This book came out 1980-2000 The story starts out in a town (1880s maybe) where the orphan train has stopped. There are two brothers the oldest is named Jamie (I think). The younger brother doesn’t speak so a couple wants to adopt Jamie but not the younger brother. The brothers don’t want to be separated so they run away. There is a man who was injured and has a messed up knee. He can walk with his special brace, but doesn’t. He is in a wheelchair. During a thunderstorm he hears screaming and thinks that he is finally losing it. He finds the boys hiding under the table on his front porch. He brings them in and feeds them and lets them spend the night. The man has a friend, Max or Mack (I think) that comes over to help him. He goes into town and finds out about the boys. The orphan train woman is going house to house looking for the boys. When she gets to the man’s house the boys hide and the man tells her that she is an awful person to separate two brothers and said he would adopt them himself if he could. She laughs at him and tells him that there is no way he could adopt. He gets mad because he thinks it is because he is in a wheelchair. She tells him it is because his house is a mess and his land is a mess and basically his whole life is a mess. The oldest boy asks the man if he was serious about adopting them. So the boys and the friend help the man clean up his life. The lady comes back to his house and sees the boys working out in the hot sun and gets mad. Short version: He goes to adopt the boy and since he is a single man she can tell that they won’t let him so she pretends to be his bride to be. They do get married and the boys’ mother shows up to claim them, but she is after something, (don’t remember what) but of course it all turns out in the end with the man and woman as the boy’s parents and the friend as the grandpa and the little boy starts to speak at the end.
SHE NEEDED A HUSBANDAnna Thomas loved riding the Orphan Train and finding decent families for her charges. But when a Texas judge tried to separate two young brothers, the dedicated beauty went beyond the call of duty. She proposed to handsome, blue-eyed Mark Gates, planning to adopt the boys herself! Although Anna told herself the marriage would only be a charade, soon sh SHE NEEDED A HUSBANDAnna Thomas loved riding the Orphan Train and finding decent families for her charges. But when a Texas judge tried to separate two young brothers, the dedicated beauty went beyond the call of duty. She proposed to handsome, blue-eyed Mark Gates, planning to adopt the boys herself! Although Anna told herself the marriage would only be a charade, soon she dreamed of being a wife in more than name. She ached to lie in her husband's strong embrace, yearned to know the heat of his most intimate caress, and longed to sample a taste of wedded bliss!HE WANTED A LOVERMark was astounded when Anna told him her plan. Sure, he wanted to give the boys a home, but he'd never bargained on wedding bells! Then he took a closer look at his businesslike bride-to-be and the deal began to look sweeter and sweeter. He imagined her dark hair cascading over his pillow as she lay in his bed, her emerald eyes shimmering with desire as he stroked her silken flesh, and knew that he would make her his in every way, and savor a lifetime of loving with his WILD WESTERN BRIDE ...more