Debra Ullrick - Groom Wanted

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Mother’s voice stopped her.

Masking her disappointment for the delay in reading her posts, she put her reticule on the step and turned toward her mother. “Hi, Mother. Sorry, I didn’t see you.”

“Of course you didn’t. I was in my room until I heard the front door. Did you have a nice time in town today?”

“I had a wonderful time.” Soon Mother would know just how wonderful of a day Leah really did have. Right now, however, she had to keep that information tucked inside those hidden, secret compartments in her mind. When the time was right, she would tell Mother of her plans.

Arm in arm they went to the living room and sat down. Mother crossed her legs in Leah’s direction. “Were you and Abby able to help Phoebe get everything finished for her wedding?”

“Yes, we did. Oh, Mother, Phoebe’s gown is so pretty, and she looked so beautiful in it. Markus will absolutely love it.”

“I’m sure he will. I wish you could find a nice man like Markus. Anyone caught your eye yet?” Eagerness and hope brightened her mother’s beautiful face.

“No. Sorry, Mother. Not yet.” But hopefully someone will very soon. She thought of the letters sitting on the stairs, waiting for her and calling out to her to come read them.

Mother patted her hand. “You will. God has someone special for you. I’m sure of it. When the time is right, He’ll bring the right man into your life. Unless He already has and you don’t know it yet.”

She tilted her head and frowned. That same strand of hair that always seemed to escape its pins fell across her cheek. She reached up and curled it around her ear. “What do you mean? Do you have someone in mind?”

Mother leaned forward. “Let’s just say I’ve been praying.” She reached for Leah’s hands and held them in her own, hands that were starting to show a few age spots and wrinkles. “Sweetheart, sometimes God places something right before our eyes but we don’t see it because we’re too busy looking somewhere else or for something else. Something that may or may not be God’s will for us.”

Did her mother know about her plans? No, she couldn’t because only Abby, Jake and Selina knew, and none of them would have said anything to her. Of that she was certain. The need to know what her mother meant hovered inside her until she could no longer stand it. “What do you mean, Mother?”

“I’m just saying that there are a lot of young men here who would make a wonderful husband.”

That was true. But the problem was they lived here, not in New York.

“What about Jake? You two seem to get along really well. You even entered the sack race at last year’s harvest party with him. He’s a nice man who loves the Lord. He’d make a wonderful husband.”

Her eyes snapped to her mother’s. “Mother, Jake is a nice man, but he’s not the one for me.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just know. Well, Mother—” Leah rose “—I’m sorry to end this conversation, but I have some things I need to do.”

The look on her mother’s face said Leah wasn’t fooling her, but she nodded and smiled. “I need to get busy, too. Just think about what I said, okay?”

“I will.” They hugged, then Leah headed up to her room. She removed the letters from her reticule and locked them in her nightstand before heading back downstairs and out the door where she planned on having a long talk with the Lord. After the conversation with her mother, she needed one.

* * *

Two hours later, after the dinner dishes were finished and the kitchen cleaned, Leah excused herself and went up to her room, shutting the door behind her. With one right turn of the passkey she locked the door, then tossed the key in her armoire drawer and quickly readied herself for bed. Against the headboard she propped up her pillows and settled herself on top of her lavender quilt. With a quick turn of the brass skeleton key, she unlocked her nightstand drawer, removed the letters, a pencil, and her Mr. Darcy diary and opened it up to the next blank page.

Dear Mr. Darcy, she penciled in as she had been doing ever since Rainee had given her the journal. Somehow Leah had felt silly just writing to her journal, but this way she felt like she was writing to a real, live person somewhere—someone who understood what she was going through. Someone who didn’t make fun of her. She thought about calling it her Dear Daddy diary, but that hurt too much, so she named it the next best thing after her father, Mr. Darcy.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had received many letters to my advertisement. I can’t wait to read them, and I want you here when I do. My greatest hope is that I will find you in one of them.

For years I’ve dreamed of finding someone as wonderful as my father. You’re the closest thing to that. But you already know that, don’t you? I’ve shared it with you enough times.

I so desperately need to move. To escape the nightmares. I can’t take them much longer. They’re getting even worse and are coming more often. I just have got to find the peace I had before tragedy took Daddy away from me.

She grimaced.

Before the Idaho Territory took him from me.

Fresh anger roiled inside her.

I hate this place, Mr. Darcy! My father would still be alive if we hadn’t ever moved here. I miss him terribly.

She brushed away a tear, let out a long sigh and forced her shaking hand to continue.

I want to go back to New York. That’s why I placed an ad in the New York Times. I’m going to stop writing now so I can read my letters, but I’ll be back to let you know how they are. See you in awhile.

Love,

Leah

She set her diary off to the side and picked up the first letter postmarked from New York. Her heart raced as she tore open the envelope. Was this it? Was this the man who would make everything good again? She couldn’t wait to see.

Dear Madam,

I am answering your advertisement because I am in need of a wife. It is my father’s wish that I marry a woman who is willing to bear me many sons so as to continue the Hamlen name and lineage.

Leah felt heat rush into her cheeks. The man was rather forward with his mention of bearing children. Such an intimate detail for him to openly share. Most inappropriate. But then again, if that was his design in marrying, then she could understand why he would bring it up. Still, the very idea that he did made her uncomfortable.

With uneasiness squirming through her, she continued to read.

The women here refuse to submit to my authority, and I will not have that. I will say straightaway that I am a strict believer in the Bible and where it says that the man is the head over the woman and she is to submit to her husband. If you do not have a problem with being submissive to me and calling me Lord, then please contact me. If not, do not bother responding.

Signed,

Mr. Gregory Joseph Hamlen III

Leah laughed. No wonder the man was still single. What woman in her right mind would ever marry such a man as he?

She imitated Jake and tore the letter and envelope into pieces. After she did, she wished she hadn’t and instead kept it to read to Jake. “If he thought some of his letters were bad, well, this one topped any of his,” she whispered into the empty room.

Leah scanned through the pile of letters. One with precise penmanship snagged her attention. She looked at the return envelope and her heart skipped a beat. Sweet twinkling stars above! She clutched the envelope to her chest and looked upward. “Lord, is this a sign from You?”

Pulling her attention back onto the letter, she read the name on the return label again.

Fitzwilliam D. Barrington.

Fitzwilliam was Mr. Darcy’s first name. She wondered what the D stood for. Darcy? No. Surely not. That would be too weird, even for her. Brushing all those thoughts and the strand of hair that had fallen against her cheek aside, she flipped the envelope over and carefully ran her finger over the red waxed seal with the fancy script B insignia.