Too Rich for a Bride (39 page)

“Boney?” Willow scrunched her forehead.

“Boney Hughes.” Kat’s voice exuded admiration for the man. “He’s an old miner who keeps his wings hidden, but he’s always ready for action.”

“One of Cripple Creek’s many colorful characters.” Ida smoothed the lace that covered the skirt of her gown.

“You should stay in town, dear. Cripple Creek offers an abundance to inspire your drawing.” Hattie started for the doorway, then flung more words over her shoulder. “And I like having you here.”

Ida gently lifted her skirts while her sisters, blood and otherwise, followed her out of the room and down the staircase. Within a few dizzying moments, Ida sat surrounded by women she loved in a carriage that transported them to the First Congregational Church of Cripple Creek.

While Morgan played the piano, Ida stood in the vestibule with her hand resting on Judson’s forearm. The doors at the back of the sanctuary opened and the wedding march began.

Judson looked at her and smiled. “Shall we?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Ida made herself take slow steps up the aisle so she could capture every moment of the bedazzling walk toward her future with Tucker Raines.

Will and Laurel Raines stood at a front pew beside Naomi Bernard and her four sons. Hattie, Boney, and Faith crowded the pew on the other side of the aisle.

Ida’s attendants—Kat, Nell, and Willow—faced her, beaming warm smiles while Otis Bernard did the same from the other side of the pastor, where he waited for Morgan and Judson to join him. Her preaching ice
man stood front and center with Pastor Frank Mercer, his father’s friend from the sanitorium.

As soon as Ida and Judson had cleared the front pew, Tucker took two quick steps toward them. He extended his hand to her, and when their hands joined, she gazed up at him. Staring into her beloved’s adoring brown eyes, she breathed a prayer of thanksgiving that God had included her in His plans for the Reverend Tucker Raines.

READERS GUIDE

1. Which of the Sinclair sisters do you identify with most? feisty, stubborn Kat? gentle, romantic Nell? ambitious, determined Ida? What about that sister draws you?
   
2. One of Ida’s defining characteristics—and her defining struggle—is her ambition and drive to succeed as a businesswoman. What is good about Ida’s ambition? What’s bad about it? How does it lead her into making material wealth her highest goal?
   
3. If Ida struggles with her ambition, what does Tucker struggle with? guilt over Sam’s death and Willow’s melancholia? His need for his father to forgive him? his purpose in Cripple Creek? What do his particular struggles say about him as a person?
   
4. Why do the people of Cripple Creek look down on Mollie O’Bryan and, by association, Ida? How does Ida respond to this, and how is she able to convince herself for so long that what she’s doing is acceptable?
   
5. Mollie O’Bryan is a historical figure who lived in Cripple Creek at the time this story takes place. Ignoring her fictionalized personality and behavior, what do you think of Mollie’s accomplishments as a businesswoman in an 1896 mining town? What qualities do you imagine she must have possessed in life that made it possible for her to become a successful businesswoman in this era?
   
6. Ida distrusts most men, assuming they either want something from her or want to put her in her “place.” Many of the men she meets, both in Portland and in Cripple Creek, reinforce her distrust. Do you share her feelings toward men at all? Have you encountered any men like the ones who shattered Ida’s trust or been discriminated against because of your gender? How does Ida’s distrust cause her to lash out at men who mean her well, like Tucker or Judson?
   
7. Tucker spends most of his time in Cripple Creek wondering what his purpose is. He feels adrift, unable to decipher what God wants him to do. In what ways was Tucker right where God needed him to be, despite his doubts? When in your life have you shared Tucker’s sense of being lost? Did you eventually discover God’s will for you in that time?
   
8. Kat and Nell have very different reactions to Kat’s pregnancy, and neither is the expected unconditional joy. How do you think you would have responded in either of their situations?
   
9. Ida doesn’t want to complicate her life with romance, focused as she is on her career. But God brings Tucker into her life, and Ida falls in love with him in spite of her desires. Has God ever brought something—or someone—into your life that you weren’t looking for or ready for?
   
10. How prevalent do you think schools of thought similar to Colin’s still are in this day and age? Do you see signs of it anywhere in society or media, or do you think we’ve moved past a dominantly patriarchal society? What about other parts of the world?
    

AUTHOR’S NOTE

art of the pleasure in reading and writing historical fiction is the promise of being transported to a distant time and place. While researching
Too Rich for a Bride
, I made several interesting historical discoveries I believe will add delight to your journey.

I like to feature actual events and places in my historical fiction.
Too Rich for a Bride
highlights the rambunctious lot of stockbrokers and investors who flocked to Cripple Creek in its gold mining boom days. While the Butte Opera House was most likely still called the Butte Concert and Beer Hall at the time Ida’s story takes place, I opted to adopt its current title. The Glockner Sanitorium, which was one of many tuberculosis or consumption treatment centers in Colorado during the 1800s, is one of the actual places I introduce in the story. You might be tempted to fix the spelling of
Sanitorium
to the more common and modern spelling—
Sanitarium
, but my research shows the historical spelling featured more
o
’s than
a
’s.

Harper’s Bazar
, the magazine I feature in the series, offers another spelling twist. If you’re like me, you wanted to add another
a
after the
z
, but until the November 1929 issue, the magazine was spelled with only two
a
’s.

In each of the Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek novels, you’ll meet at least one real-life woman from Cripple Creek history. In
Two Brides Too Many
, Sister Mary Claver Coleman of the Catholic Order of the Sisters of Mercy served as the historical woman in my fictional tale.
Too Rich for a Bride
introduces Miss Mollie O’Bryan, the first female member of a prestigious men’s
club—the Cripple Creek Mining Stock Exchange. Her portrayal in the story is a fictionalization.

I look forward to our time together in these stories.

May God empower you with His strength to trust His ways and His thoughts for you.

M
ONA
H
ODGSON

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

riting is a lot like ballroom dancing. You must learn the steps and allow yourself the freedom to move with the rhythm. Along the way, you alternate practicing the steps alone with dancing with partners who can help you master various steps and styles.

In the case of writing, the story world and the song of the characters provide a writing rhythm. But I have not danced the publication dance in isolation. Countless people within the industry as well as many on the outside have swayed to the music with me, teaching me the dance of story.

• Bob, my hubby, who knows when to step up and step back.
  
• Janet Kobobel Grant of Books & Such Literary Agency, who has a keen ear for the music of fiction.
  
• Jessica Barnes, editor extraordinaire, who knows the scales of word-songs well and keeps me on pitch.
  
• Shannon Hill Marchese, who heard the first notes in the songs of the Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek and brought them to me.
  
• The entire WaterBrook Multnomah–Random House team, who step onto the dance floor with precise timing and lead me to the finale.
  
• DiAnn Mills, my kindred-spirit critique partner and friend, who helps me feel the cadence in the dance of a community of characters, each with their own song.
  
• Jeanine, June, Shirley, Debbie, Doris, Karen, Lauraine, and Ann—my personal prayer team, and all who prayed for me during the song that became this story.
  
• Jan Collins, Director, Cripple Creek District Museum, and Chuck Yungkurth, Library Researcher, Colorado Railroad Museum, both generous purveyors of historical facts that added movement to the dance.
  
• A big thank you to all of these listed, and to all who aren’t, who added notes to the rhythm of this novelist and this novel.
  

Endless gratitude to the Master Choreographer, Jesus—the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus is the Song that sets my feet to dancing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ona Hodgson is the author of
Two Brides Too Many
and
Too Rich for a Bride
, the first two novels in the Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek Series. She is also the author of nearly thirty children’s books, including
Real Girls of the Bible: A Devotional, Bedtime in the Southwest
, and six Zonderkidz I Can Read books. Mona’s writing credits also include hundreds of poems, articles, and short stories in more than fifty different periodicals, including
Focus on the Family, Decision, Clubhouse Jr., Highlights for Children, The Upper Room, The Quiet Hour, Bible Advocate
, and
The Christian Communicator
. Mona speaks at women’s retreats, schools, and writers’ conferences.

Mona is one of the four Gansberg sisters of Arizona. She and Bob, her husband of thirty-eight years, have two grown daughters, a son-in-law, three grandsons, and one granddaughter.

To learn more about Mona or to find readers’ guides for your book club, visit her Web site:
www.monahodgson.com
. You can also find Mona at
www.twitter.com/monahodgson
,
www.facebook.com/Mona.Hodgson
, and on Facebook at the Mona Hodgson Fan Page.