by Emily March
“We’ll have to send them to bed without their suppers,” Tucker replied, then wished he hadn’t said the B word. He cleared his throat. “I’ll light the lanterns, though I’m sort of surprised they didn’t burst into flame all on their own from all the heat we just generated.”
“No kidding.”
While he set about doing that, she knelt beside the trunk and lifted the lid. Her fingers trailed across the fabric of the wedding gown. “This is so beautiful.”
“So are you. Beautiful inside and out, Glory.”
She lifted the dress from the trunk, held it by its shoulders, and studied it. “I still wonder what its story is. I wish we had some way to discover it. Was this gown worn to her wedding to the love of her life, the father of her fourteen children?”
“Fourteen?”
“Life before birth control. Or did a villain steal this dress before she had the chance to wear it? Did a stagecoach robber steal her dream? I really wish we knew.”
A stagecoach robber stealing dreams.
“I’ve been wearing the black hat,” Tucker murmured.
“I’m sorry?”
Tucker simply shook his head and smiled.
Gillian removed a folded dress bag sporting the Bliss Bridal logo from her backpack. Carefully, tenderly, and respectfully, she packed the antique wedding gown inside. When the bag’s zipper stuck, she picked away loose threads, and Tucker helped by giving it a good yank.
Then she lifted it, folded it over her arms, and faced him. “You ready for that talk now?”
No. Never. “Sure. There’s a good spot just up the trail a little ways. Let me…”
A notion had occurred to him as he’d watched her take that gown from the trunk. It was a little weird, bordering on woo-woo, but if either Celeste or Angelica stood beside him, he knew in his gut that they’d tell him to go with it.
He pulled his pocket watch from his pocket, placed it in the trunk, then shut the lid, and turned to go.
Gillian watched him quizzically. “Why did you do that?”
“Time,” he said. “The watch came to me for a reason. I’m tucking it away as a promise.”
He picked up his pack and led her from the shadows of the cave into the light, bright summer afternoon.
They hiked farther up the trail, beyond the cave. In less than five minutes, they reached Tucker’s goal—a large, flat-topped boulder that offered a bird’s-eye view of most of the canyon. He took the wedding gown from her arms and set it aside, then he placed his hands around her waist and lifted her up and onto the rock. “Stay,” he commanded to both dogs in a tone of voice that demanded he be obeyed. “Sit.”
The dogs sat.
Tucker climbed up on the rock and sat beside his wife. “Look.” He pointed out the landmarks in the canyon below. “There’s the inn, and to the south, Ruin. To the north lies Redemption.”
“It’s a pretty view,” Gillian said. “Tucker, I need to tell you—”
“Please,” he interrupted. “Let me go first. I need to go first, because I think what I have to say will probably change whatever it is you intend to tell me.”
“All right.”
Tucker drew a deep breath, exhaled in a rush, and abandoned his planned, canned speech and instead, spoke from his heart. “The way I see it, I’m metaphorically sitting on the front porch of the inn, halfway between Ruin and Redemption with a choice to make. I know what the choice needs to be. I’ve known it for a while now, which has been a reason why I’ve been as grumpy as Branch Callahan when the Cowboys lose to the Eagles.”
“I understand that he does like his Cowboys.”
“He’s a maniac. He’s older than dirt and swears he’s not kicking up his boots until they win another Super Bowl.”
“Your whole family will probably always root for the Cowboys’ opponent in that case. I saw at the wedding how much everyone loves him.”
“We do. And speaking of love…” He took her hand in his and brought it up to his mouth. He pressed a kiss against first her knuckles and then the heart of her palm. “I love you, Gillian, and I owe you an apology. I was wrong to pressure you into going public about our marriage. I’d promised you time, and I tried to change the rules on you. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Thank you.”
“In my defense, I’ve never been in love before, so I’ll invariably make some training mistakes.”
“Training mistakes?” she repeated, a smile hovering on her lips.
“It’s a woman’s job to train the men in their lives. Boone’s sisters spout off about that all the time.”
“I see. So, you’re saying this whole argument between us was my fault for not properly training you?”
“Would I get away with that?”
“Not on your life.”
“Didn’t figure so. Here’s the deal, Glory. I don’t want to wear the black hat anymore. I choose to take the road to Redemption. You deserve to write the story you want to write, the one of the bride living her dream with her mother looking on, not the version where a robber with a six-shooter has held the bride up and stolen her dress. In that case, it’s time for us to turn the page.”
“I like the sound of this, Tucker, but how do you propose we do it?”
“We proceed as planned. I’m packed for the desert. My plane leaves tonight.”
She blinked and went stiff. “Wait. What? You’re leaving? Already? Without our discussing it?”
“We still have six weeks to eight weeks to discuss it, honey. I spoke with my buddy last night. We needed to make the call on who would be working where.”
“So you chose Death Valley?”
“To be totally transparent, a portion of what we do is in an air-conditioned classroom in Las Vegas. We’re not in the desert for the entire time, and we’ll only be in the park itself for a portion of that.”
“The park?”
“Death Valley is a national park.”
“I didn’t know that. But … you’ll be gone. To Nevada. With a residence.”
“I can file for divorce the first week of August.”
“But … but … what about the plan?”
“What plan?”
“The one to win my heart!”
“Oh. That plan.” He took hold of her hand, brought it to his mouth, and kissed her knuckles. “It’s in the bag.”
She relaxed a bit and arched her brows. Her lips twitched. “You think so, hmm?”
“I do. This isn’t surrender, my love. This isn’t even strategic retreat. What I’m doing is clearing the way so the wedding planner can do her thing—when she so chooses.”
“Are you asking me to marry you, Tucker?”
“Right now?” He rubbed his chin and considered the question a moment before shaking his head. “Well, no. Last time I did that in a shopping mall. I’m thinking next time around should involve some real romance. I’ll be back in Texas in August, honey. I’m predicting a whirlwind romance that culminates with an engagement ring and a wedding date that’s as soon as the wedding planner and her mom can make it happen.”
“You want to divorce me so you can marry me?”
“No. What I want is for you to realize you can trust what is already in your heart. It will happen, and I can wait for it. Then, when the time is right, I’ll watch you walk up the aisle to me wearing the wedding dress of your dreams on the arm of your proud father and with your happy mother dabbing her tears with a handkerchief in the front row.” He turned her hand over and kissed the center of her palm.
“I will wait for you, Gillian. I’m sorry I let my impatience get the best of me. No more pressure. I’ve learned my lesson.”
Gillian exhaled a heavy breath. Her voice was a little shaky when she said, “Well. Okay. Wow. You’ve blindsided me with this, Tucker. This is not at all what I was expecting. I need to think about this and figure out if it changes what I had intended to say to you today.”
“Take your time. Tell you what, why don’t we head back to the
MULE and return to my place. We could go for a swim. You can tell me what you need to tell me when you’re ready.” He hopped down from the boulder and turned to help her. “I’ve got time. My plane doesn’t leave until eleven forty.”
Tucker carried the wedding gown as they hiked back to the utility vehicle. They kept conversation to a minimum. Gillian’s expression was pensive, her thoughts obviously turned inward. Only when he loaded the dogs up into the MULE did she ask a question. “What are you going to do with River? Aren’t you supposed to dog sit for the entire month that Jackson and Caroline are on their honeymoon?”
“Angelica said he can stay with her at the inn. Now that we’ve built the innkeeper’s cottage, she has a way to keep him separate from guests who aren’t dog lovers.”
While Gillian seemed weighted by the revelation of Tucker’s plan, he felt about a million times better. His Pigpen cloud had dissipated. The gloom surrounding him had lifted. The choir of angels creating a racket inside him had zipped their heavenly lips.
He didn’t look forward to the sixty days in the desert, but he was a professional, and the reward would be worth it.
Back at the trailer, he placed the wedding gown across the back seat of her car, while she went inside to change into the swimsuit she kept here. He stripped down to his boxers and dove into the cool, refreshing water, where he swam underwater for three strong strokes. When he surfaced, he gave his head a fling to get the water out of his eyes. The sight that met him took his breath away.
Gillian had a new swimsuit. A teeny, tiny red bikini. Her mile-long legs carried her toward the fishing hole, her hips swayin’ like church bells on Easter morn, and a hot time Saturday night look in her eyes. She’d painted her mouth vixen red.
Tucker thought it entirely possible that the sixty-nine-degree water surrounding him might just turn to steam.
“Mr. McBride, I have a counterproposal for you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. But first, I need to tell you something.”
“Okay. Hurry up, though, because I need to get my hands on you bad.”
“I’m counting on it.” Poised at the edge of the swimming hole, ready to make her dive, Gillian lifted her lips in a temptress’s smile that inexorably drew him forward. She signaled for him to stop at a point where his feet reached the rocky bottom.
She circled those luscious lips with her tongue. “At our Girls Getting Grubby weekend, you taught me three important survival rules. One.” She held up her index finger. “Determine my need and develop a solution.” She held up a second finger. “Continually work to improve my circumstances. And three.” Up came the third finger. “Don’t make my situation any worse. Based on those rules, I have developed a personal acronym.”
She executed a graceful, shallow dive into the water and moments later, surfaced in front of him. Instinctively he reached for her, but again, she signaled him to stop. “Our acronym begins with L. I love you, Tucker McBride, with my whole heart. Not just my entire heart, but whole as in healed. I love you with my whole heart.”
His own heart thudded. “Gillian—”
She cut him off. “No. My turn to talk. After L comes I, for invest. I am invested in this relationship. I am all in. That brings us to V. You have two Vs in your S.U.R.V.I.V.A.L. acronym—vanquish fear and value living. I considered both, but I settled on Venus.”
“A planet?”
She laughed. “The goddess of love. I intend to be your Venus, Tucker, because in addition to love, Venus’s functions encompass desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory.”
“Fertility?”
“In due time, yes, fertility.”
“I can work with that. So, you have L.I.V.… is the next one E?”
“Nope. Too short. We’re going for the whole tamale, or gerund, as it were, so the next letter is another I. Infinite, for no boundaries. No boundaries in this love I give to you. N is for nanosecond. I’m not going to waste a nanosecond of loving you. Finally, G. G is for giggle, because laughter is vital to a life well lived.”
“L.I.V.I.N.G. I love it. Can I kiss you now?”
“No, not yet.
“What about that nanosecond?”
“I have to summarize first. So, I determined my need, developed a solution, and I’m working to improve my circumstance without making it any worse. I’m committed to L.I.V.I.N.G., which brings us to my counterproposal.”
Gillian looped her arms over Tucker’s shoulders and laced her fingers behind his neck. “Tucker McBride, will you repeat our wedding vows with me two months from Saturday? In Las Vegas?”
He blinked. Repeat their vows? No divorce! Tucker grinned as joy filled his heart. “A destination wedding? Really?”
“Really.” Happiness sparkled in her eyes. “My mother will love it.”
EIGHT WEEKS LATER
In the bride’s room at the Chapel of Wedded Bliss, with a photographer clicking away and Maisy Baldwin, Caroline McBride, and the Blessing cousins looking on, Barbara Thacker buttoned the final button on Gillian’s wedding gown and took a careful step away. She gazed at her daughter’s reflection in the full-length mirror and then clapped both hands over her mouth. “It’s perfect. Just perfect.”
The gown featured an off-the-shoulder portrait neckline that Barbara had trimmed with beading and crystals. A dropped waist bodice and deep V-back gave way to a billowing ball gown skirt. Gillian met her mother’s gaze in the mirror and sighed, “Oh, Mom. You’re right. It is perfect. It’s the wedding gown I’ve always dreamed of wearing.”
Her mother’s eyes gleamed with tears, and she blew Gillian a kiss. Gillian blew one back, then gave her reflection a critical once-over. “It’s the right dress. Tucker is the right man.”
“Reverend Mills is the right officiant,” Celeste offered.
Angelica shrugged. “I understand Elvis was a little put out.”
“He’s going to play the piano as Gillian and her father walk up the aisle,” Barbara said. “He’s quite talented. I was impressed.”
Gillian grinned. “We only pick the talented Elvis in Vegas, Mom.”
A rap sounded on the door, and Maisy opened it to reveal Gillian’s father and brother, each dressed in new gray suits and red ties. Mike winked at Gillian, blew her a kiss, then said, “I’ve been told to give you all a five-minute warning.” As the Blessing cousins wished Gillian well and took their leave, William Thacker’s gaze went past Maisy to his daughter. He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his eyes. “Oh, princess. You take my breath away.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
“I wonder if Elvis knows CPR,” Caroline mused as she picked up her bouquet and prepared to assemble in the back of the chapel. “Tucker is going to take one look at her, and his heart will stop.”
Once the room was cleared but for her parents, Gillian attempted to put some of her emotions into words. “Mom. Dad. I want you both to know how much I love you, and how very much I appreciate how understanding you were about what happened in Vegas last time, and how much I value your part in making today a fairy-tale day for me. You are the best parents any girl could ever have.”
Barbara took hold of her husband’s hand and briefly leaned her head against his shoulder. In a voice that trembled with emotion, she said, “All we ever wanted was for you to be happy, Gillian. Tucker makes you happy.”
“He does, Mom. More than I ever dreamed possible. I’m the happiest woman in the world—because of Tucker and Dad and you. And because I’m wearing my princess wedding gown.”
Barbara grabbed her husband’s handkerchief away from him and dabbed her eyes. “Well, then. No more of this or I’ll cry, and my mascara will run. Let’s get you into those skyscraper shoes of yours, and then I’ll go do my MOB thing.”
From a box on a dressing room chair, she picked up Gillian’s wedding shoes—not the rhinestone embellished heels she always dreamed of wearing, but the red snakeskin Christian Louboutins she’d worn for her first wedding in V
egas.
Precisely at the top of the hour, on her father’s arm and to the music of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” Gillian picked up her fairy-tale castle purse and went off to marry the love of her life.
Again.
Coming soon …
Don’t miss the next novel in
Emily March’s
Eternity Springs:
The McBrides of Texas series
Boone
Available in January 2021
from St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Also by
EMILY MARCH
Jackson
The Christmas Wishing Tree
The First Kiss of Spring
A Stardance Summer
Christmas in Eternity Springs
Reunion Pass
Heartsong Cottage
Teardrop Lane
Dreamweaver Trail
Miracle Road
Reflection Point
Nightingale Way
Lover’s Leap
Heartache Falls
Hummingbird Lake
Angel’s Rest
Praise for New York Times Bestselling Author EMILY MARCH and her Eternity Springs novels
“With passion, romance, and revealing moments that will touch your heart, Emily March takes readers on a journey where mistakes are redeemed and a more beautiful future is forged—one miracle at a time.”
—USA Today
“A brilliant writer you’ll love creates a world you’ll never want to leave.”
—Susan Mallery, New York Times bestselling author
“A heartfelt story of family, community, second chances, and the power of love … Don’t miss it!”
—Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author
“Heart-wrenching and soul-satisfying. For a wonderful read, don’t miss a visit to Eternity Springs.”
—Lisa Kleypas, New York Times bestselling author
“A heartwarming tale of courage and redemption … that will have readers cheering.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Fans of Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove series and Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series will find much to enjoy in the start of this new series.”