She was probably blushing, if the pulse at her throat was any indication. Her gloves and hankie were tucked away in her handbag. She did press her hand to her chest, but it was because she thought her heart might be breaking from the tide of disappointment that washed over her.
How long had she waited for that? Yearned and dreamed? How much had she built up the moment in her foolish mind? Nothing could have compared to the fantasy. No words or proposal could have been as romantic as she’d wished for. She was a dreamer coping in the real world.
This was the best she could ever hope for.
“This is so unexpected,” she said finally, realizing that what was truly unexpected was her reaction. Or lack of.
“So will you marry me, Charmaine?”
Until recently she would have shouted yes and jumped up from the table to hug him and shout the news to the town. Until recently she’d been convinced that this was what she wanted.
But her thinking had been changing.
She could say yes and they could rush out to announce their engagement to their friends and family. She could agree and she would finally be able to use all the things in her dowry trunks. The image of her elaborate gauze and seed-pearl veil floated across her mind, followed by those satin nightgowns and the lacy lingerie.
She did take her hands away from his then. Thoughts of Wayne and her wedding trousseau were incompatible. She didn’t want to wear those things for him. Another man’s face had replaced the faceless groom’s in her dreams. A man with dark hair and eyes, a man whose appearance and nearness stole her breath and made her heart race. A man who had shown her she’d never be satisfied with what Wayne had to offer.
“If you’d asked me a year ago…or even a month ago, I’d have said yes without hesitation,” she told Wayne. “And who knows? Maybe I wouldn’t have been sorry. Maybe we would have had a nice life together.”
His brows drew together.
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life knowing you weren’t courting-minded until you felt somehow challenged or that it was expected of you.”
“I thought we were…I thought we would…” He couldn’t seem to form the words.
“So did I,” she said. “And I don’t regret our outings. We enjoyed each other’s company. But if you look around, you’ll see we never had what we should have. Look at your sister and brother-in-law. Watch the Carpenters or the Cutters, and you’ll know what’s missing between us. That’s what I want. And even if I never have it, I just can’t settle for less.”
His look of surprise and indignation told her he didn’t understand. But he nodded. “Very well then.”
“Thank you for doing what you felt was right,” she said. “What you thought I expected.”
“Is it him? Is it that Easton fellow who’s muddled your thinking?”
“My thinking is more clear than it’s ever been,” she assured him. “And maybe meeting him made the difference. If so, then I’m glad. I couldn’t live with regrets.”
“I hope you don’t have to,” he told her.
There wasn’t a doubt in Charmaine’s head that she’d made the right decision. She knew it as soundly as she knew night from day, right from wrong. This was right.
When the two of them exited the ice-cream parlor a few minutes later, nothing had changed, but everything had changed. Charmaine was no longer the same wistful girl with fanciful dreams in her head. She had accepted her ordinary self.
She didn’t want what had happened today to hinder a friendship with Wayne. Living in Copper Creek they would see each other often. “Let’s go see who won the cake contest.”
She slipped her arm through his and they headed for the picnic area. The women were gathering their dishes and belongings and Charmaine called out that she’d join them in a moment.
Flora Sample’s Yankee ginger cake sported a blue ribbon, and Flora stood within a group of ladies, smiling for all she was worth.
The contest cakes were being cut and served, and though she was full, Charmaine sampled a smidgeon of the ginger cake. It was indeed delicious. Kate and Annie joined them. “Sampling the blue-ribbon winner?” Kate asked.
“I am, and it is undoubtedly the best on the table.”
“There must have been a mix-up,” Annie said suspiciously. “Your walnut cake wasn’t among the cakes being tasted.”
“No mistake,” Charmaine replied.
“There was nothing wrong with it. I know, we shared a piece,” Kate said.
“No, it was perfect.”
Her cousin released an exasperated sigh. “What happened then?”
“Nothing. I just changed my mind. There’s no law against that, is there?”
“Your cousin is in a mind-changing mood, it seems,” Wayne said. “If you’ll excuse me ladies. Have a good evening.” He left them gathered at the contest table.
Charmaine headed for her belongings.
“What did he mean by that?” Annie asked, limping slightly as she walked alongside.
“Are you tired?” Charmaine asked.
“A little. It’s been a long day. Don’t make me chase you. Tell me what Wayne meant by that.”
Charmaine stopped. “Where’s Luke? He can come get you.”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“He asked me to marry him.”
Kate’s face crinkled into a smile, but Annie looked more skeptical. The two women glanced at each other, then Annie grabbed Charmaine’s forearm. “What happened?”
“I said no.”
“What?” both women echoed.
“I told him no. I don’t want to marry him.”
Annie released her arm and lifted both hands in a question. “Since when?”
“It’s just like you said. I don’t want a man who has dragged his feet for so long. I don’t want a husband who wasn’t eager to wed. If I can’t have what you have—both of you—then I won’t settle.”
“Oh, dear heart,” Annie said. “What a difficult and brave thing you did.”
“Not so much really. I just did what my heart told me to do.”
Annie hugged her.
Over her shoulder, Charmaine smiled at the tears in Kate’s eyes. “Those had better not be for me.” She pulled away. “I’m going to find your husband to see you home,” she said to her cousin. “You stay right here.”
Much later, her father pulled the wagon into their dooryard, and she and her mother climbed down. When her father left to put up the horses, she told her mother about Wayne’s proposal and her answer.
“Just like that without taking time to think about it?” Vera asked. She set a crate on the kitchen table and looked at her daughter with concern. “Are you certain it’s what you want?”
“You told me love would happen on its own, without forcing it. I tried to force it, but it never happened. I know that now. I was just getting…scared. I’ve been afraid for a long time.”
“Of not having a husband?”
Charmaine nodded. “And not having what others have.”
Her mother pulled her into a soft hug. “Oh, my precious girl.” She took Charmaine’s shoulders and held her away. “It’s Jack, isn’t it? You’re confused because of him.”
“Actually, I’m less confused. I’m absolutely sure that I don’t want a life married to Wayne. I was kidding myself. Pretending.”
“I’m relieved to hear you say these things.”
While her mother put dishes away, Charmaine put the dish towels in a kettle on the stove to soak. Mort came in and told them he was done in and heading for bed.
Half an hour later, the sound of a wagon alerted the women, and Charmaine went out on the back porch. It was her father’s wagon, the one they’d used for the float, and Jack was leading it with horses she recognized as his.
“I’ve returned the wagon,” he said.
“Where’s Daniel?”
“Sound asleep in back.”
She walked around to the gate. “Poor guy.” She looked
up. “My father’s gone to bed.”
“I’ll put up the horses.”
“Carry Daniel inside and lay him on the sofa in the living room. You’ll have to wake him when you go, but he can sleep for now.”
Jack picked up the child and followed her through the kitchen to the darkened room, where she guided him with a hand on his arm to the sofa.
Charmaine removed his shoes and set them aside.
“Mama. Daniel’s asleep on the sofa,” she told her mother who was returning from the pantry.
Vera glanced from Charmaine to Jack. “I’ll check on him in case he wakes.”
“I’ll help Jack get the wagon into the barn.”
“You can probably leave it in the yard for tonight,” her mother said.
“Mr. Renlow would have to hitch up a team in the morning to pull it inside,” Jack told her. “I can do it right now while my team is in the traces. Won’t take a minute.”
“He keeps it in the far barn,” Charmaine told him as they hurried back out into the night. “I’ll go open the doors for you.”
She went ahead, opening the barn doors, finding a lantern and striking a match to light the interior. Jack guided the horses and wagon inside, bringing them to a halt. He jumped down and unfastened the traces from the wagon. “There’s a saddlebag under the seat,” he told her. “Will you roll the straps and tuck them inside, please?”
The leather was all top quality, well seasoned and pliable. She followed his directions and packed the harnesses and reins.
“Heard all the talk about your cake today. Ran right over and had myself a slice before it was gone.”
“Did you like it?”
“I did. It would’ve won, you know.”
“I know.”
“Why’d you do it? Take it out of the contest.”
“Guess it just didn’t matter anymore what other people thought of me. I was happy with it and that was good enough. I don’t have to be perfect all the time.”
“Nobody’s perfect.”
“I know. I was trying to prove something all the time.”
“What did you have to prove?”
“That I was special.”
Damned if the woman didn’t just mess with his heart with every admission and thought that came out of her mouth. How could she not see how special she was? “You really don’t think you’re special?”
She turned away from him and carried his saddlebag to his roan, which, once loose, had ambled over to a bucket and was prodding the rim with its nose. She studied the saddlebag, and then attempted to lift it over the horse’s rump.
“Let me do that.” He strode forward and took it from her, easily resting it behind his saddle. Doing so placed him right beside her. The lilac-water scent that defined her rose to titillate his senses. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” she asked, and attempted to take a step back, but her heel caught on a bump on the hard-packed earth floor.
Jack steadied her with both hands on her upper arms. “That you’re the prettiest young woman in any crowd. That you’re smart—knowledgeable about things I wouldn’t have guessed—and kind. I was wrong about asking you to back away from Daniel. He’s fond of you and you’ve been nothing but generous.”
She blinked in surprise. “Tha-thank you.”
“You’re good at everything you set your mind to. Baking, painting, sewing pretty clothes. I’ve seen how you are with your family. Warm. All natural. They’re crazy about you. Seeing how you are with them, well, that was the first time I ever really saw what I was missing.”
“What do you mean?”
He collected his thoughts for the best way to explain what he was feeling. “You touch your father when you bring ’im coffee. You don’t even think about it. You just rest your hand on his shoulder in a way that says everything’s right with the world. Your father has what every man wants. A wife who loves him. A child who appreciates him.”
Her blue eyes were shining in the lantern light when she looked up at him. “You want a family like my father’s?”
He nodded. “Who wouldn’t?”
“I know just what you mean,” she told him, a yearning he’d never heard in her voice. Her hand crept to the front of his shirt, and he didn’t think she was aware she’d done it. “I want what Annie has. Is that so wrong?”
He covered her hand with his. “What is it you want?”
“Someone who looks at me like the sun and moon are in my eyes.”
He lowered his head toward her. “That’s not wrong. Not wrong at all.”
She was only a breath away. “But unlikely.”
“Not unlikely either.”
“How can you say that?”
He flicked his gaze over her face, studied her eyes in the lantern light. “Because the sun and moon are in your eyes.”
Her laughter was like music to his ears. “No one’s ever said anything like that to me before.”
“If I thought I could make you happy, Charmaine, I’d tell you that every day for the rest of my life. If I thought for a minute that you could be satisfied with a man like me, I wouldn’t waste a minute before asking you to belong to me.”
An expression of surprise crossed her features, and a fine trembling shook her shoulders where he held her. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if I was that fool Brookover, I’d ask you to marry me.”
“He asked me today.”
The air was sucked from his lungs that instant. He released her and took a step back, not wanting to breathe and feel the pain.
She met his gaze squarely. “I said no.”
The rush of blood to his head nearly obscured her words. “What did you say?”
“I turned him down.”
“Why?”
Behind her, his roan shook its head and took a few steps. “Because I couldn’t see his face when I pictured my husband,” she replied.
He’d probably never understand that one.
“Over the years, when I sewed veils and dish towels and nightgowns and crocheted doilies, I had a fuzzy image of who the man I shared all those things with would be. I couldn’t see him clearly. I guess…” She closed her eyes as though finding the words to explain, then opened them. “I guess I just knew how he made me feel.”
The air in the barn fairly crackled with anticipation. “And now you know it wasn’t Wayne?”
“Now I know.”
Jack had never felt so vulnerable in his life as he did at that moment while a question rose up inside and burned to be asked. He wasn’t anybody’s dream come true. “Could it be me?”
His voice hadn’t even sounded like his own.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Ask me.”
The world skidded to a halt. “Can you see me as your husband?”
Her lids swept down to cover her eyes, and his insides quivered as the seconds passed by. He became aware of the sound of each horse’s breathing, as well as his own.
The corners of her lips swept up in a smile, and after an agonizing minute, she opened her eyes. “Yes.”
Tension drained from his body, and hope swelled. He could breathe again. “You would marry me, Charmaine?”
“Yes.”
“I’m a simple man. I don’t set store by the same things you do, and we’d have to wash our differences.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“I have a boy you’d have to mother, and neither of us are used to havin’ a female around.”
“Are you trying to convince me to change my answer?” she asked.
He stepped toward her and she met him. “I’m just trying to believe it.”
She tucked herself against him and he pulled her close, joining their lips in a kiss that proved it was real. She felt so good, so right in his arms. Kissing her was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
He parted their lips. “I can’t wait,” he told her. “Let’s get married tomorrow.”
“What did you say
?”
“I said tomorrow. We can wake up the preacher and then let everyone know.”
“No, the other part. What you said first.”
“I can’t wait?”
“That part.” She wrapped her arm around his neck and kissed him so well, he considered going for the preacher tonight.
Several minutes later, a shove from behind brought Jack back to earth. He steadied them both and turned. The roan had wandered the center aisle of the barn and come up behind him.
“So,” he said. “Tomorrow?”
Charmaine smiled up into his eyes. “We’ll need a little more planning than that. Nothing fancy, though. But I do want to invite all my friends and family. And we’ll need to figure out a few things. Could you wait a month?”
“Charmaine,” he said. “I love you.”
Her gaze softened. “All right. A week,” she agreed. “I love you.”
“Let’s go talk to your folks…and wake up Dan.”
They were married the following Saturday in a simple ceremony on the Sweetwater’s lush green lawn. After the preacher pronounced them man and wife, Jack raised the voluminous seed-pearl veil and kissed her to the accompaniment of clapping and murmurs of appreciation.
Hugs and kisses abounded as they were congratulated.
With a broad smile, she turned to her cousin Annie. “You told me the next too-good-to-be-true man was mine.” Charmaine looked up at the man she had dreamed of, thankful that not all her dreams had been foolish. This one had come true. “And I got him.”
Jack snagged her around the waist and swept her aside, where he touched her cheek and gazed into her eyes. “So, Mrs. Easton. How long do we have to stay?”
“What’s your hurry?” she teased.
He placed his lips against her ear and whispered his next words.
Charmaine dropped her gaze to his mesmerizing mouth and smiled. “We can eat cake anytime.”
Dear Reader,
When my editor at Harlequin invited me to join this anthology, I was very flattered. She told me that my tale should include a Western bride. That left the horizon wide open for my hero and heroine to burst onto the scene.
Wed Under Western Skies Page 19