The Judge's Bride — Patricia PacJac Carroll

Rachel held the letter in her hand as she watched the banker come up the lane. He was taking the farm. Wasn't it enough she'd been widowed 2 years ago. Worse, good meaning townspeople wanted her to disperse her ten children to families who needed them. She had to keep her family together. The letter from the judge in Montana. Her only hope of keeping her family together was to go west to Montana as a mail order bride.
Judge Solomon Taggart groaned at having to referee a dispute between the two feuding families. That even their children were at each other made him doubt the wisdom of sending that letter to the widow in Minnesota. She had children. She didn't say how many, and he hadn't asked. He grabbed his rifle and swung up in the saddle, praying there'd be no bloodshed. And then he prayed he'd been wise to send that letter.