Mercy House

Prequel to the Emigrant Train Bride Series

By: Becky Surdenik

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Sister Mary Francis spoke to the four young women under her care, “Each of you has been given a chance to change your life. It will be up to you to decide if what I am offering is something you are willing to do. You will have the opportunity to refuse this new life or to work together and become sisters in all ways in your new life.
“Those of you who choose to become part of this family will be starting your new lives in the wilderness far away from here, away from everything and everyone in your past. You will assume new identities. A homestead claim has been bought and paid for with a simple shelter.
You will need to support each other, work together, laugh together, and get to know each other, and you will all marry, some by proxy and some will agree to arranged marriages before you leave here. One of you has already agreed to be married by proxy to a widowed farmer with 2 young daughters, who will also reside on a quarter section of the homestead. He will offer protection and physical labor on your homestead.
Take the next little while and talk among yourselves. Decide if you are fully in and willing to commit to this or whether you simply cannot do this. It will take strength and determination to succeed, but with God’s help and that of your new sisters, it is something I believe will provide you with the best opportunity to have a good life.
If anyone decides to not to accept this opportunity, it must be understood that no one must know who the others in this room are.
Looking around the room they felt a kind of kinship with the other women knowing they were all in situations that would seal their fates and yet it didn’t quite feel so severe at least they would have each other.
Those who choose to go forward will truly become your sisters in your new life. You will need to understand each other’s needs, for this reason for the next two weeks those choosing to become sisters will spend every waking moment together and work to become a cohesive unit. Your very lives will depend on it. There is no turning back.