Short Straw Bride

By: Dallas Schulze

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

One of them was going to have to get married.

The McLain brothers agreed on that much. Running the Bar-M-Bar ranch took just about every minute of the day – from can see to can’t see. They didn’t have time for beating dust out of carpets and chasing cobwebs from the ceiling. They’d tried hiring a housekeeper but that hadn’t worked out so well and, two housekeepers later, neither of them was enthused about trying to find housekeeper number three.

Besides, there was more to consider than just dirty floors and greasy kitchens. Though they were still in the prime of life, it wasn’t too soon to start planning for the future. One of these days, it would be time to hand the ranch over to the next generation, the way their father had handed it down to them – strong sons to follow in their footsteps and maybe even a sweet daughter or two.

There was no getting around it, one of them was going to have to get married.

When Luke McLain drew the short straw, he set about finding himself the perfect wife – a gentle girl who would understand that ranching was hard work and wouldn’t expect a long courtship or a husband who had time to dance attendance on her once they were married.
It didn’t seem like too much to ask and when he met Eleanor Williams after church one Sunday, he thought she’d do just fine. But he was in for a surprise when he found that the practical Eleanor had a mind of her own—and other ideas about marriage!