Page 12 of Leather and Lace
“Found what?” Mary asked. She had to fight against the laugh that nearly escaped her when Alex whooped again and came forward waving the newspaper.
“I saw it here today and hid it to make sure that no one filched it for their own reasons. Pastor Bruce’s sister has been on a rip about matchmaking and has taken every last advert for her own use.”
“What advert?”
“This one!” Alex thrust the paper into Mary’s hands early. “It is perfect for our scheme.”
Mary looked the paper over, eyes moving over the small print to see that it was a page full of hopefuls advertising for spouses. The small neat script varied in its offerings, some looking for those good in the kitchen and inclined to have a family, others still searching for partners with loyal and warm dispositions, thrifty minded spenders, experienced horse workers, efficient farm hands, and more still seeking incomparable beauty, but each one thing above all:a wife.
“The mail order adverts?” Mary asked, looking up from the paper to see Alex watching her expectantly.
“Yes, my plan is simple. I post an advert in tomorrow’s paper, one that is sure to interest your mother. You will respond, and our marriage will be set into motion immediately.”
“But there’s one thing I don’t understand.”
“What’s that?”
Mary gestured to the paper with one hand and a tight smile. “All of these postings are by men looking for wives. How are we, ah, to disguise that you are a woman? My mother will no doubt ask after you in town and do her due diligence before she marries me off, even if it appears to be a godsend.”
Alex grinned at her. “Now that you leave to me, Minnie. I’ll put the word out in town that I am to be referred to solely by my name. Your mother need never know I am a woman. She’ll be none the wiser until we are well and truly married but that will require you to do one important thing.”
“What is it? I’ll do anything.” Mary leaned forward, fingers crumpling the periodical she clutched.
“Absolutely anything?” Alex asked. She came forward to stand in front of Mary and kneeled down in front of her so that the two of them were eye-to-eye. Mary’s heart sped up at the close contact. It was nearly impossible not to notice the way the light hit Alex’s brown eyes, they were a good deal more hazel than she had realized with flecks of green and amber mixed in with the rich brown color.
Mary’s eyes moved over Alex’s face, over and across the aquiline nose, the high cheekbones, along her sharp jawline and lush lips. Would they kiss on their wedding day? Or was such a thing unnecessary in a marriage such as theirs? In a marriage of convenience rather than passion. Even if they felt the inkling of a spark, the draw of attraction was not what put them together.
Kindness. Necessity.
Those were the things that would bind them together in matrimony, and it would all be done under the hand of deception to keep her mother from stopping it all and keeping Mary as she was---currently unsure of her own future, trapped in a cage of her own making, and all because she had not been strong enough to resist her mother’s demands.
Alex did not know her, but she was helping her from a place of goodness. That kind of good did not come by often, and it had been extended to Mary fewer times than she could remember. She would not squander it. She would do her part to help their plan succeed.
“Yes, anything, I swear it.” She reached forward and caught Alex’s hand. “I will not fail in what you ask of me, Alex.”
Alex nodded at her. “I know you won’t,” she clasped Mary’s hand with her own and smiled at her. “I know you will succeed, Minnie. Our plan hinges on one thing, and one thing only, and that is your ability to sneak out and marry me. We will have planned it carefully enough that your mother will know you have been married, and by the time she is aware I am a woman it will be too late. The town will accept us and she will not be able to force you back with her. She will have to leave you in peace, with me.”
With me.
It made her stomach flutter with the stirrings of wanting, but Mary merely smiled and ignored the feelings. She had felt this sort of infatuation before, and she would not allow it to cloud her mind when it came to this. Not when Alex was doing her this sort of kindness. She would repay it with unfailing loyalty.
She had little to offer Alex, but she could be loyal, kind, and true.
Mary squeezed Alex’s hand gently. “I will do it. I swear it.”
* * *
When Mary lefther meeting with Alex it was with a lightness in her heart that she hadn’t felt in quite some time. She practically bounded down the chapel steps in search of her mother and Mr. Rutherford. It had been the unknowing, the vagueness of her future, that had caused her such worry and anxiety but knowing precisely what she was tasked with gave her the kind of purpose and direction she craved to create a sense of security.
She hadn’t even realized how much she needed structure and certainty until Alex had blessed her with it tonight. Mary breathed a sigh of relief, a hand to her chest, and relished the feeling of being able to breath. She smiled and glanced around, surveying the festivities. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, laughing and talking, dancing and eating their fill of treats. It was a beautiful night out just on the cusp of autumn, and Mary supposed there was no finer night for a fair. She was still smiling when Sarah James emerged from the crowd, Mr. Rutherford in tow and waved her down.
“Over here, dear!” Sarah James waved a hand cheerily. “Did you have a lovely time at the fair? We certainly did, didn’t we, Bryan?”
Bryan?
Mary nearly raised an eyebrow at her mother’s use of the man’s first name, but she kept her features schooled into a picture of calmness.
“I did. It was quite good to spend the evening in the fresh air. I had an enjoyable evening, but I am finding I am quite tired now.”
