Page 5 of Colorado Bride

“No, Mother.And that’s enough of that kind of talk.I don’t want to have to tell you again.I will never, ever, take back Melissa.She’s the one who left me at the altar, not the other way around.I don’t care how much you liked her.I will never marry her, regardless of her changing her mind or not.If she was the last woman on earth, I still wouldn’t marry her.Do you understand?”

Doris Logan had the good sense to look chastised, but Ben wasn’t naïve enough to believe she would actually keep her mouth shut.

She closed the book in her lap and stood.

“If you’re taking that attitude, I believe I’ll leave.”

“Good.Because that is the attitude I’m taking.Consider yourself warned.I won’t tolerate further mentions of Melissa in this house.”

“Is that all?”

Damned if the hurt in her voice didn’t make him feel guilty as hell, but he had to remain firm.He knew this was only a ploy for sympathy and to get him to change his mind.

“Yes.That’s all.”

“Goodnight, then.”

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Goodnight, Mother.”

She stopped in front of him and lifted her cheek for her customary kiss.

Which he gave her, as he always did and always would.As much as she made him crazy, she was still his mother.

After she was gone he went down the hall to his study.He kept a bottle of fine Kentucky bourbon there and tonight he deserved three fingers of the spirit before bed.

He poured the clear caramel-colored liquid into a short glass, sat and crossed his booted ankles on the desk.

Tomorrow I will go see Maggie.The sooner she gets started, the sooner my bride will be here and the sooner I’ll have a family.

It’s liable to take a while.You need to give her time to get to know you, said his conscience.

That’s true but I need to start the paperwork.Even if I start it tomorrow, it’ll likely be a month or more before I have a bride and that’s assuming Maggie finds someone for me right away.

He sipped his drink.What did he want in a wife?Maggie would surely ask him.He took a sheet of paper out of the desk drawer and proceeded to jot down the things that he thought were important in a bride.

Ben swallowed the last bit of his drink, set the glass on the desk and headed upstairs.Sleep would be hard to come by if his mind didn’t slow down.Hopefully the whiskey would begin to work its magic and relax him.

When he got to his room, he stripped and then turned down the bed covers.Ben didn’t believe in pajamas.He liked the feel of the cool sheets against his skin.His wife wouldn’t have night clothes, either.He wanted to be able to hold the woman in his arms and feel her skin against his, her warmth against him.Wanted to stroke and touch her soft body.

Ben hoped his new bride would be pleasing to look at, but if she was the other things he needed, her looks were the last thing he cared about.Above all else, he wanted a woman who would be a good wife and mother.Someone who would like living in the country…someone who wasn’t a city girl.

Monday, August 9, 1875

Ben opened the bright blue door to Matchmaker & Co.Maggie Black, the owner, had just moved the office to its new location at twelfth and Washington Streets in Golden.When he opened the door, a bell tinkled, announcing his arrival.

Maggie sat behind the single desk at the back of the room.Between him and the desk was a sitting area, with a sofa and two arm chairs, all three covered in a blue floral design.Maggie, with her fiery red hair gathered behind her head, looked up as he entered.

“Why, Ben Logan.How are you?”

She stood and came around the desk.

“Come in and have a seat on the sofa.We’ll be more comfortable.”

Ben sat on the sofa after Maggie, crossed his ankle over his knee and put his hat on his knee.

“Hi, Maggie.I came to see you on a professional basis today.I want to get a mail-order bride.”