And Then Came Spring by Margaret Brownley

McConnell—that baby needed a mother. She’d already been waiting far, far too long.
    Anticipation filled Melvin, helping lonely couples was a calling. He had a way with words, and an inexplicable ability to read a letter and know what someone really needed.
    Oh yes, he did indeed. It was a God-given ability, and Melvin Hitchcock had no qualms admitting as much or plans to let such a gift go to waste . . .
    â€œBible believers need not apply”—ha! Indeed they should and they would or his name wasn’t Melvin Hitchcock of the very well-received Hitching Post Mail-Order Bride Catalogue !

Chapter One
    Honey Springs, Texas
    Summer 1870
    A born killer. Melvina Eldora Smith killed three people before the age of one—her mother at birth, her father of a broken heart, and her poor, poor uncle Mutt outside a bar with a runaway buggy . . .
    Ellie Smith fought off the chanting taunts of her past. Taunts that had followed her from “the ill-fated day of her birth” — as Aunt Millicent was fond of saying.
    Three deaths before the age of one!
    Aunt Millicent had assured Ellie and everyone else she came in contact with for the last nineteen years that all three deaths were most unquestionably Ellie’s doing.
    Oh, how Ellie wished she’d known them all. The loss of her mother and father especially left a gnawing hole in her heart. But according to Aunt Millicent it was nothing compared to the one in her heart, especially with the hardship of raising Ellie dropped straightaway into her lap. Over and over Ellie had heard this from as far back as she could remember.
    The taunts of children on the playground and the whispers of adults carried the same message. “Murderin’ Melvina.” The hurtful nickname had clung to her all these nineteen years. Her penance for crimes committed . . .
    But not any longer.
    Today she’d left Murderin’ Melvina behind, shortened Eldora to Ellie. Her new beginning as Ellie Smith was under way. Today her very own fairy tale began . . . She still could not believe it was possible.
    Her chest felt like it would surely burst with anticipation as she stood on the weathered plank sidewalk beside the stagecoach she’d just ridden three hundred rough, dusty miles into Honey Springs. Even the oppressive summer heat couldn’t stifle her exhilaration as she surveyed the bustling little Texas town that was now her home. She loved the assortment of clapboard buildings, some made of logs and some of bricks that were a backdrop for the busy people moving in all directions. The mercantile was across the street and the hotel was too. The livery sat at the end of the street. She took the rest in, but instead of focusing on the buildings, she studied the people. Fingers of excitement curled inside of her, tickling her so that she thought she might laugh with the thrill of it all.
    Where is he?
    At nineteen, Ellie was leaving her regrettable past—and Aunt Millicent—behind, daring to forge a new life. From the moment she’d stepped onto that stage she’d been in control of her destiny—well, she and God, but surely He had orchestrated this opportunity and was in on the plan.
    Yes, God was finally smiling on Ellie. Good things were about to happe—
    â€œLook out below!”
    The shout from above had Ellie looking up just in time to see her heavy valise sail from atop the stage straight at her! Ellie jumped out of the way, barely in the nick of time, and the valise whizzed past her and thudded to the boardwalk in a plume of dust. Ellie’s hat slid forward and she righted it with one hand as she clutched her Bible to her racing heart.
    â€œOops, sorry ’bout that, little lady,” the grizzled driver shouted.
    â€œThat’s quite all right, Mr. Muldoon,” Ellie assured him. He and his shotgun had gotten her through some rough country without mishap and for that she was thankful.