Author's Notes: So hi! It has been such a long time I didn't even know if I would make it back. I hope everyone is well and safe during this time. This fic can be blamed on way too many Mail-Order Bride novels. I'm working on it in my spare time, so don't expect miracles in terms of posting. I'm only posting here as the new platform at FL has randomly decided to lock me out. So, if any of you girls are here, HI! I hope you enjoy this! Xoxoxoxo!

Samantha Brady gritted her teeth as she saw her sister twirl with the finest piece of lace she had ever seen about her shoulders. It was the most expensive piece in the mercantile, left there for weeks as there were too few in their town who could afford to buy such a gem.

She knew this because it was also the lace she had been admiring for just as long. It was foolish to even place such hopes on a frivolous thing, and yet she had longed for it, watching it through the window in hopes that one day she would wear it on the neckline of her dress as she married the man of her dreams. She should have known then, her head was dancing on the wind, as her pa often said.

Carrie, her sister, squealed in delight once again as their mother looked on. It was a proud moment between them, and as many before, Sami was not included. Sami knew her mother loved all her children, but she also knew it was because the Good Book told her she had to. Marlena Brady was a strict woman, God-fearing and admired by many in their small town for her great mind. Had she been born a man, Sami suspected she would have been sheriff or the town doctor or even had some job in the larger towns. Unfortunately, she was born a woman, and she was determined to be the best woman there was. Her mother was therefore the best cook, the best seamstress and cleaner a man could ever want, a path she herself could not hope to follow, but somehow Carrie had. Carrie was just like her mother, made in her image as well, tall, dainty, and elegant, she cooked, and she cleaned and sewed like a right professional dressmaker.

Samantha was no such thing. In truth the only thing she shared with her mother and sister were their golden hair and blue eyes. She took after her father in every other way that was important. She was short, stocky with a figure that looked frumpy in the most divine of gowns. She preferred working with animals to the dumb humans who owned them and very often could be found mucking out stalls, and planting seedlings alongside her father instead of seeing to the more womanly arts like cooking and stitching. In fact, it was best not to let her near a pot. The last church picnic everyone had tried an awful stew she made, and it sent everyone running to the bathroom, some people had not even made it to hear the boys of the town tell it. That had been her last failed attempt to entice a husband. She now knew she was better off sticking to the farm, not that there were any young men worth their salt as far as she was concerned. The younger men in her village were too few and what was left wasn't much to look at. Even if they were, most men preferred someone like her sister and that was the God's honest truth.

Sami tuned back in to hear her mother fawn over her sister paying little mind to her Carrie's coy and vindictive looks sent her way. Her mother might not have noticed her enough to realize she had wanted that bit of lace, but Carrie obviously knew.

"Come Samantha, once your hands are clean, you should feel how light and delicate this fabric is," her mother finally acknowledged her.

Before she could answer, Carrie chimed in, "Oh mother, I reckon Sami would never appreciate anything so fine."

Her mother sighed as if it was a great burden to bear a daughter who had no appreciation for the finer things, but nonetheless nodded, "Yes unfortunately your sister is not as appreciative of such a thing as I would like."

Sami remained quiet through it all, refusing to give her sister the satisfaction of learning her arrow had made its mark on her. She swallowed against the growing discomfort in her throat glad that her father entered the house at that exact moment.

"What is all this?"

Her father, Roman's words brought Carrie's twirl to a stop and Sami used the opportunity to get a cup of water, for the man had just come back in from the fields, while discreetly wiping the tears which burned at the back of her eyes. By the time she turned around she was more composed.

"Something I bought for Carrie. Once she is seen in this…"

Her father harrumphed, and Sami almost smiled as he spoke, "A man doesn't need a woman in a pretty dress to realize her worth. If he's fixing to marry her, he will."

"You hush. She will be the envy of all the girls in town."

"And what of the November festival? Tell me you didn't spend all our money. We save a little extra each year for that."

"Oh, we spend too much every year on that stupid festival anyway." It wasn't about the festival and everyone knew it. Samantha's birthday fell around that same time and her father always got her something special. She saw his jaw tighten as he sent an apologetic glance her way. And yet he said nothing more.

It was why she had decided to wait no longer. She was ten and nine, a girl grown, past the age where some girls got married. Carrie was sure Austin Reed would offer for her this year and Sami knew that meant her mother would be fixing to marry her off once that was done. She was never going to survive if her only options were Austin's younger brother and the preacher's son who clearly hadn't learned what the Good Book said if the rumors of the way he took the town's girls into the forest were true.

It was why she had sneakily pulled down a notice on a trip to the postal office with her father.

Matrimonial News! Any ladies wishing to marry, please send age and description. We will introduce you to men from the vibrant robust town of LARAMIE where men are eager to meet ladies of good Christian values with a view to marry.

An address was listed below and Sami, maybe having something of an inkling from God had sent her name with a description. She was of a view to marry, if only to escape a life where she was always treated as second best and an afterthought.

It wasn't but a few days until she heard a response and now, she had a ticket waiting for her to be collected at the train station in two weeks. Which meant she just needed to survive her sister and her mother for two more weeks.