by Merry Farmer
A shy smile spread across her delicate features, and she peeked up at him through those lashes. It was as sharp as Cupid’s arrow hitting him square in the sternum. Heaven help him, even though this was supposed to be a quick way to fulfill the terms of Granddaddy’s will, the zing that shot from his heart to, well, other places, was a mighty good sign.
“I like you,” he continued. “I liked you from the moment I saw you. You’re smart, I can tell. And you’re modest too. That is, you aren’t all giggly, like Chastity, or sure of yourself, like Joy. Not that being sure of yourself is a bad thing.” He held up his hands in defense, kicking himself for saying the wrong thing yet again.
“I know what you’re trying to say.” Faith laughed. “At least I think I do.”
She lowered her head, and the afternoon sunlight hit her in such a way that it painted a halo around her head. Cooper’s heart lurched yet again.
“All I’m trying to say is that I think we would be good together. Will you marry me?”
Best case scenario would have been a quick yes. Instead, Faith’s expression pinched a little. She pursed her lips, turning all business, and met his eyes with a no-nonsense stare.
“Could I move my kiln into your house?”
Cooper blinked, not sure he’d heard her right. “Your what?”
“My kiln.” She let her arms drop to her sides, standing straighter. “For firing porcelain.”
Lucky for Cooper, his mind connected the dots before he looked like a total fool. Porcelain. She must have a side-hobby of making teacups or something. Dr. Lachele had said the Quinlan family prized crafts. “Oh. Yeah. Of course.” He paused, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “How big is it?”
“Pretty big.” She winced slightly, uncertain. “It requires a fair amount of electricity, too. How old is the wiring in your house?”
“Not old at all.” Ideas began to pop through his mind. “In fact, I have a workshop out in back of the house. I built it back when I thought I’d need the extra space for home improvement projects, but the ranch has kept me from getting too elaborate there. It would be a good space for a kiln.”
“And a workroom?” Faith’s whole face lit up.
There was no way he was going to say no to that. “Sure. Why not.” He beamed, thanking God that he could make her happy. If he could do one thing right, then he stood a fair chance of doing other things right.
“That would be perfect.” Faith sighed, running a hand through her hair. “You have no idea how perfect. If the workshop is big enough, I could fit all of my supplies in there, maybe even a computer.”
“Why not?” He grinned, tilting his head to the side. “So if you have a kiln, I guess that means you’re a sculptor too?”
Her body went rigid, and the flush poured back over her face. “Yeah,” she answered slowly. “I sculpt. It’s…it’s part of the doll-making.”
Cooper chewed on the corner of his lip and tried to envision the cloth dolls he’d seen combined with sculpture. Did she make vases or things to display the dolls in? Or maybe teacups, like he first thought? He shook his head, sure he was missing the obvious. But then, growing up with three brothers, he had about as much experience with dolls on the ranch as he did with surfboards.
“As long as I can have my kiln and a workspace for my supplies,” Faith cut into his thoughts, her smile returning, “then yes, Cooper Culpepper, I would be happy to marry you.”
Relief splashed through him, and tension that Cooper didn’t know he was carrying dripped off his shoulders. He relaxed, taking a step closer to her. “All right, then, Miss Faith.” He took her hands and raised them to kiss the back of each one. “I promise that I’ll be as good a husband to you as anyone has ever been.”
“That’s so sweet.” Her voice was little more than a whisper, and her eyes went glassy, as if she might be moved to tears. But it was the hint of panic that wrapped around her like a too-tight blanket that tugged at Cooper’s heart.
“I know it’s all a little strange and rushed, but we’ll be happy together, I promise,” he assured her.
“I’m sure we will,” she said. “It’s not that.” She shot a sidelong glance back to the house, fifty yards away.
“We can take certain things slow if you want, or we could jump right in. Either way, I promise to make your life as my wife the best that it can possibly be. And when they come, I’ll do everything it takes to be the greatest dad to our kids that anyone has ever seen.”
Her smile dropped entirely. For one heart-stopping moment, she looked downright gloomy.
A split-second later, that doom and gloom vanished, and she smiled as bright as the sun. “I promise I’ll be the best wife that you could ever wish for,” she said. “I mean it.”
“I know you do.”
Cooper leaned toward her, bringing his head down as though he would kiss her. Faith tilted her head up, but at the last second, Cooper thought better of it and pulled back.
He laughed. “Since this is all so sudden, how about we wait until we’re pronounced man and wife to have our first kiss?”
Her smile warmed. “That sounds lovely.”
“Good.” He let out a breath, relieved to have scored another point on the doing things right scale. “Well, I guess that’s it, then. Let’s go tell Mom and your sisters.”
Faith smiled and nodded. He looped her arm into his and started back to the house. Hiring a matchmaker was the best idea ever.
2
Faith forced herself to take a deep breath and keep her head steady as Joy styled her hair for the wedding. There she was, dressed in a simple white dress that Linda had taken her into the town of Culpepper proper to buy, less than an hour away from becoming Cooper’s wife. She and Cooper had decided to have Brother Anthony marry them in Culpepper’s church too, instead of at home, like Karlan and Hope had done.
“I still think you should have gone for the low-cut dress. You’ve got perfect boobies for low-cut dresses,” Chastity said, smoothing a wrinkle on Faith’s shoulder. “This one is so plain.”
“I like this one,” Faith laughed, though her heart shivered. “And my boobies are none of your business.” She distracted herself by smirking at Chastity. “You can buy the low-cut one and go tit-tacular when Chris finally gets around to asking you to marry him.”
Chastity flushed, lips pressed shut. “Well, he will ask me, and I will get that low-cut dress. There will be boobs for days.”
Faith exchanged a grin with Joy in the mirror. “Chris still hasn’t formally asked you yet?” Joy raised her eyebrows.
“No.” Chastity sighed. “But I’m sure he will. He won’t let the terms of good old Granddaddy’s will go unfulfilled like that. Plus, there’s so much chemistry there that we’re likely to cause a meltdown.”
“Well, he is a science teacher,” Hope commented from the table behind the vanity, where Joy worked on Faith’s hair.
Faith shifted as subtly as she could to get a look at what Hope was doing through the mirror. Her sister had her head bent over a stack of papers and was alternately writing with a pencil and punching numbers into a calculator. That sight alone sent a basket of snakes writhing through Faith’s gut that was fiercer than any wedding jitters.
“What does it look like?” she asked, voice trembling.
Hope glanced up, her expression relaxing. “Good, actually. The kiln won’t be as expensive to move as I thought. Honor texted me to say she was able to find a moving company that will pick it up from the warehouse and ship it, but it will take a while.”
Faith swallowed and nodded. “And Mom and Dad still have no clue?”
A sly smile settled on Hope’s face. “None at all, just the way we like it.”
“And they will continue to not have a clue with Honor and Grace organizing things from that end,” Chastity laughed. “I swear, people think the quads are bad, but they have no idea how the twins’ minds work.”
“What Mom and Dad don’t know won’t hurt them,” Joy a
dded and pinned a curl in place on Faith’s head.
Faith wasn’t so sure of that old adage. There were a lot of things that people didn’t know that could hurt them once they found out. She should know. She rested a tingling hand on her abdomen. What would Cooper think when months or years had gone by and she still wasn’t pregnant? She just knew that he’d be furious with her for keeping her inability to have children a secret.
Unless she gave him other reasons to want her around.
“Turn your head this way,” Joy instructed her, reaching for the curling iron.
Faith did as she was asked, turning her thoughts as well. Joy was fantastic at styling hair. She’d made Faith downright pretty when the truth was that she was just okay. But what if she put in the extra effort to make herself attractive? Not just attractive, desirable. Men wanted babies, yes, but everyone knew that it was making the babies that occupied their thoughts most of the time. Faith had no qualms at all about sleeping with Cooper. He was hot and in prime physical shape. More importantly, she felt safe and secure when she was around him. Her mom would probably die of embarrassment if she knew what Faith was thinking, but the fact of the matter was that a man would sacrifice a lot if he was satisfied in bed.
Yes, Faith thought, her shoulders relaxing and her smile growing. She might not be capable of giving Cooper children, but she would do her darndest to make up for it in other areas. How hard could it be to learn what he liked and to be a siren in the sack? Besides, if what she’d heard was true, you could tell a man anything when he was laying spent and sated in bed next to you after a mind-blowing orgasm.
“There we go.” Hope put down her pencil and sat straight, smile stretching from ear to ear. “You not only made a profit last quarter, you doubled your financial goal.”
Every positive feeling from Faith’s train of thought crashed. “I made a profit?”
Hope chuckled. “Sweetie, you not only made a profit, you earned more in one quarter than any of us ever did in an entire year. Before expenses, of course.”
Faith swallowed. “From dolls?” She would have shaken her head in disbelief if Joy didn’t have a hot curling iron hovering over it. “I can’t believe it.”
“Faith, your dolls are incredible.” Chastity stared at her as if she couldn’t believe anyone would have a shred of doubt, let alone Faith herself. “You’re such an amazing sculptor that it freaks me out. Those babies look so real I’m always shocked they don’t wake up and start crying. And the clothes that Hope sews are just too cute.”
“Thanks.” Hope rose and brought the ledger sheet she’d been working on over to Faith.
As soon as Faith saw the fat, black number at the bottom of the column, her eyes bulged. “What am I going to do with all this money?”
“I wouldn’t say no to a little help with the daycare,” Hope suggested.
“Of course. You’re the accountant, you have all the bank account numbers. Take as much as you’d like. In fact, take a bunch out and give it to Karlan to help with buying out the ranch. Although…” She hissed out a breath and winced, glancing at her reflection as Joy finished the last curl and stepped back. “How am I supposed to tell Cooper about this? Men kinda freak out when you tell them you make bunches of money.”
“Why would he freak out?” Chastity shrugged. “You’d think he’d be happy.”
“Yeah, that or think that I lied to him by omission for not saying anything before now,” Faith said what had been eating at her for days.
Joy frowned. “You didn’t tell Cooper already?”
Faith shook her head. Her freshly curled hair bounced on her head.
“You’re fifteen minutes away from marrying the man, and you haven’t told him that you own and operate one of the nation’s premier mail-order baby doll businesses?” Chastity gaped at her.
“I told him that I make dolls,” Faith said.
“That’s it?” Chastity stood and stepped away from the vanity to grab the shawl that went with her dress.
Faith shrugged. “I’m so used to keeping the whole business a secret from Mom and Daddy. You know they would have made me stop cold—no matter how many orders I had waiting—if they found out I was working outside of the home.”
“Yeah, and that’s why we came here to marry the guys,” Joy argued.
“By the way, you have a ton of backorders piling up, even though you put that notice on the website,” Hope added.
Faith’s stomach lurched. Her kiln and the clay she used to cast and sculpt the babies couldn’t get there fast enough. But she had bigger things to worry about.
“I fail to see the problem here,” Chastity went on from the room’s other mirror, where she was fixing her make-up. “Just tell Cooper about the business, offer him whatever money you have for the ranch buy-out, and be done with it.”
“What if it’s too late?” Faith stood, pacing to let off some of her nervous energy. “What if he thinks I’m deceitful? Or what if he thinks that I was trying to hide it from him for some nefarious reason? Or…or what if he doesn’t like his wife earning money, just like Daddy? I mean, there’s a chance that I could make more than he does.” The idea filled her with bursts of pride and dread that made her dizzy.
“And what if he doesn’t give a lick and falls madly in love with you for being smart, determined, and resourceful?” Hope crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
“Seriously, Faith. You’ve lived with Mom and Daddy for way too long,” Chastity said, applied fresh lipstick, smacked her lips, then stood and faced Faith. “Yeah, I know it’s hard to break the habit of keeping things from people when you’ve needed to hold onto secrets for so long, but we’re done with that now.”
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Chastity’s right,” Joy said, patting her own hair as she looked in the mirror. “We’re in a new chapter of our lives now. Keeping secrets from Mom and Daddy was essential. Keeping them from your husband will cause more trouble than not.”
“I know, I know.” Faith cringed. “And believe me, if it was anyone else keeping such a stupid secret, I would be the first person to smack them upside the head and tell them to just spill it.”
“So?” Joy blinked at her.
“So…” Faith tensed every muscle in her body, then let them all go with a sigh. “I don’t know. It’s like I have a gigantic mental block about it. I just…can’t.”
“You know what you should do?” Hope reached for Faith and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “If you’re really worried about how Cooper would react, you should talk to Linda first.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea.” Chastity snapped straight, face alight.
“I love Linda,” Joy sighed. “She’s wonderful.”
“She is.” Faith drew in a breath. “Maybe I will talk to her about the whole thing. But first, I should probably go out there and get married.”
The sisters laughed. “It’s the best thing I’ve done all month,” Hope added.
The mood in the room shifted. Faith actually managed a smile as the four of them did last-minute checks on their dresses, hair, and make-up. The wedding wasn’t fancy, but it was the only wedding Faith planned to have. And Chastity and Joy were right. It had been necessary to keep secrets while living under their parents’ rules, but things were different now. Cooper was different. He might not have a problem with her running her own business.
But he probably would have a problem with finding out she was as barren as the Arizona desert.
The thought smacked her as the four of them left the bride’s prep room for the main part of the chapel, killing the good mood she’d finally slipped into. Well, there was only one way to find out. She would marry Cooper, and then she would wait and watch for the right time to spill all her secrets to him.
If and when it came.
And if she didn’t chicken out.
Cooper stood at the front of the chapel in the church his family had attended for four generations, back itching with doubt about wheth
er he was doing the right thing. Marrying a girl less than two weeks after meeting her may have been convenient for him, but it didn’t seem particularly fair to her, no matter what Faith had told him about her life with her parents.
“Will you stop fidgeting?” Karlan muttered by his side.
“I’m not fidgeting,” Cooper insisted, but deliberately held his arms stiff at his sides all the same. “I’m just trying to work out how I’m going to make this worth Faith’s time.”
“Worth her time?” Karlan chuckled and slapped Cooper on the back. “Only you would be wrapped around the axle about time when a beautiful woman is minutes away from marrying you.”
Cooper rolled his eyes at his brother. Clearly Karlan didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. The ranch was at stake. He had a responsibility to do whatever he could to save it. The ranch and his family were his duty, and Cooper Culpepper was a man who took his duty seriously. But Faith deserved to be more than just a man’s duty.
“Look,” Karlan went on with a shrug. “If you want to blame somebody for how unromantic this whole thing is, blame Granddaddy. But remember, you’re not dragging anyone in here by their hair and pointing a shotgun at them. Faith wants to marry you, just like Hope wanted to me, and Joy wants to marry Kolby, and Chastity wants to marry Chris, although Lord knows why anyone would want to marry Chris.”
The off-handed joke brought a grin to Cooper’s face, although a pinch of guilt hit him that he was laughing at his baby brother’s expense. Chris didn’t hear the comment, though, and even if he had, he was too busy lounging in one of the pews, staring at the chapel door, a day-dreamy smile on his face, his trousers a little too tented in the front.
“I am going to make this all worth Faith’s time.” Cooper turned back to Karlan and nodded, sure as he’d ever been of anything. “I won’t give her any reason to regret her decision.”
“Spoken like a stockbroker,” Karlan drawled, shaking his head.