Protected by a Hero
Page 80
The wind whipped up, swirled around her until her hair danced into her eyes. The hedges rustled with the passing breeze.
“Oh!”
Cass flinched when something struck the back of the head. She reached back to untangle it from her hair—a sprig of tiny yellow roses.
“My mother’s favorite,” she whispered to Brian, holding the sprig up for him to see.
She was here. Her mother was answering. Cass’s lips trembled. She tilted her head back and tried to hear her words in the wind. What did the flowers mean? Was that all the answer she would get? It was too ambiguous.
Mom, she called inside her mind, but her mother’s presence was already slipping away again.
“What did your mother used to say about love and marriage?” Brian asked softly.
Cass laughed, a sharp sound, as tears filled her eyes. “She always said…” She fought to swallow a sob, blinking back the wetness that threatened to spill over her eyelids. “She always said a successful marriage took three things: a decision, a leap of faith and a whole lot of cussedness.” She searched his face. “I guess this is where the leap of faith comes in.”
Brian wrapped his arms around her. “Lucky for you, I’m one stubborn cuss. I’m not going anywhere, Cass. I said it before and I’ll say it again. I’ll say it until I die. You’re not getting rid of me.”
“Good.” Cass pressed a kiss to the base of his neck and gave in. Maybe the real message was that she couldn’t control the future—that none of us ever truly knew where our lives would lead. But that Brian was here with her now, and he loved her, and that was worth the leap of faith marriage represented.
It would have to be good enough, Cass decided.
Because she wasn’t going to let Brian go again.
Three weeks later, Cass stood in the front hall at Two Willows and waited for the musical signal that would send Jo out the door to lead the procession toward the garlanded bower where Brian waited. Holding her wedding on Two Willows’s front lawn felt more right than Cass could say. With the house anchoring the scene, as it had anchored her all her life, and her friends and family celebrating her happiness, her marriage would start off on the right foot.
It would take some time before it was put to rights again, though. She’d started on the interior. Brian was nearly done with the roof. Once he learned she was pregnant, he’d refused to allow her up there to help. She’d graciously accepted his decision, and her fear of heights was still safely her secret. Someday she’d tell him and they’d have a good laugh over it, but for now she’d allow him to think she’d grown excessively agreeable.
She saw reminders of her mother everywhere she looked, from the flowers she held in her hands that came from the gardens her mother had first planted, to her sisters’ faces, happy for her despite the cares and heartaches each of them still struggled with, to her own reflection in the mirror Wye held up for her for one final check. She wore her mother’s wedding gown, which Alice had altered to fit her thinner frame. Her mother’s veil, too. With her hair pinned up and her mother’s pearls around her neck, she looked like Amelia had when she’d posed for her wedding photo.
The only thing missing was her father. She still remembered how gently Brian had told her he wouldn’t be coming. How he’d held her while she cried. She remembered how he’d whispered over and over that he’d never leave. The way that Brian cherished her was already changing the way she felt about the world. Her father might not be here today, nor her mother, but she was still surrounded by family. Friends. A community she was proud to be a part of.
Cass swallowed hard. She was happy. So happy.
The music swelled. Wye and her sisters straightened and got in line.
“Ready?” Jo asked.
Cass’s phone erupted from the side table in a burst of tinny music, and she wondered who on earth could be calling now. Everyone she knew in the world was sitting outside waiting for her.
“Ignore it,” Lena urged her. “We have to go.”
Something made Cass reach for it, though, and when she saw who it was, her heart skipped a beat. “It’s the General.”
Her sisters stared back at her. “Answer it,” Wye said. She grabbed it from Cass’s hand, swiped to accept the call and held it to Cass’s ear.
Cass took it. “H—hello?”
“Cass.”
“Mm-hmm.” Her voice squeaked a little. She swallowed again.
“Wish I could be there. Got tied up. You know how things are.” His voice was gruff and he sounded older. It had been so long since they’d really spoken. Cass clung to the phone.
“I know.” Her heart was pounding in her chest. Had he really called her on her wedding day?
It was far more than she’d expected, and she found she couldn’t be angry with him, even though she knew she should be. He should be here.
But at least he’d called.
“I bet you’re every bit as beautiful as your mother was.”
“I don’t know about that.” Her voice quavered with emotion. She only wanted to honor her husband to the same extent her mother had honored the General. Amelia was a fine role model, and Cass meant to do her best to live up to her standards.
“I do. You were always something, Cass. You’ve done well.”
“I wish you could be here.” The words escaped her mouth despite her best intentions. Wye put an arm around her. Cass leaned on her.
Her father cleared his throat. “Me, too. Say hello to that SEAL of yours. Tell him to watch his step.”
“I will.”
“Tell your sisters… well, tell them…”
She waited for him to finish his sentence. Ached for him to do so.
“Well, tell them to behave.”
Cass bit back her disappointment, but when he went on, her heart squeezed again. “I’m proud of all of you. A man couldn’t ask for better girls.”
Jo gestured to her. “We have to go,” she whispered.
“They’re… waiting for me,” Cass said. She didn’t want to end the call. Regret for all the years of hardness between them pressed against the back of her throat.
“You’d better go, honey. Be strong. Be true to yourself. You’ve got this.”
“Okay.”
He was gone, and Cass realized she hadn’t told him about the baby, but as the music swelled again and Jo stepped out of the house to begin the walk down the aisle, followed by Sadie, Alice, Lena and Wye, Cass decided she’d worry about one thing at a time. First she’d get married. Then she’d fix her family. There was enough time—and enough love—to do both.
When the music swelled, Brian set his gaze on the front door of Two Willows and waited to see the woman he loved walk toward him to become his bride. First Jo would appear, then her sisters, then Wye and Cass, of course, but as the music played on, no one exited the house at all.
The people gathered in the white folding chairs he’d helped set up on the lawn this morning began to murmur when more seconds passed and still no one came.
“What’s happening?” he asked Cab, who’d agreed to stand up with him. His brother sat in the audience with his wife and kids, as did his father. Brian loved both of them—always would—but he’d decided he needed someone reliable to be by his side when he took Cass for his wife. Most of the others who’d come for the wedding were Cass’s friends, but there were familiar faces in the audience and he knew that soon he’d feel at home in Chance Creek. Soon enough the other men back at USSOCOM would join him, too.
As seconds stretched into a minute and then more, people craned their necks to see what was going on back at the house. When Jo finally stepped out into the sunlight in a spring green sheath dress and matching shoes, the audience let out a collective breath and ah-ed over how beautiful she looked. All of Cass’s sisters were pretty in their wedding finery, and so was Wye, but when Cass stepped over the threshold, he had eyes for no one but her. The fitted bodice of her gown set off her figure, while its full skirt made her look like something o
ut of a fairy tale. When she met his gaze, she smiled tremulously, and Brian’s heart caught in his throat. He’d never seen her so beautiful. He watched her walk down the aisle, so lovely and graceful he couldn’t believe she would soon be his. When she reached his side, he took her hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back.
“You’re stunning,” he whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Brian barely heard the words of the ceremony. He couldn’t see anything but Cass, his beautiful Cass, as she said the words that made her his wife. When the reverend finally said, “You may kiss the bride,” Brian lifted her veil and kissed her long and hard until the audience erupted in cheers. As they faced the gathered company as man and wife, Brian held up a hand to silence the clapping. “We have one more announcement. I hope you’ll be as happy for us as we are. I know it’s not conventional to announce this at a wedding, but I can’t keep this a secret. We’re having a baby. Due in March. It’s time for a new beginning here at Two Willows. Come and grab some grub and let’s get dancing. We’ve got a lot to celebrate!”
Walking up the aisle with Cass at his side, friends thronging them on all sides offering their congratulations, Brian knew that life would keep throwing curve balls at him, and that there was no way to predict the future. He also knew that with Cass by his side, he could face anything. He’d finally found a home with Cass.
And he meant to stay with her forever.
EPILOGUE
Sadie had just run through the back door into the house to fetch another tray of appetizers when a pounding on the front door made her jump and press a hand to her heart. Wondering who had come so late to the wedding, she rushed to welcome them, but was surprised to find a stranger on the steps when she swung open the door.
The words she was about to say died on her lips when she took in the handsome features of the man in front of her. Tall, broad-shouldered, with hair so dark brown it was almost black, and piercing blue eyes that seemed to dance with mischief, she was struck by the dimple that indented one cheek when he smiled.
“Well, hello there, lassie,” he said in an outrageously fake Irish brogue. “You must be Sadie Reed. I’m Connor O’Riley. The General sent me.”
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Other books in the Brides of Chance Creek Series:
Issued to the Bride One Airman
Issued to the Bride One Sniper
Issued to the Bride One Marine
Issued to the Bride One Soldier
Read on for an excerpt of Volume 2 of The Brides of Chance Creek series – Issued to the Bride One Airman.
Issued to the Bride One Airman
By Cora Seton
PROLOGUE
General Augustus Reed knew better than most the way courage and cowardice raged a constant battle in a man’s soul. All his life he’d felt confident courage won out as far as he was concerned.
Not today.
As he sat back in his wooden chair in his office at USSOCOM at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, his gaze rested on his cell phone. Soon enough he’d have to make a call he dreaded.
His daughter, Cass was getting married in a few hours.
And he wasn’t there to walk her down the aisle.
There were all kinds of reasons why not. Reasons that involved meetings, tasks, duty—hell, even national security—but he could have overcome them if he’d really tried.
He hadn’t tried at all.
He’d never once gone back to Two Willows after his wife, Amelia, died. That was more than anyone could expect him to do.
Even if it meant the gulf between him and his girls had widened into an abyss.
At least he’d done one thing right, the General assured himself. Amelia had left him instructions to send Cass a man—a good man. He’d sent her a Navy SEAL.
Brian Lake.
Now Cass was marrying him. That filled him with a small sense of accomplishment. It was as if he’d managed to build a slender bridge to Two Willows, the ranch where his daughters lived. That bridge wouldn’t hold his weight yet.
But maybe someday it would.
He opened the bottom left-hand drawer of his desk and surveyed the small stack of envelopes that remained there. His wife’s legacy to him. Drawing out the top one, he smoothed his hand over Amelia’s neat script. Cass had sent the box of letters shortly after her mother’s death—when it became clear to both of them the General wasn’t coming home.
He opened the letter Amelia had dated for today.
Dear Augustus,
I wish I could be there to see Cass walk down the aisle—and you with her. I know you are as handsome as ever, and Cass will enter her married life with her father’s support and comfort through one of the most important days of her life.
The General stiffened.
Swallowed.
He’d let Amelia down—again.
But she didn’t understand; his wasn’t a job he could turn his back on easily. Trouble could crop up anywhere in the world at any moment—it was a far different time—
The General blew out an angry breath. Did he think he could fool himself with his own lies?
Truth was he couldn’t face the ranch. Couldn’t walk the land she’d walked all her life. Two Willows was Griffith land—not Reed ground. Every inch of that property reminded him of his wife.
He wasn’t ready to go back to it.
Not yet.
He returned to the piece of paper in his hand. Up until Amelia’s death, the General had been able to wave away her hunches and suspicions as mere women’s intuition. But nothing could explain these letters. Letters she’d written before her stroke. Years of letters carefully dated—each of them prescient in ways the General could hardly believe.
Augustus—enough bullshit. I know you’re not at Two Willows for Cass’s wedding. I’ve tried to ignore these feelings—this intuition—through all the letters I’ve written you so far, because I cannot believe a man brave enough to face death a thousand times over during his career has succumbed to a fear so irrational.
The General stared at the page. Read those sentences again. This was an Amelia he’d never seen before—or read before. She… knew?
Knew how badly he’d failed her?
Augustus, treading on Two Willows land won’t make me any more dead, just as sitting there in your office won’t make me any more alive. You are a man of science—of knowledge. You know this. What are you doing in Florida when Cass is marrying the man she loves?
The General couldn’t have been more shocked if Amelia had walked through the door and bashed him with her pocketbook, which he’d figured she’d like to have done once or twice when she was alive.
She never had, though. Had never raised her voice to him—not like this.
Now her exasperation spilled right off the page.
What’s done is done. But it’s time to pull yourself together and get it right. It’s Sadie’s turn. Do you have a man for her?
He did. Thank God. It was a small straw, but the General grasped it with all his might. Connor O’Riley was about to leave for Two Willows. He should arrive before the reception was over.
Send him. And while you’re waiting for the magic to happen between them, start putting your affairs in order and get ready to go home. It’s been far too long, Augustus. You know that.
Your loving wife,
Amelia
He did know that. And Amelia was right; he should go home. It was time—long past time, if he was honest with himself.
But that didn’t make it easier.
“General?” The door opened and Corporal Myers stuck his head in. “General, things just went all to hell in—”
“Thank God!” The General surged to his feet, startling the corporal but ready for action. For decisions. For the kind of work that would keep him up day and night for weeks handling an international crisis.
He’d head to Two Willows when it was
over.
If something else hadn’t gone wrong in the world that he needed to fix.
Click to read more of Issued to the Bride One Airman
The Cowboys of Chance Creek Series:
The Cowboy Inherits a Bride (Volume 0)
The Cowboy’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 1)
The Cowboy Wins a Bride (Volume 2)
The Cowboy Imports a Bride (Volume 3)
The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire (Volume 4)
The Sheriff Catches a Bride (Volume 5)
The Cowboy Lassos a Bride (Volume 6)
The Cowboy Rescues a Bride (Volume 7)
The Cowboy Earns a Bride (Volume 8)
The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride (Volume 9)
The Heroes of Chance Creek Series:
The Navy SEAL’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 1)
The Soldier’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 2)
The Marine’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 3)
The Navy SEAL’s Christmas Bride (Volume 4)
The Airman’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 5)
The SEALs of Chance Creek Series:
A SEAL’s Oath
A SEAL’s Vow
A SEAL’s Pledge
A SEAL’s Consent
A SEAL’s Purpose
A SEAL’s Resolve
A SEAL’s Devotion
A SEAL’s Desire
A SEAL’s Struggle
A SEAL’s Triumph
Brides of Chance Creek Series:
Issued to the Bride One Navy SEAL
Issued to the Bride One Airman
Issued to the Bride One Sniper
Issued to the Bride One Marine
Issued to the Bride One Soldier
About the Author
NYT and USA Today bestselling author Cora Seton loves cowboys, hiking, gardening, bike-riding, and lazing around with a good book. Mother of four, wife to a computer programmer/backyard farmer, she recently moved to Victoria and looks forward to a brand new chapter in her life. Like the characters in her Chance Creek series, Cora enjoys old-fashioned pursuits and modern technology, spending mornings in her garden, and afternoons writing the latest Chance Creek romance novel. Visit www.coraseton.com to read about new releases, contests and other cool events!