Billionaire Flawed 1(121)

It made Lilly’s heart grow jealous. She looked at Angelica, whose beauty showed bright even in her grief. Her features were like the perfect doll’s, her dark brown hair braided down her back with ringlets surrounding her face, her eyes a deep blueish brown. She was so beautiful.

She herself was not bad to look at. But where were the men in their lives to give them to fulfillment these ladies had? They seemed so happy, on top of the world. There was probably nothing wrong in their lives at all. They had everything they wanted.

Lilly frowned. She didn’t want to be jealous of what other people had. It was a sin. It was one of the Ten Commandments not to covet what other people had.

But she did anyway. She couldn’t help it. She wanted to be married and have a family.

We could travel. She thought suddenly and wondered if it would be a possibility. There were no immediate chances of either of them getting married in the near future, not that she could see. There were no men in their lives at this time.

However, if they were to travel, there would be less chance to establish some kind of relationship with a man and settle down.

Her confusion made her even angrier. She didn’t realize she was gripping Angelica’s hand so tightly until her friend began to pull them away.

“Lilly, you’re hurting me,” Angelica mumbled.

Lilly released her hands, apologizing. “I’m so sorry, dear. I was just thinking.”

“Si, I could tell.”

Lilly’s ears were drawn to the conversation the women were having, and she pretended she was straightening her skirt while she listened.

“She went all the way to Nevada. And Joe says there’s another one in the newspaper today.”

“What would make a woman want to do that?”

“Joe says there are a lot more women here than there are there. So the chances of finding a husband here are a lot less.”

“I’m glad I’ve got Mark. I wouldn’t want to travel all the way across the country just to find a husband.”

“I think we got lucky. The way Joe says it, there’s so many people migrating from the other countries and just placing themselves here and in North Carolina and New York, there’s just too many of them.”

“I don’t mind that. My parents came from Britain. I think it’s beautiful here. I’m glad people are coming here for a new life.”

“I know. I don’t really mind either. But Joe says that’s why people need to go across the country so that there will be a good mix everywhere. Right now, it’s as if everyone is living here in the East and only men are in the West.”

“Only men? That’s not possible.”

“I don’t mean it quite like that. Not literally. There’s just many more of them than women there.”

“So men advertise for them to come to the West and marry them?” The woman shook her head. “I don’t think I could do it.”

“There are plenty who will.”

There certainly is. Lilly thought.





Chapter Two

Adam sat in the pew listening to Reverend Stoop. The sermon was about salvation and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Adam had heard a very similar sermon recently, here in this same church, from the same pastor.

But he didn’t mind and neither apparently did any of the other members of the small church. They knew that the Reverend often recycled his sermon topics and would forget that he had just used one very recently. He had been here preaching for the last thirty years.

Adam had known the Reverend since he first stepped foot in the church 17 years ago. He was like a second father to Adam, whose own father was living back in the East in the upper parts of New York with his mother and younger sister.

From the start, Adam had not liked the cold weather of New York. He had decided at a young age that he would travel to the West to see what he could make of himself on his own. At the tender age of 17, he’d done just that. It had taken him almost a year to get to his destination but once there, he began working at a farm and eventually took over the farm when his boss died, leaving it to him.

He enjoyed working the farm though the hours were long and things constantly needed to be done. There were tasks from the break of day to sunset and beyond. He hired a farmhand to help him with it, giving him room and board but the work seemed to be overloading him more every day. He was becoming lonely and wanted a change.

In fact, he was itching to make a change. He’d heard from a friend at the saloon that some of the men in farms nearby had been advertising for brides in newspapers in the East. He’d been praying on that and rolling it around in his mind for some time now.

When the service was over, he approached Reverend Stoop with the intention of getting the man’s advice. The Reverend had been married to the same woman for about thirty years, so he had to know something about it. Adam was nervous about the prospect of bringing a woman into his life when he had been a bachelor for so long. What if they weren’t compatible? What if she was not a Christian and they were unequally yoked?