Country Bride (Country Brides)

by Catori, Ava

  A quick kiss and he was on his way. Kristin sat on the sofa, looking at her gold bracelet. She loved that man. She never thought she’d feel like this again. She never thought she’d find love, or even allow herself to love again.

  So much had changed, and yet she was so content. She made peace with staying in Wyoming. If Ty was here, she was here. Molly was partial to him too.

  Wyoming was a different creature than New Jersey. At first she welcomed her with open arms, but for a bit, she started to fear her differences. Once she finally embraced it, knowing it was a different world, she started to make peace with it. Of course, winter was just starting. Ty was telling here how there were some passes they don’t even plow until spring! She couldn’t imagine roads going for months without being plowed. At least she was getting more comfortable driving on the snowier days. She’d had snow back home, but it was heavier and deeper here most times it snowed.

  They’d only just begun, with the heaviest, snowiest season about to greet her. It would be an adventure, maybe even a challenge, but it would let her know what she’d be facing if she decided to stay. She was pretty sure she was staying, but it was truly hard to judge, without having spent a full year here to understand what that meant.

  Crawling into bed, she thought about the time she’d spent here already. Her life had changed dramatically, and while she had savings to last through the rest of her year in Wyoming, she realized she’d planned on heading home and finding work when her time was finished here.

  If she were to stay, how would she support herself? There was a moment of pause, thinking about the small town she lived near. How far would she have to travel to find a job that would support her? She’d totally forgotten about those kinds of things, since she’d only planned to stay the one year, and had enough to get by, with careful budgeting. Money would be running out by next summer, and then what?

  Living out here, finding work would be tough, and her commute could easily be over an hour each way. Reality slapped her in the face. Wanting to be here was one thing, being able to survive and support herself was quite another. Maybe if she was near a city, but she wasn’t, she was out in a remote, rural area. When she set out west, she never dreamed she’d meet somebody that would capture her heart.

  She certainly couldn’t ask Ty to take care of her, nor would she. She stood on her own two feet. Once again she was forced to confront that staying here wasn’t that easy. She’d rented this place for a year, but then she’d be looking for a home to rent all over again, if she could even find work.

  One step at a time, she tried to soothe her mind before overwhelming herself with details. She wanted things to work out, but there were so many extra pieces to the puzzle she hadn’t even thought about. When she got here, she never intended to stay. And now that she was considering it, it might not even be an option. Thoughts circled her mind, with no easy answer. She finally let the words unwind, and drifted off to sleep.

  Waking on Christmas Day, she was met with a snow shower. A fresh coating of a white powdered snow had fallen overnight. Molly bounced around in the snow, and then came back in, ready to spend the day napping.

  Going to call her brother to wish him a Merry Christmas, she couldn’t get signal. The spotty coverage out here was frustrating. What if she had an emergency? If she was going to stay, she’d need to move closer to town. This just wouldn’t do.

  She enjoyed a leisurely morning, and then got ready for Ty to pick her up. She was nervous to meet his parents, and yet excited to learn more about him.

  She hadn’t expected his father to be even rougher around the edges than Ty was, and abrasive, so abrasive. Kristin smiled and nodded, as he spewed garbage about a woman shouldn’t be out living alone like she was, and what she needed was to stop looking to find herself and get on with her life, and she was foolish to be so irresponsible.

  She felt shell-shocked, and as Ty finally stepped in, trying to smooth things over, Kristin swallowed hard and whispered she’d like to leave.

  “We can’t leave already, it’s early. We haven’t had dinner, and it’s Christmas.”

  “I won’t have somebody talking to me that way,” she said, trying to keep the peace, and not go off on Ty for not jumping in sooner to save her from the tirade.

  Ty’s mother was sweet and kind at first, but she nodded in agreement. “I’m an old fashioned girl, and can’t see just wasting a year like that, but you modern girls tend to make different choices.” She wasn’t rude, but it was obvious she didn’t approve of her decision.

  Pulling Ty aside again, “I need to leave. I’m not comfortable, Ty.”

  He looked at Kristin, “They don’t mean harm, it’s just their way.”

  “I don’t care what their way is, it’s confrontational and abrasive. I don’t want to be here. Can you please take me home?”

  Ty felt torn, not wanting to offend his parents, while seeing that Kristin was obviously upset.

  “Ty, I want to leave.”

  He nodded, and made an excuse. “Kristin’s not feeling well; we’re going to head out.”

  “What? You haven’t had supper, and I’ve been cooking all day. She can go lie down in one of the back bedrooms.”

  He didn’t want to speak the truth, so Kristin did, leaving Ty in an awkward spot.

  “Thank you for your hospitality, but I’m honestly ready to leave. I’m feeling a bit taken back, even attacked. So, I apologize for our departure, but I really feel it’s best.”

  They were stunned. “Attacked? You felt attacked? We were just talking, giving our thoughts on the matter,” his father interjected. “All you modern women need your say, need to…”

  “Dad, enough! Give the girl a break. The least you could do is be nicer to her. She’s a guest in your home. This is the woman I love, and I won’t have you talking to her like that.”

  His father stared at him, shaking his head. “Go on, then,” and walked away.

  Driving home, Kristin stared out the window. She was glad Ty finally said something, but it felt a little too late. He sat quietly as his father threw his opinion at her, telling her what a fool she was, and…

  A mule deer shot across the road, causing Ty to slam on his brakes. It snapped her out of her thought process.

  “Close one,” Ty said, not saying much else.

  “Why didn’t you step in and say something earlier?”

  “I didn’t want to be disrespectful to my father, when I knew he wasn’t trying to be rude. It’s just his way. And yet I know you’re more sensitive.”

  “I was hurt you didn’t stick up for me.”

  “I’m so used to how they are, I don’t really think about it. I’m sorry your feelings were hurt. I should have been more aware.”

  On dropping her off, he didn’t lean over to kiss her, and he didn’t come in. “I’ll call you later,” he said, and then pulled out of the driveway. Kristin stood, watching him leave. This wasn’t how she wanted to spend Christmas.

  Going inside, she greeted Molly by letting her out, and then called her brother, finally getting through. The baby was due anytime, they saw Mom and Dad last night, and they missed her. He was hoping she’d be back for Christmas, but understood.

  Kristin curled up on the sofa, her knees to her chest and thought about life. She’d finally moved forward, but didn’t know if this was the life she wanted. Ty made her feel complete, but she wasn’t in love with the area. Could she leave Ty to go back home, or would she stay here to be with him? She thought she’d decided, and thought Wyoming could be home – but without a job, without a home when her lease ran up, she had no idea where she’d be, or what she’d be doing.

  She was crushed with questions that there were no answers to, and the unknowing weighed heavy on her.

  When Ty called her the following day, reception was iffy. He said he’d drop by after work later in the week. She was fine with that. She needed time to think. Things might not work out in the end, even knowing there’d be heartache involved.
She wasn’t sure this was the life for her – not here.

  Going into town, she went into the post office and picked up her mail while talking to Sadie. She said that jobs rarely open up around here, because so many folks rely on them for their livelihood. She would probably have to go over into Lawrence. She suspected so much, and wasn’t feeling excited about the prospect. She’d have to find a place there too, which would make driving in the winter rough to see Ty. She wanted things to fall into place, but life didn’t work that way. She’d have to bend and make the pieces fit, and she wasn’t sure she had the energy to work it all out. It felt like so much, starting over yet again, and going home to what she knew was looking better every day.

  Kristin picked up a few things, and then headed back home, only she didn’t get far. Just leaving the main road, she got a flat tire. This was the last thing she felt like dealing with. She’d either have to walk back into town, try to drive on it, which could ruin her rim, or change it herself.

  Getting out of the truck, she walked around looking at the tire. Shaking her head, she bent under the back of the truck, finding the spare, and then sat on the bumper and cried. It was all too much. Her father had taught her how to change a tire when she first learned to drive, but she hadn’t actually done it since then.

  With a deep breath, she looked under the truck again, and worked to get the tire out. It was heavy, and as she struggled, she spit out her frustration, yanking at it, finally getting it to fall on the ground. She dug around to find the jack, reaching up into the space.

  Pulling the tire out from under the edge of the truck took all of her strength. Sitting down on the tire, she put her head in her hands, frustrated and worn.

  She heard the truck, and looking up she saw Ty parking. “What happened, flat tire?”

  Standing, she cried. “I hate this place, I hate having to live this way, and I can’t do it anymore.” She couldn’t stop the flood of feelings. “There’s no work, where will I live, what will I do. I only have enough to get by until the summer, and then I was supposed to go home. What am I supposed to do? I fell in love with you, and my entire world changed. You made things better, I felt alive again…but I can’t live here. I can’t do this. I don’t belong out here.”

  Ty pulled her close, letting the waterfall of tears and emotions spill out. “Shh, it’s going to be okay.”

  Kristin sobbed into his chest, hating that she cracked like this, and that he had to see it.

  “If you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to stay,” he said sadly, his heart breaking. “I want nothing more than for you to stay here forever, to be my wife, to have my children, but if you wouldn’t be happy living here, I wouldn’t ask that of you.”

  “Your wife?” She looked up, rubbing her eyes, looking at him.

  He nodded, “I was going to ask you on Valentine’s Day, do something romantic, but I might as well put that out there. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. But I feel almost silly asking you now, knowing you want to leave.”

  “Children?”

  “I was hoping for three or four kids, a simple home life, and a wife that I could love forever. We could get married in the spring, and you could move into my place.”

  “But…what would I do? I don’t know where to find work.”

  “You could work with me at the office until we have children. You’d be a great mother,” he said, wiping away her tears.

  “A baby?” Her voice was soft, her blue eyes never leaving Ty’s face.

  “What do you say? Would you consider becoming my wife, having my children, and making me a happy man? If you don’t think you’d be happy here, and need to leave, then I’ll have to make peace with that, but I sure wish you’d give us a chance. And I’m sorry about yesterday. I was wrong. I should have said something, it won’t happen again.”

  Kristin squeezed her arms tighter around Ty, pressing her head to his solid chest. They were the exact words she needed to hear. There was hope here, hope for a happy life, hope for a future, and hope for a family. Her time spent here wasn’t in vain. She’d met the man she’d love forever, and they’d start a family together.

  Chapter 11

  In the spring, they had a backyard wedding, and a handful of friends and family came. Ty strung little white twinkle lights through the branches of the trees, and his mother did most of the cooking, while Regina donated the cake. Sadie stood for Kristin, and as everyone watched, Ty Addison took Kristin Shaw to be his bride.

  Kristin looked at Ty, knowing he was the one that filled her heart, when she didn’t think she’d ever love again. Ty smiled at her, his eyes shining with happiness, and with her hands in his, they repeated the words that would make them husband and wife.

  “You may now kiss the bride.”

  Ty looked at his gorgeous bride, realizing his dreams. She’d come into this town, a complete stranger, and turned his world upside down. He didn’t understand it at the time, but he wanted to be around her, and all this time later, he still wanted to be around her. She made his entire world brighter. It’s like a fog lifted, and every moment with her was a treasure.

  They’d make beautiful children together, and he couldn’t wait.

  Leaning down, he kissed his bride. “I love you, Mrs. Addison,” he smiled.

  “I love you, Mr. Addison.”

  It was a lovely day, and when the guests all left, and they’d cleaned up, Ty took his wife to bed. Something he’d wanted to do since they’d gotten together. Tonight they would consummate their marriage, tonight he would hold her in his arms and make sweet love to her.

  Ty looked at his bride. She was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. Her soft blonde hair gently framed her face, and her eyes shown like clear mountain lakes in pools of blue. Her slender frame made him feel masculine when he held her, her small body tucked into his arms. Holding Kristin in his arms made him feel alive.

  As Kristin looked up at her husband, she knew she’d made the right decision in staying with him. She felt safe when he was near, and always found a way to make her feel better. Her husband’s broad shoulders and solid body offered strength, while his strong mind offered courage to her when she needed it. He was certain of who he was, and didn’t falter. She loved that confidence.

  Standing in their new shared bedroom, Ty held his wife, “I’ve wanted to make love to you for such a long time. You make my heart so full,” he whispered.

  Kristin smiled, her chin tilted up, looking at her husband. Ty pulled her in closer, needing to feel her body against his own. Lowering his mouth to hers, he brushed his lips to his wife’s. Lifting his hand to her shoulder, he helped her slowly undress.

  On seeing her body, beautifully naked for the first time, Ty took his wife to bed. His large hand came up to her cheek, stroking her face. He couldn’t look away from her, and with love overwhelming him, he made love to his wife for the first time.

  Feeling her soft and supple body, Ty felt complete. His fingers traced her curves, bringing soft moans of pleasure from her.

  Whispered words of love filled the air. Kissing her sweet skin, Ty knew that waiting for this moment was worth every bit of time that passed.

  Kristin loved Ty. For a big, strong man, his touch was gentle, caressing her tenderly. He made her feel special. They explored one another like new territory they’d found. She was glad she waited; this night was everything she’d hoped for.

  Ty entered Kristin, and together they bonded as one. Kristin’s emotions swelled; her heart fuller than she knew it could be. She was so happy, wrapped up in his arms, tangled in the sheets with her husband.

  Together they shared a night of love. As the passion wound down, they’d consumed one another with lust and heated moments, until they’d exhausted their bodies. Snuggling in, Kristin curled into Ty, putting her head on his chest.

  “I’m so happy,” she whispered, bathing in the afterglow of making love to her husband for the first time.

  “Me too.”

  Life only
got better, and when Kristin became pregnant with their first child, she was beaming with joy. Ty couldn’t stop grinning when they got the news. He’d be a father. Family life was what he’d been missing all these years. With Kristin by his side, and a child on the way, life was complete.

  THE END

  Thank you for choosing an Ava Catori title. You can see more of my titles at your favorite ebook retailer, or by visiting AvaCatori.com. Be sure to sign up for my mailing list, so you can be first in line to hear about my new releases. This is the first book in the “Country Brides” series. Be sure to watch for more, or sign up at my website to be notified when the next one is released.

  If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review, so others can decide if this is the right choice for them. Thank you again.