Texas Oilman’s Bride

New Mail Order Brides, Book 2

Texas has a longstanding reputation as a rough and tumble state. Texans have more pride in their heritage than any place I have ever been and I have visited forty-seven of the fifty states. The state fought for and won their independence from Mexico, then joined the union as a republic, with the privilege of being able to divide into as many as five other states. Nowhere is their reputation better illustrated than in the Texas Rangers. (The law enforcement agency, not the baseball team.)

The true story is told of a mayor of a Texas town asking the Rangers for assistance in quelling a riot. The mayor was aghast when the aid arrived in the person of a single Ranger. “They only sent one Ranger?” he asked. The Ranger replied, “One Ranger, One Riot”.

It is said Texas floats on a sea of oil. One of the most famous oil discoveries was Spindletop, 
January 10, 1901, at a depth of 1,139 ft (347 m), what is known as the Lucas Gusher or the Lucas Geyser blew oil over 150 feet (50 m) in the air at a rate of 100,000 barrels per day (16,000 m3/d) (4,200,000 gallons). It took nine days before the well was brought under control. Spindletop was the largest gusher the world had seen and catapulted Beaumont into an oil-fueled boomtown.

This story is set in Marshall and Beaumont, Texas. Marshall is slightly less than 200 miles from Beaumont. Oil was discovered in the area in 1930. For my story, I took the liberty of changing the date to 1901, in order to offer a sequel to my ebook, “The Widow Finds Love.”

This is the story of the Thomas family, originally cotton farmers, and how their life changed when oil is discovered. It is primarily based on Jonathon, Rebecca and Cassie Thomas, the children of the “yours, mine, and ours” blended family of Clint and Sarah Thomas.

In the story, Jonathon is the youngest of the siblings. He is a brilliant engineer, but is a loner. He doesn’t want to collaborate with anyone. He is upset when a new employee, Laura Ingram is assigned to work in Beaumont, with Jonathon as her mentor. Jonathon takes a desperate step to avoid working with her. His actions come back to haunt him when he falls in love with Laura, possibly destroying the budding love they have for each other.