Mail Order Mistletoe (Brides of Beckham Book 17) Read Online Free

been on a train, but only once.  I'm nervous because I'm going to be on a train for seven days, and then I'm going to marry a stranger.  I don't know what I was thinking to agree to do this!"  Meg stood up, looking around for an escape.  She sat back down a moment later.  She couldn't go back to her position as a teacher, because it had already been filled.  She wouldn't anyway.  The demon horde was not made up of children.  They were beasts. 
    The older woman laughed.  "You never really know a man until you've been married to him anyway.  You'll be fine."  She patted Meg's hand.  "I was a mail order bride back in 1867, right after the War Between the States.  My father died in the war, and my brother couldn't support all of us, so I went out West as a bride.  I settled in Minnesota, and married a kind, loving man.  We've been married for almost thirty years."
    "Oh, that's wonderful!  Is he with you?"
    The woman's eyes grew sad.  "No, I was here because my mother grew ill.  She died two weeks ago.  It's not good news that she died by any means, but it does mean that I can now return home to John.  I've been here for three months taking care of her."
    "I'm so sorry about your mother."
    "Thank you, dear."  The woman forced a smile.  "I'm Gertrude, by the way.  My friends call me Gertie."
    "And are we friends?"
    "We're about to have a long train ride together, so I certainly hope we are going to be!"
    Meg laughed.  "I'm Margaret, but my friends all call me Meg."
    "Meg.  I like that.  It suits you well." 
    Their train was called then, and they both stood.  "I'm not sure I'm ready to be on a train for this long."  Meg was almost as nervous about the long train ride as she was about the marriage.
    Gertie smiled.  "Trust me, it's better than being on a wagon for that long.  You have to get out and walk beside the wagon, and when it's your turn to drive, your bottom gets so sore. No, this is a much better way of traveling.  It's so much faster!"
    Meg nodded.  "I shouldn't complain about riding on a train.  I know it's so much better than what people did even sixty years ago. This new age we live in is simply amazing."
    "It is.  I'm glad you can recognize that."
    They found seats beside each other, and Meg settled into the trip.  She pulled out the pieces of the apron she'd cut out and a needle and thread, determined to keep busy for at least a portion of the trip.
    "While you work, tell me what made you decide to be a mail order bride.  That's not something every pretty young lady just gets up and does."
    Once Meg started talking, she couldn't seem to stop.  She told about working hard to get her teacher's certificate, and how proud she was.  Then she talked about her first school, there outside Beckham.  "The children were mostly well-behaved, but there were these four children from one family..."  Meg realized she had a captive audience, and she detailed every prank the children had played and every fight they'd fought.  When she got to the part where the oldest of the demon horde had laid the Grooms' Gazette on her desk, Gertie gasped.
    "I've never heard of such horribly behaved children.  I hope you got your ruler out and took that boy to task!" Gertie said, fire in her eyes.
    "I considered it, but he was seventeen.  He was at least six inches taller than me, and he was used to farm chores.  He would have hurt me!" 
    Gertie shook her head.  "It's not right that you were expected to deal with children like that on your own.  What did the parents say?"
    "I never could get them to come in and talk to me.  I considered going to their house after school, but quite frankly, I was afraid to."  Meg shook her head.  "I never thought I'd admit that I was afraid of my students, but I was.  And I could only imagine the parents being much worse.  I mean, they were the ones allowing them to run wild that way."
    "I don't know what you'd have run into there.  So you went to their older