’t live here when Sylvie did—she’d been dead and gone three years when we moved to Carville.  So I don’t know much more than what I heard about it in town—which is only that she left him, and not long after, a cable came to announce her passing.”
    “It’s a terrible thing.  I feel awful for Arlen.  He’s a good man—really he is.” Nora took a hesitant sip of the hot tea, the cup trembling in her hands.  “I didn’t marry him for love, but I’d become quite attached to him…then all this happened.”  She waved her hand in the air.  “And now I just don’t know what to think.”
    “You’re not thinking of leaving him, are you?” Louise gasped.
    “No!  No, of course not,” Nora lied. 
    The truth was, she had thought about it.  Not seriously, of course.  But lately, she’d turned to making up her own stories in her head to pass the time, since she had nothing to read.  Sometimes, when she felt particularly resentful, her thoughts turned to home—to her family, her old friends, and all the wonderful, familiar things about Harrisburg.  Then in her mind, she’d imagine taking Gwen and getting on the train…and all the wonderful, interesting people she would meet on it, as the train chugged its way toward the east coast. 
    “I’m glad you’re thinking clearly,” Louise said, resting back in her chair.  “You had me worried.  I know marriage is hard sometimes, but we can’t give up on it.  We’re married to our husbands in the eyes of God, and that’s not something to take lightly.”
    “I don’t.”
    And she didn’t.  She wanted to make her marriage work.  But sometimes…those stories in her head were so much more interesting than anything that was happening in her real life. 
    She found herself turning to them over and over again for comfort.
     
    **
     
    “What do you mean, we’re not going?”
    “I don’t feel well,” Arlen mumbled.  It wasn’t a complete lie—the idea of going to the church social made him ill.  “I’m not up to sitting around in the hot all day.”
    “There will be plenty of shade to sit in.  Please, Arlen.  I spent all morning making this cake—it’s lemon, your favorite!”
    The crushed look on Nora’s face made him feel like a heel…and the guilt