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    Dear Lady
    Dear Lady
    Dear Lady
    Ebook331 pages5 hours

    Dear Lady

    By Robin Lee Hatcher

    3.5/5

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    Dear Mary, New Prospects, Montana, is nothing like England---so terrifying and beautiful at the same time, and much larger than I dared imagine when you and I first embarked on our adventures in the New World. I have had the good fortune of becoming the town's schoolmistress. Young Janie Steele is as precious as I imagined from her letters. As for her father, Garret Steele . . . Oh, I feel like such a fool! I've run halfway around the world to escape a man I loathed, only to discover I'm losing my heart to a man still in love with the wife he buried. The mayor, kind man, has been most attentive. But I wish he were someone else. I wish he were Garret. With affection, Your friend Beth Wellington In the big-sky country of Montana, the past doesn't always stay buried. Circumstances have a way of forcing secrets into the open, sometimes bringing hearts together in unlikely ways, and sometimes tearing them apart. Dear Lady is Book One in the Coming to America series about women who come to America to start new lives. Set in the late 1800s and early 1900s, these novels by best-selling author Robin Lee Hatcher craft intense chemistry and conflict between the characters, lit by a glowing faith and humanity that will win your heart. Look for other books in the series at your favorite Christian bookstore.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateDec 15, 2009
    ISBN9780310861638
    Author

    Robin Lee Hatcher

    Robin Lee Hatcher is the author of over 80 novels and novellas with over five million copies of her books in print. She is known for her heartwarming and emotionally charged stories of faith, courage, and love. Her numerous awards include the RITA Award, the Carol Award, the Christy Award, the HOLT Medallion, the National Reader’s Choice Award, and the Faith, Hope & Love Reader’s Choice Award. Robin is also the recipient of prestigious Lifetime Achievement Awards from both American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. When not writing, she enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, Bible art journaling, reading books that make her cry, watching romantic movies, and decorative planning. Robin makes her home on the outskirts of Boise, sharing it with a demanding Papillon dog and a persnickety tuxedo cat.

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    Book preview

    Dear Lady - Robin Lee Hatcher

    By Robin Lee Hatcher

    Coming to America Series

    Book One: Dear Lady

    Book Two: Patterns of Love

    Book Three: In His Arms

    Book Four: Promised to Me

    Loving Libby

    A Carol for Christmas

    ZONDERVAN

    Dear Lady

    Copyright © 2001 by Robin Lee Hatcher

    All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

    ePub Edition June 2009 ISBN 0-310-86163-2

    Requests for information should be addressed to:

    Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Hatcher, Robin Lee.

    Dear Lady / Robin Lee Hatcher.

    p. cm.

    ISBN-10: 0-310-23083-7

    ISBN-13: 978-0-310-23083-0

    1. Fathers and daughters—Fiction. 2. British—Montana—Fiction.

    3. Ranch Life—Fiction. 4. Widowers—Fiction. 5. Montana—Fiction.

    I. Title.

    PS3558.A73574 D4 2000

    813’.54—dc21                                                                                          00-028978

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

    Interior design by Todd Sprague

    To a few of my own dear ladies—

    Pamela, Christine, Debbi, Darlene, and Cathy,

    special friends who have enriched my life;

    Michaelyn and Jennifer,

    my daughters, my treasures.

    God bless you all.

    Contents

    Title Page

    Copyright Page

    Preface

    Proloque

    Chapter One

    Chapter Two

    Chapter Three

    Chapter Four

    Chapter Five

    Chapter Six

    Chapter Seven

    Chapter Eight

    Chapter Nine

    Chapter Ten

    Chapter Eleven

    Chapter Twelve

    Chapter Thirteen

    Chapter Fourteen

    Chapter Fifteen

    Chapter Sixteen

    Chapter Seventeen

    Chapter Eighteen

    Chapter Nineteen

    Chapter Twenty

    Chapter Twenty-one

    Chapter Twenty-two

    Chapter Twenty-three

    Chapter Twenty-four

    Epiloque

    Patterns of Love

    About the Publisher

    Share Your Thoughts

    Preface

    To my readers:

    Dear Lady was written in 1996 for the general romance market and was published in 1997. Since then, God has called me into a deeper walk of faith, as well as calling me to use the talents he entrusted to me in a new and better way—writing novels that share my hope in Christ.

    I was delighted when Zondervan expressed interest in revising and reissuing my Coming to America series, because I’m fond of these stories. While you will not find the faith message as overt in these books as you will find in the novels that I’ve written specifically for Christian publishing houses, I believe you will find the stories entertaining and uplifting.

    One of my goals as a writer is to make my characters true to life, with all the faults and foibles that real people have. Unbelievers and Christians alike make mistakes, make foolish choices, fall into sin. I don’t know any perfect Christians, and so I don’t write about them. What I always hope to share is that we have Someone to call upon who is perfect, Someone who can take who we are and what we do and turn it into good when we trust in him.

    In his grip,         

    Robin Lee Hatcher    

    Proloque

    April 1897

    America! The word rushed through the belly of the great steamship like the mighty winds that blew across the Atlantic. America!"

    Elizabeth Wellington grabbed hold of the hands of her two friends, her heart hammering with mingled joy and fear. America, she whispered, testing the country’s name on her lips. She exchanged glances with Mary Malone and Inga Linberg and recognized the same feelings in their eyes.

    They rose together to become part of the surging crowd, hurrying to get their first glimpse of land in two weeks. Two weeks of cramped quarters, little privacy, poor food, and the smells of salt water and seasickness.

    On deck, a bitter wind cut through Beth’s gown and shawl, raising gooseflesh on her arms, but she paid it no heed. She couldn’t have turned back anyway. Not with the other steerage passengers pressing her forward.

    Inga’s grasp tightened on Beth’s hand. Look! She pointed with her free hand. The statue!

    Saints be praised, Mary whispered in awe. Will you look at that. Sure and I’ve never seen the like, m’lady. Have you? For several weeks Beth had been reminding Mary that she was no longer m’lady, that she was simply Beth Wellington, an immigrant to America like nearly everyone else on board the RM S Teutonic. But as she stared at the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, she forgot to scold. She was too over-whelmed.

    What would she find in this new country? Was she right to have run away from everything—and everyone—she’d ever known? From England? From Perceval? Had she made a terrible mistake, coming to America?

    Beth had spent her entire life at Langford House, never venturing farther away than London for the Season. She’d grown up surrounded by the familiar, by things and people she knew as well as she knew herself. She’d known the food she would have every morning for breakfast. She’d known the mood her father was in with a single glance. She’d known the turning of the seasons and what each one would bring.

    The ten days she and Mary had been in Southampton before departing on the ship, followed by the two weeks at sea, had often seemed like an odd dream, one from which she might awaken at any moment. But suddenly she realized she wasn’t going to wake up, because this was real. She had severed her ties with England.

    America was her new home.

    Sure and we’ve made it. Mary placed a hand on her own gently rounded stomach, as if to reassure the child that was growing inside. We’re here at last.

    Beth felt a tiny catch in her heart. A few weeks ago Mary Malone had been merely a maid at Langford House. In all the months—or was it longer?—she’d worked for the Wellingtons, the young Irishwoman had rarely said more than a Yes, mum or No, m’lady to Beth. It had surprised her how quickly Mary had changed from a servant into one of her dearest and best friends. If not for Mary’s help, Beth would now be married to Perceval Griffith.

    A fate worse than death.

    Inga Linberg had befriended Beth and Mary, two obviously confused and misguided travelers, while they were still in Southampton. Inga’s father had helped them secure passage on the steamship, and it was Inga who had educated them on what to expect, both at sea and during the immigration process yet to be endured. Beth had become most fond of the tall, plain Swedish girl in the brief time they’d known one another.

    But now they were in America, and Beth realized how much she was going to miss her friends as they each went their separate ways—Mary to join the father of her unborn child; Inga with her family to Iowa, where her father would pastor a church; and Beth to Montana.

    Montana, a place far, far from England, as far away as she could get from an arranged marriage to a man she detested.

    She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. Silently she promised herself she would face what tomorrow might bring, no matter what it was. It could be no worse than what she’d left behind.

    One

    Garret Steele gripped the saddle with his thighs and held on to the horn with his left hand as the buckskin gelding beneath him set its front legs, then darted in the opposite direction in pursuit of the wily calf. The heifer was as range wild as any Garret had seen, but he and old Buck had been herding cows together for many years. They weren’t about to be out-smarted by beef on the hoof.

    Ten minutes later he had the calf roped, hog-tied, and ready for branding.

    While Jake Whitaker, his hired hand, brought the hot iron from the fire, Garret removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Then he reached for his canteen. Tipping back his head, he took a long swallow, washing down the dust.

    Man alive, it was hot for May. He hoped they weren’t in for a long, dry summer. The cattle had wintered well, and Garret was looking forward to turning a nice profit come fall. But a drought could quickly change the face of things.

    Always somethin’, he muttered as he screwed the cap back on the canteen.

    The stench of singed hair and flesh reached his nostrils, reminding him of the work still to be done before sundown. Tugging his hat low on his forehead with one hand, he stepped into the saddle. As soon as Jake freed the newly branded calf—still bleating its complaint—Garret dragged his lariat into a large coil against his thigh, then turned Buck toward the herd.

    A sense of satisfaction swelled in Garret’s chest as his gaze swept the range. Satisfaction was what he always felt when he looked at what he’d accomplished in the past eighteen years. He’d been nothing but a scrawny kid, still wet behind the ears, when he’d come to Montana, when he’d first laid eyes on this stretch of land and known he wanted to call it home.

    He’d seen plenty of hard times while he’d built his herd from a few head to its present size. And he’d seen plenty of changes come to Montana, too. The railroad crawling across the plains and through the mountain passes. The coming of barbed wire. The town of New Prospects, popping up ten miles to the south of the Steele ranch, seemingly overnight.

    Yeah, things were different, but this was where he belonged. It was his home.

    Pa! Pa!

    He reined in, twisting in the saddle to watch the approach of his daughter. Janie’s wild strawberry blond hair waved behind her like a banner, and her dress was bunched up around her thighs as she raced her pony toward him.

    Wouldn’t Muriel have a fit if she could see Janie now?

    His teeth clenched as he shoved away thoughts of his dead wife.

    Sliding her small bay mare to a halt, Janie said, I finished the dishes and my lessons, Pa. Can I help now?

    He grinned even as he shook his head. You know how I feel about you bein’ out here while we’re branding. This is no place for a little girl.

    I’m not so little I can’t help.

    He recognized the stubborn set of her jaw. And what she said was true. Janie had taken care of many of the household chores since long before her mother passed away. She’d even learned to cook, at least well enough to keep the two of them from starving. But that didn’t mean she belonged in the middle of a herd of cattle at branding time. It was too dangerous, and Garret would never risk harm to his daughter. Not ever.

    Sorry, Janie. You know the rules.

    But, Pa—

    Janie …

    She scowled, her bottom lip protruding in an artful pout. It’s not fair.

    He was unmoved by her theatrics. Things rarely are. "

    Can’t I just—"

    Nope. He jerked his head toward the ranch house. You get on back. I’ll be finished in about an hour.

    Janie hesitated only a moment, then, with a deep sigh of the oppressed, turned her pony toward the house and rode slowly away. His daughter would probably never know how hard it was for Garret to refuse anything she asked. He’d try to rope her the moon if she wanted it.

    With a shake of his head, he nudged Buck with his heels and set off to rope the last of the calves instead.

    Two hours later father and daughter sat down at the roughhewn table in the log house they called home. Janie said the blessing over the steaks that had been fried with onions and potatoes, and Garret added his own Amen to hers when she was finished.

    I got another letter from England today, Janie said as she cut her meat, but it took longer’n usual getting here. Lady Elizabeth must already be married to Lord Altberry by now. I hope she’ll write again soon and tell me about the wedding and the house where she’s living.

    Garret listened to the excitement in her voice, while feeling residual anger stirring to life. He hated it when Janie talked about England and the Wellingtons. He hated the way she fantasized about traveling abroad someday, and he blamed his deceased wife for putting the notion in Janie’s head to begin with. It was Muriel who had encouraged their daughter—only six years old at the time—to write to the earl, an old friend of Garret’s father-in-law. It was Muriel who had encouraged the continuing correspondence between Janie and the earl’s daughter, and Muriel who had suggested Janie might one day go to England to visit Lady Elizabeth, perhaps to become her companion. It was Muriel who had dreamed of Janie marrying an English lord, like those eastern society women they’d read about in the newspaper.

    I wish I could have seen the wedding, Janie went on, oblivious of her father’s displeasure. "Just think. A church that can hold a thousand people. I’ve never even seen a thousand people, let alone all in one place, have I, Pa?"

    Don’t reckon you have.

    It must’ve been something. She fell silent, and her eyes got a far-off, dreamy look.

    Garret felt a tightness in his belly as he stared at his daughter across the table. She was already ten years old. In another ten years, maybe even less, she might be married. She might be out on her own by that time. Would she go as far away from Montana as England, just as her mother had hoped?

    Garret had a sudden vision of himself in ten years. He’d be forty-five, and all those days in the saddle and the bitter cold winters would be telling on him in his joints. He loved Montana, loved this ranch. But would he love it as much if Janie weren’t around?

    He gave his head a brief shake. No point troubling himself about tomorrow. Like the Good Book said, tomorrow would have enough trouble of its own.

    He just didn’t know how much trouble.

    Are we getting close? Beth asked an instant before the wagon wheel dropped into another rut, nearly tossing her off the seat and into the road.

    ’Bout there, Mr. Crew answered without missing a beat. This here’s Steele land we’re crossin’ right now.

    Beth gazed at the grasslands as the shadow of evening fell over it. Tall, purple-hued mountains stood above a wide, long valley, the grass and trees only now turning green after a winter’s rest. At another time, she might have seen the beauty of the rugged land about her, but for now she was too wearied by travel. Two weeks on the steamship amid appalling conditions. The horrible experience of Ellis Island, where inspectors stripped a person of any dignity. The squalor of New York, a city covering over three hundred square miles and holding—she’d been told, although it was still difficult for her to believe—nearly three and a half million people within its boundaries. Next there had been a journey by train of over twenty-four hundred miles, followed by the torturous stagecoach ride up to New Prospects, Montana, on roads unfit for travel. And finally, this last assault upon her bones in a rattletrap, flatbed wagon that looked as though it would crumble into pieces at any moment.

    She should have stayed in New York with Mary, she thought miserably. She could have at least waited until Mary had heard from her fiancé. Beth should have written to Janie and her father, asking if the teaching position was still unfilled, rather than rush off the way she had.

    Why on earth had she taken it into her head to come to this place at the very ends of the earth? Of course, she’d had no idea it would take so long to reach Montana. What Englishman could imagine the vastness of this country? Beth Wellington certainly hadn’t. Not in her wildest dreams. And certainly she’d never imagined she would arrive in New Prospects and find there wasn’t a hotel or even a boarding-house in which to stay.

    Are you sure you should be goin’ out there all by yourself, m’lady? she could hear Mary Malone asking. There’s sure to be all manner of wild beasties, and you’ve never in your life been on your own like you’ll be there. Sure and you’d be welcome to stay with me and Mr. Maguire. My Seamus would not mind if you were t’join us, wherever it is we’re to settle.

    Inga Linberg, speaking in her rolling Swedish accent, had added her own comments. Come with us to Iowa. I have heard it is a fine place. Pappa would welcome you into our home. You know he has come to love you like one of his own daughters, and you have become another sister to me.

    Mr. Crew spat a stream of tobacco at the ground. Surprised Steele didn’t come t’meet you in town, you bein’ his guest and all. ’Course, it’s brandin’ time. Ranchers ’round here keep right busy once the grass turns.

    Brought abruptly out of her private thoughts, Beth had only a vague idea what the old man was talking about. His English was appalling, even for an American. She thought it prudent to say nothing rather than reveal her ignorance. She settled for a nod and a shrug.

    Trying to reassure herself that she’d made the right decision in coming to Montana, she recalled Janie’s last letter. Beth had memorized every word of it, having read it time and time again over the past weeks.

    Dear Lady, it began like all the others.

    I wish you could come to Montana to see me. It will be years before I can visit you in England, and Pa says he don’t ever want me to go there. Pa says he’d be too lonely without me. I think he’s lonely anyway. You’d like it here, too. Like I told you before, our ranch is the prettiest place in the world.

    Did I tell you the schoolmaster up and quit? Pa’s been teachin me here at home, but he says the town has placed an advertisement in some newspapers somewhere back east to get us a new one. Trouble is, Pa says, not many teachers want to live so far out in the country. New Prospects is a mighty small town compared to some. Course, I don’t care if they never find a new teacher. I’d rather do my book learnin at the ranch than have another teacher like Mr. Peterson. He was sour as a pickle. And sometimes right mean, too.

    My colt’s a year old now, and he’s really somethin. Pa says by the time he’s big enough to ride, I’ll be old enough to train him myself. I can’t wait. Course, I’ll always love Maybelle. She’s the best pony in the world, but she’s old and for babies and I’m not a baby no more. I’ll be ten on my next birthday. That’s just a few months away. And ten is too old for ridin a pony—

    There’s the Steele place up ahead, Mr. Crew said, interrupting Beth’s reminiscing for a second time.

    She looked up and stared at the square log house with a narrow front porch. That was Janie’s home? But there couldn’t be more than a few rooms. There would be no place for Beth. From Janie’s letters she had envisioned something much larger, something much finer. After everything she’d seen since arriving in Montana, she shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was.

    Mr. Crew reined in the team of horses, spat another disgusting stream of tobacco at the ground, then hopped down. He went to the rear and pulled her enormous trunk off the wagon bed.

    Need a hand down? he asked as he dragged the trunk toward the house.

    She was certain she did, afraid her knees wouldn’t support her if she tried to stand on her own. Exhaustion and trepidation had stolen the last ounce of her strength. What would the Steeles think, having Beth—a virtual stranger—dropped suddenly on their doorstep? What if they refused her lodging? She’d spent almost the last of her carefully hoarded funds to pay for the stage ride up from Bozeman. There certainly wasn’t enough to pay for passage elsewhere.

    Suddenly the door to the house opened. Beth inhaled a quick breath, knowing her moment of truth had arrived.

    The man who stepped into view was ruggedly handsome, his face and arms darkened by the sun. His hair, black as pitch, brushed his shirt collar. His eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue than the vast Montana sky, and she could see curiosity in their depths when he glanced at her. A man of at least fifteen stone, he was tall, close to a foot taller than Beth. He was also lean and muscular with broad shoulders, and he moved with power and confidence.

    Howdy, Garret, Mr. Crew said as he dragged Beth’s trunk toward the porch. This here’s Miss Wellington. Reckon you forgot she was comin’, so I brung her out.

    Garret raised an eyebrow. Miss Wellington? he repeated. Then his questioning look was replaced by a darker and unmistakably less friendly one. From England?

    Yes. Her dry throat caused the word to sound raspy and faint.

    That she wasn’t wanted here was apparent in his stance and the coldness of his glare. And the feeling was mutual. Beth suddenly wished herself anywhere else.

    Lady Elizabeth? Is it really you?

    The child’s voice drew Beth’s gaze away from Garret Steele to the girl who’d come to stand at his side.

    "It is you!" Janie shouted as she rushed forward, climbing up the side of the wagon like a monkey up a tree.

    Before Beth knew what was happening, she was caught in an exuberant embrace. She didn’t know what to do. She’d never been hugged quite like this before. Awkwardly she patted Janie’s shoulder.

    What are you doing here? the girl demanded as she pulled back. Where’s His Lordship? Is he comin’, too? You’ve gotta tell me all about the wedding! Was everything pretty? What was your dress like?

    Janie, her father interrupted. You’re forgettin’ yourself. That’s enough questions. Ask Lady Elizabeth into the house.

    At the sound of his voice, trepidation returned. Beth didn’t want to go into Garret Steele’s house. She didn’t want to stay under this man’s roof when she wasn’t wanted there. An image of Perceval, furious and destructive, flashed in her mind. What if Janie’s father was such a man?

    But what else could she do? Her trunk with all her worldly possessions was already waiting near the front door. She had no choice. At least, not for tonight.

    Garret stepped forward, grabbed his daughter around the waist, and whisked her from the wagon. An alarmed cry rose in Beth’s throat, but she swallowed it as Janie’s feet safely touched ground. Then Garret straightened and offered Beth a hand to help her down as well. It took what little courage she had left to accept the offer.

    Mr. Crew bent his hat brim toward her. Pleasure meetin’ you, miss. He glanced at Garret, bent his hat brim again, then stepped on the hub of the wagon wheel and climbed to his place on the seat, taking up the reins as he did so. Evenin’. He slapped the leather against the broad rumps of the horses and drove away.

    Beth had the urge to run after him, but Janie’s hand grasped hers and pulled her toward the log house before she could act on the impulse. Unable to help herself, she lifted her eyes to meet Garret’s as she moved past him. Her trepidation doubled at the look of resentment and dislike she saw in the deep blue depths.

    What’s she doing in Montana? Garret wondered as he watched Janie lead the woman into the house. And what had made Mark Crew think he’d been expecting her? Scowling, he turned on his heel and headed for the doorway, intent on getting some answers out of Lady Elizabeth Wellington of Langford House, Buckinghamshire, England.

    He found her already seated at the table, her hands clenched in her lap. Janie was hastily filling a plate with food, chattering excitedly the whole while. His daughter’s delight in the presence of their unexpected guest was obvious. Her eyes fairly sparkled with joy as she waited on the woman.

    There was something

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