Make-Believe Marriage

by Pamela M. Kelley

  Make-Believe Marriage

  Pamela M. Kelley

  Piping Plover Press

  Copyright © 2018 by Pamela M. Kelley

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Introduction

  After meeting nurse Cameron Baker in the hospital, Ethan White’s grandmother added a condition to her will a few days before she died. In order for Ethan to inherit Peppercorn Ranch, one of the largest ranches in the area and where he’d been working since graduating college, he must marry Cameron Baker.

  Fortunately, it’s only for one month and after the thirty days are up, they can dissolve the marriage and go their separate ways—and Cameron will have a nice downpayment for the condo she’s eager to buy. Neither expects the marriage to last a day longer than necessary since Cameron has made it very clear that Ethan is not her type and she doesn’t believe that she could ever be attracted to him.

  Prologue

  Nearly twenty years ago….

  Ethan White waited patiently just outside the playground door. The other second grade class should be coming any minute for recess. A cold wind whipped through his hair and the air made his eyes sting. He glanced down and carefully opened the small paper sack full of valentines. His class had already exchanged them but there was one person he hadn’t seen yet and her valentine was the most important one of all. He reached into the bag and pulled out the pink envelope with Cameron’s name written as nicely as he could.

  The door flew open, and he sucked in his breath as he saw her coming. Cameron Baker was perfect in every way. She had long shiny blond hair that curled up at the ends and big blue eyes that made him dizzy if he looked at them too long. He waved when she got closer.

  “Cameron, over here!”

  She bounced over with a smile that melted his heart. “Hi, Ethan. What’s up?”

  Ethan suddenly felt shy, and it was hard to get the words out. “Happy Valentine’s day, Cameron!” He held the pink envelope out to her, and she happily took it. She ripped it open and grinned.

  “I love it! Thank you. I have one for you too.” She fished around in her paper bag and pulled one out for him. He was just about to open it when two boys playing ball crashed into him. He fell into Cameron and to his horror and delight, his lips smacked against her soft, pink cheek. Not at all on purpose. But Cameron didn’t like it just the same. She pushed him away and said the word that stayed with him for years.

  “Ewwww.” She rubbed her hand against the side of her face to wash away all traces of his kiss.

  “I’m sorry, Cameron. It was an accident.”

  Cameron frowned. “Well, it better not happen again. Open your valentine.”

  Ethan ripped open the blue envelope and smiled at the card. It was of two bears, arm-in-arm and said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Friend!”

  As Ethan carefully put the valentine back in its envelope, he noticed Cameron’s face light up.

  “Blake, I have your valentine!” Blake Connors sauntered over. He was the tallest, blondest boy in the class and all the girls seemed interested in him. Ethan wandered off as Cameron handed him his valentine. It was painfully clear that Cameron saw Blake as more than a friend and that she would never look at Ethan that way.

  Chapter 1

  Cameron Baker walked into the private hospital room and smiled when she saw her favorite patient sitting up in bed, intently reading her Kindle. The elderly woman smiled when she saw her.

  “I hope you have good news for me, dear.”

  “Morning, Betty. I do. The doctor has cleared you to go home. Is there someone you’d like me to call to come and get you?”

  Betty put her Kindle down. “Can you pass me my phone please, dear? It’s on the nightstand and I can’t quite reach it.”

  Cameron handed her the powder pink cellphone and Betty quickly found the number she was looking for.

  It was a quick, no-nonsense phone call. “Hello dear…yes, I’m ready. See you shortly.” She ended the call and sighed.

  “Well, it’s about time. I have a big party to go to this weekend. Wouldn’t do for the guest of honor to miss her own birthday party, now would it.” She sounded feisty and sharp as a tack. Cameron was glad to see it. Betty had come in earlier in the week with a urinary tract infection that could have been quite serious if they hadn’t caught it in time.

  “I’m looking forward to your party. It sounds like the whole town might be there.”

  Betty chuckled. “It’s not everyday someone turns a hundred I suppose.” She looked far away for a moment and then turned her attention back to Cameron.

  “You’re such a pretty girl. If you don’t mind my asking why aren’t you married yet? You have a boyfriend of course?”

  Cameron laughed. She was used to the question.

  “No boyfriend at the moment. One brother says I’m too picky, and the other says I don’t pick well enough. I think they’re both right.”

  Betty nodded. “It’s easy to be fooled by a pretty face. You have to look beyond that. See what’s inside the person.”

  Cameron sighed. “I think you’re right.”

  “Well, you just keep an open mind…the right person is out there for you. You never know when he might turn up.”

  Cameron chatted with Betty for another ten minutes or so while she went over her discharge paperwork. She was just finishing up when she heard footsteps behind her and saw Betty’s face light up.

  “There he is! Cameron, you know my grandson, Ethan?”

  Cameron turned and smiled at the familiar face. She’d known Ethan since grammar school. They’d been good friends when they were younger and once they hit high school, they drifted apart and had different friend groups. Cameron had been a cheerleader and played volleyball while Ethan was in 4H and played clarinet in the band. They’d gone to different colleges and after graduating, Cameron joined the hospital as a nurse while Ethan worked on his family’s ranch as a cowboy.

  “Of course I know Ethan. It’s good to see you.” He was taller than she remembered, over six feet now. He had sandy brown hair and an easy smile. He also had very kind eyes, the same shade of brown as his hair. Ethan wasn’t so handsome that he’d stand out in a crowd, but he was a clean-cut, nice guy. She wondered if he’d ever married. A quick glance at his hand showed a naked ring finger. She didn’t remember him dating much in high school. Maybe he was too busy with the ranch.

  “You too. It’s been a while. Do you still play trivia? I went a year or so ago and thought I saw you there with a big group of people.”

  Cameron smiled. “Yes, I play most weeks. It’s a fun night out and we do have a big team. The more the merrier.”

  “Ethan, maybe you should join them sometime? That sounds like fun,” Betty suggested.

  Ethan hesitated and looked uncomfortable. Cameron immediately jumped in to put him at ease. “You really should. Different people join us all the time and it really is a good time.”

  Betty glanced back and forth at the two of them, and then said, “I’m so proud of Ethan. You know he’s going to take over managing
our ranch someday. My son wants nothing to do with it.”

  Ethan laughed. “Nana, you know dad is not meant to be a rancher. He’s a much better attorney, and he enjoys his work.”

  “Oh, I know. I’m just glad that you’ve taken to ranching. It’s nice to know that Peppercorn Ranch will be in good hands when I go.”

  “Nana, you’re not going anywhere anytime soon,” Ethan teased her.

  Betty smiled. “You never do know. I might be here tomorrow, I might not! Anything can happen at my age.”

  Ethan leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Well, you need to stick around for a while. We have a party to go to.”

  Her eyes twinkled. “We do, don’t we? It’s going to be a fun time.” She looked Cameron’s way. “I’ll see you on Saturday, then?”

  “You will. I’m really looking forward to it.”

  Ethan was quiet as he drove his grandmother home. He didn’t have to say much, though, because as usual, she chatted up a storm and all he had to do was occasionally nod and agree with whatever she was saying. He kept thinking about Cameron Baker. He hadn’t seen her in ages, and she was just as beautiful as he remembered. More beautiful actually, even in her powder blue hospital scrubs, with her long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. Her eyes were still big and blue and she’d always seemed interested in whatever he had to say. It was one of the reasons he’d always been attracted to her.

  “So, what do you think?” Ethan realized that he’d missed a question that his grandmother had asked.

  “I’m sorry, I missed that. What do I think about what?”

  “Cameron. She says she’s single. You are too. You should ask her out! I have a very good feeling about the two of you.” Ethan glanced her way and saw that she was serious. He hoped that she wouldn’t keep going with this because she was going to be very disappointed.

  “She’s not right for me.” He tried to sound very firm and hoped that she’d leave it at that, but he should have known better.

  “Why on earth not? She’s a lovely girl. You could do much worse!” And now his grandmother seemed to think that he’d insulted Cameron. He sighed.

  “It’s not like that. I would love to date her. I should have said that I’m not her type. I tried asking her out once, to a dance in eighth grade and she shot me down.”

  His grandmother frowned. “What was her reason?”

  “She said that Blake Connors had just asked her and she’d said yes. They were an item after that.”

  “Well, that was a long time ago. She’s not dating him now.”

  “No, but trust me. Blake is much more her type than I am.”

  His grandmother sniffed. “Well, promise me this then. You’ll at least go to trivia Thursday night. She did invite you. It would be rude not to go.”

  Ethan laughed. “She only invited me because you asked her to! But, I may go and check out trivia. My friend Jack and his wife Melissa often go and they mentioned it me just last week.”

  “Well, that’s perfect then! Just go and have fun.” She looked delighted.

  He chuckled. “Okay, I will.”

  “Oh, I see we have someone new joining us tonight. What’s your name?” Jaclyn asked. Cameron was sitting next to her at the restaurant at River’s End Ranch for Thursday night trivia and was surprised to see Ethan had just arrived along with Jack and Melissa, who often joined them. As usual, Jaclyn and Simon were the first ones there and had grabbed the biggest table for their group.

  “I’m Ethan.”

  “Good to meet you. I’m Jaclyn, and this here is Simon. Next to him is Rachel and her husband Adiel and beside me is Cameron. There’s an empty seat next to her so why don’t you come on over?”

  He did and Melissa and Jack sat across from them.

  “Nice to see you again, Cam,” Ethan said politely.

  She smiled at the nickname. It’s what he’d often called her when they were younger.

  “You too. I’m glad you decided to join us. I think my brothers, Clark and Bryan are coming too, and their wives, Tammy and Melanie.”

  Within a few minutes, everyone had arrived and their waitress, Patty, came by to get their drink orders and drop off menus. Cameron ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio and Ethan a draft beer. As usual, Jaclyn and Simon shared a pitcher of root beer.

  On Thursday nights the restaurant offered a very popular buy-one get-one free pizza special. Their group almost always got the pizza and tonight was no exception. Cameron and Rachel shared their usual eggplant, feta and spinach and it didn’t surprise her to hear Ethan’s choice, a plain cheese pizza.

  “Kind of boring, I know, but it’s always been my favorite,” he said as Patty collected their menus and went to put in their orders.

  “You can’t go wrong with a good cheese pizza,” Jaclyn said. “That’s our favorite too.” She turned to Cameron. “How’s your house fund coming?”

  “Oh, it’s good. I should have enough saved for a down payment in about six months.”

  “You’re buying a house?” Ethan sounded surprised.

  Cameron nodded. “I am. I decided that it’s silly to wait until I get married. That might be years from now and I could be saving money by buying instead of renting.”

  Ethan looked impressed. “I agree. I’m doing the same, trying to save as much as possible.”

  “Will you get a house, or a condo? I’m going for a condo, something small and cute and close to the hospital. I don’t want to worry about shoveling snow or mowing the lawn.”

  Ethan laughed. “Those are nice benefits, for sure. I think I may build a small house though on a piece of the ranch land.”

  “Oh, that sounds great! Are you pretty much running the ranch now for your grandmother?”

  “I am. I meet with her weekly though to keep her updated. She still likes to know what’s going on.”

  “She’s amazing. It’s hard to believe she’s so old.”

  Ethan frowned. “She’s slowing way down though. That was the third time she’s been hospitalized this year. She always bounces back quickly, but I don’t know much longer we’ll have her.”

  The thought had crossed Cameron’s mind as well. “I know. But I’m glad she’s feeling better in time for her party. It’s just a few days away.”

  “True. We’ll take it one day at a time and hopefully she’ll keep surprising us.”

  When their pizza arrived, they all dug in and just as they were finishing, Arthur, the trivia host came around with pencils and score pads for all the teams. He had been hosting trivia for as long as Cameron could remember. He was a character—he’d shared with them that his lady friends had nicknamed him the silver fox because of his wavy silvery white hair. He was happily married to Ellen, his ‘bride’ of many years, who always came to trivia and kept him company.

  Cameron found herself enjoying trivia even more than usual. Ethan was so easy to talk to. It was almost as if the years had fallen away and they were right back to the comfortable friendship they’d once shared. He was also very good at trivia, especially the history and current events categories. She remembered that he’d always done well in school.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t follow in your father’s footsteps and go into law,” she said after he answered a question about the supreme court.

  “I thought about it. He would have loved for me to do that. But I hated the thought of being in an office all day.”

  “You always were good with animals.” Cameron remembered Ethan proudly showing her pictures of his dogs, cats and horses on the family farm. He loved them all.

  “Yeah, I worked summers on my grandmother’s ranch and knew that was what I wanted to do. It suits me.”

  The final question as usual was tough and there was much debate around the table about what to answer. But finally they agreed and turned in their answer. A few minutes later while they were waiting for the results to come in Cameron’s jaw dropped when a very tall and impossibly gorgeous blond guy walked into the restaurant. Blake Connors was back
in town. She hadn’t seen him in years. They’d dated in high school but it was never serious and everyone knew that Blake was going to leave Riston. He’d gotten a baseball scholarship to a university in Florida, was drafted to the Red Sox and just two years ago was called up from the minors to pitch. Ethan followed her gaze but didn’t seem as surprised to see Blake.

  “I wonder if he’s back for good? A shame what happened to him.”

  Cameron had no idea what he was talking about. “What do you mean?”

  “He blew out his arm at the end of last season. Healed up over the winter, then two games into the season, it happened again. His arm snapped, the bone broke. That second time ended his pitching career.”

  “Oh no! I had no idea.” Cameron didn’t really follow baseball at all, but now that he mentioned it she did remember hearing something about an injury. She just had no idea how serious it was.

  Blake was with a friend that Cameron didn’t recognize and as they headed toward the bar, he glanced their way and stopped in his tracks when he saw Cameron. He said something to his friend, who kept going to the bar while he took a detour over to their table to say hello.

  “Cameron, it’s great to see you. It’s been a while.”

  “So good to see you Blake. Are you just home for a quick visit?”

  He grimaced and shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. You heard what happened?”

  “I did. I’m so sorry.”

  “Yeah, it was fun while it lasted. I’m going to visit with the family for a while and figure out what I want to do next. We should get together sometime and catch up?”