Bride of Paradise: Book 1 in Mail Order Ministers Read online

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  Samuel stood outside Kristen’s door at half past eleven the following morning. He observed the house for a moment before knocking. Judging by her manners and dress, he’d expected her to come from a wealthy family, but looking at her house, she was no wealthier than most of the people in his congregation. Her family didn’t appear to be poor, but they didn’t seem to have servants rushing around doing their bidding either.

  He raised his hand and knocked on the door, waiting patiently for someone to answer. A blond head peeked around the door as soon as it was opened. “Are you the pastor?” the girl asked.

  Samuel smiled. “I am. Are you Laura?”

  Laura nodded. “Yes. Won’t you come in?” She opened the door wider, giving him access to the house.

  He stepped inside taking everything in. The house was decorated simply. It didn’t seem to fit the lady he’d met the night before. He followed Laura through the house as she led him to the kitchen. “Look who I found,” Laura told Ingrid and Kristen who were working side by side.

  Kristen removed her apron from her pretty mint green dress and stepped to Samuel’s side. “Mama, this is my fiancé, Samuel. Samuel, this is my mama, Ingrid Walston.”

  Samuel held his hand out for Ingrid to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Walston.” It felt odd to be introduced as her fiancé since they’d only met the previous evening, but he knew that’s what they were. He was certain he’d get used to it.

  Ingrid looked him up and down before nodding briefly. “You’ll do.” She pushed Kristen toward the door. “Take him to the parlor. You two talk.”

  Kristen nodded. “This way,” she said, waiting for him to follow her through the small house. She led him to a small room with a sofa and two arm chairs. She sat on one of the chairs and he took the sofa. She seemed a lot more pleased with him today now that he was clean. Her eyes no longer lingered on his slacks.

  “This is a nice house,” he said. He hoped she realized that their house in Paradise wouldn’t be nearly as pretty. “My house in Paradise isn’t nearly as nice. It’s new, but it’s really small. Just a kitchen that serves as both the room for entertaining and for cooking, and then the bedroom. It’s not much.”

  Kristen shrugged. “I really don’t need much. I can live simply.”

  He eyed her dress, which was just as perfect as the one she’d worn the night before. How many did she have? “Are you sure? You seem to like clothes…”

  She laughed. “I love having lots of dresses. I do a theme each month.” Her eyes lit up a she mentioned the word “theme.”

  He swallowed, trying to understand, and guess how much she was going to cost him. “A theme?”

  “Well, I pick a theme every month, and then dress to the theme all month. Like last month, for July, I did red, white and blue.”

  He stared. “You have enough dresses to wear just three colors for a whole month?” How was he going to afford this woman? What was Sally thinking sending her to be a pastor’s wife?

  She shrugged. “I have more than most women, but I do things like add a sash for color. And put ribbons in my hair to complete it. My papa works as a manager for a textile mill, so I get all the fabric at a discount.”

  “I hope it’s a big discount.” He leaned forward with his forearms on his knees. “You know you won’t be able to do that when we’re married. I mean, you won’t be able to keep getting new dresses that way.”

  “I make my own. I have a lot of fabric left, so I’m taking it with me when we marry. I’ll still have lots of dresses.”

  He sighed. “You realize that you won’t need that many dresses as my wife?” He thought about his simple congregation and wondered how they’d take to someone who had a “theme” every month.

  She shrugged. “Needs and wants are two different things usually.” She looked up with a smile, her eyes on the doorway. “Papa! This is Samuel.”

  Samuel got to his feet, holding his hand out for her father to shake. “Samuel Benner.”

  Her father had dark hair and eyes like hers. “Dirk Walston.” Dirk’s eyes studied the younger man, as if he were trying to decide if he was good enough to marry his daughter. “I hear you’re a minister.” His German accent was apparent in his words, but he was very easy to understand.

  “Yes, sir.” Dirk took the other arm chair while Samuel resumed his spot on the couch. “I was just ordained in May.” He’d expected to be questioned by Kristen’s father, and it looked like the man was not going to disappoint him.

  “And you live in Paradise?” There was laughter in the older man’s eyes as he mentioned the name of the Texas town.

  Samuel grinned. “I do live in Paradise.”

  Dirk nodded. “Sounds like the kind of place Kristen needs to live.” He smiled at his daughter.

  Ingrid came to the door then. “It’s time to eat.”

  They all stood and followed her, Samuel was certain to stay at Kristen’s side like a good beau would. They walked into the small dining room and each took a seat, Samuel holding a chair out for Kristen before sitting beside her.

  “Would you say the prayer for us, pastor?” Dirk asked.

  Samuel said a simple prayer, thanking God for everything from the food he’d provided to providing him with a wife who wasn’t afraid to venture into the unknown with her new husband. After they’d finished, he watched as everyone picked up the bowl in front of them and served themselves before passing the bowl on.

  He took his first bite of the meatloaf in front of him, and closed his eyes as the flavor exploded on his tongue. “This is wonderful. You’re a good cook, Mrs. Walston.” Hopefully Kristen had learned to cook from her mother, because this meal was better than the one he’d had at Sally’s the night before.

  Ingrid shook her head. “Kristen cooked today.”

  He looked at Kristen with a smile. “You can already cook two meals I love. I think we’re going to do just fine together.”

  Kristen laughed. “So the way to a man’s heart really is through his stomach?”

  Samuel shrugged. “It’s definitely the way to my heart.” He forked up a bite of the mashed potatoes and the rich brown gravy she’d made to go with them. “I could eat this for every meal.” He shoveled the bite into his mouth, watching Kristen as he ate.

  “I think I’d get sick of it pretty quickly, but I do enjoy cooking, so we should be fine.” She took small bites of her own food, not having given herself much.

  Samuel watched her eat out of the corner of his eye. She was such a thin little thing, and she only picked at her food. A good wind would blow her away. He really hoped she would be strong enough for the life he led. She was a good cook, though. That was certainly in her favor. And she was pretty, if a little too perfect. If she wasn’t as expensive as she seemed to be, then they’d have a good marriage.

  He watched how she interacted with her family throughout the meal and found they made her more likable. The family chatted rapidly using their hands and gesturing wildly. Kristen didn’t gesture quite like her family did, and he found that odd, but didn’t say anything. She was more reserved than the others, but that wasn’t a bad quality in a pastor’s wife.

  After the meal, the three women jumped up to clear the table, and he followed Dirk outside. Once out there, Dirk got buckets of water and began watering the flowers there. Samuel took one of the buckets and joined him. “You have a beautiful garden.”

  Dirk smiled. “I think growing flowers when you can grow vegetables is silly, but they make my wife happy, so we grow some of each.” He shrugged at Samuel. “Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for our wives.”

  Samuel nodded. “I can see that. I hope I can be the kind of husband Kristen deserves.”

  Dirk patted Samuel’s shoulder. “You will. You’re a worker. I can see that. Just remember, Kristen is a special girl, and sometimes needs to be treated th
at way.”

  “What do you mean?” Samuel asked just as Kristen came to the back door.

  “Dishes are finished. Would you like to go for a walk? Or sit on the front porch?” she asked.

  Samuel looked at Dirk, really wishing he could finish the conversation, but Dirk shook his head. “Go and get to know each other better. Have fun.”

  Samuel followed Kristen into the house. “Where do you want to go?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I’d be happy with either a walk or sitting on the porch. The porch would be cooler.” She noted that he had sweat on his forehead from the little time he’d spent outside with her father. “The porch swing is in the shade, and we could have water here.” Kristen liked the man she’d met today. He must have been really tired the night before to act so rude around her.

  He nodded. “That sounds nice.” He walked to the front porch, surprised he hadn’t noticed the swing earlier. The porch was on the east side of the house, so already was in the shade for the rest of the day. He sat down on the swing and watched while she took the spot next to him, carefully keeping a respectable distance. He wasn’t sure if she was being polite enough not to crowd him, modest enough not to touch him, or disgusted enough by his sweat not to touch him. Either way, she kept her distance.

  “Tell me about Paradise,” she said as she used her foot to start the swing rocking back and forth.

  He smiled, happy to talk about his church and the congregation there. “It’s a nice place. It’s a growing town, full of fine people. We have two lumber mills, a couple of cotton gins, and even a rooming house and a bank. It’s growing faster than anyone knows what to do with.”

  “And the people?” She was very curious about the place she would be calling home in just a couple of days.

  “They’re all very hard workers. The women have taken it upon themselves to feed me. I have meals delivered about five nights per week, and the other two I typically go to people’s homes for dinner.” He shrugged. “I have no complaints. The congregation is small now, but not so small that it’s not worth being there. There’s not a lot of money coming in, of course, but I have a free place to live, and most people will tithe in food or some other goods, so it’s okay.”

  She nodded. “Sounds like a wonderful place.” She closed her eyes thinking about how nice it would be to live in such a small town. She didn’t like the hustle and bustle of Dallas. There were always people on the streets touching her. She hated being touched. She looked at Samuel, and thought she’d like to touch him. Now that he was finally clean, she wouldn’t mind touching him at all.

  He looked at her skeptically. “I don’t know how you’ll like it there. I mean, I want you to like it, but I think you probably have more dresses than the other women in my congregation combined.”

  She shrugged. “That’s okay. It doesn’t matter how much money anyone has as long as they’re good people.”

  He watched her, looking for any signs that she didn’t like the idea of moving there, but she gave none. “What do you like to do in your spare time?” he asked.

  “I spend a lot of time volunteering with the local orphanage. I enjoy cooking and sewing a great deal.” She seemed to be thinking about it. “I like being around people. I’m not much for things like public speaking, but I certainly don’t mind speaking as a member of a small group of women.” She turned to him. “Is there a strong women’s ministry at the church?”

  He laughed. “We don’t have enough women to have a women’s ministry. We do have a group of ladies who meet to pray and decide who will bring me meals on Monday morning.”

  She smiled. “Well, no one will have to bring meals anymore. I can cook for you.” By the look on her face he could tell she was looking forward to cooking for him.

  “We’ll probably still be invited to other’s houses for dinner a lot. It’s a way of supporting the pastor and has wife.”

  “I can do that.” She smiled. “You won’t mind if I do some entertaining as well do you? Maybe have different women over for tea in the afternoons?” She hoped she would be okay eating other women’s cooking. Maybe if they allowed her to go over early and help with the meal it would work better.

  Kristen had a problem with eating meals others had cooked. She never knew if they’d washed their hands properly before making the meal. She didn’t bring that up, of course, because people seemed to think her “little problems” were funny.

  Samuel shrugged. “That’s fine. You won’t have any specific church duties as my wife, unless you want to try and create some, but getting to know the other women on a personal basis is a good idea. Those are the women who will become your closest friends.” He smiled at her, letting her know he thought she should make friends with the people of Paradise.

  She frowned slightly. She hadn’t thought of that. She enjoyed new people and liked the idea of the adventure she was about to go on, but she hated the idea of leaving her friends and family behind. “I’ll do my best then!”

  He missed her frown as he stared out at the street, wondering if she had any clue just how isolated she would feel in a town the size of Paradise. “I hope you enjoy it there.” He looked at her. “About clothes…we’re not going to have the money for you to keep making the same number of dresses you have been. I don’t know of a woman in all of Paradise who has more than three or four dresses.”

  She smiled. “Papa is sending some fabric with me. I can use it for curtains or dresses or whatever I want. I promise, we’ll be fine.” Truly, she could live with fewer dresses if she had to, but she wouldn’t like it much.

  He noticed she didn’t mention the possibility of going without dresses. She seemed to think they were her due. He sighed. He really hoped she could handle life as a minister’s wife. “Would you like to go to a restaurant for dinner tonight? We won’t have much of a chance to do that in Paradise.”

  She shook her head. “We can’t! We have the big dinner I planned for all of our friends and family at the seminary tonight.”

  He looked at her. “We do?”

  She nodded emphatically. “Sally and I wrote to some of your classmates and invited them to join us, and I wrote to your mother. Sally had her address. I invited them as well. I’m not sure who all will come, but I invited thirty or so people for this evening.” She hoped he’d be happy she’d made the time and effort to do that for him. She’d worked so hard planning this wedding that carving out the hours it took to write that many letters had been difficult. Most often she stayed up late at night to do it.

  He let out a breath. He really hoped his family wouldn’t be there. It had been so long since he’d seen them, it would be awkward. “Sounds good. I guess there will be a few people in town for the wedding then.”

  “Oh yes.” She stood and went to lean on the porch rail looking out at the street. “The wedding should be nice.”

  “There’s nothing you need me to do?” He was willing, but he hoped there was nothing. It was nice to just take a day or two off.

  “Of course not! You just need to show up at the seminary at ten in the morning. Albert is going to marry us there, because I thought you’d prefer a preacher you knew marrying us instead of a stranger.”

  “Thank you for thinking of that!” He grinned. “I like the idea of Albert marrying us.”

  “Our church has a new preacher, and I don’t know him well yet, so that didn’t matter much to me.” She didn’t add that if it had been the preacher they’d had her whole life, she’d feel very strongly about him marrying them.

  “I was feeling nervous about the wedding, but knowing it will be Albert marrying us makes me feel a lot better about it.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Why were you nervous?” He seemed like there wasn’t much that bothered him, so she was really surprised to hear him say that.

  He shrugged. “Partially because I didn’t know you at all and parti
ally because I didn’t have anything at all to do with planning the whole thing. It just makes it a little awkward going into something and having no idea what to expect.”

  “That makes a lot of sense.” She’d wanted everything to be a pleasant surprise for him, but maybe she should share the details of what she’d planned. “Do you want me to tell you about my plans?”

  “No, that’s okay. But thank you.” He studied her for a moment, trying to imagine her being anything but perfect. Even here in the hot August afternoon, she didn’t seem to be sweating at all. “Do you want children?”

  “Of course! I want at least a dozen of them.” Her eyes turned dreamy at the mention of children.

  “I just can’t picture you changing dirty diapers…and washing them. I really can’t picture you washing them.”

  She laughed. “I’m perfectly capable. I promise.” She’d scrub her hands when she was done, but she could do it.

  “I just can’t picture you getting dirty.” He shook his head.

  “Well, I get dirty on a pretty regular basis. I just wear gloves when I can and wash up as soon as I can afterward. It doesn’t kill me.” She shrugged, like getting dirty wasn’t a big deal. Would he marry her if he knew just how crazy she was about staying clean?

  He could see by the look on her face that she didn’t much like getting dirty, though. “Well, I’m glad you want children, because I’d like to have several myself.”

  She walked back over and sat beside him on the swing. “I think we’re going to get along just fine.” She rested her head against the back of the swing. “It’s just going to be a little awkward as we get to know one another.”

  He nodded, smiling down at her. She seemed a lot more human than she had the night before. “I look forward to all of it.”

  She turned her head toward him and smiled. “I do too.”