West For Love (A Mail Order Romance Novel) Read Online Free Page A

through organized
piles of papers and then handed Anna the letter. “I’ll leave you to read this.
I’ll go check on our drinks. If I know Henry like I think I do, he’s off on
another project and has completely forgotten about us.”
    Anna nodded and Mary left the room.
    Anna opened the letter and first
admired the neat penmanship.
    Then she read it.
     
    My
name is Josephine (you can call me Jo if you make me laugh once) and I’m
writing not for the benefit of myself but for the benefit of a broken hearted,
lonely man who deserves a clearer path in life. A path to share hand in hand
with the right woman, who I firmly believe in all my faith exists.
    His
name is Thomas Calhor and my affiliation is that I am the wet nurse to his two
month old son, Thomas Jr. I call him that too - Thomas Jr. Just like that.
Thomas Jr. is a healthy baby, a beautiful boy with the brightest blue eyes, the
happiest of smiles, and is perhaps a mirror image of his father. They share the
same eyes and I know they would share the same smile if only Thomas would
smile.
    As
you can assume by now, my job as a wet nurse implies something with Thomas
Jr.’s mother. The tragic end to her life came in the first moment of Thomas
Jr.’s life.
     
    Anna stopped reading and folded the
letter. She put it on the table and put a hand to her mouth. Mary hadn’t been
kidding when she said that the letters came from all kinds of men. Anna had
just assumed all kinds of
men meant tall, short, lean, robust, rich, poor, blue eyes, brown
eyes, and features of that nature. She hadn’t considered men who had suffered
in a way it appeared Thomas Calhor had.
    Anna looked over her shoulder,
wishing Mary would come back into the room so she could politely exit and go get
the eggs and cloth she needed. However, she couldn’t help but think of the
letter.
    I
should finish it , Anna told herself.
    She mentally counted to ten and
Mary still hadn’t returned. With her hands shaking, Anna finished the letter.
     
    Shortly
after the birth of Thomas Jr. I was called to nurse the baby for the obvious
reasons. The moment I looked into his eyes and then into the tear filled eyes
of the baby’s father, I knew I couldn’t leave them. I also couldn’t love Thomas
like he was meant to be loved. I’m too old for him and in my mind I picture the
woman he deserves. A fair skinned woman with blonde hair and almost matching
blue eyes. Perhaps a shade of a darker blue, hinting at the understanding of
pain. A woman who can handle the circumstances. One able to step into not just
the role of wife but mother. I, of course, will be here as long as Thomas Jr.
needs me. But I cannot help Thomas anymore than I have. I’ve slowly taken on
the role of housekeeper, at no cost to Thomas, but I feel it’s not my proper
duty.
    At
night, after Thomas Jr. is asleep, I often find Thomas standing on the porch,
looking into the distant night, lost. I know he thinks of his wife and so the
woman who will take Thomas’s strong hand in marriage will understand she will
not replace Thomas’s wife but instead be a new wife. Someone to care for Thomas.
Someone to care for Thomas Jr. Someone who wants the opportunity to have a
beautiful life.
     
    Anna closed the letter and placed
it on the table. An overwhelming urge to cry hit her. She tried to imagine what
it must have been like. To carry a child all that time, only to never see the
baby after birth. To never hold it. To never smell its fresh, warm skin. To never
feed the baby.
    And poor Thomas. To go through
something like that. To lose a wife was troubling enough but then to have
someone hand him a baby...
    “It’s pretty hard, right?”
    Anna sniffled and turned to see
Mary standing with a tissue. Anna took it and nodded.
    “Losing love is hard,” Mary said.
    “Losing in general is hard,” Anna
said.
    “Which is where we’ve all been
before. But seeing your reaction to that letter gives me faith in this one...”
    Mary had another letter for