Home on the Ranch--The Cowboy's Dilemma

by Pamela Britton

  “I’m not emotionally distraught, though. For the first time in my life, I realize that I’m enough. Big belly and all.”

  “It’s not big.”

  “No, but it will be, and you’re only saying that because you love me and you don’t care what I look like.”

  He closed the distance between them. “No, I don’t,” he said, bending down and kissing her. “But you’re right. You’re enough for me. You and Abigail are all I want.”

  “Flynn,” she said softly, looking into his eyes. “I’ve been such an idiot.”

  “So have I. I should have fought for you harder, should have fought for the woman I love.”

  “I love you, too, Flynn. I think I fell in love with you when you carried me into the house that first time I got sick. You’re my knight in shining armor and I don’t want to go another day without you in my life.”

  He pulled her toward him, holding her, his head resting on top of hers as he uttered, “Then don’t.” His gaze caught on his Christmas tree. “Stay with me for always, you and Abigail.”

  He froze.

  It was snowing outside.

  He drew back, pointing. “Amy, look.”

  She turned and spotted the flakes falling from the sky beyond the blinking Christmas tree.

  “Oh, Flynn. It’s beautiful.”

  He stepped in front of her again, cupping her face with his hands once more. “Yes,” he said. “You are.”

  She was crying again.

  “Stay with me?” he asked.

  “For now and always,” she answered softly.

  Epilogue

  Please don’t blow it. Please don’t blow it. Please don’t blow it.

  “Ready the carriage,” Amy said softly after pressing the button on her wireless mic.

  “Roger that,” said her assistant, Fiona, outside Maverick and Charlotte’s house, her youthful enthusiasm evident in the gleeful tone of her voice. She was a high school student Amy hired during wedding season, and probably the only other person in the world who loved weddings as much as she did.

  It had dawned a glorious day for the Gillian-Bennett wedding. As the day had faded into the gentle hues of dusk, the sky had turned a brilliant blue dotted by high clouds an eggshell pink. Amy sighed as she caught a glimpse of it through the sliding glass doors at the back of the house.

  “Are you coming?” she called down the hall.

  The bedroom door opened, Aunt Crystal standing back to let Charlotte by, resplendent in a floor-length white gown that left her shoulders bare and hugged her waist.

  “Ready,” Jayden answered for them all—Ava, Jayden and Aunt Crystal, all of whom emerged behind Charlotte.

  “You look amazing,” Amy told Charlotte, eyeing her dress up and down, checking for spots and wrinkles or missing pearls...anything that might stand out in a photograph. Usually she knelt down and examined things up close, but there was no way she could squat anymore. Not with her stomach. Once so flat, it had taken on the dimensions of the Death Star. So she did a visual scan, and as she did, she suddenly realized her friends were strangely silent.

  “What’s going on?” she asked. Dear goodness, had something happened? What? Did someone forget their heels? But everyone looked splendid in their bridesmaid’s dresses, including Jayden, who’d delivered her baby and so wore a floor-length gown in a shade of blue. They all wore shades of blue. Was it her, then? Did she have jelly on her belly? She glanced down at the pretty floral dress she wore just to be sure, but there were no stains.

  “Why do you guys all look like you’ve swallowed frogs?” she asked.

  “Shall we tell her?” Jayden asked Charlotte.

  “Go ahead,” Charlotte said.

  “Well,” Jayden said. “You don’t happen to have any sparkling apple cider Charlotte could use in place of champagne today, do you?”

  All the women stared at her expectantly, Charlotte’s lips twitching, Crystal still appearing a little shell-shocked. Ava and Jayden clearly amused. It took Amy a second to glean their meaning. And then she stepped back in surprise, nearly colliding with a giant houseplant.

  “No way,” she gasped.

  Charlotte nodded, and Amy realized she’d been crying earlier.

  “Way,” Jayden said.

  “I just found out,” Charlotte said, “like, ten seconds ago. Jayden forced me to take a pregnancy test just now.”

  “On her wedding day?” Amy asked.

  “See,” Crystal said, “I’m not the only one to consider that crazy.”

  “I wanted to know,” said the bridesmaid.

  “Oh, my goodness, Charlotte,” Amy said with a shake of her head. “I would hug you except I don’t think I can get close enough with this huge stomach of mine. Besides, I know if I do, I’ll start crying, and then you’ll start crying, and then your makeup will have to be redone and we don’t have time for that.” Amy gently clasped her pearl-and-lace-clad arm. “I’m just so tickled, though.”

  “Thank you,” Charlotte said.

  “You’re going to be the most amazing mom,” Amy added.

  “She will be,” said Jayden.

  They all three looked ready to cry.

  “No,” Amy said, sucking in a breath. “You guys will not cry. I need you all out front. But someone needs to grab Olivia on their way.” She clapped her hands. “Ava, make sure her dress doesn’t snag on anything as she walks toward the front door. Jayden, dash ahead and open the door, will you? I’m going to help Aunt Crystal find her missing earring.”

  “My missing what?” Her hands shot to her ears, her eyes widening when she realized one was missing. “Oh, my goodness. Where did it go?”

  “It’s probably in the bedroom where you changed.” She looked at the other three women. “Go,” she barked, all business now, but she smiled. She couldn’t help herself. Charlotte pregnant. How exciting.

  They found Crystal’s earring where she thought it would be, on the floor of the guest bedroom. She watched as Crystal slipped it back on, then checked her upswept hair and shimmering blue dress, nodding before marching her toward the front of the house. They all piled into the massive stagecoach that now belonged to the ranch, Olivia squealing and clapping in delight. Amy was so tickled with how it looked that she shivered in excitement. They’d used some kind of veterinary wrapping to hold the lights in place around the horses’ legs. The weather couldn’t be more perfect, too.

  “Let’s do this,” she said into her mic.

  Fiona headed toward Old Greenie, which sat in front of the carriage. Amy waved goodbye to the ladies inside, then slipped into the driver’s seat of the four-wheeled vehicle, and as she did, she couldn’t help but recollect the first time she’d seen it, and how amazingly different her life was now. Flynn had become her best friend. Her confidant. Her biggest cheerleader, and she didn’t know what she’d do without him.

  “Let’s roll,” she said to her assistant, heading up the hill, the sound of horses’ hooves erupting behind them.

  She passed the stables, the roads all lined with cars, their guests already up at the meadow, but Amy remembered when Flynn had introduced her to his favorite broodmare and her baby. As she drove up the hill, she remembered how nervous she’d been to meet Flynn’s entire family on Thanksgiving Day. They shot past Reese Gillian’s house; Flynn’s dad was already at Aunt Crystal’s house, where the men of the family had gotten dressed.

  “All right,” she said to Fiona as they made the left toward Crystal and Bob’s house. Yikes. It was a good thing she’d put out parking cones to block people from parking out front. The carriage would barely have room to squeeze by.

  “Fiona, you make sure Maverick’s in place.” She put the brake on, hopped out and removed cones. “Let me know if there are any problems with the lights, too,” she said once she returned to the vehicle, “although there shouldn
’t be. It looked great when I turned them on earlier, then again it was hard to tell because it was still daylight, but now it’s dusk, so let me know.”

  “Will do,” said Fiona.

  Amy all but skidded to a stop in Aunt Crystal’s driveway.

  “I need to check in with the caterer,” Amy said. “I swear I’m never using them again. They about gave me a heart attack when they weren’t here on time.”

  “Amy,” Fiona said, resting a hand on her arm. “Relax. Everything is going to be fine. It looks amazing.”

  Amy stared into the teenager’s eyes. It did. To her right, the pathway sparkled with lights. Hundreds and hundreds of them all leading the way to the meadow and the massive tree and the lights around the perimeter and the benches Flynn’s brother Carson had carved for the guests to sit on. The dozens and dozens of flowers she’d placed in old vases and tin tubs.

  “I know it will be.”

  The carriage arrived. Olivia was the first out, clearly beyond excited and wanting to pet the horses pulling the stagecoach. All the others stepped out. The only fly in her ointment was how Flynn barely glanced at her while she rounded everyone up for a pre-walk-down-the-aisle chat. She reminded them of who was walking down the aisle with whom, and for one of them to remind Olivia of what to do when they arrived at the meadow, then checked to make sure they all looked perfect.

  “Flowers,” Amy suddenly said. “Where are the flowers?”

  “Here,” said Flynn, bringing over a box.

  Thank you, she silently telegraphed, but he didn’t even smile, and then Fiona radioed that everything looked good at the meadow. That was her cue to start the wedding party down the path. She dashed ahead of them, first, checking lights on her way. It all looked good. Better than good. When she made it to the clearing, she paused for a moment because it took her breath away, that tree. With the sun dipping behind the horizon, the tree looked like a living lightning bolt, dazzling in its splendor and so bright that the guests on the benches in front of it were in shadow. Later, the bride and groom would take off for their honeymoon in the lit coach, and she couldn’t wait to see the guests’ reactions to that. She’d never been more proud of her hard work in her life.

  “Isn’t it amazing?” Fiona asked softly.

  “Yes, but we need to turn up the music. You can barely hear it.” She turned to her helper. “Make sure Charlotte hangs down the path a bit. I’ll give you a signal when it’s time for her to walk down the aisle.”

  She didn’t even wait for Fiona to answer, just raced as best she could over to a corner of the meadow where they’d set up a dance floor. They had tables all around the perimeter of the meadow, and she had to cross between them to get to where the music played. She tapped her right ear, the man clearly understanding her meaning because he bent toward the table he had set up behind the bales and suddenly the music got louder. It actually worked in their favor because the guests sitting on the benches stirred, turning toward the pathway. Once again, her eyes found Flynn, but he was watching Crystal lead Olivia down the aisle, the little girl dropping her petals. They peeled off two by two, the groomsmen and their bridesmaids. All too quickly, a hush settled over the crowd.

  “We’re ready for her,” Amy whispered into her mic. She signaled for the wedding march music to play. The guests stood, and this was it: the moment Amy loved the most. The sighs from the crowd. The look of joy on Charlotte’s face. The loving glance she exchanged with her groom. It was Amy’s favorite part of the day.

  It went flawlessly from there on out, too. There was laughter when Charlotte and Maverick said their vows. Tears, too. At one point, Sadie, Maverick and Charlotte’s dog, barked, but no one seemed to notice. Her heart swelled when, at the end, they announced the bride and groom, and the guests stood up and clapped.

  Done.

  Well, that part at least. Time to check the tables. Make sure the caterers hadn’t forgotten any of the food. Double-check the wedding cake was okay. The list was endless.

  “You did a good job,” someone said.

  She turned. It was Flynn, and she was so glad to see him she instantly sank into his arms.

  “Whoa,” he laughed because she nearly knocked him off his feet.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. It felt good—so, so good—to absorb his warmth and strength. He must have been nervous earlier. That must have been why he’d barely spared her a glance.

  “Don’t be sorry,” he said. “You must be exhausted.”

  She leaned back. “I am, but it’s been worth it.”

  He was staring down at her strangely and suddenly she realized the crowd around her had gone quiet. She looked past Flynn, spotted Crystal behind him. To her left stood Jayden, the bride and groom on her right.

  “What’s going on?”

  A crowd began to form around them and Amy’s heart began to pound because Flynn was reaching into his pocket and sinking down to one knee and she gasped, even took a step back.

  “Amy,” he said, looking up at her. “I couldn’t think of a better day to ask you this question. A day when everyone’s hearts are filled with joy for Charlotte and Maverick. When we’re surrounded by so many friends and family. Of course, I had to ask the bride and groom if they would mind me stealing some of their thunder, but they were only too happy to agree.”

  She glanced at Charlotte and Maverick and their smiles were so full of love that Amy wanted to cry.

  Flynn opened a box. A diamond ring sat inside, the stone catching the lights she’d strewed around the meadow, sparkling. Her hands flew to her cheeks because it felt like a dream.

  “Will you marry me, Amy?”

  She closed her eyes, replaying the words in her mind, and her heart.

  Will you marry me?

  He wanted her. Wanted Abigail, too. It didn’t matter that she was pregnant or that she had this crazy life creating these crazy weddings. He loved her, so much so that he’d arranged this whole thing in front of family and friends.

  “Yes,” she all but whispered. “Yes. Of course.”

  The crowd erupted. Flynn stood, beaming, as he slipped a ring on her finger.

  “Finally,” someone said. Jayden, Amy thought.

  Flynn pulled her into his arms again, and Amy started to cry, but this time, for a completely different reason than all the times before. This time she cried out of joy and, yes, in disbelief, because no matter what she told herself, there would always be a tiny part of her that wondered if she was worthy of this family’s love.

  He pulled back, smiling down at her tenderly. “Surprise,” he said.

  And it was then, as she looked into his eyes, that she finally let go of her insecurities. How could she be anything but strong and courageous and a good mommy with Flynn by her side?

  “I love you, Flynn,” she whispered.

  “I love you, too,” he whispered back.

  He bent, kissing her softly, and Amy realized today wasn’t just the start of Maverick and Charlotte’s life, it was the start of hers, too. And that life would be amazing and wonderful and full of surprises.

  And it was.

  * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Home to Blue Stallion Ranch by Stella Bagwell.

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  Home to Blue Stallion Ranch

  by Stella Bagwell

  Chapter One

  Who the hell is that?

  Holt Hollister pushed back the brim of his black cowboy hat and squinted at the feminine shape framed by the open barn door. He didn’t have the time or energy to deal with a woman this morning. Especially one who was pouting because he’d forgotten to call or send flowers.

  Damn it!

  Jerking off his gloves, he jammed them into the back pocket of his jeans and strode toward the shapely figure shaded by the overhang. Behind him the loud whinny of a randy stallion drowned out the sounds of nearby voices, rattling feed buckets, the whir of fans, and the muffled music from a radio.

  As soon as the woman spotted his approach, she stepped forward and into a beam of sunlight slanting down from a skylight. The sight very nearly caused Holt to stumble. This wasn’t one of his girlfriends. This woman looked like she’d just stepped off an exotic beach and exchanged a bikini for some cowboy duds.

  Petite, with white-blond hair that hung past her shoulders, she was dressed in a white shirt and tight blue jeans stuffed into a pair of black cowboy boots inlaid with turquoise and red thunderbirds. Everything about her said she didn’t belong in his horse barn.