Page 2 of A Bride for Brodie

Joey gave him a one-two punch in the stomach.

Brodie doubled over in pain.

Flannery sat back in his chair. “Wouldn’t want to mess up your pretty face…this time. You got a month. After that, I’ll have Joey, here, put your nose by your ear. Got it?”

Brodie straightened and tucked an arm over his stomach. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Get out of here.”

Joey opened the door and held it.

Brodie went through and glared at Joey.

The man looked poised to hit him again if Flannery gave him a signal.

The door slammed behind him.

He winced in pain.This is so bad. Where will I get $900 in a month? I can’t let this gambling habit continue. It’s threatening the ranch, and that is unforgivable.

* * *

June 1880,Yuma Territorial Prison

Lottie stoodnext to her twin sister, Maisie, in the sweltering heat of the warden’s office. Flies banged against the windows, trying to escape. She kept waving her hand around her head as one landed on her, probably to rest before trying again to leave.

She watched as Warden Ezra Dean sat behind his plain wooden desk and eyed each woman before him. He was an average height man, with graying brown hair, brown eyes and spectacles that were forever slipping to the end of his nose and which he was always pushing back up. He asked them if they wanted to become mail-order brides and get their sentences shortened by half.

Fiona, Gwen and Maisie all agreed.

“It’s your turn, Lottie. What say you? Are you willing to become a mail-order bride?” asked the warden again.

“Yes, most definitely.” She grasped her sister’s hand, squeezing it tight. “If Maisie is going, so am I.”

Lottie would never leave Maisie willingly. She hated her father for selling Maisie to Donald Kunkle. The man abused her sister, and there was nothing that Lottie could do about it. She hated her father for putting money before family by selling Maisie. Then he kept Lottie in line by saying lewd things to her. Scaring her with his implied suggestions. She could never love a man who put money before family.

The only good thing her father did for her was teach her to play poker and she was better than good at it. She was the best because she played very well, and the men at the table tended not to take her seriously because she was a woman. At least until she’d taken their money.

“Very good. Last, but not least, what about you, Ivy?”

The tall, brown-haired woman was the strongest of them. She was not fat, but was mostly muscle. The men often made a mistake in thinking she was fat and therefore weak. It was stupid, but they did it and learned a thing or two at the end of her fist. “Yes, I’m going. I’d die here without my friends.”

The warden smiled. “I thought you all might volunteer for this program. Your sentences will be commuted to time served, but if you run away from your husbands, I will put you back in prison. No trial. Nothing. Directly back here to finish your sentence.” He smiled again. “You were chosen because even though you robbed a bank, you did so without firing a shot. You didn’t kill or injure anyone. That has never happened before.”

Lottie squeezed Maisie’s hand again. “Thank you for the opportunity, Warden. We won’t disappoint you.”

“Glad to hear it. Now, you’ll find new clothes, a reticule with ten dollars, a hat and coat in your cells. Here are the tickets for the stage from Yuma to Prescott.” He handed them to Fiona. “The prison stage, not the prisoner wagon, will take you into Yuma to catch the Arizona and California Stage Company stage.”

Frowning, Lottie saw from their furrowed brows and biting their lips that the other women still had questions, too. “Warden, who are we marrying? And where are we going?”

The warden chuckled. “Forgive me, but it’s a little ironic. You’re marrying the Campbell brothers of…Prescott.”

“Prescott! But, but…” Lottie felt like she got a gut punch. All the women were wide eyed and openmouthed.

Prescott was the location of the bank they robbed and, since the loot was never recovered, the women definitely wouldn’t be welcomed there. However, since that was also where the money remained hidden, the money was still there. Going to Prescott would make it easier to get the loot.

“Yes, Prescott. Your husbands work a large ranch to the north that they jointly own. They are aware of why you were in prison and the reason for letting you take part in this program.”

“Thanks, Warden, for answering my questions,” said Lottie.