Losing her parents and all their wealth in a fire,
Henrietta "Hetty" Wentworth and her siblings are split up
and put into an orphanage. Her elder sister and two
brothers escape leaving Hetty to care for her twin sister
and a young sister. Attacked by Indians while traveling by
wagon from Cheyenne to Butte, Montana, Hetty is seriously
injured with an arrow and left to die in the wagon, her
twin has escaped to seek help and her youngest sister is
taken by the Indians.
Mrs. Lucille Templeton, traveling with two children, has
agreed to become a mail order bride to Karl Norwood who is
soon traveling to his home in Bitterroot, Montana to work
in his brother's logging operation. The Chinaman, Mr. Bao
Lin, has been charged with accompanying his intended so
they can marry before leaving on their hard trip. The
children are not Mrs. Templeton's as Karl has been told, as
well as being told their ages are much younger than they
are. Their mother has died and Grace (13) invented this
scheme to get a real family for her and her brother,
Griffin (11). Being a shrew, Mrs. Templeton is lazy and
selfish while mean to the children. When coming upon the
deserted wagon, Hetty is found near dead. Traveling now
with her rescuers, Hetty defends the children which
results in Mrs. Templeton's death. Suggested by Bao, Hetty
takes her place as the children's mother in order to
provide a home for them all. Being a virgin reveals she is
lying to Karl but will not sway from her original story to
protect the children other than they are not hers. As time
goes forward, Hetty begins to fall in love with the plain
but gentle man she has married, and prays their lies will
not tear her new family apart.
MONTANA BRIDE is a book that completely drew me in from page
one. The story is terrific and portrays the life of the
oxen and wagon days and the hardships those families
traveling in the wilderness were faced with. I have not
had the pleasure of reading/reviewing any books by this
author previously, but I am extremely anxious to do so
now. I was so caught up in the story I had to read the
whole thing in one day. My heart went out to the
characters and the hardships they had to endure. It was
very easy to relate to each and every one in this story.
MONTANA BRIDE is a meaningful account of what it must have
been like to
live during this era of our past.
When Karl Norwood’s mail-order bride meets an untimely
demise on the way to the Montana Territory, Hetty Wentworth
steps in to take her place. Hetty has no idea how she’s
going to pretend to be all the things she isn’t—including
the mother of two kids. She only knows her deception is
necessary if she’s going to save two orphans from the awful
fate she suffered as a child.
Karl smells a rat when a much younger woman than he was
expecting arrives with two children who look nothing like
her. But his mail-order bride is so beautiful, he doesn’t
object—until he realizes that his charming new wife has
been
lying . . . about everything. Can a woman forced to keep
secrets and a man hindered by distrust ever hope to find
happily ever after in each other’s arms?