The Christmas Gift (A Wyoming Mail Order Bride Holiday 1) Read online

  The Christmas Gift

  Annie Boone

  A Mail Order Bride Christmas Story

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this story are products of the author’s imagination. Any misrepresentation or discrepancies about the places or history are research or interpretation errors by the author.

  For more information about the author, Annie Boone, check out her website.

  http://www.AnnieBoone.com

  Chapter One

  It was an unbearably hot day. The sun beat down on the greyish-white tombstones of the Stafford family. Sparks of light glinted as the sun hit the carved granite. Naomi laid down the flowers she had collected in the field that morning, arranging each bouquet reverently on top of each grave.

  The grass covering the graves needed to be green. She wanted it to be lush. It hadn’t rained in weeks and the grass was now a sickly faded yellow and she hated that. The dirt beneath was dry and dusty. There was no life here, no matter how hard Naomi wanted to believe there was.

  That’s what Naomi searched for. Life. She wasn’t sure why she kept coming to a graveyard to find life. There was no sense in it, but she did it anyway. It was her last connection to her family, at least that’s how it felt when she was there.

  She looked at the bouquets she had placed on each grave. One for Daisy. One for Christopher. One for Mama. One for Papa.

  Her entire family was buried in the small cemetery behind the church. Six months had gone by already, and Naomi still forgot sometimes that they wouldn’t be coming back. . She had to come here to feel close to them and remember their happy times together. What she always got was a cold reminder that she was basically alone.

  She got down on her knees and sobbed in loneliness and sadness. “Oh, it’s I that should be in the ground. Not you,” she cried as she touched the engraved letters that spelled out her younger sister’s name. Daisy was only twelve. To perish in a fire had to be one of the worst possible ways to leave this earth. She couldn’t fathom the pain. The fear of realizing there was no way out must have been torturous to her little sister. Naomi wondered what they had thought when individually they had realized that they only had moments left. Naomi shook away the horror, but it refused to flee from her mind.

  The guilt of surviving haunted her every day, but today the load seemed heavier to bear. The people close to her insisted it wasn’t her fault, but she knew they were wrong. he was to blame. Didn’t she leave the house to check the stables one last time? Wasn’t it her who wanted to give the horses extra carrots as a Christmas Eve treat?

  She had been loitering in the barn when she heard the screams. If she closed her eyes their voices echoed in her mind. “Help! Naomi! Help us!”

  But she couldn’t help them. She ran as fast as she could lifting her skirts high in her sprint. When she got to the house she found that the door was locked from the inside. The flames were too high at the windows for her to crawl in.

  She ran back into the barn and grabbed a pitchfork. With a strength she didn’t know she possessed she smashed the back of the pitchfork into the glass windows over and over until enough of the glass broke so that she could get through it. She cut her arms on the broken glass as she managed to get herself into the house.

  But it was too late. All she saw was the bright orange flames licking at the walls. The furniture was burning and the smoke was too thick to see anything much. She tried to get up the stairs but they were burning, too, and she couldn’t make it to the upper floor. The bottom floor was engulfed in flames and she knew she had to get out or she would perish.

  She vaguely remembered the moment she became aware that the screams of her family had stopped. She wanted to collapse in despair and give in to the panic, but something propelled her out of the burning house. When she got outside she fell to the ground and called out for her family. But she knew that there was no hope. Her family was gone and no matter how hard she tried, there was nothing she could do to save them.

  The rest of what happened after that was a blur. She remembered confusion, shouts, and her own deep despair. And the coughing; she couldn’t stop coughing. She later found out that the neighbors saw the flames and came to help as soon as they could get there. They saw flames in the distance in the dark night sky and it took them a few minutes to get their wagons to come help.

  The people of the town were always alert for fire because all the structures were made of wood and heated with fire and hot coals. Fires were common and they were often deadly. The devastation Naomi experienced on Christmas Eve added her family to the list of families who had suffered loss because of fire.

  When the neighbors rushed over to help, they found Naomi unconscious in the yard only a few feet from the bottom step of the front porch. They believed she had passed out from breathing in the thick smoke. It was pouring out of the window she had broken and the oxygen was feeding the raging fire. The house was already consumed by the blaze and it was clear that this would be a total loss.

  Caleb Porter, the patriarch of the adjacent farm, picked Naomi up as soon as he found her. He knew he needed to get her away from the heat of the fire and danger of falling fiery debris. She roused a bit as he placed her in the back of his wagon but her injuries and trauma were too severe for her to wake fully.

  It was just as well that she be spared at least some of the first hand details of how her family was lost.

  Chapter Two

  The first thing Naomi felt when she woke in the hospital bed was emptiness and confusion. She didn’t know why she wasn’t waking up in her own comfortable, cozy bed. She knew something was wrong, but she didn’t know what. She felt alone.

  Eventually it all came back to her. She remembered what had happened but she didn’t know how she had gotten here. She once again was filled with despair. She knew her family was gone. She was the only one to survive the fire, but she was spared because of her last minute decision to hurry and put a treat out for the animals. Why didn’t they all go? They did that sometimes. Take a quick run out to stroke the horse’s noses and give them carrots.

  Her throat burned and scratched. Her chest and ribs felt like they would cave in every time she took a breath. And her arms were in great pain. She knew she had been given something for pain, but it didn’t seem to be giving her much relief.

  The physical pain she felt paled in comparison to the horrible truth that was now her reality. The awful scenario she had hoped was just a dream, was true.

  Naomi stayed in the hospital for a few days as her injuries started to improve. She could only be left alone when she slept which wasn’t much. Apparently, they were worried that she might attempt to take her own life. She overheard them whispering their concerns to each other. Naomi wondered why God had left her out of his plan for the rest of her family. She didn’t want to face life without them. How could she recover her faith after this?

  The Christmas tree had caught on fire. Again she had overheard the nurses talking and they speculated that a candle had gotten too close to it. Did it really matter how the fire started? Naomi thought. She didn’t want to know how her family was taken from her.

  All she cared about was learning why it happened. What could her family possibly have done to have deserved this harsh punishment? What had she done to be the one left alone? She had questions no one could answer, not even her pastor.

  “Why did this happen, Pastor Dooley? My parents raised us in the faith. They taught us to love God with all our hearts, souls, and might. Why did He do this?” she asked.

  Pastor Joe Dooley
reached for her hand and squeezed it lightly in his. “Naomi, I can’t answer these questions for you. God has a plan and only He knows it. But know that everything is for His good.”

  “I just don’t understand. What am I supposed to do now? How will God show me?” she cried.

  “You will never truly understand, Naomi. God will reveal his motives in His time. You may not know until you reach the Heaven’s gates. I’ll continue to pray that God will make a clear path for you. I don’t know how He will show you, but He will. Keep your heart open, Naomi.”

  She was tired after her visit with the pastor. It took a great deal out of her to ask questions that had no clear answers. The emotions boiled up inside her fueled by the uncertainty and lack of understanding.

  ***

  Naomi’s Aunt Beth, her mother’s younger sister, was by her side at the hospital whenever she could be. From the moment she knew Naomi needed help, she tried to help. She was devastated at the loss of her sister and the rest of the family, but she was doing everything she could to take care of her niece who was spared.

  Her husband, Richard, brought her into town the day that Naomi was to be released. They agreed to take her in and care for her during her recovery and for as long as she needed a place to live.

  The next difficulty Naomi had to face was the funeral. She, along with Aunt Beth and Uncle Richard, planned a simple service for her precious family. She had no idea how she would get through the service, but she prayed almost hourly for God’s guidance and loving support.

  If it hadn’t been for Aunt Beth and Uncle Richard, she was certain she would have never made it. They stayed by her side during the funeral and burial, seeming to take as much comfort from her as she took from them.

  The day after the funeral, her aunt and uncle approached her with the need to talk about her future. She was old enough to be on her own, but they didn’t want her to feel pressure to find her own way. They offered her an opportunity to stay with them as long as she desired.

  Naomi had no belongings since everything was lost in the fire. She needed new clothes, shoes, and everything else. Aunt Beth shopped for what she could and the rest of what Naomi needed was donated by members of their congregation. Naomi was embarrassed a little, but grateful beyond measure for the kindness shown to her.

  She had the land and the horses but she knew she couldn’t rebuild alone. After a while, they decided to sell the horses her father had owned and then they sold the land. This took some time, but the land was prime and animals were always easy to sell in their town. They kept the pigs and would have plenty of meat for the rest of the winter.

  Naomi decided to move in with her aunt and uncle on their farm. Selling the land and the horses was like losing whatever was left of her family. She loved those horses, but Aunt Beth and Uncle Richard had all the horses they needed for their farm. More horses than needed only cost extra money with no return. It had been difficult to get them moved and make room for them at the farm and it made sense to sell them.

  Having the money from the sale of the land and horses would allow her to pay her own way and help her aunt and uncle out as kind of a love gift for taking her in. She knew they didn’t expect anything from her, but she wanted to do it. There would be money left for a little security for her and that made her a little less anxious about her future.

  Beth and Richard had three children, two boys Adam and Edward, and a girl, Elizabeth. They were all under the age of nine. Her aunt and uncle felt it would be good for Naomi to care for them. They hoped the children’s energy and joy would surely help her recover her lost happiness. It wasn’t a bad idea, but little cousins couldn’t replace her sister and brother.

  The months went by, and although Naomi was an excellent help in raising the children and she loved them, she rarely smiled. She spent very little time with the family after dinner and preferred to go to bed early after supper. She slept now more than she ever had. Aunt Beth suspected that sleep was the best way for her to escape her grief.

  Her aunt and uncle lived in the same town as she had grown up in and moving in with them allowed her to stay close to the church cemetery where her family was buried. The only comfort she had left was being able to come here, to their graves and talk to them. She didn’t know if they could hear her or not, but it helped her to tell them the details of her days. She shared the ways she passed her hours in a world that she no longer shared with them.

  She often wondered what it was like in Heaven. She’d read in the Bible and heard people at church talk about streets of gold and pearly gates, but she wanted more detail than that. She’d asked her mother to share something about Heaven with her, but nothing ever happened.

  Sometimes she would talk about her happy memories from when they were all together. She hoped that if she spoke about them often and out loud, they would never truly fade away. That her memories wouldn’t fade and go away. That was her biggest fear. That she would forget them. The sound of her papa’s voice, her mother’s loving touch, her sister’s contagious giggle, and her brother’s silly jokes.

  She didn’t even have a picture of them all together. It was something they talked about, posing for a portrait, but that was when they had an infinite number of days stretched out before them. Little did they know they were all living on borrowed time.

  Each Saturday she visited her family in the cemetery. And each Saturday she left just as heartbroken. Going to the cemetery was meant to bring her comfort, but it only magnified her loss.

  She saw the sympathetic looks the people gave her as she walked through town with her wildflowers. They all knew where she was going, and they all avoided her gaze when she returned. She knew they wanted to help her get over this depression and grief, but they couldn’t.

  Naomi didn’t know how much longer she could live like this. Everything reminded her of her loss. Six months and she still had to remind herself to breathe. When would it end? When would she be able to let go of her guilt? When would she be able to think of her family and not feel a searing pain in her heart? She doubted it would ever go away, she just wanted it to get easier.

  She looked down at her right hand. She saw the scars that extended up her arm to her elbow. They were still red, but much less angry looking than they had been even just a month ago. The scars were from the glass she broke to get into the house to help her family. She knew they would fade over time, but she would always have this reminder of that terrible night.

  For the first time since the fire, she realized she wanted to move forward. She felt it was a form of acceptance that had to come at some point.

  Naomi pressed her fingers to her lips, then touched her mother’s tombstone. She repeated the gesture with each member of the Stafford family, and only when the last kiss had been given, did she wipe away her tears and walk home.

  She thought about all the families in her town. All the children that would grow up—grow old. All the things that Daisy and Christopher would never get to do. Naomi was only five when Christopher was born, and seven when her parents had Daisy, but she could recall holding them while her mother warmed their bottle. She loved being a big sister, it was the greatest feeling in the world for her.

  Naomi wondered in that moment what it would be like to have a family of her own. It seemed only natural to want to find a family since she’d lost the one she was born with. Naomi would never have another mother again, or a father. She would never have her sister and brother near her as they all grew to be adults and have families of their own.

  But she could have a husband, and children of her own. She would never replace her family, but she could love again. And having a family of her own seemed like a good place to start.

  She felt like she had turned a corner that day. Making the decision to force herself to move forward made her proud. She smiled instinctively for the first time in a very long time. It felt good.

  ***

  “They’re called Mail Order Brides,” Naomi told A
unt Beth as they cleared the table that night after supper.

  “I know what they’re called, Naomi. I just don’t agree with it. You don’t know who these men are. Why can’t they find a girl on their own? I’ve heard that they’re untamed and uncouth. Is that really what you want?”

  “Maybe they live in an area where there are no girls. Well, at least none suitable for marriage. They could be too young, or too old, or just not the marrying sort.”

  “Not the marrying sort,” Beth snorted as she ran a wet rag over the table to clean up the mess the children had made. “I don’t want you to be thrown into that kind of filth.”

  “Aw, Aunt Beth. You know what I mean. Not everyone would make a good wife. But I think I would.”

  “Oh Naomi, I know you would. That’s not the reason for my hesitation.”

  “I’ve prayed over and over for a sign from God. I’ve asked him to show me a path. I started that prayer from the hospital and I’ve prayed it every day since. Pastor Dooley told me that God would show me a way in His own time. I believe this is it.”

  “How did you find out about this sort of thing, Naomi?”

  “I found an ad in a paper at the mercantile. It was laying open on a table, so I picked it up,” Naomi replied. She was trying to be as calm as possible so that her aunt would understand.

  “Hmm. Wonder who left it there?” Beth looked at the ceiling and shook her head. “I don’t suppose it really matters how it got there.”

  “I don’t think I can stay here, Aunt Beth. I walk around and the folk look at me like I’m their charity case. I can’t go by the lake without thinking of fishing with Papa. I can’t walk past the school without looking for Daisy and Christopher at recess. I’m haunted here. And I really miss my mama.”