He’ll be back later, but that is his wife in the shop. “He is also a delivery mailman and has to ride out to the outlying places. “Do you have help in the store?” Amanda queried, and as he was on safe ground talking about his work, he told her about his friend and helper, Lonnie Evans. She is a very nice woman.” Then he added that she was a good customer at the store. “I spoke to Lilian Matthews, and she is holding a room for you. “Is there a lodging house I can use until the actual marriage takes place?” “I would like to make it official,” she told him and saw that he breathed a sigh of relief. Do you agree, or do you need time to decide what to do?” “I think we should ask about a wedding at the church. Justin stopped eating and asked if she would go to the church in the town. My dad being a minister is quite restrictive.” One of the reasons I came out here was to find a place where I could feel I was doing something helpful. “I would like to feel useful and help you whenever I can. You might be able to suggest things that you can buy there but not here.” “I think New York must be very busy, but I’ll be glad to hear about the stores there. What is this place like to live in? It will be a lot different to New York, I think.” “I’m sure we’ll both need to get to know each other. Amanda was a girl without much experience in men, but she knew when somebody was unsure. She was eating enthusiastically, and he saw a pretty girl with dark curly hair and, when she looked up at him, big brown eyes. “Are you having some as well?” she asked, and he brought some for himself and sat opposite. Then he ladled out stew from the pot on the range and brought some bread along with it. She told him she was, and he pulled out a chair for her to sit at the scrubbed kitchen table. “Are you hungry?” he asked, and she realized she was starving. She felt that maybe the decision to come and marry someone after communicating with them by letter had been right. He actually blushed slightly, and Amanda’s heart warmed to him. He was a big strong man, and he turned to see her looking him over. The man had longish, blond hair that he had tied back out of the way and wore the usual garb of western men of plaid shirt, vest over the top of it, and because it was winter, he also had a warm fleece-lined jacket. She watched as he hung her lovely green velvet coat on a peg. He covered his awkwardness by stoking the fire and offering to take her coat. “I enjoyed your letters very much.” She saw he was starting to relax and was glad about that. I guess we’ll have to get to know each other.” She paused. “I’m not used to traveling and meeting people. “I’m not good at finding the right things to say,” he said, and she felt then that she liked this obviously embarrassed man. He dropped the bags and turned to her, opening and closing his mouth several times. The young woman behind the counter smiled at her as they went through into the rear. “Come straight through to the part where I live,” he told her. They walked together without saying anything until he reached the store and asked her to open the door. “Sorry, you will be shaken and hurting from the ride in the stage. He headed for the grocery store a little way down the main street, and she hurried to keep up with him. “Let me carry these bags and go inside out of the cold.” She showed him the bags and went to take one herself, but he tucked one under his arm and lifted the other two. “Mr Liebert?” she asked as they shook hands. “Miss Cosgrove?” he asked as he stepped forward, and she held out a hand to shake. Then she saw the tall, blond man who also looked uncertain and held up the letter in her hand. She smiled and said thanks as she looked around uncertainly. She looked up and down the main street as the guard handed down her three large carpet bags. It was eighteen ninety, wintertime in Citron Town, and spring had not shown any signs of arriving. Amanda Cosgrove stepped out of the stagecoach in the little town in Colorado.
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