Read Freedom For A Bride: A clean historical mail order bride romance (Montana Passion Book 2) for Free Online

mess after a long trip like that. Stand up, shoulders back, and smile!” Pryor ordered calmly. He jumped down from where the three of them had waited in the wagon, then walked around to the back to help Moira down. Before setting her on her feet, he gave her arms a tight squeeze and whispered, “Thank you for seeing him through this. I can’t picture him if he’d had to wait alone, and I know you’ll be a comfort to any woman who has to meet him for the first time today!”
    Moira looked around quickly to be sure no one was watching, then gave Pryor a quick peck on the cheek. “I’m glad for him to find a wife, and I know Gretchen and I shall do all we can to make her welcome.”
    The three homesteaders walked to the platform and waited, shielding their faces from the blast of cold air from the train’s wheels. After an endless line of cargo cars had rolled past at an ever-slowing pace, a handful of passenger cars came into view. Once the train finally halted, it was an eternity before anything happened. Nathaniel fought to control his fidgeting, even while craning his neck to see down the line of passenger cars for any sign of life.
    Finally, a single door opened and a young attendant alighted, pulling a set of steps from the entrance of the train and offering his hand up to a disembarking passenger. He helped the thin figure onto the platform, nodded curtly, and pushed the steps back in place before pulling himself back onto the train by a handle mounted on the outside. The train made a series of odd, disjointed noises and began to move.
    “Do you reckon that’s her?” Nathaniel asked in a whisper. “She’s beautiful!”
    Moira and Pryor struggled not to laugh out loud. It wasn’t possible to view the newcomer from that distance, and bundled in so many wraps and shawls, but they both knew all too well the way eagerness could alter one’s eyesight.
    “Well, then let’s go introduce ourselves, shall we?” Pryor asked confidently, giving Nathaniel a little supportive push in the passenger’s direction. At the far end of the platform, the person still continued to look around, taking in the empty town and the depot. Moira remembered perfectly what the newly arrived resident had to be feeling, the moment of disappointing confusion at seeing the nearly barren landscape after having left behind the bustling city of New York and its eight hundred thousand people to come to New Hope with its population of less than one hundred.
    They approached, and the passenger turned. Just as Nathaniel had said, it was a woman, and after she pulled back the thick woolen shawl over her head to reveal an olive face with dark almond-shaped eyes, she was stunning. Straight black hair so inky dark that it reflected the light framed her somber, almost frightened expression.
    No one spoke as they regarded each other. The woman’s black eyes searched each face for any kind of recognition while the three locals watched her silently. Finally, Moira’s upbringing and ingrained sense of propriety made her step forward.
    “Hello!” she said softly, extending her gloved hand to the newcomer. “I’m Moira Pryor, and I welcome you to New Hope.”
    The woman said nothing, but her eyes dropped to Moira’s hand. She’d flinched slightly and leaned away when Moira had extended it, but, finally, she placed her own hand in Moira’s and waited expectantly. They released their grips and stood awkwardly, still watching each other without knowing what to do.
    Finally, the woman reached into her lone bag and retrieved a folded piece of paper. She looked between the two men, then decided it was safer to hand it to Moira, who took it, opened it, and looked to Nathaniel apologetically for permission before reading it. She skimmed over the coarse, uneven handwriting before her shoulders slumped slightly and her once-excited expression fell. She finished reading and recovered herself, folding the paper and handing it back to the woman.
    “Mr.