Violet: Bride of North Dakota (American Mail-Order Bride 39) (2 page)

Violet Evans—that had a nice sound to it. And Mrs. James Evans sounded even better.

The man was twenty-three, handsome, wealthy—and thrilled to be marrying her. What more could a woman want?

The thought sent shivers up her spine.

By this time next Wednesday—four long days from today—she would indeed be Mrs. James Evans.

She hoped he was as honorable of a man as his words made him sound.

Dear Mr. Evans,

I am also young (nineteen). I love to read and discuss things more interesting than the weather (which I understand to be quite cold in Minot... actually, I don’t even know how to pronounce Minot). It will be a relief to be free to speak my mind in our conversations. Though I have been working as a seamstress at a factory since the death of my parents, I was raised in a more elegant manner and helped my mother on many occasions hostess their parties. I am an only child and so was included in all of their adult outings and entertainments. I have no family now, but I feel a deep desire to create one with you. I look forward to Christmas decorations on the hearth, picnics in the summer, and sitting beside you in church. I hesitate to say, but since you wondered... yes, I have been told I am pleasing to look upon. I am longing for a loving husband who will protect me and our future children—and you sound like such a man. I hope you will find me satisfactory and we can together create the family we both desire.

Yours hopefully, Violet Keating, currently of Lawrence, Massachusetts

(
Letter mailed September 29, 1890)

October 13, 1890

Grand Forks, North Dakota

Violet walked beside Mrs. Johnson, the passenger who had joined the train a day after Violet boarded. It was such a relief to be out of her seat after three-and-a-half days of travel! Each day the train stopped, but at whistlestops where they could do little more than stretch their legs. Today’s stop was at Grand Forks, North Dakota—a surprisingly large town with beautiful brick buildings reminiscent of those further east. She hadn’t expected that.

The best thing about Grand Forks was the fact that it was only half a day’s travel to Minot. Violet would be meeting James by roughly five this afternoon.

And the best thing about Mrs. Johnson was that the gray-and-brunette-haired grandmother had taken her under her wing.

The older woman—Violet guessed her to be in her fifties—wore a simple dress of green that showed nearly as many wrinkles as did her own dark blue dress.

This train stop was long enough that she and Mrs. Johnson had walked to a restaurant. Violet had chosen a simple meal of breads and cheeses, Mrs. Johnson a meat pie. Simple enough, but her belly was now full—and she had tucked some bread and cheese into her pocket to snack on later.

As they strolled back toward the train station, a cool breeze making them pull their coats more securely around them, they passed an especially beautiful three-story building made of bricks and arches and elegance. Sitting on the corner, it outshone everything around it.

“That is spectacular,” Violet said, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked up.

“Look. There’s a sign that says it’s the Metropolitan Opera House.” Mrs. Johnson put a hand above her eyes, as well. “And my Horace said it will be opening soon, maybe even next month.”

Several other people stood near them, also admiring the building. A man announced, “I read in the Grand Forks Herald that this has been dubbed the Marvel of the Northwest.”

“I can certainly see why. It’s amazing.” Violet looked away with a shake of her head. “Will...” She paused and guessed at the pronunciation of Minot, continuing on with “
Min-OUGHT
have
such splendors, as well?”

The man laughed. “No, Miss. Grand Forks has been around since French explorers and fur trappers lived here in the last century. It’s much more grand than anything you’ll find in
MY-Knot
.”

Violet smiled. Now she knew how the local North Dakotians said it.
MY-Knot
was prettier, anyway, and more symbolic—after all, she and James would be knotting a family together there.

Mrs. Johnson took Violet’s arm, and they began walking back to the train. “Minot is a nice enough town, don’t you worry. Some folks just think longevity makes a town better.” Her voice was frosty. She had obviously taken the man’s words as an insult to her town.

“How long
has
Minot been a town?”

“Since my granddaughter Susannah was born, so that would have been four years ago. 1886. It sprung up overnight from a town of tents, like magic.” She shrugged. “So . . . people started calling it
Magic City
. We have over five thousand residents now, and that’s a respectable enough town.”

“It is, indeed.”

They walked in silence until they reached the station and climbed back inside the rail car, finding their seats and settling down for the last leg of the journey.

Mrs. Johnson said, “Another town north of Minot actually moved south a mile and a half to meet up with the rail lines being built. That was in 1887.”

Amazed, Violet asked, “People moved the entire town?”

“They wanted the town to thrive and, for that, it had to be accessible to the trains.”

“That’s amazing—and yet it’s not even the most fabulous thing I’ve encountered in the last few days. That would be the swirls of greens and blues in the sky outside the train windows last night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite so stunningly beautiful. Hauntingly so.”

“Ahh, yes.” Mrs. Johnson nodded. “I love the northern lights, too. We are blessed to see them so often here.”

“I’m glad of that.” And she was. She hoped the house James was fixing up had at least one window through which she could watch the northern lights.

From outside the car, the conductor’s voice called out, “
All aboard!
” and the train gave a couple of whistles. Then there was a lurch and the train began to move, faster and faster.

Violet leaned back against the seat and found herself nodding off. She pulled herself back up straight but, after about the third time, when her head nearly rested on Mrs. Johnson’s shoulder, the older woman said softly, “Go ahead and lean on me and sleep, child. You’ll have enough to do when you wake.”

And so Violet did.

When she opened her eyes, she found that the sun had moved significantly and her neck was a little stiff.

As she turned her head from side to side, the door at the end of the car opened, and the conductor walked up the aisle. Violet touched his sleeve and he stopped. “Yes, Miss?”

“I’m just wondering, how much time before we reach Minot?”

He grinned. “Only half an hour or so.”

“Thank you.”

Violet’s heart picked up its pace and her mouth went dry. Thirty minutes until she met her groom! Her future husband! Her destiny!

And, looking down at her rumpled dark blue dress, she realized she needed to go spruce herself up before they arrived. One should at least be tidy when meeting one’s destiny.

She looked at Mrs. Johnson, who was smiling at her.

“I’m going to freshen myself up.”

The older woman nodded. “Good luck in that tiny room.”

Violet made her way to the end of the car, conscious of eyes upon her, and opened the door to the small bathroom. She closed and locked the door behind her and stood in a tiny area that seemed to barely contain the wrinkled skirt of her dress.

She stared at herself in the mirror—and sighed. She had certainly looked better. She was tired, and the smudges under her eyes proved it. Tendrils of strawberry blonde hair had come loose, and the hair on the right side of her head looked mashed from lying against Mrs. Johnson’s shoulder.

She got to work. She brushed her hair as best she could, straightening the loose strands, and washed herself as best she could while wearing clothing. Then she applied a drop of perfume to her neck and both wrists.

Oh, how she longed for a long, hot bath, and then a change of clothes.

And not a brief bath in a washtub like she’d had in the boarding house—a long, luxurious soak in a tub such as she’d had in her father’s house, before he and Mother died and she’d been forced to move out—homeless, penniless, and family-less. Her father had meant to provide for her, but his unethical business partner had made sure there was nothing left for Violet to inherit.

After they’d met at the factory, Rachel had invited her to move in with her and had truly become her sister, as if they had been born that way. Rachel did have family, but they lived too far away to visit.

Studying herself again in the mirror, she decided she looked refreshed enough to not scare the man.

Then she smiled into the mirror and her face lit up.

All right. New plan. As long as she smiled enough, perhaps James wouldn’t notice that her clothes were rumpled from traveling so long and her skin not as fresh as she might wish.

She frowned again. She’d save up her smiles until she stepped down onto the train station platform in Minot, North Dakota, less than thirty minutes from now.

As she stepped into the hallway, the train jostled on the tracks and she stumbled to the right, catching herself on the back of the first seat. The elderly gentlemen seated there smiled up at her and tipped his head.

She used one of her smiles and nodded back, then made her way back to Mrs. Johnson, who patted the seat beside her. “We’re almost there now.”

“Thank you for watching out for me,” Violet said as she sank back onto the seat she’d been in for far too many hours.

The door at the front of the car opened again, and the conductor came back in.

“Minot,” he called out as he strode briskly through the car. “This is Minot, North Dakota. Prepare to meet your doom!”

“
What?
” Violet’s eyes widened as she caught Mrs. Johnson’s gaze. Apprehension grew in her. “What on earth does he mean?”

And her heart was pounding again.

Mrs. Johnson smiled and patted her hand. “It’s just something the conductors say because right now the train tracks end here in Minot. Next year they’ll be extended to Williston, and then Casper will surely frighten young women in Williston, and Minot will simply be another stop to doom. Don’t worry, honey.”

As the train slowed and approached the platform, Violet craned her neck to catch sight of her groom. Then the train blew its whistle and came to a stop with a metallic screech.

Mrs. Johnson looked out the window. “Oh, there’s my Horace. I must go now. Good luck with your marriage, my dear, and I am sure we will see you again when we come into town next.”

“Oh, I do hope so.”

“I will see you outside.”

Violet watched her new friend climb down and hug a man standing on the platform.

Then she slowly stood and went to meet her doom—or rather, her groom.

Dear Miss Keating,

I was delighted to receive your correspondence. I believe in true love but—though I have received many responses to my advertisement—I had not felt the stirrings of it until I read your sweet letter. And when I know what I want, I go after it with all I have, and will not be denied. I am enclosing a train ticket for your passage from Massachusetts to North Dakota. It will be a trip of four days, if the weather remains good (if it snows and the train should be delayed, I will meet every train until you arrive) so I am also sending some extra money for conveniences and food along the way. I am a generous man and wish to share all I have with you. Since I have been told by the ladies in Minot that I am pleasing to the eye, and you have been told the same, I think our children will be beautiful, which also pleases me. I very much look forward to making your acquaintance. I know you are traveling far from home and will have concerns, so rest assured that I will meet you at the train station on October 15th in my fine new carriage and then I will drive around town to show off your beauty before proceeding to the preacher’s home, where he has agreed to marry us. I cannot wait to look upon your loveliness and know that you are mine. And, though my given name is Nathaniel James Evans, I prefer to go by James as Nathaniel is my father’s name. It is also more to the point, which is also more me than my father. So you will become Mrs. James Evans.