“Okay,” he said, sounded distracted.
“I love you.” She giggled, mostly because her nerves were screaming a warning at her. She turned in a circle, suddenly wanting the world to know. “I’m in love with you.”
A noise came through the line, and then utter silence.
“That’s all,” Ivy said, her voice little more than a squeak now. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Wait,” he barked as if she’d hang up immediately.
She waited.
“I love you, too.”
“Oh, Mase, you don’t have to say it just because I did.”
“I’m not,” he said. “I’m coming to you now.”
“You don’t need—”
“Ivy,” he said very calmly. “I need to look into your eyes and make sure you hear me.”
“I can hear you.”
“I don’t think you can. You’re at work already?”
“Yes.”
“See you in ten.” The line went dead, as if he expected her to continue to argue with him.
Ivy dropped her hand from her ear, the phone clutched tightly in her fingers.
I love you, too.
Was that true?
She sat down on the bench in front of the insurance office, thinking ten minutes would take an hour to pass.
Before she knew it, Mason pulled up in his fancy dark blue pickup truck, that delectable cowboy hat perched perfectly on his head.
She stood as he got out, not even bothering to park or turn off the truck. He possessed an intensity she loved, and he didn’t say hello before taking her face in both of his hands and saying, “I’m in love with you, Ivy.”
Emotion filled her, and tears pricked her eyes. She’d already said it, and her voice felt too weak to do so again.
Mason kissed her, and that was all the reassurance she needed that he’d spoken true.
“Does this mean you’ll talk to me about getting married now?” he asked, resting his forehead against hers.
Ivy smiled, a laugh spilling from her lips. “Yes,” she said. “We can start talking about that.”
The summer slipped away while Ivy planned the wedding she wanted to have. She kept her designs in a thick binder in Orchid’s kitchen cupboard, and she tried not to get it out when her sister was home.
Orchid wanted to marry Maine, but football season had started up again, and she was back on the sidelines with him. Not really, but he had a publicist who wanted a say in everything about the wedding, and Orchid was ready to charter a flight with her fiancé and island hop until she found someone who would just marry them.
“Then the media and the people of Getaway Bay won’t have a say in what kind of blasted cake we eat,” she’d said to him on the phone just the other night.
Ivy tried to tell her that Maine was a celebrity in Getaway Bay, but Orchid knew that. So she’d just commiserated with her sister and tried to support her if she could.
One Friday afternoon, she’d left work early so she could go meet with the wedding planner Mason had generously paid for.
Your Tidal Forever put together the absolute best weddings on the island, and Ivy had wanted a planner there for as long as she could remember.
And now she had Charlotte Dawson building a one-of-a-kind altar for her and Mason’s beach wedding.
Ivy had decided she wanted everyone to sail out to Long Bar Island, where she and Mason would be married. They’d serve dinner on the yacht on the way there, followed by a reception aboard the boat once they got back to the dock.
Family only—his and hers. Friends and acquaintances could come to the reception at the yacht club, and Charlotte needed access to the yacht to see about some décor she’d been planning.
Her phone rang, and Ivy picked up her sister’s call. “Heya, Eden.”
“Are you working today?” Her sister’s voice sounded panicked and full of pain.
“No, what’s wrong?”
“My water broke.”
Ivy jumped her feet, searching the room for something. What, she didn’t know. Her keys. Something.
“Where’s Holden?”
“Oh, he has a meeting.”
“Eden,” Ivy said, finally locating her keys and swiping them from the desk. “You’re having his baby. Call him right now. I’m on my way to the hospital.”
“Come pick me up,” she said, groaning. Ivy waited until she quieted. “I’m at home.”
“Okay,” Ivy said. “I’ll call everyone.”
“All right,” Eden said. “But I don’t want anyone in the delivery room but Holden.”
“We know, Eden,” Ivy said, though she would give almost anything to be there and be the first one to hold Eden’s baby. Oh, how Ivy wanted babies.
And she and Mason would be married within the month, and maybe she’d get her chance to be a wife and mother—all she’d ever wanted.
As she pulled out of Orchid’s driveway, she said, “Dial Orchid, my sister.”
When the call connected, she said, “Orchid, Eden’s having the baby!”
And she’d never been happier that she’d been the first to know this news and could make all the necessary calls to her family.
Chapter Eighteen
Mason adjusted his tie, the purple paisley something he actually liked. Over the last several months, he’d spent plenty of time with Ivy’s family, something else he really loved. He loved his family too, and they’d be on the island in just a few short weeks when he married Ivy.
But the McLaughlin’s had a different kind of relationship he’d never experienced before. Everything had been set for his marriage to Ivy for a few weeks now, but Ivy would not get married before Orchid.
“She’s been waiting forever,” Ivy had told him while they lay in each other’s arms on the sand. “And she’ll be upset if we get married before her.”
“It’s fine,” Mason said, though he was tired of watching Ivy leave his apartment at night or kissing her under the porch light at Orchid’s house before she went in.
“Looks good,” Justin said as he stepped up to the mirror where Mason stood. “You ready to do this in a couple of weeks?”
“Definitely,” Mason said.
“You ever been married?” Justin asked.
“Nope.” A tremor of fear slipped through him, but he reminded himself that he was marrying Ivy, and he loved her. She loved him, and not because he’d taken her out to a deserted island and tried to make a love connection.
They’d been back to Long Bar Island a couple of times since then, just for the day. Mason always made sure Justin, Holden, and Ivy’s father knew they were going and to come get them if they didn’t return by nightfall.
Of course, there hadn’t been any other problems. Thankfully. He didn’t like the feeling of being stranded, and he’d definitely had it the best out of any of the new brothers-in-law he’d be getting very soon.
Maine entered the room, his father right behind him. Mason had met the star quarterback several times, and he grinned at the man. “It’s here,” he said.
“Finally.” Maine smiled around at everyone, and he simply oozed charisma. “We got Orchid moved out last night, too. So you’re good to move in.”
“Oh, I won’t do that until I get married.” Mason looked at his own reflection again. “And we’re keeping the apartment too.” He wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to let go of it. He liked looking out the windows at the beach, especially as the sun rose. Though there wasn’t an ocean in his part of Texas, for some reason, watching the sun rise over the waves reminded him of the ranch he’d sold.
He and Ivy had spent a lot of time in his apartment, and he wanted to keep it. He owned it, as he’d bought it with cash, and he didn’t see a reason to get rid of it yet.
“I hear your wedding is going to outshine this one,” Maine said as he held out his arm for his dad to put in the cufflinks. Holden came out of the dressing room, decked out in his matching suit.
“Nah,” Mason said. “We’r
e just serving dinner on the yacht as we sail out to the island. Then we’ll get married on the beach. Snap a few pictures. And get back on the boat.”
“Sounds pretty amazing,” he said.
“Have you seen how many cameras are outside?” Holden asked. “This is the event of the year on this island.”
Maine’s face stormed for amoment, and then he sighed. “I suppose it is. But you guys are getting married next year, so maybe that will be the event of the year too.”
Mason simply smiled and shook his head. “I doubt it. We only invited family and a couple of close family friends.” Ivy’s parents had long-time friends on the island, and she’d wanted them to come. Other than that, it was her siblings and their spouses, and his parents and his two brothers and their families.
Donald and Elliott had both been married for years, and he had six nieces and nephews back in Texas.
“It’s time,” a man said from the doorway, and Mason gave one final tug on his tie. He didn’t spend a lot of time wearing such formal clothing, and everything felt like it was pulling just a little bit.
Maine got escorted by two men and his father down a side hallway, where he disappeared through a door that would take him to the front of the church where he and Orchid were getting married.
Mason went with Holden and Justin, and they all paired up with the appropriate McLaughlin sister. Ivy ogled him as he walked toward her, pure delight in her eyes.
“Wow,” she said as he linked his fingers with hers. “Don’t you look all fancy?”
“Do I?” he asked, refusing to reach up and smooth his tie again. “You look great too.”
Orchid had chosen a soft pink for her bridesmaid’s dresses, and they were beautiful. Ivy wore rhinestones around her neck and dripping from her earlobes, and her hair had been piled on top of her head in a delicate arrangement that almost looked like flowers.
He leaned over and touched his lips to hers. “I can’t wait until this is us,” he said.
“Yeah, except it’ll be way less formal than this,” she said.
“And you want that, right?”
“Of course.” She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm as the music started playing, and the wedding party started advancing toward the doors and down the aisle. Mason didn’t like having so many eyes on him, but he held his head high and kept his feet moving where they were supposed to go.
This wasn’t his wedding yet, but he felt the heightened nerves from Maine as Orchid finally appeared, her wedding dress pure white and ballooning out from her body. Love and happiness filled the air when she reached Maine’s side and he swept a kiss across her cheek, murmuring something to her.
Mason couldn’t help watching Ivy, and he caught her looking at him several times too. He couldn’t imagine anyone else at his side, and while he still didn’t know why his servers had gone down all those months ago, he didn’t care.
Maybe the god of technology had known exactly what he was doing, and Mason wasn’t going to doubt it.
The weeks passed, and finally, he found himself meeting the chef Ivy had hired to cook their wedding dinner at the dock. “Tadashi?” he asked, taking in the Hawaiian man lifting a box out of his trunk.
“You must be Mason.” The man shook hands with Mason and nodded to the car. “I have more in there.”
“Great.” Mason collected a box as well, and they walked over to the dock where the yacht waited. “Ivy said you’d need access about eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“That’s right,” Tadashi said. “That way, we can eat when we set sail at one.”
And the wedding would be at three, right after they arrived and made it ashore on Long Bar Island. Ivy had been out to the beach with her sisters yesterday, and she wouldn’t tell him what she’d done out there. She’d strictly forbidden him from going out to see, and they’d planned to spend today together so he wouldn’t be able to sneak away.
He could only hope whatever she’d done out there wouldn’t get stripped away by the wind, and that the rain would hold off for another couple of days. After that, Mother Nature could unleash anything she wanted.
He helped Tadashi unload all of his equipment, and he answered the chef’s questions about the kitchen and dining arrangements. Mason had hired a company to come put in another table so their living area could be used as well, and there was now a leaf between that table and the existing dining room table.
Extra chairs had been brought in, and Ivy’s wedding planner would be arriving tonight to get everything decorated and set for the wedding. She’d given Charlotte a keycard for the dock, and Mason handed one to Tadashi now.
“This should get you into the dock,” he said. “And then you just come aboard.”
“Thanks.” Tadashi fiddled around with dials and opened cupboards while Mason looked down the long table. Ivy’s family would take up sixteen seats, and that included her family and friends, an aunt and two cousins.
His family was just eleven, and with the two of them, that made twenty-nine people. It certainly looked like enough room, and he went back out into the winter sunshine.
Tadashi joined him several minutes later, and they left the dock together.
The next time Mason boarded his yacht, Justin and Maine had created a wall of flesh in front of him so he couldn’t see more than six inches in front of his face. Ivy didn’t want him to see her in her dress until a few minutes before departure, and she’d hired a photographer to get the “first look.”
They led him down to his cabin, and he glanced at the one closest to the kitchen where he and Ivy had slept while they waited for someone to come help them. A rush of memories hit him, and he realized he was getting married that day.
Married.
His mother was already in the cabin, and Justin and Maine left him there with them to get ready. “Hey, Ma.” He hugged her, so glad she’d made the trip though it had been difficult for her.
“My boy is getting married.” She was already crying, and Mason just smiled at her.
“Hard to believe, isn’t it?”
“Not at all. And Ivy is so nice.” Her Texas twang made everything sound so country, and Mason liked it.
“Your dress is pretty,” he said, hanging up his tuxedo in the slim closet.
“Jamie helped me pick it out.”
Donald’s wife, who had been taking care of Mason’s mother the most since Don and Elliott had taken over the ranch together.
“Ivy said I could go help her,” she said, stepping to the door. “I just wanted to see you.” She stretched up and kissed his cheek, and Mason watched her leave.
Then he got himself dressed for the wedding, doing his own cufflinks as he didn’t have a father to help him. A strong sense of missing hit him, but he didn’t let it linger for too long. He knew his father was there in spirit.
Elliott entered the room several minutes later, his face lit up. “Ready?”
“Are they ready for me?”
He nodded. “The photographer is right here, and she wants to talk to you before you go up.”
A brunette entered the cabin, a camera hanging at her side from a strap. “I’m Erin. Okay,” she said. “For the first look, you’ll stand right where I tell you. You’ll turn when I say, and this is the most important part.”
She paused, and Mason didn’t have the remotest desire to disobey this woman. “You have to smile. You have to act like the dress is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, even if you hate it.”
“Will I hate it?” Mason looked from her to Elliott.
“I’m sure you won’t,” Erin said. “But you have to smile and be happy, no matter what.”
Mason couldn’t see why he wouldn’t be, but she must’ve had problems like this in the past. So he simply nodded. She did too, and then she turned and led him out of the cabin. “Groom coming,” she called down the narrow halls, and a door closed up ahead.
Ivy’s cabin.
Mason kept his eyes straight ahead as they wal
ked past the dining area, which looked like it belonged on a completely different yacht. Tablecloths had been spread, and beautiful flowers sat in vases down the length of the table.
Pictures of him and Ivy hung on the walls, and the opening into the kitchen had been covered by greenery. Pristine china sat on the tables, with champagne flutes and crystal glassware and shiny silverware.
Bells hung from the railings outside, making a twinkling sound as the ship moved through the water on its way toward Long Bar Island.
Flower vines had been woven throughout as well, and Mason smiled at everything.
“Stand here,” Erin said, and Mason did as she said. “Face the water.” He was aware of movement behind him, of people talking, of things happening. But he kept his eyes out on the water, the foaming waves the yacht left behind.
Erin appeared in front of him. “Okay, she’s in position. You’re going to wait to move until I say.” She smiled at him, her dark eyes firing. “And you’re so happy, remember?”
“So happy,” Mason repeated, and he was. His heart pounded in his chest. Ivy had not told him a single thing about her wedding gown, other than that it was “perfect.”
So he better act like it.
“All right,” Erin said from behind him. “Turn slowly, Mason. Slowly.”
He did, his nerves making him tug on the end of his jacket sleeves. Though it was January, and there was definitely a nippy breeze on the boat, he felt sweaty from head to toe. The sun did shine overhead, and Mason thanked the weather for cooperating.
Erin’s camera went click click click as Mason’s eyes met Ivy’s. She beamed like the brightest star in the sky, and Mason drank in the beauty of her, a slow smile stretching his mouth.
“Wow,” he said, taking a step toward her.
“Slow,” Erin called. “Everything is done slowly.”
Ivy’s dress hugged her curves and fell off her shoulders in an appealing, sexy way. It went all the way to the floor, and it seemed to glisten in the sunlight. As he got closer and his fingers tingled in anticipation of touching her, he saw it was covered with lace and beads that reflected the light.
Stranded with the Cowboy Billionaire Page 11