A SEAL’s Resolve

by Cora Seton

“No,” Raina said. “I looked to see where it was—just to see if it was close. It’s not like I drove us there on purpose.”

  She dropped her gaze, flicked it up again and looked away.

  She was lying. She always did that when she was lying. Hope couldn’t believe it.

  “You did drive us there on purpose. In the middle of a snowstorm. When we had to get to your wedding.”

  “I thought we had plenty of time,” Raina said. “I was curious. Sue me.”

  “What would you have done if we hadn’t spun out into that ditch?”

  “I would have driven right on past and gone straight back to the highway.”

  She dropped her gaze again.

  “No, you wouldn’t. Oh my god. It was a setup. You did it all on purpose.”

  “Not all.” Raina got out of her seat, but Hope followed her.

  “I already knew you threw Curtis and me together. You made sure he had to drive us to your wedding. I just didn’t realize you went to Base Camp deliberately. What else did you make happen?”

  “I didn’t take that detour, and I didn’t run us off the road. That was all Byron,” Raina said defensively.

  “How did you get those kittens in that snowbank?” Hope demanded.

  “I didn’t!”

  She didn’t drop her gaze. Okay, that was fate, Hope decided.

  “Did you damage the gas tank?”

  “No.”

  “What about your wedding dress? Did you knock that duffel bag off the sled so it got left behind?”

  “Maybe,” Raina said in a small voice.

  “Unbelievable! And Curtis doesn’t snore, by the way.”

  Raina grinned. “Nope. But you two had fun, didn’t you?”

  “You are sick.”

  “I’m your friend. I saw the way you lit up when you met him. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have done any of this. I had to try, though. I had to give you enough time to fall in love. It’s not every day you come across someone like Curtis.”

  That was true, Hope thought.

  “Are you mad?” Raina asked.

  “What do you think?”

  “Do I still get to be your maid of honor?”

  “No, I’m going to ask Blake instead.”

  Raina gasped. “Fine, just for that, I’m not going to lend you my wedding dress.”

  “You’d do that?” Hope softened. It was hard to stay mad at Raina, even if there was no way in heck she’d fit into her wedding gown.

  “Of course. I’d look silly wearing it to be your maid of honor.”

  “It won’t fit, you know. I’ll have to find something tomorrow morning, I guess.”

  Raina studied her. “Hope, are you sad you’re not having a real wedding?”

  Was she sad?

  She had to admit she was. Even if she shouldn’t be. After all, she was getting to marry Curtis, and he was handsome and exciting and funny and wonderful… “A little,” she admitted.

  The phone in her hand buzzed. Hope glanced down. “Why is Curtis calling you?” She handed it to Raina, who read the message and started to smile.

  “What is it?” Hope asked.

  “The wedding’s off.”

  “What?” Hope grabbed the phone from her hand. As she read the text, a smile tugged the corners of her mouth. “The governor of Montana called out the National Guard to clear the avalanche?”

  “Guess marrying a Navy SEAL brings some perks. You can get married back at Base Camp instead of here, which means you’ll get a real party!” Raina said.

  “That sounds good,” Hope admitted. “Let’s go enjoy the rest of your reception. You’re coming, right?” she added.

  “To Base Camp for your wedding? Hell, yeah. I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

  Chapter Twelve

  ‡

  As the snow-covered landscape slipped past them the following morning, Curtis held Hope’s hand. Ben was driving. Raina sat beside him. Curtis, Hope and Byron sat in back.

  “I can’t believe how long it took us to travel to Bozeman and how short a trip it is home,” Hope said.

  “The kittens are sick of baskets,” Raina said, reaching in to pet them. Beside her, Ben watched her fondly. Byron was filming everything. They’d left Blake behind in Bozeman, but he’d promised to be there for the wedding later.

  “Just need to take care of my Jaguar first,” he’d said.

  “Soon they’ll all be free to roam around Base Camp. They won’t ever have to travel again,” Curtis told her.

  “I thought you said I had to take them all with me.”

  “Not all. Kind of gotten attached to one or two,” he said.

  Hope gave his hand a squeeze, and he squeezed hers back. He couldn’t wait to marry her and start their new life, but first there were several errands they needed to run.

  When Ben pulled to a stop in front of Ellie’s Bridals, Hope said, “This isn’t Base Camp.”

  “Nope.”

  “What’s going on?” Hope asked.

  “If we’re having a real wedding, you need a real wedding dress. And flowers. And whatever else you want.” He opened the door and ushered her inside.

  “But—”

  “No buts, Hope.” He turned her to face him. “This is fast. You just met me. But when I make my vows to you later today, I’m going to mean it. I want forever with you. Got it?”

  When she tried to answer, no words came out.

  “Curtis and I will take care of the flowers,” Ben said. “You ladies get the dress. Meet back in half an hour?” he said to Raina.

  “Sounds good. Come on.” She pushed Hope toward the door. “We’ve got to get you to the altar on time, after all.”

  “You’re shaking,” Raina said. “You won’t faint, will you?”

  “I don’t think so.” They stood in one of the large, beautifully appointed guest bedrooms at the manor, up the hill from Base Camp. The other women who lived there kept bustling in and out in their beautiful gowns.

  “I love their dresses,” Hope whispered to Raina.

  “Good thing, seeing as how you’re going to have to wear Jane Austen gowns, too.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Raina said. “You’re getting married today. Concentrate.”

  Hope decided to simply roll with the punches and figure out Base Camp’s dress code later.

  Raina had recovered herself, and the two had taken a quick tour of the large, beautiful home with Samantha—the woman who was supposed to have married Curtis but had married Harris instead. Talking to her wasn’t as awkward as it could have been, Hope reflected, mostly because Sam was so obviously overjoyed that Curtis had found the right woman.

  It was moments before they’d be called to the wedding. Hope had been thrilled to find her parents ensconced in one of the other guest rooms when they arrived. Curtis’s folks were here, too. Blake had arrived a short time ago, dapper in a nice suit. “Maybe I’ll meet someone at the reception,” he’d told her. Boone and the others had been very busy making a lot of last-minute arrangements. Luckily the day had dawned clear, and the avalanche had been cleared away in plenty of time.

  “How did you know everything I wanted?” Hope asked Riley, one of the women who’d been at Base Camp since the start, who’d just come in to show her the bouquet she’d be carrying.

  “Your notes. They were so thorough it was easy.” She waved a sheaf of papers, and Hope realized they were copies of the wedding section of her planner.

  “Where did you get those?”

  Raina looked sheepish. “I slipped Avery your planner the morning we set out from Base Camp. She photographed the section on wedding plans, just in case. She thought you were a good match for Curtis, too.”

  “You are completely bonkers. You know that, right?”

  “But I’m also your best friend, so you’ll forgive me. You look stunning, by the way,” Raina said, pulling back from where she’d been fussing with Hope’s makeup. “Oh, Hope—that dress. It’s a
mazing.”

  Hope knew what she meant. It was as if Ellie, the owner of Ellie’s Bridals, had read her mind. She and her niece had both waited on Hope, with several dresses picked out before she even walked in the door. Hope had despaired of finding the perfect thing, always imagining it would take days or weeks of shopping to find something that would make her feel like she wanted to feel when she said her vows.

  Instead, she’d turned down two dresses, slipped on a third and known she’d found the one for her. Its beautiful, fitted bodice hugged her curves, and its trailing skirts made her look like royalty. Ellie had handed her a tiara, and Hope had laughed, but when Raina fitted it into place, Hope had found herself blinking back tears.

  She hadn’t felt this beautiful since the prom night she hadn’t attended—since before the first time she’d decided she had to control everything in her life if she wanted to stay safe.

  “Curtis will be blown away,” Raina said, giving her cheeks one last dusting with the blush brush.

  “Who’s ready for photographs?” her mother said, bustling through the door. “Hope, honey? All set? I need a picture of you at the mirror, just like that.”

  Hope nodded, afraid to speak, her heart so full she found she could let go of the past. She sent a message of forgiveness into the universe to the teenager who’d broken her heart. Liam had just been a boy who’d followed an impulse. And Brynn had just been a girl hurting so badly she’d turned to alcohol to dull the pain. They’d both died far too soon, and everyone who’d survived them had suffered long enough, including her.

  It was time to let go of that old pain. Time to recognize all the good that had happened since then. Today she would stay in the present. With the people who loved her.

  With Curtis, the man willing to take a chance on her for the rest of his life.

  You never knew what would happen next. All you could do was reach out for a connection, hold on when you found one and hope for the best.

  “I’m ready,” she said. She stood straight and tall as her mother got all the photographs she wanted.

  Then she took her father’s arm and walked to the head of the aisle.

  “You know what time it is!” Boone announced as he strode into the guest room where Curtis was finishing getting into his Revolutionary War uniform.

  When he’d told Hope about the tradition, she’d simply smiled. “Sounds good to me,” she’d said. Curtis had struggled not to pull her close and kiss her for that. She was going to fit right in here.

  Boone stretched out his arm. In his fist, he clutched four straws. “Let’s see who’s up next! Anders, Walker, Angus, Greg, come on down.”

  All the men gathered around, the married men laughing and teasing the holdouts.

  “It’s got to be Walker’s turn,” Clay said.

  “I bet it’s Greg. It’s the quiet ones who surprise you,” Kai put in.

  “All right, Walker, you pick first. You always hang back, and you always get away with waiting another month.”

  The big man shrugged, considered the straws in Boone’s fist and picked. Held up a long one. “Not me.”

  Groans came from all around.

  “Greg, you’re up,” Boone said.

  Greg drew, too, and got another of the long ones.

  Clay drummed a beat on his thighs. “It’s down to Anders and Angus.”

  “Hell, I’ll go next.” Angus grabbed a straw testily and breathed out a gusty sigh when it, too, was long. “Thank you!” he called up to the ceiling.

  “Anders! Good luck, man. I’ve got a passel of backup brides—” Boone began.

  “Don’t even start!” Anders said. “Not until tomorrow, anyway.” He held the short straw Boone passed to him. Met Curtis’s gaze. “Guess I’m next.”

  “Guess you are.”

  “Time to get you hitched.” Boone clapped Curtis on the back. “Let’s get out there. Make us proud.”

  “Will do, Chief.” Curtis found himself grinning as he headed for the door with the others.

  Still, he held his breath when he stood at the makeshift altar someone had set up at the end of the aisle between the folding chairs in the manor’s great room. Guests filled the seats, many of them community members from Chance Creek, and all of them turned as the bridal march swelled and filled the air.

  With a short bark, Daisy broke free from where Greg had been sitting with her in one of the rows of seats. She loped up to Curtis’s side and sat down.

  “Good dog.” Daisy wouldn’t leave him alone at the altar. Curtis braced himself. What if Hope didn’t come? What if she’d changed her mind?

  He swallowed past a sudden lump in his throat as the moment stretched out. His palms were damp, his heart picking up its pace. If Hope changed her mind, he couldn’t stand it. Not only would Base Camp run out of time—he’d run out of Hope. She was the one for him. The only one he wanted to spend his life with.

  “Wow,” Anders said softly by his side.

  Curtis looked up. Raina had started down the aisle in a pale blue bridesmaid gown. Hope entered the room after her, and as he met her gaze across the rows of seats, his heart swelled to fill his chest. For the first time in months, Curtis knew he wasn’t going to let down his friends. Wasn’t going to lose Base Camp.

  Wasn’t going to be left at the altar ever again. He took a deep breath, promised himself he’d spend the rest of his life making Hope happy—

  And watched the most beautiful woman in the world walk down the aisle to take her place by his side.

  “Dearly Beloved,” Reverend Halpern began. Curtis found Hope’s hand. Her fingers curved around his, and she clung to him, needing his strength in this moment when she was about to step into her future—

  Without a single plan.

  She didn’t know all the people at Base Camp.

  She didn’t know what she’d do here after she married.

  She didn’t know what role she could play, or where she’d live, or who she’d be friends with, or—

  Anything.

  All she knew was that she’d come to love the man standing beside her with a fierce love that burned bright inside her. A love she somehow knew would never dim, no matter what they faced together.

  That was all the plan she needed—to hold Curtis’s hand. To stay with him. To trust him—

  And to trust the future to unfold however it wanted to, in its own sweet time.

  That was enough.

  “Do you, Hope Martin, take this man, Curtis Lloyd, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, to death do you part?”

  “I do,” Hope said. She could barely contain the emotion expanding her chest.

  “Do you, Curtis Lloyd, take this woman, Hope Martin, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, to death do you part?”

  “I do.”

  She read the truth of it in his eyes.

  The rest of their vows passed in a blur. All Hope could do was watch the man who was becoming her husband, cling to his hands, and know that this was right.

  “You may now kiss the bride.”

  Hope waited for Curtis to draw her close.

  “I love you,” he said huskily when she tilted her chin up to meet him.

  “I love y—” Her words were buried in his kiss, a kiss that told her everything she needed to know about her future with Curtis. That he loved her. Cherished her. Would do anything for her.

  That she was home.

  Right where she was meant to be.

  “So, you saw this place once before,” Curtis said many hours later when he led Hope into the tiny house he’d helped to build. Back then, it hadn’t had any special meaning for her, and he wondered what she thought now that she knew it would be her home. There were still some finishing touches left to be made. If only Hope could see the final product as he pictured it in his mind, she’d know it would be—

  “It’s beautiful,” she told
him, kissing him again. “I love it.”

  “It’s not too small for you?”

  “I was planning to be a park ranger. My needs as far as housing are concerned are modest.”

  “You never told me why you changed your mind about becoming a ranger.”

  “It was talking to Scott. He pointed out I’d get much more hands-on experience here than working in a national park.”

  “So that’s why you married me!” He pulled her close and nuzzled her neck until Hope shrieked, squirming in his arms.

  “Partly,” she told him. “But mostly because you’re awesome in bed.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We could try that again. Since it’s why you married me.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” She pulled him to the ladder that led to the loft bed. Climbing up in her trailing skirts was a bit of a challenge, but Curtis followed, lifting them for her, fighting up the ladder lost in the voluminous fabric.

  By the time they both made it into the loft, they were laughing, and Curtis wondered if it would always be like this.

  He hoped so.

  He joined her on his back on the mattress, the wood paneled ceiling several feet above them making a cozy space. Hope twined her hand in his, and he turned on his side and gathered her into his arms. She felt right there, and he felt strong and proud to hold her. He wanted to be all he could as her husband. A helper. A protector. A confidant and friend.

  When Hope moved close, pressing herself along the length of him, his hunger for his wife grew, and his hands found the back of her dress. He groaned at the line of tiny buttons.

  “What is this?”

  “A test of your determination,” she told him and kissed the underside of his chin.

  “Let me see those.” He rolled her over onto her stomach and got to work undoing them one at a time, stifling the urge to rip the dress off her. He had a feeling Hope wouldn’t like that—although maybe they could try it later, with a rag from a thrift store.

  The image revving him up even more, he worked his way methodically down the row of buttons, turned her over again and peeled off the gown. She took it from him and carefully laid it on the floor beside their bed. She wore a pretty satin pushup bra and a tiny thong.