Chapter Six
A month after he sent his letter to Miss Peterson, saying he would like her to come to Bakersfield so he could meet her, he received her response.
He trembled as he took the letter in his hands.
What had she decided to say? The letter was light, which indicated that it was much shorter than others he had received from her.
That was fair, though. There wasn’t much he could do about that because he hadn’t shared much in his letter to her.
There was nothing to do now but open the letter. So that’s what he did. Her handwriting greeted him in a short, sweet message.
Dear Wesley Montgomery,
I have received the money, and I believe you will see me a week after this letter arrives.
I have given as short a notice as possible at the orphanage, which is already short-staffed.
They need more help, but I cannot help in that regard.
I look forward to meeting you. I know not to expect a reply; however, I would like you to be thinking about the following: will we be marrying as soon as I arrive?
Do you want to get to know me through a proper courtship first?
If we shall be courting first, where shall I be staying?
I do not have much money at my disposal, Mr. Montgomery.
Any cost-of-living expenses I incur once I arrive in California may have to be paid by you until I can find a job if we are not to marry immediately.
I know that you spoke of having a wife who could keep the house, but unless we marry immediately, I’ll need a job to keep a roof over my head.
I look forward to seeing you and to seeing where our relationship goes from here.
Cordially yours,
Susannah Peterson
Wesley didn’t hesitate to smile. At least this meant she felt the same way about their relationship as he had.
It also meant he needed to get these matters finalized sooner rather than later.
He hadn’t given any thought to whether he was going to marry her when she arrived.
He didn’t like that idea. He wanted her to feel comfortable in Bakersfield before they got married, so he suspected he’d be paying for a room at the inn for her for a while.
He didn’t mind that so much. A lesser man might have wondered why he was bothering, but he knew that Susannah Peterson would be worth her weight in gold, going by the contents of her letters.
She may have had her complaints about her work at the orphanage, but she truly cared.
The fact that she was postponing her departure from Washington, D.C.
, by a week to give them time to adjust to the fact that she wouldn’t be there was enough to show him.
Then again, he suspected her diligence was for the girls there, and not the rest of the staff.
She had spoken of some of the staff but had mentioned only one by name: Judith Norris.
She seemed to have grown up with Mrs. Norris, who helped when she was younger, so that could explain the tie there.
Instead of waiting for answers that wouldn’t come for a week yet, he decided to be proactive. He grabbed his jacket, since he had no cases right now, and headed to the inn in town.
There, he found the woman in charge, a woman large in size, but also in heart, by the name of Pauline Jackson. She smiled at Wesley.
“Well, what brings you here today, Mr. Montgomery? Here to see Clark?”
Clark Jackson, Pauline’s husband, was the sheriff in town. He shook his head.
“No, Pauline. I’m here to see you. What can you do for me in getting a room ready for a friend of mine? She’ll be arriving in about a week,” Wesley said. “I’ll be paying for the room. But I’m not yet ready to marry and wish to have a proper courtship with her.”
Mrs. Jackson nodded.
“Well, I can do that easily, Mr. Montgomery,” she said. “How long will your friend be staying with us? Do you happen to know?”
“I don’t know that, but I’m sure that I can cover a few weeks upfront,” Wesley said. “Would a payment for a month be sufficient to keep her room here for now?”
“And it’d cover a month from when she checks in, yes.” Pauline smiled. “Well, congratulations, Mr. Montgomery. Where is she coming from, if you don’t mind my asking? Will we be seeing a woman representing a new city here?”
“She’s coming from the capital itself: Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I’m sure that she’ll have plenty to share with you since you also came from the capital. I hope that means she can find a friend in you.”
“I hope so, too. I never thought another person from Washington, D.C. would want to move out here,” Pauline said as she got the room logged in the books. “And, do you have a name for me to write this reservation under?”
“Susannah Peterson,” he said.
She wrote it down but frowned.
“Peterson… why do I feel like I know that name?” She raised an eyebrow. “Hmm. I suppose I’ll have to ask her about where she grew up in D.C. when she gets here. See if we met before.” She shrugged.
“Would be interesting if you had met before,” he said.