by Duncan Leigh
At last, the retriever came to a sliding halt at the barn. Barking for all she was worth, the dog sat on her haunches. While the other two raced back the way they’d come, Kelly whined and pawed at the massive door.
“What you got there?” Sarah tsked. One of the caterers must have pulled the door shut by mistake. She tugged at the handle. Two stories tall, the heavy wooden door didn’t budge. She put some muscle into her efforts and was rewarded when the opening widened.
Perplexed at movement inside the barn, she stepped aside as Adam appeared out of the shadows. “I’ll get that,” he offered. He pushed the door out of the way.
Suddenly, people spilled through the opening. Sarah scanned the group, noting the faces of friends and acquaintances from town. A dry laugh escaped her as unease bubbled in her stomach. No wonder the dogs had gone crazy. It wasn’t every day that a crowd chose to gather in her barn. Why were they there? She ventured a tentative, “Hi?” and looked around for someone who could explain what was going on.
Her pulse quickened when Bradley appeared in the midst of the group. When he started toward her, people stepped aside to let him pass. His steps sure and focused, he covered the distance between them.
Her thoughts swam. Even more confused by the appearance of the man who should be on his honeymoon in Europe, she blinked. “What is going on?” Her gaze locked on Bradley, she asked, “Did you decide to have the wedding today?” She swept a glance over the crowd of people in their Sunday best. “Where’s Catherine?”
“I’m not sure.” Bradley’s starched white shirt stretched across his chest. A long-suffering sigh stuttered across his lips.
She folded her arms. None of this was making any sense. “I don’t understand.”
Bradley brushed the brim of a black cowboy hat. “Well, I was thinking we could renew our vows.”
Her heart thumped. Our vows? Not his and Catherine’s? “What?”
“We got married when we were kids.” In a move she’d seen him make whenever he was uncertain, Bradley slipped his hands into his pockets. “I think that was our one chance at true love.”
“True love, huh?” She searched Bradley’s face for some sign that this was all a big practical joke. Not that she expected to find anything there. He’d never been a trickster. Beneath the dark cowboy hat she’d chosen the day they’d picked out his tux, his eyes glinted with a somber gravity. Was this for real, then? Afraid to trust her heart, she hid her hopes, her dreams beneath a mocking tone. “Well, I don’t know. That’s romantic. Not realistic.”
“I agree. It’s rare.” Bradley swallowed. His gaze bore into hers. “But I don’t want to settle for less.”
Surely, he didn’t mean… Her heart gave another painful thud. “You don’t?”
She searched for truth in his eyes and lost herself in the love she found in his tender smile. She held her breath when he leaned closer. His strong fingers squeezed her shoulders.
“Mint chip.” Bradley’s eyes captured hers.
Despite the thirteen years they’d spent apart, he’d never forgotten.
“Blue.”
The color filled her closet, her house.
“Horses…and dogs.”
One of her rescues whinnied from a stall. At her feet, Kelly barked.
“White lilies.”
She sucked in a breath. Tears burned the back of her throat. He really did know her.
“This ranch.” He cast a look behind him. “And these people,” he finished.
Though tears threatened, she smiled past them. She nodded. “They’re all my favorite things.” He knew her so well.
His gaze captured hers and never wavered as Bradley swept his hat from his head and tucked it under one arm. “I love you with all of my heart. And I want to walk through life leaning against you, so that neither one of us falls. You…are my true love.”
Not so long ago, she’d said those very words to him. That day, she would have sworn he hadn’t been listening. But she couldn’t have been more wrong. He’d heard her every word and committed them all to memory. She ached to tell him how much the gesture meant to her, but the emotion that swelled in her chest made it impossible to speak. Instead, she let her eyes do her talking for her. Her gaze locked on the man she’d fallen in love with thirteen years ago, she watched as he reached into the pocket of his jeans and sank down on one knee.
“Sarah Standor. Will you marry me…again?”
This—this was what she’d prayed for, what she’d hoped for. She’d known they were supposed to be together from the very beginning. It had taken Bradley a little while to reach the same conclusion, but he’d done it. How could she do anything but agree?
“Umm-hmmm.” Unable to trust her voice, she merely nodded.
Nothing had ever felt so right as it did the moment Bradley slipped the simple diamond that had belonged to his mother on her finger—for real this time. Cheers and applause erupted around them. Friends and neighbors surged forward to share in their happy moment. While Bradley swept her into his arms and twirled her around, her heart finally settled into a steady beat that Sarah knew would last a lifetime.
That evening, Bradley took his place beside Adam. He breathed a sigh of relief as he surveyed the barn. Gone were all the fancy draperies, the fake bridge, the hastily constructed dais Catherine had used to disguise the building. In their place, electric lights cast rosy shadows on the paper doilies that dotted the barn’s aged gray walls. Greenery and white flowers climbed the legs of tall ladders and dripped from an overhead arbor. Behind Adam, a sheet of plain white linen covered a makeshift altar. Before them stood the citizens of Mill Town, who’d turned out in force to witness the union of two of its favorite citizens.
He cast a loving glance at Sarah. Wearing the simple white gown she’d picked out in town, she held a bouquet of lilies. A band of white flowers circled her head. She’d never looked more beautiful. When she’d walked down the straw-covered aisle to stand in front of their minister and friend, so much love had filled his heart, he’d thought it might burst.
“Do you, Sarah, promise to love Bradley in sickness and in health, forever and ever?”
“I do.” Certainty glinted in her eyes and deepened her smile.
Adam closed his Bible with a finality that seemed appropriate. “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” He turned to Bradley. “You may kiss the bride.”
This was the moment he’d been waiting for his entire life. He swept his hat from his head. Shoving it into Adam’s chest, he moved toward Sarah. He bent low, his intent clear. His lips pressed against hers. He swept her into his arms and held her so close that he felt it when her pulse soared. He hung onto her, prolonging the moment until their hearts beat as one, echoing the promise that they were meant to be together and always had been.
While the crowd in the barn cheered and showered them with flower petals, Sammy’s band played the closing verse of his new song about a cowboy who’d finally figured it all out and come back where he belonged. Moments later, he and his bride threaded through the well-wishers to start their new lives together…forever.
Epilogue
Bradley skimmed the tips of his fingers over the brim of the Stetson he’d picked up on his last trip into Mill Town. His hand firmly anchored at Sarah’s hip, he guided his bride of sixteen months into the blue circle taped on the floor in front of Stan. The television show host tapped his mic. Just beyond camera range, technicians wearing headsets studied banks of screens. Despite the noise and shouts that echoed off the walls backstage at the Bridgestone Arena, the producer gave the thumbs-up sign. Stan’s shoulders straightened. He faced the cameras and bared flawless white teeth in his signature smile.
“I’m coming to you from the Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, where we’re talking with superstar Bradley Suttons.” Stan executed a perfect quarter turn as he shifted around to face his gue
sts. “Congratulations on what has to be a huge night for you, Bradley. Not only were you named country music’s Best Male Vocalist of the Year, but your album, Coming Home, also won the coveted Album of the Year award. That’s an incredible achievement for a relative newcomer. Why, you won your first Grammy less than two years ago. Tell us, what’s your secret to success?”
Bradley smiled as Stan thrust the mic under his chin. As much as aspiring artists wished they could wave a magic wand and achieve instant stardom, climbing to the top took hard work, determination, and grit. Sure, he’d had a couple of lucky breaks, but none of them had done as much for his career as the woman who stood beside him. Sarah had given him the freedom, the encouragement he needed to write songs from his heart. “I owe my success to this woman right here.” He pulled his wife closer. He’d been certain she’d never look more beautiful than on their wedding day, but tonight, with sequins reflecting light from overhead cams onto her face, Sarah glowed with a luminous beauty. “She taught me everything I know about true love, romantic love. She’s the inspiration behind the songs on Coming Home.”
Stan pivoted slightly toward Sarah. His wide smile deepened. “I know country music fans all over the world will agree with me when I say, ‘Thank you!’” His focus shifted, and he rubbed his chin. “Bradley, there’ve been a lot of changes in your life since I last had you on my show, haven’t there? I understand you’ve left Nashville. You’re living in Texas now?”
“Yes, that’s right, Stan. A little town called Mill Town, where I grew up as a kid. I married the girl next door.” He gave Sarah an affectionate squeeze. “I built a recording studio there and hired some talented local musicians to work with me.” He nodded to Sammy and smiled when his new bandleader waved in return. “When I’m not in the recording studio, Sarah and I run a refuge for abused and aging horses.”
“And I understand you’re very hands-on with the project, aren’t you?”
“Sarah’s in charge. But yes, I do my part.” Bradley scuffed a boot against the floorboards. In the year and a half since he and Sarah had combined their ranches, he’d grown accustomed to the horses’ velvety snuffle when he fed them their morning carrots. “These intelligent animals have been through so much. We give them a beautiful place to live out their final days, with plenty of food and clean water and, most of all, kindness and love.”
A master at keeping an interview on point, Stan steered the conversation back to the topic of the evening. “When you were on stage, you said there were a lot of people who helped make Coming Home Album of the Year. Is there anyone in particular you want to mention?”
Bradley took a breath. As he stood before the arena’s capacity crowd moments ago, he’d thanked the record company and his band, but there were so many others who deserved his heartfelt appreciation. “Well, Stan, I’d have to say these wins tonight are all because of my fans, my listeners. I owe them all a huge round of thanks. Coming Home was a labor of love, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me that my listeners love it, too.” He hefted one of the two seven-and-a-half-pound crystal trophies. Beside him, Sarah cradled the second trophy like a baby in her arms. “They really earned these awards as much as I did.”
“That’s right, Bradley. Your record company wasn’t happy with Coming Home at first, were they?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Bradley lifted one eyebrow as a warning. Stan had wandered ever so slightly off the script that had been reviewed and approved by his publicity team. If the talk show host hoped to have him as a guest in his Hollywood studio in the future, he’d dial it back a bit. “Coming Home was different from what they expected. It wasn’t what either of us thought I’d deliver. But, as soon as the label started getting all the positive feedback from listeners and radio stations, they knew they had a hit on their hands. Still, we took a big chance with Coming Home. It’s good to see that all our efforts paid off.”
“What’s the one thing that made the album such a success?”
The question had come straight from the approved list, and Bradley doffed his hat in acknowledgement. “The theme is so universal. Every song on the album is about discovering what’s important in life, finding your roots, understanding that home is where your heart is. And love. What can be better than that?”
“What indeed!”
A round of applause erupted from the stage out front where another star had just received their award. Soon, they’d take their place on the blue circle in front of the next interviewer.
Across the mic, Bradley arched a questioning glance at Sarah. At her answering nod, he turned a warm smile on Stan. The time had come to reward the talk show host with a tidbit of little-known information. He tipped his chin to his wife. “Few people know it, but this is actually our second marriage…to each other. The first time, we were just thirteen. My parents had just died, and Sarah wanted to make sure I had a family, so she married me. I moved to Nashville the next day with my aunt and uncle. A dozen years passed, but that first wedding must have stuck, ‘cause when we saw each other again, Sarah and I fell for one another.”
Stan’s eyes sparkled. “Why, that’s one of the sweetest stories I’ve ever heard. I want to thank you, Bradley and Sarah, for sharing that with me and our listening audience.”
Bradley recognized the cue. The interview was drawing to a close. “Again, I want to say thanks to all my fans and listeners. Without you, without your support, these awards would be just two more trophies on my shelf. But they have special meaning because of all the love you’ve shown me and given Coming Home.”
Expecting the usual, “You heard it here first,” spiel from Stan, he relinquished the mic. Instead of wrapping things up though, the talk show host stared at a spot behind Bradley while an expectant hush spread through the backstage. Bustling assistants paused midstep. Cameras swung in a new direction. Strobe lights flashed.
Bradley caught a warning glance from Sammy and braced for another troubling detour from the script when Stan cleared his throat.
“Can this night get any better?” Stan raised the mic to his lips. “I see Catherine Mann heading our way. Let’s see if we can get her to join us.”
Is that all? A laugh bubbled in Bradley’s chest. No doubt, Stan viewed the star’s arrival as an opportunity for a bit of conflict that would boost his ratings even higher. But the joke was on their host. Catherine had been the one who’d schooled him in the art of onscreen diplomacy. She’d never let even the tiniest bit of animosity show during an interview. Not that they had any differences, that was. They’d long since resolved the problems between them.
“Catherine Mann.” Stan’s sunny smile locked onto his favorite movie star as she slipped her arm free of her escort’s. While the tall, dark-haired man lingered in the shadows beyond the camera’s angle, she stepped into the circle beside Bradley and Sarah.
“Stan, how wonderful to run into you here.” Catherine’s amused glance let Bradley know that the run-in was anything but accidental. “I didn’t know you were handling the backstage interviews at the CMA’s.”
“I jumped at the chance to be part of the biggest night of the year in country music.” Stan beamed his pleasure in landing the impromptu opportunity to feature two mega stars on his program. “I must say, you’re looking especially lovely this evening.”
Catherine ran a hand down a beaded white dress that showed off her curves to their best advantage. Beneath the floodlights, the crystal-studded gown shimmered. “Thanks, Stan. It’s Armani, and I do love it so. But I’m not here to talk about me. I stopped by to give my congratulations to Bradley. No one deserves these awards more than he does.”
“That’s right.” Stan snapped his fingers as though a new thought had just occurred to him. “You and Bradley used to be engaged, weren’t you?”
“We were, but that was ages ago. We’ve both moved on.” Like a parent admonishing an unruly child, Catherine aimed a stern look at t
he television host.
“Yes, but I’ve heard people say there’s some kind of feud between the three of you.” Stan’s eager glance searched their faces. “Isn’t it true, Catherine, that you bought Sarah’s ranch?”
When the tiniest bit of color crawled up Catherine’s neck and onto her cheeks, Bradley sliced a hand through the air. Enough. He broke in. “The tabloids would love to portray us as the Hatfields and the McCoys, but that was all a huge misunderstanding.”
Catherine straightened the diamond on her left ring finger. “I only bought that land to preserve it for Sarah,” she insisted, flawlessly delivering the line they’d all agreed on. “In fact, I signed it over to her, free and clear, as my wedding present to her and Bradley.”
Sarah nodded her agreement. “It was the most thoughtful—and the most generous—gift anyone ever gave me.”
“So there’s no truth to the rumors of bad blood between you?”
“Certainly not,” Sarah put in. Shifting the Male Vocalist of the Year award to her other arm, she slipped her hand around Catherine’s waist.
“Oh my heavens, we’re the best of friends.” Catherine gushed. “Why else do you think I asked my producers to consider Bradley’s music for the soundtrack in Simple Pleasures?” The newly released movie had shattered box office records and earned her an Academy Award nomination.
“Well, there you have it, folks. Contrary to speculation, there’s no truth to the rumors of bad blood between Catherine Mann and Bradley Suttons.” Stan’s hopeful look tightened. “So, Catherine. I understand there’s a new man in your life.”
In a move that sealed her place in the talk show host’s heart, Catherine waved a beckoning hand to the man who stood beyond the circle of camera lights. “Stan, I don’t think you’ve met my fiancé, Warren Barfield. It was love at first sight when we met on the set of Simple Pleasures.”