“I should stop this tractor and come over there. You need me,” he said.
“I’m in a tractor too. Lucas and I are raking hay. First and foremost right now, we’re ranchers, and you can’t come runnin’ every single time I’m sad, so keep working. Talk to me,” she said.
“Turn off the music,” he suggested. “I had to turn off my radio.”
“Okay,” she said, “but then my thoughts make me cry. I’m going to put on a good audiobook I’ve been listening to. Maybe that will take my mind off things,” she said. “I’ll call you when I’m not such a mess.”
“I can be there in five minutes if you change your mind,” he said.
He’d barely ended the call when his phone rang again. This time it was Matt.
“Hello,” he said.
“Pax, I want to tell you something, and I want you to promise that you won’t say a thing to Alana,” Matt said.
“That might be tough,” Pax said.
“I know y’all are engaged and all, but this has nothing to do with anything between the two of you. The thing is, she’s takin’ this business of my upcoming death pretty hard. I don’t want to talk about the funeral with her, but she needs to know the arrangements have already been made. I’ve even taken care of the clothes I’ll be buried in and ordered the flowers for the top of the casket. Everything is taken care of, so when the time comes, I want you to hold her and comfort her, and tell her that all she has to do is show up at the graveside services.” Matt took a deep breath. “It will be easier for her if the service is short and sweet. A song, a few words from the preacher, and then you take her home and love her for the rest of your lives. Promise me that, son.”
“I promise.” By his reasoning, it wasn’t a lie. He wasn’t giving his word to stay married to her, but only to love her. He could do that as a friend. A lump stuck in Pax’s throat when he thought about having to go to Matt’s funeral. The man had been there for him countless times through the years.
“Thank you. I hear the engine of a tractor, so I won’t keep you,” Matt said and the call ended.
Impulsively, Pax reached out and turned the radio on. Vince Gill was singing “Whenever You Come Around.” The words of the song said that whenever his lady came around and smiled that his world turned upside down.
“That’s the truth,” Pax muttered.
Chapter Ten
Alana parked her truck in front of Clara’s Bridal Shop at the same time Bridget pulled into the spot right beside her. They got out of their vehicles and had five minutes to spare when they entered the store. A petite lady who had to be at least sixty years old asked Bridget if she was Alana Carey.
“No, ma’am,” Bridget said. “This is Alana. I’m the maid of honor and soon-to-be her sister-in-law.”
“I so, so sorry,” the woman apologized to Alana. “Are you a professional model?”
“Nope, a ranchin’ woman,” Alana answered.
“Well, you missed your callin’. By the way, I’m Sadie, and I’ll be the one seeing to your needs today,” she said. “Honey, I would have given anything for some of your height when I was younger.”
“Thank you for that. I would have been glad to have shared some of my height,” Alana said. “Where do we start with this business?”
“What is your budget?” Sadie asked.
“She doesn’t have one.” Bridget held up a credit card. “Her father gave me this and said that she’s to have whatever she wants.”
“Well, the first thing we’ll have you do is pick out about six or eight dresses that you like from the racks. Don’t pay any attention to size. I’ll look at the dresses, and we’ll get as close to your size as possible for the trying-on stage. While you do that, I’ll get the dressing room ready.” Sadie beamed.
“I have no idea what I want,” Alana whispered when Sadie disappeared around a rack of dresses. “Something that goes with my new boots, maybe?”
“I heard that we get to wear boots under our fancy dresses.” Bridget started flipping through the dresses. “That’s so exciting. We should have a picture made of all of us girls with our dresses raised up so everyone can see our boots.”
“Great idea,” Alana said, “but we have to remember, Emily is six feet tall like me, and she’s eight months pregnant. She might not be comfortable in something too formfitting. We need to choose dresses that are all the same color but maybe not the same style.”
“First, the wedding dress, then the bridesmaids’,” Bridget told her. “How about this one?”
“Too much skirt and bling.” Alana shook her head. “Something way simpler with no sequins.”
“Like these.” Sadie held up two dresses.
Alana looked at the sleeveless satin sheath dress with its deep V-neck. She imagined wearing her mother’s pearl necklace and maybe some simple pearl earrings, and nodded. “Yes, much better. Do you think Daddy will like it, Bridget?”
“You are the bride,” Bridget reminded her. “You’re the one who has to feel special and pretty in the dress.”
Alana hadn’t given a wedding dress a second thought—hell, for that matter, she hadn’t given the dress a first thought—when she had set out on this path. What was it the preacher had said about tangled webs? Well, this was a step up from anything that a spider’s web had ever produced. It was more like a highway of self-destruction.
“Whoa!” she said as Bridget flipped past a dress. “I kind of like that one.” She thought about the picture of her mother and father on their wedding day that sat on the mantel above the fireplace. Her mother had been a tall woman too, and she’d worn a Cinderella-type gown with a big skirt and a train that went on forever. There was even a picture in their wedding album of the little flower girl and the ring bearer sitting on the train and looking up at the bride.
Why don’t you wear that dress? the voice in her head asked.
Because Mama was a lot thinner than I am. It would never fit. She went back to the first dresses on the rack and soon found four that she thought would work.
“Now I’m ready to try on,” she said.
“Then follow me.” Sadie led the way through the maze of dress racks to the fitting room.
The dressing room had Alana’s name printed on the chalkboard hanging on the door. Sadie hung seven dresses on the rack outside and waved Bridget over to a comfortable chair. “So am I to understand that y’all will be picking out bridesmaids dresses today also?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Alana said. “We’d like to get it all done today if possible, but we’ll only be taking Bridget’s dress with us. We need for you to coordinate with your sister store in Wichita Falls for the other five.”
“The way we usually work is that we order you a brand-new dress that’s never been tried on before. If you need alterations we will set aside a day for that,” Sadie said.
“I’m getting married June sixth,” Alana told her. “We won’t have time for alterations.”
“Then let’s hope that whatever you choose fits perfectly,” Sadie said. “Which one do you want to start with?”
“This one.” Alana chose a sleeveless satin one with a square neckline.
Sadie went into the dressing room with Alana and helped her step into the dress. She’d barely gotten it zipped when Alana began to shake her head. “This thing weighs as much as a baby elephant.”
“Satin is a heavy fabric, and there’s a lot of yardage in the skirt.” Sadie opened the door for her to step out and look at herself in the three-way mirror.
Bridget snapped a picture of her. “Before you say yes or no, I’m sending this to Matt.”
Alana stared at her reflection. The dress would be good with her mother’s pearls, all right, and she’d bet dollars to doughnuts that her dad would love it. She was blown away when Bridget shook her head. “Matt says if she wants it, that’s fine, but he doesn’t think it’s the dress.”
Back to the dressing room.
The second dress had a lovely belt that acce
ntuated Alana’s small waist and matched the beaded lace around the hem. Matt vetoed that one too. Thank God her father had said no because she would have argued with him if he’d liked it.
“Third’s the charm.” Sadie helped Alana into the sheath dress that she’d picked out for her.
It fit every curve of her six-foot body, and the flare at the bottom extended to form a short train. The dress felt better than either of the other two that she had tried on, and it fit perfectly. It wouldn’t have to be altered at all. She stepped out of the dressing room and stood in front of the mirror. Bridget snapped a picture and sent it to Matt.
That’s the one, Matt sent back. Buy it.
“You were right, Sadie. Third time’s the charm,” Alana said.
“Now let’s talk about shoes and a veil,” Sadie recommended.
“We’re all wearing western boots,” Alana told her.
“It’s a barn wedding,” Bridget explained as she snapped several more pictures to send to Matt. “What about a cowboy hat instead of a veil?”
“I’m not sure about…” She stopped midsentence when Sadie held up a pearl-encrusted comb with a short veil attached to it.
Sadie pulled out a chair. “If you’ll sit down here, I’ll show you how this would look.”
Alana was surprised to find that even when she was seated, the dress felt wonderful. Sadie twisted her hair up into a messy neckline bun and secured it in place with a couple of bobby pins. Then she positioned the comb at the top, letting the veil float about halfway down Alana’s back.
“Now stand up and take a look,” Sadie said.
“Perfect.” Bridget took more pictures.
“It does match Mama’s pearl necklace and her earrings.” Alana sighed.
“Do we have our dress, then?” Sadie asked.
“I believe we have,” Alana said. “I love all of it.”
“Then we’ll get it ordered. You can take the veil home today, and I’ll put a rush on your dress. It should be here within a week,” Sadie said.
“Thank you.” Alana looked at her reflection once more. An icy cold chill chased down her back, and the smile left her face. She felt beautiful in the dress, and evidently her father loved it, but…she closed her eyes and tried to keep the tears at bay.
“Matt sent a text,” Bridget said. “Listen to this, Knew the dress was the right one by Alana’s expression. She’s beaming, and that’s the way I want to see her on her wedding day.”
Alana thought about walking down the aisle on her father’s arm and him putting her hand into Pax’s. She found herself hoping that on this wedding day, she could make her father’s wishes come true even if hers couldn’t—that this was really the wedding of his dreams. Someday she would marry a man who had really proposed to her, not a friend who was doing her a big favor.
“You look like you’re about to cry,” Bridget said. “I can’t let anyone cry alone, and I don’t want to mess up my makeup before I try on dresses.”
“It’s all so overwhelming.” Alana pulled a tissue from her purse and dabbed at her eyes with it.
“That’s why I didn’t want a big to-do when Maverick and I got married, but you’ve got a whole different situation,” Bridget said.
“Truth is, I didn’t want a big wedding,” Alana admitted as she headed back into the dressing room. “I wanted me and Pax, you and Maverick in the church with family around us, and then a small reception. Daddy’s the one who wants this huge affair.”
“It’s because he loves you,” Bridget said. “Don’t lose sight of that.”
“Thanks, and I’ll try, but every time I turn around he wants to do more.” Alana managed a weak smile. “If Mama were here, she’d put the reins on him.”
She closed the dressing room door. Sadie started undoing all the small buttons down her back and asked, “What are your colors, and do you want long dresses or short ones for your bridesmaids?”
“Long dresses,” Alana told her, “and my colors are yellow and orange. We’re having lots of yellow roses because they were my mama’s favorite, and shades of orange worked into the centerpieces and bouquets. I was thinking something in a soft peach for the bridesmaids. One of them is eight months pregnant, as tall as me, and red-haired. One is as tall as I am and dark haired, but she’s not pregnant. The other three are shorter—one is a redhead, one is a strawberry blond, and one is a brunette, and Bridget is the one who came with me today. I don’t really want their dresses to be alike but all of them in the same color would be nice.” She realized she was talking too much to cover up her own anxiety. The whole idea of getting married to please her father hadn’t hit her so hard until she saw her reflection in the mirror in that perfect dress.
“I think I’ve got what you need,” Sadie said. “While you get dressed, I’ll take your dress and veil up to the front and help Bridget pick out an assortment of peach-colored ones.”
Alana waited until the women were gone, and then she sat down in a wingback chair, put her hands over her eyes, and wept as silently as she possibly could. The past week had gone by so fast that it was nothing but a blur. She wished she could slow time down to savor every single moment. She knew whatever time she had left with her dad would go all too quickly.
“Stop it!” she scolded herself as she took her hands away from her face. “Some folks don’t get even one extra hour with their loved ones. Think about Pax and Maverick’s grandpa. He dropped with a heart attack right where he stood. They didn’t have any time to get goodbyes said and things arranged.”
She wasn’t sure which was worse—the shock of a death when it happened suddenly or having time but knowing that it was fast coming to an end.
“I’ve got to stop this and enjoy what time I have left with him. This should be a wonderful time, not one of sorrow,” she whispered to her reflection in the mirror.
She left the dressing room and went out to sit in the chair that Bridget had vacated. She’d just sat down when her phone rang. Expecting it to be her father, she answered it without even looking at the screen.
“So you like the dress, do you?” she asked.
“Wouldn’t know,” Pax said. “If you’ll send over a picture of you in it, I’ll be glad to pass judgment.”
“Oh, no, the groom can’t see the bride in the dress until the wedding day. That’s bad luck.” Her spirits lifted at hearing his voice. “And we sure wouldn’t want any of that, now would we?”
“No, ma’am, we’re going to have a beautiful wedding, and, honey, you’d look good in a dress made from a feed sack and tied up in the middle with a calf rope,” he teased. “Want to take a drive to the creek this evening? We could throw down a quilt, have a few beers, and watch the stars. We might even see a shooting star and share the good luck.”
“I would love it,” she said. “Pick me up at eight. You bring the beer, and I’ll bring the quilt.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Before I forget,” she continued, “our high school reunion is Friday evening. Want to go?”
“I thought that was in June,” he said.
“They changed it to May this year. The excuse was that so many people take vacations in June that we were having a small turnout. And you’ll never believe it, but we’re having it in the school cafeteria. The committee thought that it would be nostalgic, but there’ll only be nonalcoholic drinks.” She stood up with the phone still to her ear and walked through the store to see where Bridget might be. Surely it didn’t take that long to find some peach dresses.
“Sure,” Pax answered. “Let’s go show ’em that we’re engaged.”
“Billy Ray is in charge of everything this year. I’ll call him and tell him that we’ll be attending.” She finally located Bridget.
“Tell him there will be four of us. I’m sure Maverick will want to be there with Bridget,” he said.
“Will do. See you this evening,” she said and ended the call.
A real girlfriend or fiancée would have ended with I love y
ou. Alana wondered if she and Pax should say it too so what they were doing would be more convincing.
Bridget waved her over and pointed to a large bunch of dresses on a rolling rack. “We found so many in the same color that we couldn’t carry them.”
* * *
At dusk that evening, Pax hit the house in a dead run, went straight to the bathroom for a quick shower, got dressed in clean jeans and a T-shirt, and was ready to go pick Alana up. He was in his truck and halfway down the lane when he remembered the beer he’d left behind in the refrigerator. Gravel and dust billowed up behind him when he stomped the brakes. The gray fog hadn’t cleared when he whipped his vehicle around in a three-point turn and headed back to the house.
He waved at Maverick and Laela, who were sitting on the porch swing, as he raced inside the house and came out with a six-pack of beer in his hand. “See y’all later.”
Laela whimpered and reached for him. He set the beer on the porch railing and crossed the porch in a couple of long strides. “It’s all right, darlin’. You’ll always be my favorite girl, and I’ll be back in time for breakfast.”
“Don’t believe him, Laela,” Maverick said. “If he’s telling the truth, then that means something fishy is going on with this wedding business, because Alana should be his favorite girl.”
“Alana is my favorite woman. Laela is my favorite girl.” He gave the toddler a kiss on the forehead. “And don’t you ever doubt that. But right now I’ve got to go. Being late for a date does not start off the night well.”
“Got dinner reservations somewhere?” Maverick asked.
“Nope, we’re going to find a place to relax and lay back to watch the stars,” Pax answered and then set Laela on the swing beside Maverick.
“Watch the stars?” Maverick chuckled. “Yeah, right.”
Cowboy Strong - Includes a bonus novella Page 10