West For Love (A Mail Order Romance Novel) (19 page)

“I will too,” Anna said. “And Jo...
here...”

Anna pushed the letter to Jo’s
hand.

“No.”

“Yes,” Anna said. “Because if you
ever lose faith, I want you to read the letter you wrote to Mary. To know and
remember just how much you changed our lives.”

“Okay, I’ll keep it.”

Jo stared at Anna and somehow the
two women still found the ability to laugh. They laughed at nothing, literally
nothing. But they still laughed, wanting to make sure the last few minutes together
were spent laughing.

When Jo boarded the carriage and
looked back at Anna and Thomas - and Thomas Jr. and baby Joe - she waved and
smiled. Anna held her tears back and smiled, waving. She took one of baby Joe’s
little hands and waved to Jo. She secretly hoped Jo would have a change of
heart and jump off the carriage, but that didn’t happen.

The carriage started to move and a
few minutes later, it was gone. Swallowed up by the horizon, taking Jo to
another path. Her own path, the one she deserved.

Long after the carriage was gone,
Anna still stood with Thomas, Thomas Jr., and baby Joe outside. Thomas’s strong
arm held Anna close and tight. Thomas Jr. made noises and baby Joe started to
get fussy. He was hungry.

Anna looked up at her husband as
Thomas looked down at her.

They smiled at the same time.

“I love you, Thomas,” Anna said.
“And I’m going to miss Jo so much.”

“Me too,” Thomas said.

Anna took a deep breath.

This was it.

This was her life.

Everything she wanted, she had.

She turned and switched baby Joe to
the other arm. Thomas did the same and now the family of four stared at the
house. Their house. The house where Thomas and Anna fell in love. The house where
Thomas Jr. learned to walk. The house where they created the life that became
baby Joe.

The house where true love healed
them all and created a family, now and forever.

Don’t miss the next novel in the
Mail
Order Romance
series:
Finding Love West

Eliza knows her time at home has
come to an end, but now what? After deciding to take a chance as a mail order
bride, she finds herself in Kansas, and torn between two brothers. She’s
married to Clyde, who is not the man his brother, Henry, is.

There’s secrets about Clyde…
secrets that can become deadly.

There’s secrets about Henry too…
those that can change Eliza’s life for the better.

But ultimately, it’s Eliza who
has the biggest secret of all.

Just how far can love take a
person?

Don’t
miss any of the Brothers of Rock books, along with all of Karolyn’s books!

Brothers of Rock:

Chasing Cross 1 -5

            All Access

            Broken Sound

            Bitter Farewell

            Buried Notes

            Last Song

Karolyn
James
writing under the pen name,
Claire Charlins
, creates western
romance novels that will capture your heart as you follow women in the 1800s as
they travel west to become mail order brides seeking romance and a better way
of life…

Mail Order Romance:

            West For Love

                        Fining Love West

Stay up to date with
Karolyn James as Claire Charlins!

www.KarolynJames.wordpress.com

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This book is a work of fiction.  Any references to
historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. 
Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s
imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living
or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First electronic edition August 2013

Copyright © 2012 by Claire Charlins

All rights reserved, including the right of
reproduction in whole or in part of any form.