"You haven't known any woman but me," she argued.
"Oh, Cassie . . . what do you feel when I kiss you? When we make love with each other? Do you feel like the world explodes into fireworks? Do you feel like your insides are turning into mush and there's not a damn thing you can do about it? Do you want the kiss to go on forever and ever and never end? Do you want to melt in my arms and stay there for all eternity?" He turned her around to face him, tilted her delicate chin up until she could see nothing but his soft brown eyes, made even softer by the light of the moon, and kissed her. A kiss that lasted several minutes and melted her insides to mush.
"Ted," she murmured. Her better judgment had turned to mush as well.
"No," he said. "I want you so bad it hurts, but not tonight. Not here. If we make love in this house it's going to be when you've told me you'll be my wife forever."
Chapter Sixteen
The wedding was planned for two o'clock in the afternoon. A huge white arch covered with ribbons, twining ivy, and roses stood under the shade of tall pecan trees. The bride and groom were to leave the reception by limousine to be driven to the Oklahoma City airport for a midnight flight to the Bahamas. The newlyweds planned to honeymoon at a secluded resort on the remote side of the island. Alicia was ecstatic, and Tyler still hadn't said much. And he still looked like he didn't know what'd hit him.
Cassie woke at five that morning after a sleepless night. Tomorrow she would pack her suitcases and drive away in the candy apple red truck. Right to Ash's office to sign her divorce papers and then she would go back to Texas, and back to college.
She kicked off the covers and opened the drapes. The leafy trees rustled in the warm breeze, displaying several shades of green. They'd been bare the first time Alicia opened the drapes for her seven months ago. Like the love she had for this family, they had budded and grown. She wondered what she would do if Ted never came to get her . . . if he found out he wasn't in love with her after all.
"Cassie!" Alicia burst into the room without knocking. "Today is the day and I'm so nervous I'm about to puke! What if Tyler doesn't show up? I can't see him all day and what if he changes his mind? Cassie, what if my hair won't fit in a circlet of rose buds?"
"You've got a case of the jitters and you've got 'em bad," Cassie laughed.
Alicia rolled her eyes.
"I haven't slept a wink since Tyler kissed me at five minutes till mdnight. Now I wish I'd made love to him every night for the last week so I'd know he would come back for more! Damn it all, we should have eloped!"
'You'll do fine," Cassie said firmly. "Let's go grab a sweet roll and get you some milk to calm your stomach. Then we'll watch Saturday morning cartoons until Liz gets here to do our hair."
At seven-thirty Liz arrived with a bushel basket of hot curlers, hair spray, mousse, and make-up. "Cartoons?" She raised one eyebrow and laughed. "That's the joy of a Saturday afternoon wedding. Of course, a Saturday morning wedding gives you less time to think about it and get sick to your stomach. Guess what Tyler is doing right now."
"Have you seen him?" Alicia's eyes glittered. "Momma says I can't even call him on the phone. I can't see him and I can't talk to him until we say our vows. Isn't that stupid. Liz, I swear we should have eloped."
"Oh, no," Abuelita brought a cup of coffee from the kitchen. "You are doing this right. No great-granddaughter of mine is going to elope. This is the best day of your life. It's the only day of your life you can take all day to get dressed."
"Abuelita, what if Tyler falls out of love with me?" Alicia sat beside her great-grandmother and rested her head on the elderly woman's shoulder. "How did you know you were doing the right thing when you married?"
Abuelita set the cup down on the end table and patted her granddaughter on the arm. "Why do you young woman doubt your hearts? You worry your mind about matters your heart would not question. Today Tyler loves you. Make today the most important day of your life, and tomorrow will take care of itself. Now go upstairs and become a beautiful bride for Tyler, and let this old woman drink her coffee in peace."
"I love you," Alicia kissed her on the cheek. "And you'll never be old, so quit saying that."
Abuelita smiled but she didn't argue. She hoped Cassie heard the advice she'd given her great-granddaughter. The words had been meant for her as well.
Thirty minutes before the wedding, Cassie and Liz fluffed up the white Chantilly lace dress and put it on Alicia. They slid it over her head, buttoned the thirty-six covered buttons up the back and the six on each pointed sleeve, then turned her around to see herself in the floor-length mirror.
"Is that really me?" Alicia squealed. "Liz, my hair is gorgeous. Where were you all those mornings when I was trying to fix it for school?"
"Having morning sickness," Liz said wryly.
"You are beautiful." Cassie kissed Alicia gently on the cheek. "Just incredibly beautiful—like every happy bride."
There was a soft knock on the door and Bob pushed it open. "I hear I've got a daughter in here. Cassie, where is she? Who is this ravishing bride? Surely this can't be Alicia?"
"Oh, Daddy, I love you." Alicia swept over and kissed him on the cheek.
"Tyler's waiting for his cue to follow the preacher out the front door . . . wait, I hear the music now. He's asked the most foolish questions today. Most I ever heard him say. He even asked me what he would do if you decided you didn't love him." Bob smiled.
"Did he really?" Alicia's eyes widened. "But I'll always love him."
"Of course you will. That's what I told him anyway. Now there's my cue to get you girls to the living room and start the procession. Let's go. Tyler'll faint if he has to stand up there very long." Bob crooked his elbow and offered it to his daughter.
Bob and Alicia paused on the porch. Her dress, an exact replica of Maria's wedding dress, was white bridal satin covered with Chantilly lace. The skirt fell from a basque waist, topped with a bodice with a Victorian neckline. The sleeves extended into points that covered the tops of her hands. The bottom of the dress was scalloped and fell just above her ankles, showing off high-heeled kid leather bridal boots. Her illusion veil fell from a circlet of white roses which gleamed in her black hair.
Ted thought his sister was a lovely bride. But neither she, nor any other woman there, could outshine Cassie in his eyes. She couldn't be more beautiful than she was right at that moment. All the love that was in his heart was visible in his eyes, and it made Cassie uncomfortable. She looked at him and had to look away.
The preacher got through the preliminaries without Ted even hearing. Cassie sneaked another look at him and he winked. She blushed.
"In Corinthians, we read that love is patient, love is kind, love does not want its own way . . . "the good man droned on, as Cassie smiled back at Ted, and thought of all the times they had done exactly the opposite.
"Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" the preacher asked finally.
"Her mother and I do," Bob said clearly, then sat down in the front row beside Maria, taking her hand firmly in his.
Cassie swallowed a lump in her throat, and tried to will the lump in her heart away. She might have a wedding someday. If Ted was honest with her and with himself, it might be possible to marry him. But there would never be a father to give her away and never a mother to sit beside.
She chided herself for giving in to self-pity. Bob would gladly walk you down the aisle, she told herself. Or he'd walk Ted down the aisle to you and say he'd give Ted to be your husband. Hasn't Ted said you always have to do things your way? Cassie couldn't control the smile at the corners of her mouth.
The wedding continued but her thoughts were elsewhere. Had Ted just mouthed the words Marry me behind the preacher's back? Almost imperceptibly, Cassie shook her head.
The newlyweds led the first dance, and soon everyone was out on the floor. Except Ted and Cassie. He got a good grip on her and marched her over to his great-grandmother. "Abuelita, help me. Cassie's going away. Can y
ou talk some sense into her head?"
Cassie shook her head. "In a few days you'll be glad I didn't say yes. You've caught a marriage virus, that's all."
"What more can I say?" Abuelita fiddled with the rings on her fingers. "I have talked until I am blue in the face, and that's a lot of talk for a Mexican grandmother who is as brown as I am! Cassie is as stubborn as a mule. She does not listen to a wise old woman. She does not listen to her handsome man whose eyes are filled with love. She has to go away to prove something to herself, but it won't take her long to prove it. However, I don't think she is completely foolish. Now go and dance this slow dance. Maybe if you hold her tight . . ."
Cassie had to laugh.
"Is she right?" Ted asked when they were dancing.
"Just hold me and don't talk," she said. "I honestly don't know the answer."
Chapter Seventeen
The battle started when Cassie went to bed that morning at two o'clock. The bride and groom had long since boarded their flight, the band had gone home, and so had the last reception guests. The kitchen looked like a Texas twister and a hurricane had met in the middle of it, but Maria said hired help would take care of it tomorrow. Ted walked Cassie to her door and kissed her gently on the cheek. He didn't ask her to reconsider, but he didn't say goodbye either.
Cassie Stewart O'Malley Wellman took off her gorgeous mint green satin dress and draped it over the back of a chair. She threw her pantyhose on the floor beside the matching satin shoes and took all the pins from her hair, letting it fall in natural ringlets to her shoulders. She soaked for an hour in the tub, realizing that this would be the last time the bedroom and bathroom were hers. In a few hours she would have her maiden name back and her freedom.
She dried herself quickly and put on the same nightshirt Alicia had brought her the first day she came here. Everything else was packed and ready to load in the morning . . . after she said the good-byes she dreaded to the family. She turned out the lights and fell into bed. It was going to be easier than she thought. She'd be asleep in seconds, exhausted as she was, and after a few tearful good-byes tomorrow morning, it would all be over. And Ted could start to date other women . . .
Her conscience reminded her that she was only eighteen years old and that she had a whole life ahead of her. She would finish her education and someday find a wonderful doctor to share her life and ambitions with. She would remember this experience with fondness, but she had to try all the roads of life before she settled on one, go through lots of experiences and have many loves. She wasn't leaving just for Ted's sake, but her own as well.
Yet her heart ached. She'd had kisses that came near to blowing her apart at the seams. She'd had lovemaking that rivaled the Fourth of July. She'd had the love of a man who was willing to do anything at all to make her happy. And she'd found happiness—real, true happiness and a wonderful family that had accepted her unquestioningly as one of their own from the very beginning. Abuelita was right. She should not doubt her heart.
Cassie didn't sleep and the ache in her heart didn't go away.
She heard the clock strike four times and she heard a door creak somewhere down the hall. Soft footsteps on the carpet stopped at her door, but only for a few minutes, then went on down the stairs. The familiar squeak of the back door was barely audible but she heard it.
She jumped out of bed, drew the drapes and the sliding glass doors open and stepped out on the balcony. She could see him walking down the back lane toward the property he was building on. He carried what looked like a pillow and a sleeping bag and his head was down as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Evidently he couldn't sleep either. He must be dreading the good-byes as much as she was. She watched him until he was just a speck in the distance, and wished she walked beside him, if only for one more time and for a couple of hours before she left.
The clock struck five and she was still sitting on the balcony, curled up with her bare feet under her. It was time to put her jeans on so she could help Maria one more time with breakfast. Then she remembered Maria said they wouldn't have breakfast or church this morning. The family planned to sleep late and eat a late brunch. Ted wouldn't be at breakfast anyway. He hadn't returned from the trip down the lane.
Cassie put on jeans, a bra and a shirt, slipped on her sneakers, and went downstairs to find a cup of coffee.
There was a note propped on the coffeepot.
Goodbye is to painful. So I'll just say, I love you. Ted.
Her tears flowed down her cheeks and onto her shirt. She grabbed a paper towel and blew her nose. Then she slammed the paper towel down into the wastebasket, and it hit the bottom with a depressingly soggy sound.
She put Ted's note in her hip pocket and walked out the back door with determination. It was the longest mile she ever walked. But Cassie had made up her mind at last. If Ted Wellman hadn't changed his mind in the past few hours, she was going to tell him she loved him and wanted to stay with him forever.
Cassie turned down the lane and was surprised to see a finished cabin sitting where the shell had been only a few weeks before.
But Ted wasn't on the front porch. He had to be somewhere in the house . . . probably snuggled down in a sleeping bag with his handsome face buried in a pillow.
Ted was on the back porch watching the sunrise and didn't see her walking down the lane. He was remembering the day he looked across the bus station diner at a scared little redhead and the way she'd waved at him. Then the whirlwind of life with Cassie had begun. Now all would be peaceful once more. He hated that idea. No, he planned to get up off this porch at eight o'clock and get in his pickup truck, drive to her little town in northern Texas and beg her once again to come home. She might and she might not . . . but, oh, the beauty their lives could know if she would only trust him and her own heart.
Cassie went around the house to the back door and found him staring off into space with a blank look in his eyes. She leaned down before he even realized she was there, kissed him on the cheek.
He looked deep into her green eyes and she, into his brown ones. Words weren't necessary. Cassie was here beside him and the message was clear.
"I love you and I want to stay and be your wife," she said, all in a rush. "Okay?"
"I love you, Cassie." Ted drew her into his arms and kissed her silly. She pulled back, but only to draw a breath.
"What now?" he asked.
"Kiss some more and see where it leads?" she suggested brazenly.
"I mean about us," he said. "I love you. Do you want a real wedding? How long do you really want to be engaged?"
"I had a real wedding. Maybe not a traditional wedding but a wedding nonetheless. You vowed to love me for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, and we've consummated the marriage more than once. I expect were as married as we need to be."
"But—" he started.
"Shhh." She touched his lips with her fingertips. "I've had the wedding. What I want now is a honeymoon. No long-legged nurses trying to make off with my husband. No family to come charging up the stairs just when we've jerked our clothes back on. No alarm clock to remind me to get up before Maria gets up to cook breakfast. No one but me and you. My bags are packed. When can we leave?"
"Name the place." He grinned.
"Here and now." She looked up at the two-storey, unfinished house.
"There's no furniture yet. But you can pick out anything and we'll have it delivered today. My bags are packed too. I was leaving at eight o'clock to come to Texas and get you . . . even if I had to rope you again and bring you back over my shoulder," he said. "But we don't have to go anywhere. If you want to stay here—that's fine with me."
"Just a minute," Cassie pulled out of his arms. "Walk halfway up the lane and then turn around and come back to the cabin."
"Why?" he asked.
"Just do it." She pushed him away.
What was she up to now? But he'd do anything to please her and walking up the lane and back
didn't seem like much.
She went with him to the front porch, put her arms around his neck and kissed him, then pushed him away. He walked several yards before she called out to him. When he turned, she said, "I love you, darlin'. Have a nice day. The children and I will see you at lunch time."
He ran back to the porch, picked her up and carried her across the threshold into their new home. "We're home, Mrs. Wellman," he said. "And I love you. And all our wonderful, well-behaved imaginary children, too."
"Give me time. We'll get around to having kids eventually," Cassie said, laughing.
"I've got time." Ted dug into the pocket of his jeans and brought out a velvet box. "In fact, I've got a lifetime. I think we've found the answer to all our questions, Cassie."
He opened the box and handed it to her. A brilliant diamond solitaire caught the first rays of the morning sunlight, and made tiny rainbows shine and shimmer around them.
"Love. That's all it takes. That's the only answer."
Cassie looked up at him with tears in her eyes, and watched him slip the ring on the third finger of her left hand.
"You know something, Ted? For once, I'm not going to argue."
And she kissed him, once and for all.
Author Bio
Carolyn Brown is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author and a RITA finalist. With 68 published books and seven more on the list for publication in the next several months, she has written historical, contemporary, cowboys, country music mass market paperbacks and has recently crossed over into the women’s fiction market as well. She and her husband, a retired English teacher and author of mystery novels, live in southern Oklahoma. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young. And no, her husband does not edit for her because she can’t afford a divorce.
Carolyn can also be found online:
WEBSITE: http://www.carolynlbrown.com
Small Town Romance Collection: Four Complete Romances & A New Novella Page 54