“Maybe,” I say with a sigh, looking around at all the happy couples in the room. “I just wish I could skip all the dating nonsense and go straight to being married.”
Scarlett nods, a sad smile on her face. “Well, if you figure out how to do that, you let me know.”
Later on that night after we’re home from Tipsy’s, I decide to take a look at what apps and websites are out there. Maybe there is something for someone like me, someone who wants a person to get to know them first before doing any kind of photo reveal. Why are love letters not a thing anymore? Though, I’m not exactly confident in my abilities to woo a woman just with my words anyway. Maybe I could borrow some of the romance books Scarlett and Georgie are always reading to get some ideas.
After about half an hour of research, I’m about ready to give up when I come across what just might be the answer to my problem.Modern Mail Order Brides, the link reads. I click on it and scroll around for a while to see just what this thing is all about. Apparently, mail order brides aren’t just a thing of the past, and this company has hundreds of glowing reviews and even has a rating from the business bureau.
After making sure that this thing is legit, I go to their testimonials and read up on the process. It seems that I can apply, see if anyone wants to match, and message for two weeks before meeting in person for one and deciding on whether or not you want to marry. That seems fast, but wasn’t I just saying I wanted to skip to the good part? This would allow me that.
I’m still not one hundred percent sold on the idea, but then I see the magic words: no pictures required. You will be properly vetted and background checked by the company, but whether or not you exchange pictures before meeting is up to you and your potential match.
Thinking I should probably sleep on it, I shut the screen of my laptop and set it aside, hoping to put the whole mail order bride business out of my mind until tomorrow. Deciding it’s time to get ready for bed, I hop up and pad over to the bathroom. I’m not even halfway there before I’m turning around and opening the computer again.
The thought of ending my lonely nights is too appealing to leave for one more day. I stay up a little later than I should getting all the information filled out, and I’m sure I’ll be hurting tomorrow from the lack of rest, but it’ll be worth it. When I do finally settle down for sleep, I look over at the empty side of the bed and smile. Maybe it won’t be empty much longer.
Chapter Two
~Violet~
The slow rhythmic chiming that signals the end of the yoga class sounds, so I lift myself out of corpse pose and bring my hands together in front of me. “That’s the end of our session today,” I tell the room filled with students of various ages and sizes. “May the peace and relaxation you achieved here follow you throughout the rest of your day. Namaste.” A chorus of ‘Namaste’ sounds back to me as I bow to my class and start gathering up my mat, strap, and block.
My muscles are nice and loose from the stretching we did in class as well as from the other three I taught today. Normally I would only teach the morning classes, but the evening teacher called in sick, so here I am. I may be a little sore tomorrow, but it was worth it to get to help these good people achieve a little bit of lightness in their bodies.
“Excuse me,” a voice sounds over my shoulder and I turn to see an older gentleman smiling over at me. “I just wanted to thank you for class this evening. Janet is great, but I reallyenjoyed the accommodations you were able to make for my sciatica.”
Smiling at the older man, I hike my gym bag over my shoulder and walk over to the side of the room to slip on my shoes. “You’re very welcome,” I tell him sincerely. “I’m glad that we were able to find a position that worked for you.” We walk together and I slip on my ballet flats before opening the door for the older gentleman. “I’m sure if you mention the new pose to Janet, she’ll work with you on it a little more.”
“I hope so. Have a good night, miss.”
“’Night,” I tell the man before I make my way out of the facility and over to my small, beat up sedan. After struggling to get the door open, I slip inside and take a nice deep breath. This is my least favorite part of the day. Going home to an empty apartment with nothing but my loneliness to keep me company.
As I drive through the pleasant suburb where the gym I teach at is located, I look at all the homes and can’t help but wish I had one for myself. A home filled with a husband who loves me and a few kids running around the yard. With a sigh, I steer away from the neighborhood of my dreams and into the rundown apartment complex of my reality.
At only twenty-six years old, I shouldn’t feel nearly as defeatist as I do in this moment, but I can’t help it. Usually I’m a look on the bright side of things type of person, but lately, it’s been hard to be optimistic about life when you’re living it all alone.
I have parents, but we don’t really talk anymore. They are the founders of a chain of health food stores on the West Coast,and as a bigger gal with curves on my curves and no desire to fit the skinny mold they wanted me to, I just didn’t have a place in their empire. Most of my childhood was spent on a diet or being told I needed to diet. I tried my hardest when I was younger and didn’t know any better, didn’t realize that I could love myself and my body exactly as it was, but my body always rebelled against starving itself (as it should), and I always ended up disappointing my parents.
The last straw for them seemed to be when I decided to get trained in yoga with a focus on inclusivity for all body types and ability levels. My parents said that I was part of the problem, contributing to the worlds declining health, so we parted ways. I left the door open for them, but so far it’s been almost five years and they haven’t taken me up on it, nor do I ever expect them to. All of that would be a lot easier to carry if I had a man to help share the burden, but no such luck.
It’s not as if I haven’t tried to find someone, I just haven’t had much success. You would think that living in St. Louis, a city of over two million people, I would be able to at least find one that would want to be with me for more than a night, yet here I am, single. I’ve been on some dates and even hooked up a few times, but most guys here aren’t looking for more than that and I’m ready to get married and start having babies as soon as possible.
If only there were a dating app for people like me, I lament to myself as I park and hop out of the car. The walk up to my studio apartment is a short one, and I step inside the small space, wishing there was someone there to greet me. I would even take a pet at this point, but I barely make enough to support myself let alone an animal.
Oh well, at least I have my yoga students during the day to keep me company, and at night, I have my movies. After heating up a frozen meal, for one of course, I head over to my sofa bed and click on the television. I flip through the channels for a few minutes before settling on the classic movie channel.
Something about the past calls to me, like I wish I could live in another time where apps and swiping didn’t exist, where people still wrote love letters and didn’t judge you before getting to know you. I smile at the thought as I tuck into my veggie bowl and settle in to watch an old romance. The movie sucks me in, and I lose myself in it for a while, only coming back to the present moment when the man on mentions wanting a mail order bride.Are those still a thing?I ask myself, setting aside my empty dish and picking up my laptop.
After a quick search, I find out they are still very much a thing with more than one site offering their services. “This is dumb,” I say to myself as I move the computer to the side, but as the movie goes on, I find I’m no longer paying attention to it, but to the idea that I could be married as soon as next month if I really wanted to.
My eyes move over to my laptop once more. “Investigating a little more couldn’t hurt.” The fact that I’m talking aloud to myself for the second time in five minutes proves my point, so I grab my computer and click on a few sites trying to find the most reputable looking one.
When I stumble uponModern Mail Order Brides,I get a good feeling and click through their site, reading testimonials and all about their vetting process and how the whole thing works. It’slegit, and before I can second guess myself, I start filling out the forms, ready to meet my future husband.
Maybe this will be the dumbest thing I have ever done, but the fact that it could all work out and I might have a family of my own soon keeps my fingers flying across the keyboard and hitting send. Now, all I have to is sit back and wait for them to find me a match, a start to the happily ever after I have always wanted.
***
I’m in the middle of trying a handstand when my phone dings with a new email alert. The excitement immediately blooms in my chest at the thought that I could have my match after only a couple of days, so much so that I fall out of my pose and land hard on my shoulder with an oof. “Worth it,” I say as I scramble over to my phone and see that I do indeed have an email from the mail order bride company.
