Rhett's Make-Believe Marriage

by Liz Isaacson

  She handed him bottle after bottle, and together they got them in the ice and ready to take outside. “Thank you, Liam,” she said with a smile, but Rhett couldn’t tell if that was normal or not.

  “My pleasure.” His brother bustled off with the soda, and Rhett had no idea what Evelyn was talking about. She’d picked up a stack of napkins and followed Liam, and Rhett didn’t know what to do to help.

  “Put me to work, Callie,” he said.

  “Oh, you do enough work around here,” she said, that smile still in place. So she couldn’t like Liam the way Evelyn thought she did. Could she? “Go sit down on the deck. Miah’s almost done with the burgers.”

  Rhett did as she said, thinking that if there was someone Callie liked, it was Jeremiah. No one else got a pet name, and no one else called him Miah. In fact, Rhett was surprised he let Callie call him that.

  The moment he got outside, Jeremiah turned from the grill. “Burgers are done. Is Rhett here yet?”

  “Right here.” He raised his hand as if his brother wouldn’t be able to see him in such a large crowd. A disgruntled look crossed Jeremiah’s face, but he said nothing. Callie crowded behind Rhett, and he stepped out of the way so she could get out of the house.

  “All right,” she said. “Let’s say grace.” She gazed around at everyone as the chatter stopped and hats were removed. “Liam, will you?”

  “Sure,” he said easily, closing his eyes. He said a nice prayer about having friends and family together, thanking the Lord for the Sabbath day and the opportunity to go to church, and then he said, “And help the mare here at Shining Star get well. Amen.”

  Everyone chorused amen, and Rhett stood back as the jostle started for plates and drinks and food. Liam didn’t go immediately into the fray either, but he watched Callie step over and start talking to Evelyn.

  In fact, his brother’s eyes tracked Callie until she started toward the line, and then Liam darted over there too.

  Rhett smiled at his brother and nodded toward them. Evelyn had been watching too, and she laced her arm through his. “Are you going to eat? You’re usually leading the charge.”

  “What do you think he’s saying to her?” he asked.

  “Callie, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” Evelyn said in a low voice, a terrible impersonation of Rhett’s brother.

  He chuckled at the same time Callie tipped her head back and laughed at something Liam had said.

  “So not that,” Evelyn said, giggling too.

  “He’s practically glowing,” Rhett said. “I wonder what he said and how long it took him to come up with it.”

  Evelyn sighed and leaned her head against his bicep. In moments like these, time froze, and it was just him and her. The family fray around them didn’t exist, and he could feel her love for him way down deep in his soul.

  She hadn’t said anything about the card. Hadn’t returned the gesture. Rhett honestly didn’t mind, but it would be nice to know where her mind was at the moment.

  “He’s working hard,” Evelyn said. “Gotta give him credit for that.”

  “Do you give me credit for the breakfasts?” Rhett asked. Though he and Evelyn saw each other every day now, he missed their Tuesday morning ritual.

  She looked at him, surprise written all over her face. “The breakfasts? Those were….”

  “I mean, maybe I didn’t know what I was doing,” Rhett said. “But I knew I’d get to see you every Tuesday, and I never missed a single one.”

  Evelyn stretched up to kiss him, a quick press of her lips against his. Then she gave him a look that said so much more than that and got in line to get a hamburger. He went with her, because yes, he was hungry, and it was time to eat.

  The summer passed, and Liam went to every dance. He’d been out with a few women, and by the time the Texas heat became downright brutal, he had himself a girlfriend.

  And she wasn’t Callie Foster.

  Rhett had worked a few small cases over the summer, and he’d managed to get the Shining Star Ranch more operational than it had been in a long time. He’d doubled their hay harvest that year, and every fence and every outbuilding was as strong as an ox. Their animals were in peak condition, and Rhett mostly worked maintenance on the ranch now, Simone and Callie at his side.

  Evelyn’s matchmaking business had boomed now that she’d landed herself a cowboy husband, and Rhett hadn’t said another word to her about the validity of their marriage. She never brought up anything difficult to talk about, and Rhett wondered how long they’d stay married. She’d never put a date on when they might be able to break up and she’d be able to keep her clients.

  He sure liked living with her. Liked waking up next to her and brushing his teeth in the same bathroom she used. He liked holding her hand, and kissing her, and making love to her. She seemed to like all of those things too.

  At the end of every month, he bought another rose to signal their time together, and this arrangement he was currently setting out on her desk had a vase with four roses in it. Four months of wedded bliss.

  A question had been revolving in his mind for a month now, and he’d never said it out loud. Could they simply stay married?

  Okay, two questions: Did she love him?

  Because he was pretty sure he was in love with her. He’d never been in love before, but when he imagined it, it felt like what he had with Evelyn. Comfortable. Filled with excitement and sparks. Peaceful.

  At the same time, he couldn’t even bring himself to talk to her about these important things. Things between them were humming along now, and Rhett didn’t want to ruin it, though a sense of quiet unrest lived within him.

  His phone rang, and he startled away from the flowers to answer the call from his mother. “Ma,” he said loudly as he left Evelyn’s office and went out onto the front porch. He’d installed a swing here and he sat down, ready for a long conversation with his mother.

  “Rhett,” she said, her Texan drawl still heavy though she’d lived in Grand Cayman for a couple of years now. “Daddy and I want all the boys to come to the island for Christmas.”

  “Christmas?” It was the middle of September.

  “You boys will need time to plan,” she said simply. “We have plenty of room here, and December is a lovely time to visit.”

  Right now, Rhett didn’t want to go anywhere warm or tropical. “Mom, I’m married now,” he reminded her. “Evelyn can come, right?” He didn’t think for a minute that she’d want to leave Callie and Simone for the holidays. She’d never spent much time outside of Texas at all, and Rhett couldn’t see her journeying to Grand Cayman for an island Christmas.

  It had taken him two months to get her to take him to formally meet her father and grandmother. Two months, though she’d told them she had married the cowboy down the lane. That was how her father thought of him. He’d even said it when they’d finally met.

  Oh, he’s the cowboy down the lane.

  “Right,” Evelyn had said.

  Sure, he’d seen her father at church, but they didn’t talk much, and her dad acted like she and Rhett weren’t married. Didn’t live together.

  Rhett pushed the memories away, just like he’d been doing for months. Anything troubling or unpleasant, and he pushed it away.

  His mother was talking, but Rhett wasn’t listening, so he hadn’t heard what she’d said about Evelyn coming for Christmas. Maybe Rhett would go by himself. Maybe Evelyn wouldn’t need him anymore by Christmas.

  Her business was doing so well right now, as it seemed every woman in Three Rivers wanted a boyfriend for the fall festivities and the upcoming holidays. Now that the summer dances were over, the opportunities to meet someone had dried up like the landscape around them.

  A car pulled in their driveway, and a lithe, blonde woman got out. She carried a folder, and Rhett recognized it. She was here to meet with Evelyn, and he stood up, so she’d see him there. “Mom,” he said while she was in the middle of a sentence. “I’m sorry, but I h
ave to go.”

  “I’m calling Jeremiah,” she said.

  “Okay,” Rhett said, hanging up in the next moment. He still hadn’t quite fixed everything between him and his next oldest brother, but he was working on it. Jeremiah could be unusually stubborn, and he’d been giving Liam the silent treatment too. He was taking this pact super-seriously, though it was already shattered.

  “Hello,” he said, extending his hand to the woman. “You must be here for my wife.” He grinned at her, watching the blonde soften in front of him.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’m Ivory Osburn.”

  “Nice to meet you.” He pumped her hand and turned to the front door. “C’mon in. I’ll go see where Evvy is.” He opened the door and almost ran into her. “Oh, she’s right here.”

  “Hey,” she said, a measure of panic on her face. “Did you meet Ivory?”

  “I sure did.” He swept a kiss across her cheek. “I’ll leave you ladies to it. I have work to do on a new case.”

  “Okay.” Evelyn gestured for Ivory to follow her into the office. “In here, Ivory.”

  “Does he have any brothers?” Ivory asked in a stage whisper, and Rhett almost turned back to her to say that yes, he did indeed have six brothers, none of whom were currently married. But that Evelyn would not be setting anyone up with them, as per her agreement with him.

  After all, Evelyn was very good at making agreements and sticking to them. His heart hurt, and he knew he was being unfair. He hadn’t talked to her about anything, choosing to keep the peace instead of getting the answers he wanted.

  Maybe it was time to raise a little ruckus. Rhett just wasn’t sure if he was capable of doing that. As the older brother, he always kept the peace. Micah, the youngest, blew things up. Jeremiah made snap judgements it took him months to get over.

  The twins smiled and laughed and whispered to each other behind closed doors. Wyatt stood to the side and then cleaned up the aftermath. And Skyler stayed away from most family things, because he’d rather dirty his hands under the hood of a car than with family drama.

  In that moment, Rhett realized Skyler had probably figured things out the most, but he couldn’t go back in time and refuse his best friend when she asked him to marry her as a favor.

  Even if he wanted to.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Evelyn stared down the hall toward the kitchen after Ivory had left, the numbness she’d been fighting during the meeting finally spreading down her legs. She stumbled into the office and sat down, in complete disbelief.

  Ivory Osburn wanted to get to know Tripp Walker, and Evelyn hadn’t said no. But she couldn’t do it. She’d told Rhett she wouldn’t set up his brothers, even if Ivory was perfect for Tripp.

  “Even if,” she whispered to herself. She’d come up with something for why she couldn’t do it. Text Ivory when the power woman wasn’t sitting right across from her, those piercing blue eyes almost demanding to know why Tripp Walker was off the table.

  So Evelyn had said she’d put a couple of scenarios together, and she’d gotten Ivory out of there. She typically loved her work. Loved the research that went into looking up the cowboys her clients liked. Loved putting facts on paper and seeing if a match could be made. Loved the behind-the-scenes work it took to set up the perfect meetcute.

  She looked up from the pile of folders on her desk when she heard the back door open and then close. How long had she been sitting there? No matter what, Rhett’s footsteps came closer, and she couldn’t cover up Ivory’s folder before he appeared in the doorway.

  He’d never paid too close of attention to her business or her clients, always excusing himself as he had earlier if he was home at all.

  Home.

  Her breath hitched in her throat. When had she started thinking of this house as her home?

  “Hey,” he said, clearing his throat. “I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have a minute?” He scanned the desk, but there was no way he’d be able to read her notes from his position across the room, stuck in the doorway. His nerves preceded him into the room, and her own crackled to life.

  “Sure,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  He pressed his palms together as he crossed the room and sat in the chair her clients did. “It’s about us, Evvy. I’m wondering what your plans are.”

  “My plans?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded, those dark eyes burning so bright. “Look, I’ll be honest. I was falling for you before we got married. Now that we’re living together and doing married things, I’m ninety-nine-percent sure I’m in love with you.” He blinked a couple of times as the air left Evelyn’s lungs.

  “And I need to know where you are. How you feel about me. If this is real, or I’ve been kidding myself all this time.” He closed his mouth and just looked at her.

  She had no idea what to say. “I….”

  He tilted his head the slightest bit, as if he could catch more sound that way. But her voice had gone on vacation. Completely.

  “So you don’t know,” he said.

  “I mean, I guess I do.”

  “Then what?” he asked. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “I don’t know what I’m thinking,” she said. “I’m…a little surprised right now. I need a minute.”

  “You need a minute.”

  She really didn’t like how he was repeating everything she said.

  “For what?” he asked. “To decide how to tell me you love me too? Or how to tell me I’ve fallen for a woman who doesn’t love me back?”

  “I…don’t know?”

  Rhett brought one hand to his forehead and wiped it down his face. “Okay, well, it probably shouldn’t be this hard to decide. So I guess that’s the answer.” He stood up. “I’m going to Seven Sons for a while. I won’t be back for dinner.”

  She watched him walk toward the door, and everything in her told her not to let him leave like this. “Wait,” she said. She’d asked him to stay all those months ago, on their first night here in this house. Could she do it again?

  If you do, you better mean it, she thought, and she couldn’t get herself to ask him. “Don’t not come home for dinner.”

  “Why not? Jeremiah will feed me.”

  She wrapped her arms around him, glad when he let her and when he put his arms around her. “Because I’m making that pulled pork you love.”

  “Did you hear what I said?” He looked down at her, and Evelyn saw the desperation there. “I love you, Evvy.”

  If she hadn’t put the words together in that order a moment ago, she couldn’t deny them now. “I heard you,” she said. “I think I just need more…time to get there.”

  “So you’re not in love with me.” He stepped back.

  “Rhett,” she said. “Does it have to be now or never?”

  “I think it’s unfair to kiss me and sleep with me and be my wife if it’s not now,” he said. “We’ve been playing this game for four months. I’m tired.”

  “It’s not a game,” she said, surprised by the power behind those words.

  “It isn’t?”

  “No,” she said. “Not at all.” She sighed and looked down at his boots. Those sexy cowboy boots he wore everywhere. “I just…I guess I’ve put off thinking about it, because it scares me.”

  “I’m terrified,” he whispered.

  She lifted her eyes to his and asked, “Can I just have some more time to think about it?”

  He looked at her for a long, long moment. “I’ve been waiting for a while,” he said. “I suppose a little bit longer won’t kill me.”

  She twined her fingers through his. “Thanks, Rhett.”

  He swept his lips across her forehead, the touch there and gone in the same breath. Then he turned and went out the front door, never looking back. She moved to the window in her office and watched him back out of their driveway.

  Their driveway.

  Didn’t that thought alone mean she loved him?

  She had no idea. But s
he had a feeling she better figure things out fast.

  A week passed, and she still didn’t know. No amount of time on her knees had provided her with the answer.

  Two weeks passed, and she could tell Rhett wanted to bring the topic back to life. But he didn’t. She prayed harder. Booked three more clients desperate for cowboy candy on their arms that holiday season.

  The weather started to cool slightly, and people brought out their Halloween decorations. She’d managed to move Ivory from Tripp to another cowboy who ran the seed and feed, and she felt like she was dodging bullets left and right.

  Halfway through October, she had a rare day where she didn’t have any client work. Rhett had already gone to the ranch, as he’d been sleeping upstairs since their talk almost a month ago.

  She missed him in the bed beside her. Missed his presence and the way he breathed while he was asleep more powerfully than she thought possible. He still showered in the master bath, and she stood at the counter and picked up his toothbrush.

  Looking up and into her own eyes in the mirror, she asked, “Are you in love with him?”

  She wanted to say yes. But the truth was, the answer was still I don’t know.

  She got behind the wheel of her car and drove out to the Shining Star Ranch. She came out quite often, but as she rumbled along the dirt road, it didn’t feel like coming home.

  Confused and not wanting to talk to Callie about any of this, she went around the farmhouse to the huge shed on the north side, where Simone would be hard at work on her refurbishing business.

  She took a deep breath as she got out of her car, and by the time she walked inside the building, she felt a little bit better. Sure enough, her younger sister sat at a table in the middle of the room, swiping yellow paint onto an old sewing machine.

  “Hey,” she said without looking up. “What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, I had a day off,” Evelyn said, scanning the shed. “Wow, Simone. You have a ton of stuff here.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been working for months to have the inventory I need for the Fall Festival,” she said. “I only have a few more pieces.” Swish, swish went her brush, and then she looked up, a smile on her face.