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

of that only served to irritate him.  “I told you, I’m not feeling well.  And I work hard all week—shouldn’t I get a chance to relax?”
    Nora threw the icing-covered spoon back into the bowl.  “And I don’t work all week?  I spend all day, every day, washing diapers, feeding Gwen, scrubbing the house, making your meals, and tending to the garden.  When you come home and put your feet up, I’m serving dinner and washing up afterward!  Don’t I deserve to relax?  To spend a few hours—for once—with other adults, having adult conversations?”
    Arlen was furious—if she knew how hard he worked down in the mines, and how dangerous it was, she’d never say such things.  But he saw the tears glistening in her eyes, and bit back his angry retort.  Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair.  “Fine.  We’ll go.”
    “Thank you,” she said, giving him a tight-lipped smile.  “This is really important to me.  I’ve been telling you for weeks how much I wanted to go.”
    “I said we could go, didn’t I?” he snapped.  He saw her eyes go wide before she turned away, trying to hide the fact that she was wiping away a tear that had fallen.
    “I’m sorry, Arlen.”  She took the bowl and spoon to the washtub to clean them up.
    He wanted to apologize, but he just couldn’t find the words.  Instead, he turned and walked out of the cabin, slamming the door behind him.
    The fear of losing Nora had surged over the last few weeks, until it threatened to choke him.  All he could think about was how much she meant to him.  He cared so much for her.  And now, with Gwen having arrived, the idea of Nora walking out on him was devastating. 
    It had gotten so bad that every evening when he rode home from the mine, he got terrible pains in his stomach the closer he got to home…and they didn’t go away until he heard Nora bustling about in the house as he came toward the cabin from putting up the horse, or he walked in to find her sitting in a chair, nursing Gwen. 
    Arlen didn’t want to hide Nora away on the mountain.  He wanted to show off his pretty wife in town—to have a good time with her, to enjoy the cakes and pies and cold fried chicken, and to sit and laugh with her as they watched the potato sack races. 
    He didn’t want to keep her from her friends, or take her books away from her.  He’d never done any of those things to Sylvie.  On the contrary, he’d done everything in his power to make her happy.  They went into town as often as she wanted, and he urged her to go visit with the neighbor women.  But they all had children, and it just made Sylvie more melancholic. 
    And in the end, none of it had helped—she left him anyway.
    That can’t happen with Nora, he thought.  I can’t let it.  I couldn’t survive it.  And if she took Gwen?  He felt sick at the thought of the baby girl he’d grown to love just disappearing out of his life.
    Or even worse…what if they caught an illness on the train, the way Sylvie had?  The trains could be cramped and crowded, and the conditions unsanitary.  He’d worried about Nora the whole time he’d waited for her to arrive last year.  As awful as it would be to know his wife and daughter were living a life apart from him, it would be worse to know they were dead.
    He never forgave himself for letting Sylvie go.  It was his fault she was dead.  If he’d gone after her, and convinced her to come back, she never would have gotten sick.  It had been his job to protect her—just as it was his job now to protect his wife and daughter.
    Arlen would do whatever it took to keep Nora and Gwen safe.
     

Chapter 4
     
     
     
    Although Nora was still irritated with Arlen’s attempts at keeping her home, she decided to let her anger go and enjoy herself.  She’d waited too long for this day, and she wasn’t going to let Arlen’s bad attitude ruin it for her.
    As soon as they got to the church and parked the wagon, Nora asked Arlen to