The Mine Owner's Rescue

     To get away from her parents’ pressure to accept marriage to a lecher, Abigail Belcher begins corresponding with prospective husbands living far from Columbus, Ohio. Once her parents threaten a course of action to force her to comply—one her best friend earlier warned could happen—she knows she must act fast. Theodore Reynolds seemed nice enough but a miner who lives in an isolated camp that is miles from the nearest town of any size? After other men end their correspondences, he is not only her first choice but her last hope. With her great aunt's encouragement, she follows a bold course of action. She prays she will find a way to be happy—and not leave him regretting having her as his wife.
     After years of hard work surveying and prospecting, Ted Reynolds finally built up enough capital to develop his hard rock mine, the GoldRey, near Turnback Creek in Tuolumne County’s East Gold Belt country. It has made him a rich man. Although his is only one of many quartz mines, one thing about the region has not changed—a shortage of suitable women from which to select a wife. He just hopes the woman from Columbus, Ohio, he chose from the Matrimonial Gazette can adapt to the still wild and tumble ways of gold country. A bigger concern? Why the rush to join him? Hoping to avoid a female gold digger of the kind often found at the local brothels, he deliberately understated his occupation. Did she find out he is worth more financially than he let on? Is she running from something, or up to no good? Hopefully, when it comes to his new wife, his good fortune will hold.