Mail Order Bride: Westward Winds by - (book club books TXT) 📕

Once dinner was cleaned up and the children sent to bed, Dean sat down in one of the comfortable chairs in the parlor. The ranch house was one of the larger ones in the area because of several additions that had been made over the years. As the eldest son, Seth had originally inherited the house when their parents had passed on, but he’d given it to Dean because he’d gotten married.

Seth had always been a talented cattle driver and preferred to be on the trail. Dean would rather work the ranch than drive the herds, so it worked out for both of them. Seth still retained his share in the ranch, but didn’t like being tied down, which was why he’d never married.

Their parents, Ralph and Catherine Samuels, had built the house after they’d settled the land back in 1839, before that area of Montana was sectioned off into Dawson County. Their house had been four rooms at that time, consisting of a kitchen, parlor, and two bedrooms. It had been a lot of hard work, but their parents were determined to make a nice home and build a stable business to pass down to their children.

Seth had come along first, only six months after the house and barn had been finished. Back then, the barn had only been big enough for four heads of cattle; a bull and three cows. That was how their ranch had started. Another year passed and, soon, Dean was born. When the boys were five and six, Ralph decided they needed more room because Catherine was pregnant again.

Another bedroom was added and the kitchen enlarged. Ralph’s father died not long after and his mother, Edna, came to live with them. That’s when they’d decided to add a second floor. There were three rooms upstairs; two large bedrooms and a wash room with a dry sink and chamber pot. They still had an outhouse, which they used most of the time, except overnight and during the most bitter cold winter weather.

Dean and Sarah had lived with his parents until they’d passed away and then the young couple had taken over the house. Seth preferred to use one of the bunk houses when he was home, saying he liked the privacy and figured that Dean and Sarah didn’t want him blundering in late at night if he’d been drinking and such.

Marcus, their younger brother, had bought a place a few miles away when he was eighteen. He also preferred privacy, not because he didn’t love his family but because he and Seth shared a common love of freedom. Not to mention that Marcus highly prized books and learning. His house held more books than furniture. When he had lived in Dean and Sarah’s house, he had run out of room for them all.

Dean looked around the parlor which he and Seth had enlarged. Both he and Sarah’s chairs were nicely upholstered and thickly padded. Sarah’s was a rocker. He’d surprised her with them right before Sadie had come along, knowing she’d appreciate somewhere comfortable to rock their baby.

He remembered how thrilled she’d been and the joy that had lit up her face as she sat in the chair. Her belly had been greatly swollen with their child and Dean couldn’t have been happier. The chairs both had matching ottomans. Dean had traded a high quality heifer for the pieces and had never regretted it. Turning his head, he gazed at the sofa and smiled. It was another purchase with which he’d surprised Sarah. When she’d gotten farther along with Jack, she’d been more tired than with Sadie and so he’d gotten it so that she could lie down when she needed to rest.

He was equally happy when both children were born and loved having one of each. Sarah was a wonderful mother and took excellent care of her family. A lump formed in his throat as he remembered when Sarah had told him she was pregnant for a third time. He’d grabbed her and twirled her slowly, just as thrilled as he had been when she’d told him about Sadie and Jack. He remembered how excited Sadie and Jack had been, too.

It wasn’t to be, however. Sarah had gone into labor too early into the pregnancy. The neighbor woman at the time, Lydia Benson, had done everything she could, but Sarah had hemorrhaged and both mother and baby perished.

Crushing grief had followed, and if it hadn’t been for Lydia and her husband, Charlie, Dean might have gone crazy from it. Both had been quick to make him see that he had two young children who needed him and he owed it to them to be strong. It wasn’t that he shouldn’t mourn, but he had to keep