Cade's Thanksgiving By: Cia Leah Star Rating: Sensuality Rating:

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Synopsis

Cade Lawson lost his wife and was left alone to raise twin baby boys. In spite of him being the marshal, none of the young ladies in town are interested in marrying into a ready-made family. Lonely and knowing that his boys need a mother, he writes away for a mail-order bride, but doesn't expect the beautiful young woman who meets him at the train station and jumps right in to take charge of his fussy babies.

Being the oldest girl in a large family, Maggie O'Malley is very experienced in childcare and homemaking. She's wants nothing more than to be a wife and mother, so she agrees to be Cade's mail-order bride. She just didn't expect such a handsome and caring man. Looks like they both have lots to be thankful for this holiday season.

Review

Cade's Thanksgiving is a simple, heartwarming short story about a mail-order bride and her would-be groom who find much to be thankful for during the holiday season. There isn't really any conflict to speak of. Cade and Maggie hit it off from the moment they meet at the train station and pretty much dote on each other from there. Having grown up as the oldest girl in a large family, Maggie is perfectly equipped with the skills to care for Cade and his twin boys. Cade is a perfect gentleman, a caring father, and a loving husband who works as the town marshal.

There was very little in the way of getting to know you or falling in love moments. It seems all that was taken care of through their letters to one another before Maggie agreed to marry Cade. It might have been nice have a little longer story, so that the reader could see how they came to care for one other. I also found what appeared to be a continuity error. The author mentions that it took Cade two years to get over his first wife's death, but while his twins exact ages aren't given, they are never referred to as anything but babies and their behavior suggests infants under a year old. The writing itself could have been smoother as well. For such a short story, I found a number of awkwardly worded sentences, and more contractions were needed in dialog to give it a natural flow. Without them, there were several lines which were a contradiction between a proper aristocratic dialect and a western cowboy dialect. In spite of it's weaknesses though, Cade's Thanksgiving was a sweet story that tugs at the heartstrings and not a bad way to spend a little of my reading time this Thanksgiving.

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Themes

Babies & Children
Men in Uniform - Law Enforcement