by Liz Isaacson
Alex cocked her head, and Renee didn’t like the intense edge in her eyes. “How old are you, Renee?”
“Twenty-four.”
“A true millennial.”
“I guess.”
“Justin said you work online.”
“I’m a regional social media coordinator.”
Alex tipped her head back and laughed, her dark-as-night hair trailing across her shoulders. “Definitely a millennial.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
She leaned closer, a spark of friendship leaping in her eyes. “You want to get engaged? Ask him to marry you.” She sat back, her message delivered.
Shock sang through Renee. “I don’t know…. Would he be okay with that?”
“I’ve known Justin since he was eighteen years old,” she said. “He’s been burned badly twice. He probably wants to get engaged, but he can’t get himself there mentally. But you’re already there. So you do it.” With that, she laid back and closed her eyes.
Renee copied her, but the earlier peace and tranquility didn’t come.
Chapter Fourteen
On Thanksgiving Day, Justin ate a lot of turkey and pecan pie. He bypassed the pumpkin, much to Renee’s consternation.
“I can’t believe you don’t like pumpkin pie!” she’d cried, her eyes wide. “That’s it. Give me his piece.” And she’d eaten them both too. Charmed his parents with her infectious laugh and played with his nieces and nephews like they were her own.
“She’s wonderful,” his mom whispered to him while Renee went into the kitchen to refill her coffee mug.
“Mom,” he hissed. “Not now.”
But she wouldn’t be deterred. With one eye still on Renee, who laughed with Alex in the kitchen, his mom asked, “Are you going to ask her to marry you?”
Justin had thought of little else since she’d come to his cabin after a business trip a few weeks ago. She’d declared his loft as “the perfect workspace” for her at-home work. She’d asked about the Internet, and he’d told her the ranch had excellent service. It was as if they were making plans to live together very soon.
Which meant they’d be getting married very soon.
He’d had almost a month, and he still hadn’t been able to pluck up the courage to ask her. He’d done it twice to other women; he knew the words to say.
Renee returned before Justin could answer his mom. She exuded joy as she sank onto the couch next to him. “Hey, you wanna get out of here for a while?” He’d had enough of the crowd and wanted to talk to Renee alone.
“Is that a possibility?” she asked, casting a glance at his parents. Thankfully, his mom had gone back to her conversation with his dad and Jeff, his other brother.
“Yes.” He stood and took her coffee cup. “Renee and I are going to the beach.”
All conversation stopped, and Justin glanced around at his family, glad he’d made this trip. It really had been too long since he’d seen them. “Who wants to go?”
Everyone wanted to go, of course. So bags got packed and cars loaded, and Harvey led a caravan of vehicles to the beach. There weren’t very many people there, and Justin was easily able to separate Renee from everyone else.
“So, what do you think?” he asked as his toes sank into the sand. He wore shorts, a real rarity for him, and he wandered a bit closer to the shore.
“Of your family?”
“Yeah, my parents got in late last night, and you didn’t really get to talk to them. And Jeff’s…well, Jeff’s a little on the odd side.”
“I thought he was nice.” She stepped into the surf and smiled. “I really like them all. We’ll have to meet my family in batches so you don’t go crazy.”
“When do you think that will happen?”
“We could go meet my parents anytime. They’re in Idaho Falls. I have five older siblings, and they’re sort of all over the west and Midwest. The twins are at college in Boise. And there are still two kids at home.”
Justin’s head spun just keeping track of all of that, and she hadn’t even told him any of their names—besides Julie, who she’d texted during the concert in the park.
“What’s Christmas like in Idaho Falls?”
She cast him a quick glance out of the corner of her eye. “I’ll have to call my mom and ask her who’s coming home this year. My guess is it will be an eleven on an insanity scale of one to ten.”
“Maybe it’s time to get a little insane,” he said, not quite sure where the words had come from or what they meant.
Renee laughed, the sound rising into the sky and floating away. “Right. You don’t do insane.”
“I could handle it.”
“You aren’t even handling your own family well, and you only have two brothers.”
“There are seven kids between them.”
“I have more siblings than that.” She paused, pulling on him to stop walking too. “Justin, I don’t care. I get that you come from a quiet cabin where you live with a dog that I’ve never heard bark.”
“Roy is a great dog,” he said, his voice defensive. “You said you liked him.” Justin wasn’t sure what he’d do if he had to give up his dog.
She grinned and draped herself in his arms. “Of course I like him.” She tipped up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his mouth. “And I love you, anti-social and anti-crowd as you are. I’m just saying we should meet my family in batches.”
Switching her focus forward again, she tugged on his hand and got him moving again. “So I’ll call my mom and find out about Christmas.”
“Deal,” he said, the sun glinting like diamonds on the ocean.
Diamonds, he thought. He wondered if he could give Renee a diamond before they went to Idaho for Christmas. His mouth turned dry and his heart hammered at the very thought, yet a smile also curled the corners of his mouth.
Maybe….
Two weeks later, he found Renee in his kitchen, a pot of coffee already brewed when he finished work. “Hey.” He kissed her quickly because he smelled like horse and hay and worse. “This is a nice surprise.” He scanned the counter, where a box from Luigi’s sat. “And you brought dinner too. My birthday isn’t until March, beautiful.”
She smiled, but it contained a secret. Her eyes harbored one too. He studied her. “What’s goin’ on?”
“You go shower, and then we’ll talk about it.”
He complied, thinking whatever it was must not be too important, or she wouldn’t send him to shower first. Still, he hurried through the motions and returned to her in the kitchen. He opened the box of pizza and tossed three slices onto a plate.
When Renee didn’t even reach for a plate, he stalled. “Are we eating or talking first?”
She took his plate and set it on the counter. “Justin, I’m in love with you, and we’ve been talking about our future together.” She opened his bread drawer and removed a navy blue ring box. Justin’s heart shot straight out of his chest. At least it felt like it did, because he couldn’t breathe, and he couldn’t blink, and he couldn’t speak.
“I found a ring that I really love, and I’m wondering if you’d like to marry me.” She cracked open the ring box and tilted it toward him, but he didn’t even look at it.
She laughed but it came off more as a cackle. “I’m probably doing this all wrong. It’s my first proposal.”
“You’re doing fine,” he said. He spun away from her. “Renee, this—”
“I know this isn’t traditional,” she said. “But I’m a millennial. We don’t do traditional.” She stepped around him and faced him again. “So will you marry me?”
Justin gazed down at the woman he loved, and the only thing he could come up with was, “Yes.”
She squealed and launched herself into his arms, kissing him as passionately as she ever had. She tasted like coffee and cream, and he wanted to come home to her every night after work.
All too soon, she jumped back. She handed him the ring box. “Will you put it on?”
<
br /> He gingerly removed the ring from the box, noting that the diamond had a pinkish hue to it, and the band was definitely rosy. He liked it, because it suited Renee. He locked his eyes on hers and found a storm of love in her gaze that was identical to how he felt inside.
“I love you,” he said, sliding the ring on her finger.
“I love you too,” she said just before kissing him again.
Five Months Later:
Renee kept smoothing her palms over her hips, though she hadn’t gained any weight. She didn’t even care if she’d gained weight. Didn’t mind that her dress had come in at a size ten.
Every time Justin looked at her, she felt the warmth and radiating glow of his love. The past few months had been busy and then busier as she prepared for a wedding and to move into his cabin at the top of the canyon.
“Ready?” her mother asked, letting the door of the bride’s room close as she turned around. “I just got the signal from your father.”
Renee nodded, the vintage fifties hair rolls on her head wobbling a little. But Julia had really wanted to do her hair, and Renee wanted to include her siblings if she could. One of her brothers had provided the shoes for the wedding party. Another had purchased the flowers. Her sisters had done all the baking for the reception that evening. Renee’s house looked like a flour bomb had gone off, and she couldn’t wait to leave for her honeymoon—a cruise through the waters near Alaska.
Justin’s brother had arrived last night, and he’d practiced the wedding with Pastor Peters and Justin while Renee entertained her gigantic family in her tiny bungalow.
Yes, everything would be better once this wedding was over.
The thought got Renee moving out the door and to her position in front of the closed chapel doors. She saw the smiling faces, but her nerves tumbled through her veins so violently, she couldn’t return the gesture.
Her father took her arm, and her two brothers pulled back the doors, and her sisters started the parade into the chapel. By the time it was her turn to enter, Renee thought sure Justin would’ve fled.
But he hadn’t.
He stood at the front of the chapel, right at the altar. Relief painted her from top to bottom. She thought sure he wouldn’t show up. He’d confessed several times over the last few months that he should be the one to get to walk down the aisle while she waited for him at the altar. Then he wouldn’t have to be stood up again.
No matter how many times she’d assured him she’d make it to their wedding, she’d known the worry still seethed within him.
Her father passed her to Justin, who leaned down and whispered, “You made it.”
“I told you I would.” She beamed up at him, and tried to infuse meaning into her next words of, “I love you.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Harvey said before Justin could say anything in response. “We gather here today to witness the union of this man.” He locked eyes with his brother. “And this woman.” He looked at Renee, and she found such fire in his expression she knew he was a well-loved preacher.
“I believe they’ve written their own vows.”
Justin fumbled a little as he released her arm and pulled his phone from his pocket. “I typed mine in a text,” he said in a loud voice that filled the chapel. “See, Renee and I fell in love in sort of an unconventional way. Texts.”
He met her eye and grinned. She pulled her phone out and held it up for the crowd, who twittered with laughter.
“Renee,” he started. “Just because you picked me up in a bar, on a bet, doesn’t mean I don’t love you.” He lowered his phone as she cocked her hip and glared.
“I will always love you,” he said, his voice throatier and lower now. “You are my everything.”
Always a man of few words, Renee thought. And actually really loved about Justin.
“My vows are much longer than that,” Renee said. “Justin always let me do the talking, but I just need to say one thing. We did not meet in a bar.”
Her family laughed the loudest, and Renee decided to wrap up this show. “Justin, I love you as much as I love ice cream.”
He chuckled and they turned back to his brother, who said beautiful things about always and forever, and pronounced them husband and wife.
Renee tensed as Justin swept one hand around her waist and the other across his head to remove his cowboy hat. “Love you, Renee,” he whispered just before he kissed her to thunderous applause.
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Sneak Peek! A Bride for the Bronc Rider Chapter One
Ted Caldwell whistled as he put the horse he’d worked with all morning in his stall. “You’ll get it tomorrow, Yellowstone.” The horse had a long way to go, but Ted just gave the animal a grin and turned toward the tack room. Yellowstone was a natural bucker, and he’d be a fantastic bronco for the rodeo if Ted could get him trained up right.
He hung up the saddle, his stomach growling for something to eat. He hadn’t heard from Landon or any of the other cowboys, but Megan usually had something laid out for lunch at the homestead, especially in the summertime.
His cowboy boots made clomping noises on the packed dirt as he made his way past the exercise circle and the huge, covered horse arena. He was one of six cowboys that lived full-time at Brush Creek Horse Ranch, working and training horses for the rodeo circuit. Each of the cowboys had a different specialty, and Ted’s was getting the broncos set to win championships. It could take him a couple of years to get a single horse ready, and he never worked with more than three at a time.
Right now he only had two, which gave him a bit more time to help with regular ranch duties like working in the fields and making sure the pastures stayed fenced. His spirit warmed when he thought about the weekend before him. Tomorrow afternoon, he’d take his two broncs out to the pastures by the red rock buttes, where they’d stay for a couple of days. He’d been working the horses hard lately, and they all needed a break.
“Landon?” he called as he entered the homestead through the sliding glass door off the pool. “Megan?” The owners of the ranch, Landon and Megan had just had their third child. Megan had only been home from the hospital for about a week, and their four-year-old twins could usually be heard from anywhere on the ranch.
But Ted couldn’t hear anything right now. Neither Megan nor Landon seemed to be around, but all the sandwich stuff spread across the kitchen counter meant lunch was on at the homestead. Other cowboys had obviously been through the line, as the meat and cheese was out of the bags and the lids on the mayo and mustard had been popped.
Ted picked up his whistling again as he bustled around the kitchen, slathering mayo on white bread and then layering turkey, roast beef, and provolone on top of that. Instead of taking just a handful of chips from one of the bags, he snagged the whole, crinkly container and headed toward the front door.
The backyard baked in the Utah sun, so Megan had put a table and enough chairs for all the cowboys to eat lunch on the front patio, where the shade kept everyone cool. As Ted exited the house, with its blessed air conditioning, he remembered how little the shade actually did in mid-July.
He sighed and took a seat at the table beside Blake, the newest member of the cowboy team at Brush Creek. “How’s everyone?” He tucked a napkin into the front of his shirt and exhaled happily.
Blake chuckled. “You and that ridiculous napkin.” He swiped at it, but Ted dodged him and dug into his sandwich.
“This napkin keeps my clothes pristine.” He used it to wipe his beard and mustache. “And my beautiful beard lookin’ great.”
“For who?” Blake challenged. “Us? All the women out her
e are already married.” He glanced across the lane to the row of cowboy cabins, two of which now housed families and not just men. Ted hadn’t given much thought to expanding the residents in his cabin; he hadn’t dated in the five years since he’d arrived at the ranch, since he’d left the rodeo circuit after breaking six ribs and a leg. He didn’t walk with a limp, and he had enough money in the bank that he didn’t have to work at all. He counted his lucky stars everyday that he’d landed at Brush Creek and could still feel the calming influence of the horses.
Walker mentioned there were lots of available women down in town, and lunch concluded. Ted stayed at the table, having only been there for a few minutes. He stretched out and put both his hands behind his head. The blue sky with those puffy white clouds made him smile.
Something crashed in the house, and Ted got to his feet, curiosity burning through him. He wanted another sandwich anyway, so he re-entered the house, expecting to see Megan carrying her newborn and trying to keep the twins away from whatever she’d broken.
He didn’t see her, but another brunette, whose hair color obviously came from a bottle, along with the numerous lighter brown and blonde streaks that fell across her shoulders.
This woman crouched low to the ground, picking up pieces of a glass bowl that had broken. She muttered under her breath and didn’t seem to notice Ted as he approached—a real feat considering the size of his cowboy boots and the echoing tile floor.
“Do you need some help?” he said in his gentlest voice, the one he used on the wild horses when they first arrived at the ranch.
She jumped away from him, straightening and covering her heart with her palm. “You don’t have to yell.”
Ted blinked at her and looked around the house, as if someone would appear and confirm that he hadn’t yelled. “I’ll get the broom.”