by Liz Isaacson
“I’ll get those sourdough rolls from Wilde & Organic too,” he said. “Butter, jam, honey….” He let his voice hang there. “And punch. We’ll be set, right?”
“Right.” Liam sat down at the counter. “Now dish me up a whole bowl of that and start talking about Whitney.”
“You’re a bit of a bully, you know that?” Jeremiah glared at him. “What if I don’t want to talk about Whitney?”
Liam chuckled, because out of the twins, he knew he was the bossiest. “Oh, you do.”
Jeremiah grumbled something under his breath as he ladled stew into bowls. When he was seated next to Liam, he said, “We’re going out.”
Liam flinched and coughed, his stew bowl skidding a few inches across the counter. “Again, no warning. Come on, man.”
Jeremiah started laughing, and it might have been the first time that Liam had heard any happiness in his brother’s tone. “Sorry. She actually asked me out, and I confirmed.”
“Wow. On New Year’s Eve?”
Jeremiah nodded and stirred his stew. “And I—oh, this part is a secret.”
“Really?”
“Really, really,” he said, filling his mouth with stew after that. Liam did the same, because Jeremiah had already told him a lot already.
He swallowed and asked, “So…do you think you’re ready to be dating again?”
“I guess we’ll see,” Jeremiah said. He kept his head down, but Liam still saw the flush as it crawled up his neck. “I held her hand on New Year’s Eve too. It felt…good. Nice.”
“Good,” Liam mimicked, teasing his brother. “Nice.”
“Yeah,” Jeremiah said, smiling. “Like, I just need a human connection.” He shrugged. “I hope I don’t screw everything up.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because,” he said, and nothing more. Liam thought he knew what he meant, because he’d been praying he wouldn’t mess everything up between him and Callie by becoming her husband.
Help us both, he thought as he took another bite of stew. Surely the Lord could do that, couldn’t he?
Liam sure hoped so, because he was getting married in less than forty-eight hours, and he didn’t know how to back out now.
Chapter Sixteen
“Andy said it would lay like that,” Evelyn said, swatting Callie’s hand away from her waist. “Leave it alone.”
“I don’t like it,” Callie said. She’d enjoyed shopping with her sisters, and they’d found a long, lacy dress at Andy’s boutique. She liked the woman, and her cowboy husband had been there too. Watching her and Lawrence interact had been cleansing for Callie, and she’d recommitted herself to going through with this wedding.
And now the day was here.
But she didn’t like the dress now. It felt more yellow than off-white, and that stupid pleat on her waist had added another ten pounds where Callie certainly didn’t need it.
Friday’s shopping with her sisters had been fun, but exhausting. Not only did she buy her wedding dress, but a swimming suit. And every woman needed a dark room and utter silence to recover from bathing suit shopping.
Or maybe that was just Callie. No matter what, the spandex now sat in her suitcase, which she’d also had to buy. But, thanks to Liam’s transfers, Callie had money in her account for all of it. Guilt had eaten at her for most of the afternoon on Friday, and thankfully, Liam had been busy with hiring the cowboys for the ranch.
Which only added to her guilt.
But she said nothing, because she’s promised Liam she wouldn’t argue about what he chose to spend his money on. And she did need help around the ranch. With the holidays and then their honeymoon, Liam was sure to be behind on his work, and she knew he’d landed the largest contract in movie-making history.
She turned away from the mirror, tired of looking at the dress. Desperation filled her, and tears pricked her eyes.
“Why are you crying?” Evelyn asked, running a brush through a section of Callie’s hair and wrapping it around the curling rod.
“This isn’t…I’m getting married today.”
“And it’s not what you imagined it to be,” Evelyn said. “Is that it?” She wore a sharp look in her eye Callie didn’t like.
“Yes,” Callie said.
“Remember how I got dressed in a locker room?” Evelyn asked, not looking at her. Instead, she stared somewhere over Callie’s head. “And then got married without Daddy and Gran there, without even Simone. Remember that?”
Foolishness hit Callie, but she nodded miserably anyway. “I’m sorry, Evelyn.”
“This might not be the wedding you want,” Evelyn said. “But it’s the one you’re getting, and at least your whole family and his whole family are here.” She released the curl and she seemed satisfied with it, because she moved on to another section of hair. “And Callie, that man is in love with you.”
“Stop it,” Callie said, though Liam’s own words from New Year’s Eve rang through her mind, her heart, her soul.
“Whether he’s said it or not, I don’t know,” Evelyn said like she was suddenly the oldest sister. “But I can see it.”
“She has freaky pregnant-lady vision,” Simone said, turning from the counter where she’d been wrapping Callie’s bouquet. “So just listen to her.”
“She’s not wrong,” Evelyn said, releasing another curl. “And if she plays her cards right, she could have the last name of Walker too.”
“What?” Callie asked, practically kinking her neck to look at Evelyn. Simone was a much easier target, so she looked there. “What’s she talking about?”
“Oh, Evelyn has some crazy idea that Micah Walker likes me.” Simone rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I’ve said maybe five words to the man.”
“He does,” Evelyn insisted. “And if you listen to me, you could have yourself a cowboy billionaire brother too.”
“Fine,” Simone said. “Let’s say I believe you—which I don’t. Not really. What would Evelyn-the-matchmaker do to set us up?”
“Oh, now you just want to use my keen eye.”
Simone giggled and shrugged, pressing another piece of green floral tape around the stems. “If I can’t, who can?”
“She has a point,” Callie said.
“I just want the record to show that I could see things like this before I got pregnant,” Evelyn said.
Callie rolled her eyes. “What record, Evvy?”
“Just say it.” Her sister laughed as she wrapped another piece of hair. She’d moved behind Callie, and she couldn’t see her.
“Fine,” Callie said. “Let the record show that Evelyn has always known who to set us up with, even before she got pregnant.” Of course, her sister’s business had failed, though she had had several good years.
“Thank you,” Evelyn said, an air of importance about her words. “And I can’t really tell you what to do right now. I need some time to think about it.”
Callie burst out laughing, but she caught sight of Simone’s face. She and Evelyn were clearly having a silent conversation without her. She silenced her laughter and asked, “What’s going on?”
“What? Nothing.” Evelyn pulled on her hair a bit harder. “Stop moving so much. I’m going to have to re-do this whole thing.”
Callie held still, because she didn’t want that. If it were up to her, she’d pile her hair on top of her head and call it good. But Evelyn had said it was her wedding day, and she might not get another one.
The words had stung Callie, because she was sure her sister was right. She wasn’t exactly young, and she didn’t have a whole lot to offer a man. Especially one like Liam, and his interest in her was as baffling as it was flattering.
She decided she didn’t care what her sisters were plotting. She and Liam would be married very soon, and then Callie was leaving the ranch. Leaving town. Leaving the state. She’d never fantasized about traveling much, but since Liam had mentioned Hawaii, her enthusiasm for the trip had grown and grown and grown.
; She did need a break from the Shining Star, and she couldn’t wait to live a day without the pressures of animal feedings and financial obligations hanging over her head. On the ranch, there was never enough time, energy, or money for what needed to be done. In Hawaii, she imagined it would be the complete opposite.
Liam had not given her any details about the trip, other than to “pack for the beach, sweetheart,” and “don’t forget to bring your ID. You can’t fly without it.”
Good tips, as Callie had never flown before. Her stomach bubbled just thinking about it, and she almost felt like a small child anticipating Christmas Day. Knowing Liam, everything would be high-end, catered, or plated in gold.
And Callie didn’t completely hate that. He knew how to pamper a woman, and she could admit that it had been far too long since someone had taken care of her. No, she was the one who took care of everyone else, starting at age nine, when her mother had died. She’d learned to do laundry under her grandmother’s hand, and she’d learned to feed horses from her grandfather. She started making dinner for the family when she was eleven, and she felt like the glue that had kept everyone together though she was suffering too.
She never let it show, and the emotion she felt over her mother’s death felt suffocating. Out of the three girls, she remembered their mother the best, and it felt like a very great tragedy that Mama wasn’t here today to see Callie get married.
Even if it wasn’t entirely real.
“Okay,” Evelyn said a few minutes later. “You’re ready. Stand up and let’s see.”
Callie did what her sister wanted, and she faced Evelyn and Simone. Evelyn’s chin wobbled as she started to weep. “It’s just the hormones,” she said in a teary voice. She gathered Callie into a hug and held her tight. “I love you so much.”
Callie’s first instinct was to apologize for putting them in this situation in the first place. If she’d have been honest with her sisters—she curbed the thoughts before they could derail her. Again.
She couldn’t go back and change the past. All she could do was move forward. One step at a time, she thought.
Simone made their hug a three-way affair, and Callie thought her heart would burst. “I love you guys,” she said, holding back the tears. She’d already spent too long on her makeup, and she didn’t want to redo it. “Are you sure—?”
“Yes,” Simone said before Callie could even finish the question. “You’ve already been through this. You’ve prayed about it and gotten your answer. Don’t doubt it now.”
Simone had always been the steady one in terms of her faith. Callie felt whipped all over, from one side of a rushing river to another. She’d tried holding onto the anchor of what she believed, but it was slippery, and she constantly felt like she was about to be thrown off. Cast aside, with the wrath of God about to be rained down upon her.
She nodded anyway, deciding that for this one day, she could use some of Simone’s faith that this marriage was the right thing to do.
Drawing in a deep breath, she accepted the bouquet from her sister. “All right,” she said. “What’s next?”
“You stay here and relax,” Evelyn said. “We’ll go see how setup is coming. Do not let Liam in. I’ve already overheard him and Rhett talking about how he wants to see you before the wedding.”
Callie wanted to see him too. She needed his reassurance that he wanted to marry her. That he wasn’t just doing this out of pity. But she just nodded and watched her sisters leave the room. Callie had often retreated to her bedroom when things around the ranch had seemed dire. The walls of this room, though large, had often felt like fences she couldn’t get past. They were no different now, and Callie paced out of the bathroom and into her bedroom.
The next person who knocked on the door definitely wasn’t Liam, nor was it Evelyn or Simone. Callie moved toward it, asking, “Who is it?”
“It’s Daddy, baby. Open up.”
Callie fumbled with the lock but managed to get the door open. “Daddy.” She practically fell into her father’s arms, already trembling.
“It’s time, honey-bug,” he said, reverting to her childhood nickname. It was actually one Mama had given her, and Callie pulled in a tight breath.
“Help me with my necklace,” Callie said, moving over to her dresser and picking up the piece she’d made. “It’s lace from Mama’s dress.” She showed it to her father, who took the necklace as if it were made of smoke and might disappear under his touch.
“Would you look at that,” her dad said, a smile on his face. “That’s beautiful. Your mother would’ve been so proud of you.”
Callie wished she could tell her father the truth. That since the moment Grandpa had died and her dad had retired, Callie had failed. And without this marriage and without Liam, the bank would’ve taken the ranch already.
So she wouldn’t blurt out the horrible truth and crush her father’s spirit, Callie turned around so he could put the necklace on for her. He looped it around her neck and his hands shook as he worked the clasp.
“Got it,” he said a few seconds later, and Callie turned into his arms.
“Love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too, sugar,” he said. “Now, Evelyn’s probably going to lecture me about taking too long.” He gave Callie a knowing smile that said he didn’t mind if Evelyn lectured him. He cocked his arm toward her. “Ready?”
Callie was absolutely not ready, but she laced her hand through her father’s arm and said, “Yes,” anyway.
For the ranch, she told herself as she left the safety and security of her bedroom. But with every step she took, her thoughts started to center on Liam.
She liked Liam. She liked him a whole lot. He liked her. They got along great—when they weren’t arguing about money. Since she’d quit doing that, every moment with him had been fun and memorable.
Maybe she really did just need to open her mind and heart to him in order to be happy with him.
Her father opened the back door, and they stepped onto the deck. The wood got scraped as cowboy boots found their footing and chairs got moved slightly as people stood. Callie scanned everyone, and sure enough, it was just her family and Liam’s. No other friends from town.
She focused on the handsome, kind, hardworking, wonderful man waiting for her at the altar, and suddenly Callie’s fears vanished.
Chapter Seventeen
Liam couldn’t believe the woman walking toward him was his. Or about to be, at least legally.
She was in many other ways too, and Liam needed to tell her how he really felt. He’d been back and forth about it for the past couple of days, but he didn’t want to say or do anything that would scare her away.
And getting married was scary enough for Callie. And then leaving her ranch. The state of Texas. Getting on an airplane. Maybe he’d save the “I love you’s” for Hawaii.
Her father stepped next to him and said, “You’re a lucky man, Mister Walker,” a smile plastered all over his face.
“Thank you, sir,” he said, taking Callie’s hand as her dad passed her to him. “I sure am.” He pressed a kiss to Callie’s forehead, feeling calmer than he had all day.
They faced Skyler, who beamed back at Liam with so much joy coming from him. “Well, you two,” he drawled in a fake Texas accent. “You finally made it here.”
“Oh, boy,” Liam muttered under his breath at the same time a brother behind him scoffed. Laughed. Sucked in a breath. Liam knew it was Tripp, and sure enough, his twin appeared at the altar too, right between him and Callie.
“Sky,” he said in a stage whisper. “No theatrics. This is serious, man.”
“Sit down,” Rhett said, joining them and tugging on Tripp’s arm.
“You guys can’t go anywhere without adult supervision,” Jeremiah said, and Liam looked helplessly at nearly his entire family standing at the altar with him.
“Would you guys stop?” he hissed. “You’re ruining this.”
Callie giggled, quickly covering her m
outh. Her eyes widened, and they flew to Liam’s. “Sorry, I—” She laughed, her nose crinkling up so cute and the happiness he wanted for her pouring from her.
“I’m uninviting all y’all,” Liam said, sounding a lot more upset than he actually was. “Everyone better dang well sit down right now.” He let the threat hang there, and thankfully, all of his brothers sat down. Except for Skyler, who gave Liam an apologetic smile.
“We’re gathered here today for the union of Liam Ronald Walker and Callie Hart Foster.”
Liam’s middle name wasn’t Ronald, but he wasn’t going to stop his brother. Let Skyler have his fun. Whatever. He just wanted to get to the I-do’s.
“Love is a beautiful thing,” Skyler said, and someone behind Liam made another noise. Liam ignored whoever it was and glared at Skyler, who finally got the message. “Do you, Callie Foster, taken Liam Walker to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to cherish forever?”
Liam looked at Callie, every muscle in his body so dang tight. What if she said no? What a disaster that would be. He saw everything he’d done over the course of the last ten days flash before his eyes. He couldn’t even imagine the number of phone calls it would take to undo the work he had arranged to be done at the homestead.
“I do,” Callie said, the words ringing in Liam’s ears. He grinned, the relief inside him strong.
“And do you, Liam Walker, take Callie Foster to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do,” he said.
“By the power vested in me by the mighty state of Texas—” Another chuckle from behind Liam, and he was pretty sure that was Wyatt—“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You can kiss ‘er now, Liam.”
That last bit was a bit untraditional, but Liam supposed everything they were doing didn’t really fit in a mold, from the snickering to the bickering at the altar.
He looked at Callie, and everyone else just fell away. “I love you,” he murmured, the feeling burning through him so strongly he couldn’t deny it. He pressed his lips to hers before she could say anything, but he caught the flash of surprise in her eyes.