Historical Cowboy Romance Two Book Box Set - Mail Order Brides by Linda Bridey Page A

newlyweds. She waited until after Sadie and Jack had a chance
to visit with them before asking about it. Charlie had gone out to
the barn with Dean and Sadie and Jack had gone upstairs so Lydia
took the opportunity to bring it up.
    “Is everything all right?” she asked
Tessa.
    Tessa smiled. “Of course. Things are
fine.”
    Lydia cocked her head. “I’m your friend,
right?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then tell me what’s wrong,” Lydia said
kindly.
    Tessa bit her lip, undecided if she should
talk to Lydia about it. It was true that they were friends, but she
was family to Dean and Tessa wasn’t sure who Lydia would side
with.
    Lydia appeared to read her mind. “Tessa, I
can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”
    Tessa said down at the table. Her shoulders
slumped in dejection. “He lied to me, Lydia. Dean lied to me.”
    Lydia’s brows drew together and her brown
eyes held puzzlement. “About what?” Dean was one of the most honest
people she knew and it was hard to believe that he’d been dishonest
with Tessa. However, she also knew that Tessa didn’t lie, so she
was ready to hear Tessa out.
    “You know that we exchanged quite a few
letters,” Tessa began.
    “Yes.”
    “His letters were wonderful. He told me about
Montana and your lives here in great detail and it was wonderful.
We discussed so many things and I first began having feelings for
him based on those letters or I would have never come here,” Tessa
said.
    Lydia smiled. “I can understand that.”
    Tessa sent her a sad smile. “I came to find
out a few days ago that he didn’t write them. Marcus did.”
    Lydia’s smile faded as Tessa’s words sank in.
“He didn’t write them? Marcus wrote them? Why?”
    “He says that Marcus writes and speaks much
better about things, that he doesn’t describe things the way Marcus
does. So he read my letters, told Marcus a basic way how to answer
them, and then just let the rest up to Marcus. Marcus read my
letters, Lydia. My privacy was invaded. I said things in those
letters that were meant for Dean alone. He never even looked at the
letters Marcus wrote back to me. That’s how I found out that he
didn’t write them. I was asking him questions about what he’d
written and his answers didn’t add up. I confess that I tricked him
a little. I’m not proud of it, but at least I know the truth,”
Tessa finished and took a steadying breath. She didn’t want to have
the children come into the kitchen to find her crying.
    Lydia was stunned. It was something she never
would have expected of Dean. She saw both sides of the issue. She
knew Dean had trouble talking about his feelings and that neither
he nor Seth had Marcus’ head for reading and writing. Lydia could
understand why Dean would get Marcus to write the letters, but he
could have handled things differently.
    “You think I’m being silly, don’t you?” Tessa
asked.
    Lydia laughed. “No, I don’t. It’s
understandable that you’re hurt. He should have asked your
permission to have Marcus help him. Dean should have explained the
situation, but that’s male pride for you, Tessa. I’m sure you’re
used to dealing with men who have a lot of education, but out here,
it’s different. As you know, we don’t have a school near here, so
it was a good thing the boys’ father was fairly well educated. My
mother was a teacher, so I was lucky, too. Marcus was a natural
born student, much the same as Sadie, but Seth and Dean were not
and had to work at it.”
    “I see,” Tessa said. “I sometimes forget that
it’s not as settled here, but it’s the principle behind it. He
doesn’t understand why I’m so upset about it. I feel as if I was
brought here under false pretenses. I wanted to connect with Dean and no one else and I feel as if that didn’t happen. I
moved back upstairs. I couldn’t sleep in the same room with
him.”
    Lydia put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, my. I
would ask that you don’t do anything rash, Tessa. It might