Mail Order Minx: Fountain of Love (Brides of Beckham) by Kirsten Osbourne Page B

like she would be marrying a man who was wanted by the law.  He was an upstanding citizen who happened to own a hotel and restaurant.  Her father couldn't help but approve.
    Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.  "Can you be ready to go in three days?"
    "I don't see why not.  I have everything I could possibly need.  It's just a matter of packing a few things."  Once her mind was made up, Millie wasn't one to waste time.  She'd go home and pack her things straight away.  She was off for an adventure that would serve two purposes--making up for her friend's betrayal and getting out of Beckham.
    "I'll meet you at the train station on Monday then to see you off.  What time does your train leave?"
    Millie looked at the ticket.  "Noon."  Unlike many young women her age, Millie had taken trains many times.  Her family had traveled a great deal. 
    Bernard came in then with a tray laden with tea and cookies.  They sat and drank the tea, talking about what they knew about Idaho, which wasn't very much.  "I know they're trying to get statehood, but so far they haven't managed it," Berta said with a frown.  For some reason, Berta had thought it was a great adventure when she was going, but now that it was Millie going to marry Connor, it was a frightening prospect.
    Millie took a sip of her tea.  "I'm certain it's just a matter of time.  I mean, everyone around them is being granted statehood."  Millie wasn't worried.  She needed the change, needed the adventure.  Her life was about to change, and she would do nothing to stop it.
    Elizabeth looked between the two women.  "Are your parents going to be upset about this?"
    "Oh no," Millie responded.  "They have my three younger sisters.  They say I'm the most troublesome of the lot anyway."  She shrugged.  "My father always calls me his little minx." She knew she was exaggerating a bit, but her parents usually let her do whatever she wanted to do.  She smiled as she thought about spending long days with her husband, walking hand in hand with him.  Her life would be good.  She wouldn't settle for anything less.
     
    *****
     
    Millie waited until after dinner that evening to broach the subject of leaving with her parents.  Her sisters had gone upstairs to play and she cornered her parents in the parlor where her father was reading a newspaper and her mother was knitting.  It was their usual way to spend an evening together.  Neither of them would speak at all unless one of their daughters came into the room.
    Her mother looked up at her.  "May I talk to you both?" Millie asked politely, taking the spot beside her mother on the sofa against one wall of the room.  Her father sat in an arm chair perpendicular to the sofa.  Millie sat between them both.
    "What do you need?" her father asked, his voice harsh, but it didn't bother Millie.  That was just his way.
    "I've agreed to move out West as a mail order bride," Millie told them, preferring to get hard tasks over with quickly. She sat quietly looking from her father to her mother to see who would speak first.  Probably her mother, because she tended to get more upset over Millie's schemes than her father did.
    Her mother gaped at her.  "A mail order bride?  You can't just leave to be a mail order bride."
    "I'll be going to Idaho Territory to marry a man who owns a hotel and restaurant.  His name is Connor."  Millie continued speaking as if her mother had never said anything, knowing that if her father agreed, her mother would agree.  It was how their marriage worked.
    Mr. Barrington carefully folded his paper and put it on the coffee table in front of him, watching his eldest daughter carefully.  She'd never shown much interest in marriage, although she'd attended all the parties they'd insisted she attend.  "Why?" he asked.
    Millie took a deep breath, knowing that her answer to this question would be the only thing he would take into consideration.  "I've read a lot of books about the West, and I