Just be cool.
“What do you mean?” she said, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
Jude studied her for a moment before his gaze dropped to her belly. Instinctively, she crossed her hands in front of her. She wasn’t showing yet, but she had a sinking feeling that her brother knew everything.
“I think you know what I mean,” he said. “Ethan told me the good news. You should know that he can’t keep a secret, and since I’m only here on a quick turnaround, I wanted to be sure I had a chance to say congratulations in private.”
“Thanks,” she said, her cheeks burning again. “But that really wasn’t his news to tell. Is he broadcasting it to everyone?”
She hated to have to bring it up on Ethan’s wedding day, but she needed to make sure the news didn’t get out before she and Zane were ready. They still had a lot to figure out.
“Since I have to leave so soon and the wedding is going to be pretty all-consuming, I think he wanted to make sure I knew. Ethan might have a big mouth around family, but he can be pretty damn stoic around everyone else. He won’t tell anyone else. I’m happy for you, sis. As long as you’re happy.”
For a moment she was afraid she would start weeping with relief and joy. That was precisely the reason she loved Jude so much. When she felt at odds with the rest of the world, he was always on her side. He never judged, and, in return, he expected the same nonjudgmental treatment. Actually, Jude did a good job of pretending like he didn’t care what the rest of the world thought. But Lucy knew his cool act hid a tender heart.
“I am happy, Jude.” She put her hand on her still flat belly. “I’m not gonna lie. This wasn’t exactly planned, but it feels right. I’m home. I’m settled. This baby feels like a new infusion of life for the Campbell family.”
She tried to ignore the twinge of conflict that twisted in her heart as she thought of Zane asking her to go with him to Ocala. She still hadn’t decided what she was going to do. Why did everything have to be so difficult? Just when she thought everything was falling into place, everything... Well, at least she couldn’t say everything fell apart. Because it hadn’t. Leaving everything she’d worked so hard to build so that she could be with the only man she’d ever loved, who still couldn’t say he loved her, too, was just complicated.
“It does feel like new life,” Jude said. “I love the idea of being an uncle. Uncle Jude.” He nodded his approval. “I like the sound of that. I’m going to be the cool uncle. Ethan will be the grouchy dude.”
They laughed, because that pretty much summed up the situation. Although Ethan would never admit it.
“Does that mean you’ll come home more often once the baby’s born?”
“Every chance I get. I’ve got to run. I told Ethan I’d get him a Dr. Pepper. Apparently, Chelsea mandated that he not be outside roaming around and take the chance of them seeing each other before the ceremony. You know, all that bad-luck superstition. I didn’t know they believed in that in England.”
Lucy scrunched up her face. “Why wouldn’t they believe that in England?”
Jude shrugged. “I’m a cowboy. Shows you what I know.”
As he turned to leave, Lucy said, “Jude?”
He stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“I’ve missed you.”
He winked at her and pointed his finger in a quick gesture before he turned to complete his groomsmen mission.
She thought about asking him not to say anything to anyone else, but she knew he wouldn’t. She knew Ethan wouldn’t, either. It was important that both of her brothers knew and that both of them were happy for her. Ethan would probably be happier if she took the more traditional route and accepted Zane’s proposal. But that was her decision and hers alone.
She stood there for a moment feeling safe and loved and secure... And more confused than she’d ever been in her entire life. Then she shook it off, because today wasn’t about her. It was about Chelsea and Ethan. Two people who loved each other madly. Two people who wanted to be together, to spend the rest of their lives together because of love.
The barn had never looked more beautiful, with its string lights and candlelit lanterns. There were so many flowers that she couldn’t turn her head without seeing blossom-pink and white peonies, scarlet-red roses and garlands of jasmine and ivy. All the flowers had been gathered from the Campbell ranch, and they perfumed the air. Lucy couldn’t decide if it was like a scene from The Secret Garden or a page torn straight out of a story about a princess wedding.
Maybe both. Chelsea was almost a princess.
One thing was certain—love floated in the air from the hearts of all who were there to witness this joining of two lives. It mingled with the scent of all those flowers and the sound of the string quartet playing a slow, ethereal Celtic serenade. The beauty of the moment, its sheer, effortless perfection, made Lucy breathless and wistful.
She wanted this.
She was the first to walk down the aisle before maid-of-honor Juliette and then Chelsea. As Lucy made her way from the back of the room toward the dais, her gaze found Zane’s and they held on to each other, an invisible thread of longing—or maybe it was belonging—binding them.
As Lucy took her place up front, Zane’s gaze was still on her, even though Juliette was walking down the aisle. It brought to mind a saying—the best kiss is the one that has been exchanged a thousand times between the eyes before it reaches the lips. She didn’t know who’d said it originally, but it was perfect. Almost as perfect as Pablo Neruda hearing the unsaid in a single kiss.
How could Zane look at her that way and not love her?
How would she ever know if he could love her if she didn’t at least let him try?
Maybe if we got away from Celebration, we could figure out if we could be happy together.
After the officiant pronounced Ethan and Chelsea husband and wife, Lucy had never seen the pair of them look happier than they were in that moment. They had been through separate hells, but by the grace of all that was good, they had managed to find each other. It was Chelsea’s first marriage and Ethan’s second. Their path to each other hadn’t been an easy road for either of them. They’d struggled, but they hadn’t given up—or maybe they had, but once they’d found each other, they hadn’t let fear and past failures keep them from what was good.
Lucy and Zane were the last of the bridal party to walk down the aisle during the recessional. He offered her his arm and it felt so natural to accept it. Just as natural as it felt to dance with him and be by his side all night long. Wasn’t this how it always was between them?
She’d spent all these years wishing that Zane would fall in love with her, wondering why he was so blind. Maybe she was the one who’d been oblivious all these years.
At the end of the night, after everyone had eaten and danced and celebrated Ethan and Chelsea, it was time for the bride to throw her bouquet. A group of eleven single women, including a reluctant Juliette, who had done her best to avoid Jude during the moments when they weren’t forced together as part of the wedding party, gathered for the toss. Before she turned around, Chelsea pinned Lucy with her gaze and smiled. When she threw the bouquet of white peonies, roses, jasmine and lilies over her shoulder, it landed right in Lucy’s hands.
Everyone cheered and chanted, “You’re next! You’re next!”
Lucy wasn’t sure if it was an omen. Maybe she should’ve ducked out of the way.
“You did that on purpose,” she said to Chelsea. “Did my brother put you up to it?”
“No, I did,” said Zane. “Will you please come with me to Ocala to just see what you think?”
* * *
“You must be Zane’s fiancée.” Rhett Sullivan, the owner of Hidden Rock Equestrian in Ocala, shook Lucy’s hand.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Sullivan, I’m
Lucy Campbell.”
Lucy slanted a glance at Zane and he smiled at her. There’d be hell to pay for fudging the fiancée bit, he knew it. But maybe the power of suggestion would help her make up her mind. At least he’d gotten her here.
“I’m pleased as punch that you could come out and see the place with him. We think Zane will be a great addition to the Hidden Rock Equestrian family, but I know he’s anxious to get your approval before he makes any decisions.”
When Rhett turned his back to lead them toward the golf cart so that he could drive to the stables, Lucy shot Zane daggers.
“Your fiancée?” she said under her breath.
He shrugged. “I might have said something like that.”
“Are y’all comfortable over at the house? That place is part of the compensation package. That’s why we wanted y’all to get a chance to try it out tonight while you’re here. My wife, Luann, just redecorated after the last GM and his family moved out. You just let her know if you need anything. Just holler and she’ll see that you get it.”
“Thank you, the place is lovely,” Lucy said. “Please tell her I said so.”
“Well, you’ll get a chance to tell her yourself after the tour,” Sullivan said as he climbed into the golf cart. “I’d planned on stealing our boy away to talk horse business. You and Lu can grab some lunch. It’ll give you two gals a chance to get better acquainted. We’re a tight-knit bunch around here and y’all will be spending plenty of time together while Zane and I are working.”
Sullivan motioned for Lucy to sit in the golf cart’s backseat and patted the seat next to him for Zane. He couldn’t see Lucy’s reaction because her hair fell in her face as she leaned forward to climb aboard the cart. Lucy was friendly and kind enough to not thumb her nose at Sullivan’s hospitality, but he knew the guy dictating who Lucy would spend time with was probably a strike against his cause of making her fall in love with this place enough to move here.
Of course, it probably hadn’t helped matters when she’d learned that he’d told Sullivan she was his fiancée. But it probably hadn’t hurt. The reason he’d said it in the first place was because it was too complicated to try to explain their current situation to an older, more conservative Southern gentlemen like Rhett. And, yeah, Zane had been thinking positive at the time. At least Lucy was graciously playing along, but he was going to get it with both barrels once they were alone.
The Hidden Rock property was beautiful. Set in the verdant, rolling hills of Ocala, the farm went on forever and was surrounded by clusters of live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. They’d even had to drive through a canopy of trees to get to the ranch.
Zane had heard a lot about Hidden Rock because its reputation spoke for itself. If he couldn’t have his own farm, this place was everything he wanted. He could see himself getting up every morning and looking forward to going to work here.
“We built this place back in 1972,” Sullivan said. “I know we went over the details when you visited before, but I’ll give y’all the spiel again for your little lady’s benefit.”
Little lady? She was going to love that. Zane glanced over his shoulder at her.
“Did you hear that? All this is for you, dear.”
She grimaced at him. Zane turned around before Sullivan could catch on. Then again, Rhett was a good ol’ boy, who probably wouldn’t even realize a little lady like Lucy would take issue with being called a little lady.
“Yeah, we’re sitting on a little over eight hundred acres here. We have just about everything you could ever want when it comes to breeding and training Thoroughbreds. We’ve got a seven-eighths-mile dirt training track, a swimming pond for the horses. And if I remember right, at last count we had sixteen barns with four hundred and twenty-six stalls, one hundred and fifty paddocks and a hell of a lot of grazing fields. We’ve got hot walkers and round pens. You name it, we’ve got it. And if we don’t have it, we can get it. But most importantly, we do everything with the horses’ safety and development in mind. I don’t mean to brag, but you’re not going to find a better operation in north central Florida. Aw, heck, I’d even stick my neck out to say we are the best outfit in the entire southeast. We breed champions here, Zane. With your background, you’ll fit right into our mission.”
“Yes, sir,” Zane said.
Sullivan drove around for a good half an hour talking about the various points of interest on the farm. Zane wondered if Lucy’s eyes were glazing over, but then he realized he wasn’t giving her enough credit. She’d grown up among the horse crowd in Celebration, but Hidden Rock was a completely different species from what they were used to. This place was magnificent. It was a chance to make a name for himself. A chance to carve out a future for his family.
As Rhett parked the cart in front of a gargantuan white antebellum house with columns like something from Gone with the Wind, their host turned around and placed a beefy arm along the seat back and trained his attention on Lucy.
“What did you think of that?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. “It’s a real opportunity for this man of yours. Yeah, we got résumés from some people with more experience, but I go on attitude. Your boy here has great potential. This is what I’d call a win-win situation. That means we both have something to offer each other. A guy with talents like Zane’s can do big things at a place like Hidden Rock. And Hidden Rock can certainly benefit from his talents. So, I’m counting on you to work your magic on him and tell him everything you love about this place. I sense that’s what he’s waiting for before he tells me he’s joining the Hidden Rock family.”
* * *
“Lucy, darling, it’s lovely to finally meet you.”
Luann Sullivan leaned in and air-kissed Lucy’s cheeks, Euro-style. The woman was nothing like what Lucy had imagined. Her husband had painted a picture of a demure woman whose sole purpose was servitude, the consummate little lady who lived to fetch and please.
Luann was tall, blonde and regal. The type of woman who seemed more at home in jodhpurs, riding boots and a diamond ring the size of a headlight than being at a guest’s beck and call. One look at Luann Sullivan and Lucy understood that any fetching would be performed by the huge staff, some of whom served their luncheon by the pool on the terrace of the Sullivans’ six-thousand-square-foot home.
How Luann and Rhett Sullivan fit together seemed a mystery. He was Budweiser and plaid button-down shirts; she was Veuve Clicquot and Cartier. No doubt, he was one of those Southern men who had so much money he didn’t have to worry about looking like he had anything. So, it was probably the money and the horses that had brought them together.
Later, Lucy and her hostess enjoyed lobster salad and sparkling mineral water under the biggest and most silent outdoor ceiling fan Lucy had ever seen. It stirred up a gentle breeze, rendering the punishing Florida humidity powerless, as it provided a pleasant place for the women to enjoy the panoramic view of Hidden Rock.
Luann was a timeless beauty. Her ageless, effortless elegance was probably a by-product of good genes, faithful sunscreen use, fresh air and sunshine. And probably regular Botox.
“Are you a horse lover like your husband-to-be?” Luann asked.
Lucy blanched at the reference to Zane and hoped Luann didn’t notice. “I was raised with horses. My family has a small breeding farm in Celebration, Texas. My brother is running the ranch now.”
“Is that so?” Luann smiled and leaned in. “What’s the name of the ranch? Perhaps I’ve heard of it.”
“It’s called the Triple C. My family’s name is Campbell.”
“Ahh, how nice.”
Translation: I’ve never heard of it.
“Do you ride?” Luann asked. “If so, let’s take the horses out before you leave.”
It had been a long time since Lucy had ridden a horse, and even at her best, she’d never been much of an e
questrian. Not to mention, riding probably wouldn’t be the best thing for the baby. Her doctor had told her she could participate in mild exercise that her body was already used to, but now wasn’t the time to try anything new. Or go riding after all these years.
But she couldn’t share that with Luann.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve ridden,” Lucy said. “I work a lot these days. It doesn’t allow me a lot of free time.”
Luann smiled one of those gracious, practiced smiles that made it seem like she was genuinely interested in Lucy’s workaholic ways, but Lucy suspected she was just being polite.
“What do you do, dear?”
“I run a wedding barn.”
“A wedding barn? What is that?”
“It’s a barn that has been spruced up to provide a rustic venue for weddings.”
Luann laughed. “Of course! You’ll have to excuse me. Rhett and I have been married for so long that I’m not up on the latest in wedding trends. We have a daughter who is in her twenties, but she’s not the least bit interested in settling down. Your job sounds fascinating. Will you try to find similar work when you move here?”
“Oh, well, I’m not sure about that. Actually, I own the venue. It’s an old barn on my family’s property that we renovated.”
Luann waved her hand. “There are a number of ramshackle barns around here that I’m sure you could work your magic on. Are you into the DIY craze? It’s a great way to keep busy.” Something in the tilt of the woman’s head and the polite tone of her voice seemed dismissive.
“We were featured in Southern Living magazine and named one of ‘The Most Beautiful Wedding Barns in the South.’”
As a general rule, Lucy hated to brag. She had framed the magazine cover and the portion of the article that featured the Campbell Wedding Barn. But generally, she let the venue speak for itself. She’d only mentioned it now because Luann Sullivan didn’t seem to understand that it wasn’t just any old barn. It was a tie to her family. It had history and sentimental value that she couldn’t simply recreate in Ocala’s plethora of ramshackle barns. But how did you explain that to someone who came from a completely different world and had an obvious vested interest in making her fall in love with Ocala so that Zane would take the job?
A Bride, a Barn, and a Baby Page 12