Love Letters

[SweetAsSuga]

Closed for musicankane


Boston - 1866

The party was in full swing within the giant ballroom of the manor. Dresses whirled in a dizzying dance of color and chiffon. Glasses clinked as trays of champagne made their way through the crowd. The lilting music of the orchestra wafted upstairs and filtered through the closed bedroom door.

Seated at her vanity, Elizabeth stared at her reflection in the mirror. The woman staring back at her was not a woman she recognized. It was her face, her eyes staring back at her, but it wasn't the true Elizabeth looking out of that reflection. It was an Elizabeth that had been created and shaped by Boston society, crafted to be the perfect daughter and wife.

"Miss Hayden, your mother wants you downstairs." The maid's voice mixed with the music and sounds of the party. Elizabeth looked at the young maid, newly employed by her mother just a week ago, in the mirror. How long would this maid last before her mother's harsh demands and criticisms and her father's wandering eyes and groping hands would drive the maid to quit?

"I'll be right down." Elizabeth replied, checking her hair and tucking a stray strand of chocolate brown hair back into her up-do.

"Yes, ma'am." The maid dipped a curtsey and back out of the room, closing the door behind her.

A heavy, heart-weary sigh filled the room. This party was nothing more than excuse to announce Elizabeth's engagement to Darren Calliwell, a young oil tycoon and long time friend of the family. As children, she and Darren had played together. Their friendship ended when Elizabeth saw how Darren was turning into just another spoiled rich boy; treating those of lesser status like dirt, gambling and drinking, and using the maids for his own pleasure. Such were the ways of the elite, and Elizabeth was sick of it all. She didn't want to continue in this circle, marrying Darren, pretending to be oblivious to his numerous affairs, all while raising his children who would grow up to be just as spoiled and conceited as their father.

This may have been her engagement party, but to Elizabeth it was a prison, a way of putting her into the diamond encrusted shackles she would wear for the rest of her life. Another sigh escaped her as she stood and smoothed the wrinkles from her rose colored gown. It was time to face the executioner.





She had to escape. The room, the crush of people gathering around to congratulate her, the heady scent of colognes and champagne were all overwhelming. She needed to find some retreat. Her mother was watching her like a hawk from across the room and Darren was stuck closely to Elizabeth's side, keeping her effectively trapped. The heirloom diamond ring which Darren had placed on her finger just five minutes ago rested there heavily, signifying what she was truly worth in society. Her life for a diamond, the thought sickened her.

The heat of the room was overwhelming. Feeling faint, Elizabeth tugged her hand free of Darren's grip.

"If you all will excuse me," she said, "I believe I need some fresh air."

"Allow me to escort you, dear." Darren said his grip returning, tight and menacing. She bit her lip angrily, but quickly plastered on a smile.

"Thank you, darling." She drawled endearingly. "Isn't he just the perfect gentleman?" She giggled daintily with the women standing around them. The older women giggled with her, sounding like a batch of school girls at the devilish wink Darren gave them before escorting Elizabeth out of the room and into the Hayden's garden, which was well known throughout New York as one of the most beautiful gardens in all Boston.

Once free of the oppressing room, Darren steered her towards a dark corner of the garden.

"Let's get something straight here," he said, pushing her roughly up against the wall of the house. The clouds obscuring the moon kept his face in shadow, making his dark tone that much more menacing. The brick wall scratched Andrea's arms where her sleeves and gloves didn't meet up, and Darren's fingers dug into her skin through her silk gloves.

"Stop it, Darren, you're hurting me." She struggled against his vice-like grip, her voice tinged with the slightest bit of fear.

"You listen to me, Elizabeth," he snapped, ignoring her struggles, "you are going to be my wife whether you like it or not." The fingers of his left hand caressed her collarbone while his right hand moved up and down her arm seductively.

"Now you can fight it," he leaned close, his breath heavy with alcohol on her lips, "or you can enjoy it."

"We are not married yet you pig." She spat, pushing and fighting against his hold. "So I would appreciate it if you didn't act like we were."

"You know you want this," he whispered, his lips brushing her earlobe.

"No I don't." Elizabeth brought her knee up between his legs, causing him to release her and double over in pain. He swore loudly, glaring at her as he nursed his wound.

"Don't ever touch me like that again." She seethed before turning in a whirl of silk and lace to go back to the party.

"Elizabeth, dear, where's Darren?" Her mother was at her side as soon as she stepped back into the ballroom.

"He just needed some fresh air." She replied sweetly.

"Don't you ruin this for us, Elizabeth." Her mother whispered fiercely, "you know how much this marriage means to this family."

"Yes, Mother, I know," Elizabeth bit back. "You remind me of that fact every day."

"Only because you insist on acting like this is a joke."

"Believe me, Mother, I don't think this marriage is a joke. Just another prison for you and Father to lock me in." With that, Elizabeth lost herself in the crowd of dancers and revelers.





The Hayden mansion was deathly silent as Elizabeth crept stealthily down the grand staircase. Rich moonlight filtered through the drawn curtains of the French windows that lined the front hall, casting lacy shadows across the marble floor. Elizabeth held her breath as her stocking feet padded gently down the stairs.

It had all come to this. She had to leave this place and get away from the marriage that would surely kill her. Elizabeth had a little money saved up from the allowance her father gave her for clothes and other "womanly purchases." It wasn't much money, but it would have to do until she could find some way to earn more. That wasn't going to be easy however as she had never worked a day in her life and had no skills that would pertain to any type of job. But Elizabeth was an intelligent woman, she would figure out a way to keep herself alive. After all, anything would be better than marrying Darren. She just had to make sure that she got far enough away that nobody would be able to find her.

Unlocking the oak front doors and opening them as silently as she could, Elizabeth slipped outside into the fresh night air. She breathed in deeply, she could smell freedom. It was so close, all she needed to do was reach out and grab it. Taking in a deep, fortifying breath, Elizabeth closed the door behind her and headed down the front walk to the gates.

This is it, she thought as she opened the gates.

"I'm really going to do this." She said to the streetlamps that lit the dark Boston streets. "I'm really leaving. I'm striking out on my own and making my own way from now on."

 

[musicankane]

Austin, TX

Jacob Donovan worked hard all his life to help maintain his families farm. A family in which he learned the value of being hard-working and honest. Of being a true man with morals and the ability to treat people right, both friends and customers of the farm. He loved his farm more than anything and once his family passed away he worked harder than ever to maintain it.

But it was hard work on his own. He was forced to hire people to help him run his equipment and bag products for transport. His friends and distant family that sometimes dropped by to help or visit, they all told him that he needed his own family. He needed a wife and children and they could help him run things. Besides if he never got married he would never have kids, and if he never had kids he would have no one to pass his farm off to when he passed away.

There was one thing that was true if nothing else. He owed it to his family and his legacy to pass his family name onward. Maybe it was time to think about getting a wife. He was thirty years old after all, fairly well off in the bank account, in shape, what woman wouldn't want a guy like him?

That problem came down to time. In order to make sure all the chores that needed to get done around the farm he worked from sun up to sun down every single day. That alone left him no time to go into the city and meet someone. Come to think of it, how would he have kids, or even have time to be with his wife if all his time was working.

He loved his work, but it was looking about that time that he needed to hire more help and take a step back. There were people he could hire to handle the labor part of running the show while he worked more on handling sales and accounting for everything. His family didn't force education on him for no reason after all. Still he did rather like working with his hands, it gave him a sense of a job well done, like he had earned the right to lay in bed at the end of the day.

* * * *

Ultimately Jacob decided that it was time for him to attempt to start a family. So he went out and dated, or at least he tired too. Each date usually was a disaster. Either something at the farm went bad or the woman instantly turned cold to him the moment she learned that marrying him meant a life of possibly hard work on a dirty farm.

After a few months of this Jacob was starting to feel tired of it all. He was about to give up on it and commit himself to the single life forever, until he received and ad in the mail. The ad caught his attention as it was for a bride service. A service that provided a wife through the mail. Could such a thing work out?

He looked into the pamphlet that was given to him and he found that he could check off traits and qualities he wanted in a woman. The price was reasonable as well. In fact the pamphlet said that they would review what he wanted in a woman and craft one for him. How in the world did that work?

Jacob felt like he was out of options so he spent one night by the fire mulling over the choices he could make on the list. He smirked as he checked the box that said "beautiful" of course he wanted a beautiful wife. At the end of the night there were over a dozen boxes checked like; "Motherly, caring, hard-working, open minded, loyal, loving, nurturing" and so forth.

In the morning Jacob cut this place a check and delivered the set up to the post office and cast his future to the winds.

 

[SweetAsSuga]

Somewhere in Tennessee

The train bounced along the tracks, billowing a thick smoke and ash that covered the windows of the car. Inside the train car, the heat was stifling, but Elizabeth didn't dare open her window lest the grit and grime that coated her window latch on to her. Already she felt disgusting as it had been quite sometime since she'd had a real bath. At best she'd washed up using a basin of water, just enough to wash her face and arms and just behind her ears. But all the dirt in the world couldn't hamper the excitement she felt at finally being free.

Across the aisle from her sat a group of women, ten in all, whose ages ranged from, in Elizabeth's best guess, nineteen to thirty-five. The women were laughing and talking happily, swapping letters and photos. They'd gotten on the train the day before, their faces determined, their shoulders set. As the miles passed, the group had relaxed to the point where they content to giggle and gossip with each other.

One of the women, a girl about her own twenty years, caught Elizabeth watching them. Smiling, she got up and joined Elizabeth.

"Hi, I'm Olivia." She was a petite thing that would barely reach Elizabeth's shoulder if they both stood, and Elizabeth was no giant. Her skin was tanned in a way that led a person to believe she didn't wear a bonnet when outside. And her ruby lips were a perfect match to the raven black hair that was wound at the nape of her neck.

"Elizabeth." She reached across and shook Olivia's hand, which felt so fragile within her grasp, like a bird's wing.

"Where are you traveling to, Elizabeth?" Olivia's smile was open and honest.

"I'm not really sure." Elizabeth tried not to frown, but her brow furrowed as the feeling of freedom came crashing down around her. Where was she going? She'd boarded the train with no thought of a destination. No idea of getting anywhere but away. Away from Boston. Away from her father. And, most assuredly, away from Darren.

"What about you? Where are you all headed?" She quickly turned the question around, not wanting Olivia to inquire further.

"We're going to Texas. Well, most of us are anyway. A few are going to keep going towards California. We're mail-order-brides. We've been corresponding with cowboys and miners out West who are in search of wives." Olivia sounded pleased of what she was doing, as if marrying a man one had never met before was something to be aspired towards.

"This is my betrothed," Olivia continued, holding a photo, well-worn around the edges as if she'd taken it out and looked at it over and over again, "Mr. Donovan. He's a rancher out in Austin, Texas."

Taking the photo, Elizabeth studied the man who stood so rigidly for the camera. Broad shouldered with a stern scowl, she couldn't help but wonder what would make Olivia so happy to marry him. Sure he was a handsome man, but Elizabeth knew that looks were not everything.

"We've been corresponding for nearly three months now," Olivia continued, as Elizabeth studied the photograph. "And I think I'm truly in love with him."

 

[musicankane]

In the followed weeks after sending off the "Bride" form, Jacob went back to work in the fields as a few farmers had gotten sick and he simply stepped up to fill in. Business this harvest was incredible, and Jacob had an amazing turn out of vegetables this year. As a farmer Jacob had certain animals on the farm, but his product was one hundred percent produce. He grew mostly low lying crops, like tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, yams, and the odd corn field that he picked up after the farm adjacent to his lands went out of business last year.

The point being was that Jacob was now at a point where he could run his farm entirely on hired labor and he himself could sit back in his large farmhouse and let the cash roll in. However that was simply not in his nature, work was for a man to do in order to feel proud at the end of the day. Plus there were techniques that he perfected in order to boost crop growth that he wasn't willing to share with just anyone.

One day a letter came in the mail from the mail order bride service. The letter caught Jacob offguard as he was not expecting to ever get a reply from them and what was more than that, he had completely forgotten about the letter he had sent in the first place. Inside the letter was an announcement saying that they have found a loving bride for him and included in the package was a small photo that unfortunately did not quite detail his coming bride's features all to well. The woman in the picture could be damn near anyone.

Still there was a letter included in the package written by the woman who's name turned out to be Olivia. She wrote about herself and seemed to be everything he had been looking for. Plus she could read and write, at least he hoped this letter wasn't a fake and that she could in fact read and write.

"What's that Jake?" His housekeeper Annie asked him. She had never seen Jacob read a letter so intently and feared that the poor boy might have gotten a bit of bad news or something of the like.

Jacob looked up and shook his head, "Oh nothing." He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, "Just a letter from a girl."

Annie put her hands on her hips and moaned in approval. The wide hips on and wide grin made her usually tight black skin wrinkle. "Oh lordy Jake has finally met himself a woman. Well ain't that the bees knees of good news there. When do we get to meet her?"

Jacob laughed, "I don't know. I haven't even met her myself."

Annie's smiled faltered, "Say what?"

"Don't worry Annie, everyone wanted me to try to find a wife right? So that's what I did." He said moving into his parlor so that he could write a reply letter.

Annie simply stood there and called out to him, "Yeah but you s'posed to meet the damn girl first sir!"

So over the next couple months Jacob and Olivia wrote back and forth to each other. Jacob got a feel for the girl and found himself eager to meet her, like an excited teenager going to a barn dance with someone for the first time. Everyday he checked the mail for a letter, disappointed when he got nothing from her.

Then he feared something had gone wrong or happened to Olivia because almost two weeks had passed since he got a letter from her. He even sent a inquiry letter to the mail-order-service to attempt to check up on her and see if everything was okay. Still he got no response.