Violet: Bride of North Dakota (American Mail-Order Bride 39) by Heather Horrocks Page A

such a dolt.”
    “How do I get out of it?”
    “Perhaps you don’t,” Amelia said, appraising.
    Violet raised an eyebrow. “What?”
    “Go to the festival with James.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes. Go and see if there are any sparks with this man. See if you still want to marry him. And if you do, then marry him.”
    “It is just so sudden.”
    “Your coming to town was sudden. Your decision to become a mail-order bride was sudden.”
    Violet frowned. “I’m just not sure what I want anymore. When I first came here, I was thrilled to become James’s bride. But that’s changed, of course.”
    Amelia smiled. “But he came back. So he may be growing up.”
    “What about making Daniel jealous?”
    “Yes, about that. I think you going to the festival with James will certainly accomplish that end.” She cleared the table and poured them each a glass of warm cider. “I think you and Daniel make a striking couple. But I am certainly biased toward my brother.”
    “I am biased toward your brother, as well,” Violet confessed. Her heart starting to pound, she put her hand to her forehead. “I don’t believe I have ever been so confused.”
    “Then I do advise you to go to the festival with James. You can get more of a sense of whether you could see yourself as his wife, but if spending time with James makes Daniel come to his senses, perhaps you can still have Daniel. It’s a hard decision. I cannot make it for you.”
    Violet smiled ruefully. “Unfortunately, I don’t feel qualified to make it for me, either.”
    Amelia raised her mug of cider, and Violet clinked it.
    “To clarity.” Amelia smiled.
    “To people coming to their senses.”
    “To marriage.”
    They each sipped, and Violet thought: To love . And Daniel’s face flickered through her mind.

 
    I was remiss in not killing the fool earlier.
    (Journal entry, Daniel Lund, December 5, 1890)
     
    DANIEL BURNED AS WITH A FEVER. The brute had just touched her elbow! If it would not be unseemly to march over and punch James in the face in front of the entire town— in the church and at the Christmas festival, no less! —he would do it. But he could not do so in front of Violet, that sweet, innocent beauty who drove him wild.
    He’d thought he could help her find a husband—but if that were true, then he could let her marry James, her original groom.
    But James did not deserve her!
    Counting to ten slowly, oh, so slowly, he watched as James said something and Violet’s sweet laugh floated through the air to Daniel’s ears.
    Though the entire church was filled with townsfolk, Violet and James were all Daniel could see and hear.
    He would go mad this night! Balmy! Berserker!
    Amelia touched his hand. “They look well together, do they not?”
    “No, they do not.” He glared down at his sister. “They look to be the Beauty and the Beast .”
    “Ah, so you do read, after all. I thought perhaps you never paid attention in lessons.”
    “I paid enough attention to know that this is an abomination.” He motioned toward James and Violet.
    “Do you see a better alternative for her as husband?” Amelia asked sweetly.
    He paused. Yes! he wanted to scream. Yes! But he could hardly say that. He had fallen under the woman’s spell, but he still had no claim to her, nor would she want someone his age, someone so flawed as he. Despite the fact that he was falling in love with her.
    Her groom had returned and that had changed everything.
    His sister still stared up into his eyes.
    He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Amelia sighed and looked back at the abomination. “She is so pretty. And she has had many admirers tonight.”
    “May we please choose another topic of conversation?” He ground his teeth.
    “Of course. Women’s fashions, perhaps? See how Violet’s dress swirls about her fetchingly?”
    Shaking his head, he said, “I need something to eat.” And to drink, if he believed in such. This might be the day he started imbibing.
    “Before