The Proxy Brides

A dying wife of three children places an ad in The Matrimonial News to find her replacement. Eliza Hartzell’s letter stood out from all the others as she already had experience with children, was a Christian as well as a midwife. On her deathbed, her last wish was that her husband, Wolfgang, agree to treat this woman with kindness, if not love. Unusual circumstances cause the marriage to be performed by proxy, and when the couple finally meet, Wolf still holds his first wife in his heart, and Eliza backs away from any form of physical affection.

Fighting to keep the remnant of her family alive, Mara Peterson eschews the company of most of her neighbors in the small logging town of Widow’s Ridge. Instead, she prefers the safety and security of the trading post her grandfather established long before the big woods of Wisconsin were felled. But when she is pressed to marry for the sake of the Whistler family legacy, Mara accepts an unconventional solution to the problem—and finds herself knee-deep in enemy territory trying to avoid bounty hunters and government agents.

Rosella Tihold and her family spent years as travelling musicians with Hammerman’s Cultural Musicale. But when her brother is injured at Gettysburg, the young singer’s priorities shift, and the lure of a place to call home settles in Rosella’s heart. Longing for stability, Gier Knudsen risks everything when he sends for a mail-order bride. But the secret he is hiding will certainly be a detriment to his well-laid plans. So he requests that the marriage be performed by proxy, in hopes that by the time the truth is known, the new Mrs. Knudsen will give him a chance.

Loretta is a daddy’s girl who loves hunting, fishing, and horseback riding. Unfortunately, she’s also spoiled and easily frustrated. When tragedy strikes, everything she’s depended on is instantly gone, and her only hope of survival is on the frontier in Montana. Loretta doesn’t hide her anger at the calamity that destroyed her life, pinning the blame on her last living family member.