Jewel's Dream (2 page)

Well, a lawyer was certainly different from a stable hand or a cowboy. It wasn’t that she looked down on hired help, she
was
hired help. She had no interested in trading what she had here for the same thing in Wyoming or any place else.

As for silliness, Jewel didn’t think she was particularly silly, but this James Harland might have other ideas. What if this meant he didn’t like to have fun?

Jewel hesitated. Was he the one she should write to? Why was his ad standing out to her? Well, the worst he could do was say he wasn’t interested. Or he could just not respond. That would waste her time. But it was a chance she’d take with any of them, lawyer or otherwise.

She considered writing to two men to give herself a better chance, but decided against it. She felt that it was far more fair to correspond with only one man at a time. She was sure she’d get them mixed up, anyway, so it was just as well to just pick one.

Jewel got up from her bed and went to her desk. She pulled out the best paper she had and dipped her pen in the inkwell. For a moment, she thought about sneaking down to the library and taking some fine linen paper to write on. She dismissed the idea quickly because it would be stealing. She didn’t want to have to ask God for forgiveness for something new. She’d never stolen before. It was also a bad idea because it could get her parents in trouble if she was caught. That, too, would cause problems she didn’t want to face. So, she used the paper she had. James Harland probably wouldn’t even notice the paper the letter was written on, anyway.

After several minutes of reflection over what to write to this Wyoming lawyer, she put down her pen and bowed her head. She felt like her uncertainty needed some calm stillness. “Father, I know that this is the decision I made with my friends. We all feel like it’s what we must do. Just help me – and all of us – choose the right one. Please open the right doors and close those we should avoid,” she whispered. With her head still bowed, she took a deep breath.

When she finally looked up, she was ready to write. She still was anxious about what she should write, but she knew the words would come. God would take care of that. And so, she picked up her pen and started to compose the letter that could change her life.

Dear Mr. Harland,

May I call you James, or is that too forward in our first letter? I’ll call you James until you reprimand me. (I’m smiling as I write that part)

As you must have guessed, I found your ad in “The Matrimonial Times” just today. This is my first attempt to write to a gentleman from the west, so you’ll please excuse me if I fail to follow some rule I’m unaware of.

My name is Jewel Wood and I’m 22 years old. I live in New York City in the state of New York and I’ve been here all my life. Like you, I’m neither large nor thin and I’m of average height for a woman. I’m a seamstress by trade. Your ad specifies that a woman who responds must not be silly. I think I mostly meet this requirement, however I do enjoy a laugh. I’m good with people and believe I could be an asset to any man who is somewhat of a public figure.

I have many questions about you and Wyoming. I’ll just list them, I suppose. What is your family like? What’s the weather in Wyoming? Is the view excellent? I’m told there are mountains in Wyoming. There’s no mountains in New York City, and I’d love to see them some day.

What about wild animals? Are there wolves and bears lingering outside your door at night?

I do look forward to your reply. Please ask any questions you’d like. I will be honest with each answer.

Yours truly,

Jewel (Wood)

Jewel found herself unleashing a torrent of questions. It was probably too much at once, but she couldn’t help herself. There was so much she wanted to know about a place that was so far separated from the damp and dirty streets of New York City.

She had wanted to write on one side of the paper only, but she had to finish on the back. She ended it sooner than she’d wanted, but she didn’t want to get too far into more questions and have to get a second page to write on. So she stopped. Jewel folded the letter up neatly and slid it into the envelope she had already prepared.

She would dash out on her lunch break again tomorrow and mail the letter to Mr. James Harland. She wondered how long she’d have to wait for a response.

Jewel was on pins and needles from the minute she handed the letter over to the man in the post office. At Bible study that week, the girls gave each other updates. Each was edgy waiting on response from out west.

She waited four days to start checking at the post office to see if anything had come for her. Finally, her persistence was rewarded and she had a letter waiting on her. She was using the post office instead of her home address because she didn’t want anyone to see it. This was the only way to keep a secret from her family.

She crammed the precious letter into her pocket and rushed back to Barnaby’s, barely noticing the dampness on the street. Her coworkers could hardly get a word out of her for the rest of the day, and Jewel blithely stitched her way through unseen seams and buttonholes, until the clock chimed and she could escape.

Jewel couldn’t put away her work fast enough. The other stitchers could only look on in puzzlement as she threw her scissors and thimble into her bag and ran out the door, not even stopping to say goodbye. Her excitement was too much to contain, and Jewel began to hum happily while she walked home, turning heads as she went.

Jewel’s mother and father received the same brusque treatment as her coworkers had when she’d hurriedly left work. The Wood family lived in the servant’s quarters of the estate where Jewel’s parents worked and her parents were in their sitting room when she got home. She waved offhandedly as she dashed past them into the privacy of her tiny bedroom. A bed and a cabinet for her clothes barely fit in the room but she was thankful for even that much. Her four younger brothers were all crammed in one room together.

Jewel plopped down on the bed and eagerly pulled the letter from her pocket. Now that it was finally time to open it, her hands were shaking. Carefully, she unsealed the envelope and plucked the pages from inside it. There were two sheets, written in small, immaculate handwriting, without so much as a smudge or stray line anywhere.

Dear Miss Wood,

Thank you for your answer to my inquiry. I am gratified to receive such a quick response.

As for your multitude of questions, I have both parents still living, and one younger sister, Janice. My father owns the law practice where we both work, and I am to be his successor. My mother spends her time attempting to sculpt my sister into a lady. My sister is only sixteen and does very little other than gaze longingly at certain cowboys. I don’t think she is interested in becoming a lady.

The environment of this part of Wyoming is dry, and neither very hot nor very cold. You will not have to worry about getting caught in the rain very often here, though we see a great deal of snow. There is some greenery, but the greater part of the landscape is mountains and brush. In many places the view is not unpleasant to look at.

The letter went on, meticulously answering every single one of Jewel’s questions, and adding a few of his own. He had squeezed quite a bit of information into those two pages. His tone was polite, if a little serious, and the letter ended with
Sincerely, James Harland
.

Jewel carefully folded up the letter and buried her face in her pillow so she wouldn’t squeal too loudly. The last thing she needed was for one of her brothers to come in and disturb her.

Moments later, she sat back up and composed herself. She had to find somewhere to put this where her parents wouldn’t find it. Mother might discover it when she put something away in her wardrobe, and the bed would get turned around whenever the sheets were changed.

She sat and thought, drumming her fingers on the side of her forehead unconsciously. Jewel’s diary would just have to do. She thought it would work, though it wasn’t completely secure. Her brothers had been instructed to leave her things alone, but they still meddled in her belongings sometimes. Hopefully, they wouldn’t find Mr. Harland’s letter.

The diary was a cheap plain notepad, paper leavings sewn together that Jewel had wrapped in an old cloth. The envelope would just fit, concealed between the pages. Jewel re-wrapped the cover and returned her diary to the cabinet.

Writing a return letter to James Harland would have to wait until after dinner. That would give her time to think of the next things she wanted to tell him and ask him.

The correspondence continued. Jewel started right away sending letters to James almost every day without waiting for return letters from him. Her letters were usually full of questions, and like clockwork she’d receive a reply full of answers. She was now receiving letters from James almost every day, probably because she was writing to him almost every day.

Jewel never would have thought you could get to know somehow though written word alone, but she began to feel like she knew him. With so many letters going back and forth between them, they were bound to learn at least the basics about each other.

James Harland was not a forthcoming man, but he would answer any question she asked. And oddly enough, he answered them fully. Jewel asked enough questions that he painted a fairly complete image of his life.

She learned that Laramie was one of the largest towns in the area, and there wasn’t much to see outside of it. James spent his days working with his father, sorting out land claims between ranchers and carrying out wills. He didn’t say much of anything about friends or family, but he also didn’t say anything she didn’t explicitly ask him about.

Still, he seemed nice. James wasn’t flowery. He didn’t send her love poems, or try to woo her with sweet words. He was, however, honest. He didn’t try to gloss over any part of life in the west, nor did he act as though her questions were tiresome. Jewel felt like he implicitly understood her curiosity, and appreciated it.

She would like to receive romantic love letters from the man she is hoping to marry one day. She waited and watched for signs that his tone might start to drift more toward tenderness. James might turn out to be a slow starter and that would be fine, she supposed. They were at least building a friendship. From what she had heard, friendship in a marriage was almost as important as love.

One night after an especially tedious day at Barnaby’s, Jewel arrived at Bible class to find all the girls clustered around Eileen Ramsay. Eileen turned to face her as she walked in, a delighted sneer dominating her face.

“Oh, Jewel. I was just sharing the dreadful news that I’ll soon be leaving our dear little study group. For you see,” Eileen flounced away from the others in the circle, “I am now betrothed.” She displayed her left hand with a flourish and wiggled her fingers in front of Jewel’s face.

A thin, gold band set with a single small stone sat on Eileen’s finger. Jewel couldn’t see it very well since Eileen wouldn’t keep her hand still, but she got the general impression. The girls behind her still watched, either sighing with envy or glaring for bragging about her engagement.

Jewel looked over at Eva just in time to see her roll her eyes and make a face. Angie poked Eva in the ribs with her elbow admonishing her to be careful showing her opinions. Jewel smiled at the scene between her friends. She knew that soon she and her dearest girlfriends would probably be leaving the Bible study class, too. Their adventures were likely to be much more interesting than anything the pretentious Eileen Ramsay would ever do.

“Edwin Ross has finally made his intentions clear, and we shall be wed before summer starts.” Eileen declared.

“How delightful it will be to miss your face from Bible class.” Jewel said, her pitch bright and cheerful. Eileen stared at her for a moment, not quite believing what Jewel had just said. Another conversation soon started and Jewel was off the hook.

“Why didn’t he propose on Valentine’s Day?” Mae spoke up, boldly. “That would have been far more romantic than waiting until April, wouldn’t it?”

Jewel could tell Mae was trying to taunt Eileen just a bit, and she was unable to hide a little smirk of pleasure. The girl deserved Mae’s jibe, though. She was always trying to act better than everybody else when she came from just as humble circumstances as the rest of the girls. This Edwin Ross came from a little bit of money, but he wasn’t New York royalty by any means. He was nothing to be excited about in Jewel’s opinion.

“A day for sweethearts? It would have been very special to get engaged on that day,” Maddie said, shaking her head. “Yes, you’re right, Mae. What a shame he overlooked such an opportunity
.
”

This required Eileen’s input, and she twirled around to take command of the subject and defend her beloved Edwin Ross. Defending Edwin’s choice of proposal date meant she was also defending herself.

“Personally, I think it’s trite and overdone to receive a marriage proposal on a day for sweethearts. We did have the most romantic evening on that holiday. It didn’t include an engagement ring, but romance is much more than big statements such as a proposal.” Eileen cast a superior eye around the room, daring anyone else to criticize.

Jewel was sorely tempted to say something to add to the conversation. Why should Eileen get all the attention? After all, she sort of had a sweetheart. Just not one close enough to have supper or a walk in the park with. Instead she sat quietly by, waiting for the class to start.

Holding the secret inside was burning her up. She wanted desperately to tell everyone about James Harland. He friends would be annoyed with her for spilling the beans, though. And she didn’t want to answer questions or get ridiculed for writing to a man who lived across the country. The others outside Jewel’s tight circle of friends wouldn’t understand. They would certainly make fun of her for thinking she could find love through
The Matrimonial Times
.

Jewel didn’t care what they thought, though. She believed that James Harland was the one for her. Her dream come true. She pictured him in her mind. He’d described himself to her and she saw that image she’d created of him every time she thought of him.