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Cheryl Wright Author
Category:
Historical Fiction
Type: Fiction
Pages: 73
Copyright: February 14, 2019
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Phoebe Jackson lives to dance. Beautiful and talented, she fails to realize the danger she is in until it’s almost too late. Her only option – become a mail order bride.
Mercantile owner, Edward Horvard, is lonely and needs help in his store. In a town devoid of eligible women, a mail order bride is his only option.
Can these two people from entirely different worlds make a loveless marriage work? Or are they both doomed to living a lie?
Author's Promise: This is a heartwarming romance novella with a happily ever after ending and no cliffhangers. It is a clean and wholesome story with nothing more than hugs, kisses, and holding hands.
Excerpt
Westlake, Wyoming – 1880
Phoebe Jackson stared at her reflection in the mirror.
Her face was caked in make up. She wore heavy make up, and her cheeks were powered with rouge. Her lips a dark red.
Her hair had been carefully styled to match that of all the other young women in the burlesque show.
Phoebe fingered the skimpy outfit she was wearing. With the distance they were from the stage, the audience couldn’t see how worn and ragged the costumes were. They couldn’t see the missing sequins, or the tiny tears.
The chunky shoes weren’t much better, with their jagged edges and frayed ribbon.
But Phoebe didn’t care.
She held her hands to her heart as it beat wildly. This would be her first professional performance – she’d worked long and hard to get to this point.
Her dear parents would be so proud of her. They would have attended the performance, indulged her ego, shared in her joy.
Instead, it was just her. She would pretend they were here, in the audience. She was certain they’d be smiling down on her, so proud of all she’d achieved in her short life despite all the adversity she’d faced.
At just twenty, she’d been chosen to perform – out of the 85 girls who auditioned, she was one of the chosen few. Only twelve girls made the final cut.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“It’s show time!” A teenage boy shouted at them through the door. Since all the girls were in various stages of undress, he was forbidden to enter the dressing room, but they all knew he peeked when he thought he could get away with it.
Screams of delight riddled the air. Excitement practically bounced off the walls.
It was time to prove she deserved the place she’d been granted in this most prestigious of burlesque shows.
* * *
“Come on girls, keep moving.” Mrs Mac, the choreographer, clapped her hands and scowled as they all ran toward the stage.
“Opening night.” She took a deep breath. “It must be perfect – all the critics will be here. They will make or break us.”
Phoebe chewed at her bottom lip. She didn’t want to be the cause of their demise.
“Smile Phoebe,” Mrs Mac said as the girl got closer. “You will be brilliant.” She leaned closer and whispered in Phoebe’s ear so the others couldn’t hear. “You are one of our best dancers. You have nothing to worry about.”
Phoebe’s eyes sparkled, and a big smile lit up her face.
As they took their places on the stage, her heart beat rapidly, and she felt faint. You’ll be alright, she told herself over and over.
Some of the girls stood still in their places offstage while others stretched and warmed up.
They all watched the stage manager at the side of the stage, as he counted down on his fingers. One. Two. Three.
Phoebe took a calming breath as the curtain rose for the first time.
* * *
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