Mail Order Match Maker Read Online Free PDF

world.
    Her eyes fluttered down to her menu and she chose a steak before closing it.  “Tell me about your family.”  She was amazed at how intimate it felt to be in public with him this way.
    He shrugged.  “I’ve told you most of it.  My parents live back East.  I came out with my sister, her husband and their girls about ten years back.”
    “How old are their girls?”
    “Oldest is Rose.  She just turned sixteen.  The youngest is five.  The rest are spaced out in the middle of there somewhere.” 
    “Do you see them a lot?”  She took a sip of the water the waiter had put in front of her.
    “Usually, at least on Sundays.  Sometimes more than that.  What about you?  Are your parents still alive?”
    She shook her head sadly.  “My father died of a heart attack a couple of months after I got married.  Mother seemed to lose the will to live after that.  They were childhood sweethearts and just seemed to belong together.”   She hadn’t seen either of her parents since her wedding day.  Arthur hadn’t allowed her to travel to her father’s funeral, probably worried she wouldn’t return.
    “I’m sorry.  No brothers or sisters?”
    “No, I was a surprise baby.  Mama was in her forties before she had me.  They didn’t expect to ever have children and I came along and shocked everyone.” She grinned as she explained it to him.
    He laughed.  “That does seem to happen sometimes.”  He gave their orders to the waiter and turned back to her.  “What made you decide to open your business?  Did you need the money?”
    She shook her head.  “No, I had plenty of money after Arthur died.  My parents had left everything to me, and so had Arthur.  I didn’t want to stay in New York where I’d lived with him, so I moved to Beckham.  I liked it there, but needed something to do to keep busy.  I wasn’t interested in the social scene, so I started my business.  It was fun matching up women with men who needed them.”  And it had been fun making a difference in so many women’s lives.  She still wrote to almost every woman she’d placed.
    “So what made you answer my letter?”  He eyed her curiously.  “Did you answer any of the other letters you received?”
    “I’m really not sure why I answered your letter.  It was the first one I opened after starting the business, and I never had the desire to answer any others.  I probably should have given your letter to any number of women who came to see me over the years, but I wanted to keep you for myself.”  Her eyes met his.  “I guess I was selfish that way.”  She wondered if he wished she’d handed his letter off to someone else so he could have been married sooner.
    “I think you made the right decision.”  He took the hand he was still holding and brought it to his lips.  “I’m so glad you’re here with me now.”
    “I am too.  I can’t wait to meet your family and see your house.”  And be your wife, she added silently to herself.  She realized then her fears about being married to him were disappearing rapidly.  What it was about him that made her so comfortable she didn’t know, but she was glad to be marrying him and not someone else.
    “I hope you’re not disappointed.”
    She shook her head.  “I don’t think there’s any way I could be.”  Their food arrived and they applied themselves to it.  She watched him eat, noting that his manners weren’t as impeccable as Arthur’s had been, but they certainly weren’t bad. 
    After he’d paid for dinner, they walked slowly back to the hotel.  She was surprised when he tugged her into an alley between the two buildings.  She looked up at him under the light of the full moon.  “What are you doing?”   She had expected to feel panicked the first time she was completely alone with him and not in sight of anyone else.  Instead, her quickly beating heart was due to her excitement at being hidden from other’s view.
    He slid one arm