"Do you, Mason Glenn Whittaker, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death do you part?"
Mason smiled down at her. "I do."
Behind them, Ben, Jr.'s, crystal clear voice sounded. "Mama, you done lost the bet with Cousin Beth and now you got to give her that new quilt."
Ten
Beth almost died right there. She wanted to sink into the floor, right after she smothered Ben, Jr., to death.
"Bet?" Mason looked at Beth and frowned. "What bet?"
A fountain of unwanted information, Ben, Jr., stood. “The one where Mama has to give Cousin Beth her new quilt if Cousin Beth gets married before the end of June, and if Cousin Beth don't, then she has to give Mama some new silk from New York."
Rachel stomped over to her son. "Sit down and shut your mouth, young man."
But the damage was done. Beth saw the hurt and anger flash in Mason's eyes.
"You asked me to marry you so you could win a quilt?"
Beth knew he'd never listen. Not now. "It wasn't like that. Honest, Mason. Rachel and I did make a bet, but who else would I want to marry? You're the one I always turned to, the one who understood me all these years."
He stepped back from her. "I thought you'd finally realized you love me. What a laugh." He shook his head. "You asked me to marry you because of a bet with your cousin Rachel?"
Beth stepped toward him, her hand still on his arm. "Mason, you have to understand. I didn't know how much I loved you before. I was so tired of everyone making a joke about me. I thought if we married, the talk would die down."
"As if that's any better? You proposed just so the gossip would die down? What a fool you played me for." He removed her hand from his arm and stepped back.
"No, Mason. Listen to me. No matter how it started, you're the one I love and want to marry."
Mason shook his head again. "No, that's it. I thought that after all these years you'd finally decided to make your own choices instead of letting your parents decide everything for you. Now your cousin is making decisions for you. The gossips in town make decisions for you. What next? No more, Beth. I won't play second fiddle any longer. This wedding is off." He turned and walked toward the back of the church.
Mr. Pendleton rose. "Now see here. You can't leave my girl like this."
Mason called over his shoulder. “Just watch me. A marriage can't stand on a foundation of bets and lies—or with a woman who doesn't know what she wants."
Beth picked up her skirts and ran down the aisle.
Her mother called, "Bethany, what are you doing? You cannot chase after that man. I forbid it."
She ignored her mother and reached Mason as he put a hand on the knob. She threw herself to knock his hand from the door and bar him from opening it. "Mason, I love you, and I know exactly what I want. I didn't know how much until after I'd proposed, but I've loved you all these years and want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"Of all the nerve." Mrs. Pendleton stood. "Bethany Pendleton, do not debase yourself begging that man to marry you. Get right back here with your father and me."
"Mother, stay out of this. This is between me and the man I love."
Mason watched Beth with his jaw set. Anger and pain showed in his eyes.
Beth never even glanced at her mother, but kept her gaze on Mason. "I never meant you to know about the bet. I should have told you. I started to a dozen times, but I was ashamed."
She put her hands on his arms. "Each of those other times, I felt like a woman in jail about to be hanged. I was relieved when the other engagements were cancelled. But, Mason, after you agreed to marry me, I was so happy. Happier than I've ever been in my life."
She looked around Mason at those gathered in the sanctuary. "And all of you who gossiped about me behind my back"—she looked directly at Mrs. Weldon and Mrs. Humphreys—"do you think I didn't know or that it didn't hurt my feelings? Well, I knew, and it hurt a lot. When I tried to hide the pain, you added the label of Ice Queen. How can you people sleep at night knowing the harm you've caused me and others?
"I know you'll all be gossiping about this wedding, talking about what a disaster it's been. Well, I don't care. This time I really don't. All that matters is that Mason loves me and that we're married."
She stepped forward and rested her hands on his chest. “This wedding isn't about bets any more than it's about Paris fashions. This is about you and me and our future together. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. They can talk all they want, but it won't alter the fact that our marriage and us being together is the right thing."
He removed her hands and crossed his arms, but at least he was listening.
"You know how I always came to you when I was upset or happy? Why do you think that was?"
"You said I was your best friend, like a brother." He spat the words like a curse.
"But now I realize it's because I've loved you all this time. Not like a brother, but like a woman loves the only man for her—the other half of her soul." She wiped at the tears streaming down her face, and goo smeared her gloves. She hoped she had the right words to convince him. Nothing had ever been so important in her life.
"Mason, you said I could count on you. Please mean it. You've always been honest with me, a solid rock I can depend on."
She saw the emotions warring in him and pressed her case. She stepped toward him and put her hands on his. "Please, Mason, you're too fine to pretend you don't love me. I love you as much. We belong together. Please marry me."
He exhaled. "I'd planned to ask you when the house was finished and furnished inside. Why else do you think I built it and painted it your favorite color? So, reckon I'll do the asking now. Beth, will you marry me?"
Tears streamed down her face, but now they were tears of joy. "Oh, Mason, I would be honored to marry you."
He pulled her into his arms. She'd never been so happy or so relieved.
The guests cheered.
From the front of the chapel, Reverend Moseley called. "Do you, Bethany Louise Pendleton, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? "
Mason looked into her eyes. "You bet she does."
The minister snapped his book closed. "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
And Mason did, a long, sweet kiss that curled her toes.
Those attending sent up another round of cheers accompanied by whistles and applause.
Mason and Beth rushed out the door. The rain had stopped, but the churchyard was a sea of mud and puddles.
Mason stopped her on the porch. "Grandpa's buggy is right over there. Wait here while I fetch it."
Beth shook her head and hiked up her train and skirts. "Oh, no, you're not leaving me, Mason Whittaker, not ever."
He took her arm. "Then hold on to my arm. The steps are slippery."
Folks leaving the chapel poured out. Ben, Jr., and Jamie Bigelow raced into Mason, hit him in the back of his legs, and his knees buckled. He went skidding down the steps to land in a mud puddle with a splash.
Beth tumbled after him and landed in his lap. Her crown of orange blossoms skewed like a crooked halo, and the pristine tulle floated with stems of straw on the murky water puddle. Mud splatters covered them both. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Mason kissed her gently. "Reckon this is the end of the jinx?"
The clouds parted, and rays from the setting sun spotlighted them.
She smiled at her husband. "Certainly. Remember? Happy is the bride the sun shines on."
Epilogue
June, 1890
Beth wakened to sunshine pouring in the window. Oh, no, she'd overslept again. This pregnancy drained her energy more than the others had, and she needed extra sleep. Thankfully, once her term ended the other babies had popped out as if she was created for childbearing.
Beside her, Mason pressed his lips to her shoulder as he splayed his fingers against her rounded stomach. The bab
e inside her kicked.
"Baby's running races this fine Saturday morning."
"I hope this one's a girl so Millie won't be the only one." Beth's husband didn't seem to mind that she had overslept. She turned to face him. "You're dressed. What time is it?"
"After seven. The right time, Beth." He stood and unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it onto the floor. His denim pants and his drawers followed, and he slid between the sheets beside her.
She looked at the door. "Urn, the door. Where are—"
"I locked the door." He feathered kisses across her face and nipped at her lips. "Rowdy's gone to town for supplies and to spend part of his paycheck. Probably come back broke, drunk, and satisfied. Wish he'd find a good woman and stay home like his boss."
The only thing better than going to sleep with Mason beside her was waking with him. “The children need their breakfast—"
"Beulah's fed them and said she'd look after them for an hour or two before she starts baking."
Beth smiled and arched a brow. "An hour or two? My, my, am I married to Samson?" They'd made such sweet love last night. No wonder she'd slept late this morning.
"May take longer." He grinned. "If I have to suffer, I'm willing."
He pushed her nightgown up until he worked it over her head and tossed it aside. "Mmm, I love your body. Never tire of looking at you." Leaning on his elbow, he trailed his finger between her swollen breasts and down to circle her bulging belly button.
She met his gaze. "Mason, I'm over six months pregnant. I know I'm fat and ugly."
"Uh-uh. You're beautiful. Always have been, but you get this extra glow when you're expecting a
babe."
She gave thanks every day for this man. "What I get is fat and sluggish. You only think I'm beautiful, dear, because you love me."
"I do love you, and that's a fact known far and wide." He rained kisses across her shoulders, down her breasts, and across her stomach. "Let me show you how much."
He laved her nipple with his tongue while he moved his fingers to tease her other breast.
She pressed him to her. "I love when you do that."
Around her nipple, he laughed. "That's the idea." His hand slid to the mound at the apex of her thighs. His finger worked magic there, delving in and out in cadence with the strokes of his tongue.
Her breath increased to pants, and she delighted in the effect of his lovemaking. His caresses sent her into throes of ecstasy. The sensations built until she exploded in a burst of golden pleasure.
He stretched out beside her and caressed her breasts. "I love you more each day."
"As much as I love you." She pulled his arm across her. "Come here and make love with me."
"I can do that, ma'am, if you insist." He moved on top of her, careful not to press hard on her bulging stomach.
She opened to him and he filled her. She raised her hips to meet his thrusts. They matched their bodies, by now finely tuned to each other's needs. Higher and higher she flew, soaring toward heaven. Stars erupted around her, and she floated back to earth. The warm flow of his seed signaled his completion. He exhaled and lay beside her, cuddling her close.
Nuzzling her neck, he kissed her where her shoulder began. "I'm the luckiest man alive."
She turned and looked at him. "We've done well so far, haven't we, in spite of the jinx?"
He chuckled. "No jinx. An enchantment is more apt."
Later, they heard giggles outside their room. Mason rose and dressed and tossed Beth her gown. When they were both presentable, he unlocked the door.
Three-year-old Howie and four-year-old Glennie ran in
Glennie rushed to the bed. "Mama, Papa, Millie's trying to walk."
Mason handed Beth her wrapper and slippers. "Let's go see, shall we?"
They moved to the kitchen and watched their daughter take her first steps. When she fell on her bottom, she let out a wail. Millicent Louise had her mother's gold hair and blue eyes, but her father's temper. He'd conquered his quick anger, but his little girl had not.
Mason scooped up his daughter, and Millie stopped crying to flash him a coquettish grin.
He laughed at her antics. "Good thing her brothers are more easygoing like their mother. I think this one's going to be a handful."
"I repeat, let's hope the next one's a girl. Otherwise, with no competition Millie will twist all you men around her little finger."
Mason had finished the addition to their house, and it now contained enough bedrooms for all the children, plus two extras and a small suite for Beulah, their housekeeper.
Beulah handed Beth a glass of milk. "You got to drink plenty of this stuff so our baby grows right. But take it outta the kitchen." She made shooing gestures with her hands. "I'll bring you breakfast somewheres else. I gots to get tomorrow's baking done in here, and I can't with all you folks flitting around in my way."
Mason carried Millie while the boys walked on each side of him into the main parlor. Beth took a seat on the sofa. She loved this room.
The fireplace kept them warm in winter, and the large windows cooled the room in summer. A rug covered the plank floor, and ivory lace curtains hung at the windows inside open heavy jacquard drapes. This morning the lace fluttered in the breeze.
Four-year-old Glennie curled up beside Beth. “Tell us the story again, about you and Papa."
Beth followed his gaze to the quilt hanging on the wall.
Three-year-old Howie plopped at her feet. "Yeth, Mama. Tell uth how you got our Papa for a bolt of thilk."
Beth met Mason's gaze and reveled in the love that shone there. She might have experienced misfortune in her life, but for the past five years she'd been the luckiest woman on earth.
She smiled at her husband, then began the story her boys loved. "Once upon a time, there was an unlucky woman whom no one wanted to marry ..."
About the Author
Caroline Clemmons loves writing stories of romance, adventure, and mystery. Her previous novels received excellent reviews, one of which, THE MOST UNSUITABLE HUSBAND, was a Top Pick from Romantic Times. A finalist for awards including the National Reader’s Choice and the Holt Medallion, she loves writing romances about the late 1800s. Caroline’s fascination with family lore, and her interest in history, naturally transitioned to a love of writing historical romances. Although she loves reading and writing historical novels, she also writes contemporary settings and cozy mysteries. When she’s not writing, Caroline enjoys spending time with her husband and their two daughters, reading, travel, antique mall browsing, oil painting, and playing bridge (but only with people who don’t take the game too seriously).
Caroline and her Hero husband are living Happily Ever After in rural North Central Texas. They share their home with a menagerie of rescued pets that include two cats—Bailey the orange tabby and Sebastian the black and white tuxedo—and their sweet black ShihTzu, Webster.
Caroline loves to hear from readers at: http://www.carolineclemmons.com and through her email at mailto: [email protected].
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