A Mail Order Bride for the Fur Trader: Joy & Henry (Love by Mail #3)(11)

“I’ll do my best. We’ll have to close the shop early today though. I need to get some stuff for tomorrow.”

Joy nodded and Henry gave her a tour of the backroom; the records went here, the new stock went there, tools needed to be stored in this or that way. She seemed eager enough to do the work.

He wiped his brow again. He’ll just quickly do his part, track the bandits, and leave the other men to the fighting. He’ll be back at the shop in a jiffy. It was just a fur trading post, newly open one at that. Surely, the curious neighbors already came round and there wouldn’t be many real customers for weeks until the news of his store spread wider. And Joy knew a thing or two about furs. Henry smiled. She could do it. There was no cause for worry.





Chapter 5


“I can’t thank you enough for helping me out, Hannah.” Joy smiled at the other woman as they unlocked the last of the doors. Elias dropped the keys earlier and left Joy and Hannah to deal with the store as he hurried to work.

“No problem.”

They entered the shop, and Hannah rushed to open the windows.

“I had to learn to manage a farm when I married Jeremiah. This can’t be much harder.” She laughed over the sound of opening shutters.

“But this is different.” Joy panicked. “I’m sure you had more time, and someone to teach you? I have absolutely no idea how to manage a shop!”

Joy’d never admit that to Henry, but now with just Hannah around her nerves were getting the better of her. Hannah turned around and brushed the furs with her fingers. It was hard not to touch them, Joy thought, she also sunk her hand into the soft fur every time she passed by.

“Don’t worry, you’ll do fine.” Hannah said. “Did Henry tell you what to do?”

Joy nodded. “Well I watched him earlier, I even helped out a bit, and he showed me where thing were yesterday. But… he didn’t really leave a proper guide.”

“Well don’t over think it, Joy.” Hannah looked right at her with a smile. “Since there are no customers yet, what do you think this place needs?”

Joy looked around and heaved a sigh. “Needs? Well some dusting for sure.”

“There you go, let’s get on it then.” Hannah grabbed a brush and began working on the hides nearest the door. Joy dug out a broom abandoned in the furthest corner of the store and began sweeping. The place was still dark and plain, but soon it looked and smelled cleaner.

A middle-aged woman came in just as they were moving the empty crates to form a display area.

“Morning ladies. You’ve got some beautiful furs here,” she said, looking around.

Joy dusted off her dress. It was a good thing she put perfumed mineral oil in her hair that day. She looked at Hannah looking for some reassurance, but her new friend was still cleaning the hides.

“Yes, we do,” Joy said. “Are you looking for something specific?”

The woman nodded. She adjusted her feather hat and took off her gloves to touch the fur. “Yes, I’d like some fur for a coat. And hats, too.”

“I recommend beaver fur for the hats if they’re to be used in colder places,” Joy said.

The woman’s brows jumped. “You know hats?”

“I know fur.”

The woman mirrored Joy’s smile. “Well, how much is a pelt?”

Joy froze. She’d forgotten to ask Henry. He didn’t have tags on the furs themselves. Was there a ledger somewhere?

“Uh, I think... Let me check. One moment please.” She went over to the table with the till and went through the drawers. Her hands started shaking when she opened the third notebook full of random scrawl in not the most legible of handwritings. She reached for a smaller book and breathed a sigh of relief. There it was – not an exact list, but at least as long as she matched the right animal to the fur she could figure out an estimate price.

Joy smiled and went back to the older woman with a number.

“That sounds marvelous.” The lady clapped her hands. Should she have said more? “I’ll take those three, and the lovely rabbit pelts over there.”

Joy followed her first client as the woman picked up all sorts of items. She did her best to answer any questions. The woman ended up buying a lot more than Joy had expected. To the point where Joy wondered how the lady was going to carry it all. But in the end the woman just handed Joy a note and said someone would pick up the goods later.

“See, that went well.” Hannah squeezed Joy in a hug as soon as the customer left. “You’re really good at this.”

Joy blushed. “Maybe you’re right. I think I might be able to pull it off.”

By late afternoon, Joy had had three more customers come in. Claire brought lunch and stayed at the shop with Joy while Hannah went home to take care of her own family. They were all so nice to her. In the evening Hannah came back to help her close the shop.

Looking around the store, Joy folded her sleeves over her elbows. Her first day had gone well. Why not make the place look more appealing, too? After the excitement of the day, her mind was spinning with ideas.

“Are you still going to clean?” Hannah asked.

Joy shook her head. “We’ll do more than that. We’ll bring life to this place.” She took the broom. “Time to work some magic.”