by D. L. Roan
Grey looked over at the bare wall along the stairs where dozens of their family photos once covered nearly every square inch. In his obviously failed attempt to prepare himself for this day, he’d taken almost all the pictures down to rearrange them and make room for more recent photos of their ever-expanding family.
He hadn’t the faintest idea what to expect when he opened the flap on the envelope, his fingers trembling as he pulled out the photograph of Dani dressed in her college graduation cap and gown, her diploma in hand.
“I did it.”
“You passed your exams?” Mason asked, shifting around to look at the picture.
“I did!” she squealed with excitement.
“I didn’t even know you’d taken them,” Matt said as he rose from the bench and joined them.
“Congratulations, sweetheart’.” Mason kissed her cheek. “We’re so proud of you.”
Grey stared at the photo in his hands. After Cade’s passing, he’d let go of his wish to see her graduate before she got married. She’d been so sad he hadn’t had the heart to push her, satisfied to see her excited about life again after setting a new wedding date, even if her renewed happiness was rooted in making a new life a thousand miles away from them.
“I finished my degree, Daddy, just like I promised,” she needlessly explained.
He felt adrift as he glanced between the woman standing before him, and one of the photos he’d left hanging on the wall. He’d meant to take it down with the others. He’d tried several times, but every time he reached for it, something stopped him. Now he knew why.
He climbed the bottom two steps and lifted the frame from the hook. With the photos side- by-side, he studied the myriad of differences between her high school graduation portrait and the college graduate in the new photo she’d given him. Old memories and his new reality clicked together like a master puzzle he’d spent his whole life solving, and the tether to the past he’d been holding onto like a lifeline, slipped from his grip.
“I thought you’d be happy,” Dani said, her tone heavy with disappointment.
Grey handed both photos to Molly, then turned to the confident, accomplished woman his little girl had become, cradling her beautiful face between his palms. He blinked away the tears stinging his eyes and tried to ease the tightness building in his throat before he spoke, but he couldn’t stand one more second of the doubt he saw in his daughter’s eyes. “I am so damn proud of you,” he choked out.
“Oh, Daddy, please don’t cry,” she begged, lunging into his arms.
“No-no-no! No crying!” Molly clamored down the stairs and shoved a handful of tissues at Dani. “It took me forever to do her make-up, and—ohhh!” She fanned her own teary eyes. “I can’t wear waterproof mascara.”
The front door opened, and Cory stuck his head inside. “Everyone’s—wow.” He paused when he saw Dani. “You look great, sis.”
“Thanks,” she offered with a sniffle.
Grey scrubbed a palm over his face, pausing when he saw his son’s gaze glued to Molly, who was bent over fiddling with the hem of Dani’s dress.
“Cory,” Matt coughed into his hand.
Caught in the act, Cory snapped back to attention. “Um, yeah, so, everyone’s in place and waiting for you,” he stammered. “I think Clay’s about to have a stroke, and Papa Joe’s threatening to cut the cake for you if we don’t start soon.”
“Tell them to hold their horses, pretty cowboy. We’re on our way.” Molly handed Dani her bouquet. “You got this?” she asked, and Dani gave her a jerky nod. “No more crying,” she ordered as she retrieved her own bouquet and chased Cory out the front door.
“I’m gonna head on out to the barn to get a few shots of you mounting up on Silver, then I’ll race ahead to the alter,” Pryce said.
Dani gave him an appreciative nod.
When he was gone, Dani pushed up onto her tiptoes and kissed Grey’s cheek. “Thank you, Daddy,” she said with a watery smile. “Thank you all for being the best dads ever.” She tugged Matt and Mason in for one last hug, too. “I love you all so much.”
“We love you, too, darlin’.”
More than you’ll ever know, Grey thought as he hugged his daughter one last time.
When she let them go, Dani drew in a steadying breath and hooked her arm around his. “Are you ready?” she asked him, her smiling eyes sparkling with confident anticipation.
“Not even close,” he shamelessly admitted, “but you are, and that’s all that matters.”
Everything from that point forward was like an out-of-body experience. Grey went through the rehearsed motions of helping Dani into Silver’s saddle, then mounted up on his own horse alongside Matt and Mason on theirs. He didn’t remember riding ahead of her to the meadow beside the creek where the ceremony was being held. Then he blinked, and he was there, surrounded by a sea of spring wildflowers and white chairs, all positioned in perfect rows on either side of a long aisle leading to the altar Papa Nate had built. The seats were filled with people he knew, but like a weird dream, their faces were blurred and indistinguishable.
Matt and Mason gave him an encouraging nod as he dismounted, then took his horse with them on their way to the altar as he waited at the head of the aisle like he’d been instructed. Dani arrived a few seconds later, and everything else disappeared again. All he could see was her.
He helped her dismount, kissing her cheek through the wispy veil. Connor and Carson strummed the first notes to the song Dani had asked them to play, and Grey turned them toward the altar. Every breath he managed to draw was stolen by his racing heart as they proceeded down the aisle.
“Daddy, wait.” Dani stiffened beside him, halting him in his tracks, and for one heart-stopping second, he thought she might have changed her mind. His previous escape plan raced through his mind at warp speed. He searched the field and spotted his horse, but before he could think to call him over, he saw Matt out of the corner of his eye, taking his place halfway down the aisle.
“Okay,” she said, and urged him forward again.
The aisle stretched out before them like a never-ending road paved with burlap and lace, but what seemed like one blink later, Matt joined them on Dani’s other side, signaling they were already halfway there. Another blink, and Mason came into his field of vision, waiting at the journey’s end. Grey’s only sense of reality was the wary look on Mason’s face as he took Dani’s hand and guided her to stand beside Clay, then stepped back between them, the three of them forming a unified presence behind her.
He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his brothers as Minister Farnes began to speak, but the only thing Grey could hear was Gabby’s voice inside his head. Don’t lock your knees. Remember to breathe. I’ll be right behind you in the front row. He glanced over his shoulder to find their wife, but the moment his gaze met hers, he heard the minister’s prompting question.
“Who gives this woman, Dani McLendon, to this man, Clay Sterling, to be his partner in life and love, from this moment forward?”
“We do,” Grey said, the words he’d practiced a thousand times, but still the hardest he’d ever spoken.
Right on cue, Mason stepped forward and reverently lifted her veil. Grey held his breath, thanking his lucky stars he hadn’t drawn that straw when they were deciding who would play which part in the ceremony. His legs were so numb he worried his brothers were going to have to carry him to his seat.
As Grey watched Mason give their daughter a final parting kiss, the tingling in his legs spread to his hands. He flexed his fingers, then clenched his hands into fists. Open—closed—open—closed, but the pins-and-needles feeling worsened. Almost there, he coached himself, determined not to let Dani down. Finally, Mason turned and walked back toward them, their signal to take their seats, when he heard a muted thump beside him and looked over to see Matt sprawled on the ground, flat on his back, passed out cold.
“Dad!” Carson dropped his guitar. A loud squelch blared from the speakers as he and Con
nor bolted from their place on the altar. “Dad, are you okay?” he asked, frantically patting Matt’s cheek.
“Ohmygosh!” Dani raced to Matt’s side. “Dad! Can you hear me?”
Clay and his brother, Beau, brushed by him and Mason. A fresh shot of adrenaline had flushed the numbness from Grey’s limbs, but worried he’d only do something to make this worse, all he could do was stand there.
“He locked his knees,” Gabby said, kneeling over Matt. “I told him not to lock his knees.”
“All right, backup.” With an air of authority that caught Grey by surprise, Cory shouldered his way into the circle of family, urging some space between them as Matt’s eyes fluttered open.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Gabby gasped.
“He’s fine,” Cory insisted. “He just needs a little breathing room.”
Grey and Mason helped Gabby and Dani to their feet as Cory assessed Matt’s condition.
“Holy shit,” Matt breathed out as he sat up, Cory and Clay helping him stand. Pasty white, his face and ears turned red as he dusted himself off, then turned to Dani and Clay. “Sorry, darlin’. I don’t know what happened.”
The unbearable tension in Grey’s shoulders relaxed when he saw Dani’s sympathetic grin. “It’s okay,” she said, suppressing a giggle. “As long as you are.”
“I’m fine.” Matt gave them all a reassuring wave as he stumbled to his seat. “Just…providin’ a little extra entertainment, I guess.”
“Well hell!” Clay’s dad, Virgil, pushed to his feet in the front row. “If the cake is half as good as the entertainment, this’ll be the best damn weddin’ I’ve ever been to,” he shouted and raised the flask in his hand in a toast to Matt, a flask that looked suspiciously identical to the one Mason had.
“The best cake you’ll ever eat this side of the Rockies,” Papa Joe declared, tipping his Stetson to Chloe’s aunt sitting behind him. “That is, if my sons can keep their act together long enough to get these two hitched already.” His last grumbled remark earned him a jab in the ribs from Gran, and a roar of laughter from everyone else.
With a boisterous chuckle, Minister Farnes called the ceremony back to order, and Grey took his seat beside Gabby—and a much-needed deep breath, feeling weightless with relief, until his mother leaned forward from the seat behind them and squeezed his and Matt’s shoulders.
“Thank you,” she whispered excitedly between them, and kissed Matt’s cheek, then his. “You two just paid for that cast-iron wood stove I’ve been askin’ your fathers for.”
What? Grey twisted in his seat, wondering what in the heck she was talking about, when he saw Papa Nate, Papa Jake, and Papa Daniel all passing her hundred-dollar bills.
“Thanks a lot,” Papa Nate mumbled under his breath, scowling at Matt.
What the—his own dads bet against him?
“Shhh!” Mason scolded them, motioning for Grey to turn back around.
His mom snatched the money from their hands with a prideful grin. “I know my boys,” she whispered, giving Grey a wink as she slipped the bills into her bra.
Unbelievable. Grey twisted around in his seat and took hold of Gabby’s hand, frowning when he felt something pressed into her palm. Curious, he turned her hand over to find a hundred dollars folded neatly in her hand.
Seriously? He arched an incredulous brow.
Not now, Gabby mouthed with a guilty grin, nodding at Dani and Clay.
Grey shook his head as he turned back to the altar. Whatever. She could’ve bet a thousand dollars and he wouldn’t have cared, so long as they couldn’t blame this one on him.
He’d missed what the minister had just asked, but as the ceremony progressed and Clay answered, I do, Grey caught the undeniable look in his eyes. It was the same involuntary, irrevocable, unconditional love he and his brothers still, and forever would, have for Gabby. He drew Gabby’s hand to his chest, holding it firmly against his heart as Dani gazed up at the new center of her universe.
Since the day Clay’d confessed his love for Dani, he’d known he’d lost her. She’d grown up way too fast, and like her first little pair of boots, she’d outgrown him, too. But somewhere between waking up that morning and watching her kiss her new husband, he was surprised to realize he hadn’t lost her completely. There would be times she’d miss and need him, and he’d be there unhesitatingly, but Clay was her new sun now. And, despite the tears in his eyes or the ache in his heart, he’d never been happier for her, or readier to let her go chase her dreams.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Beneath a blanket of twinkling stars and glowing lanterns strung like fairies between the trees, Dani followed Carson’s lead around the softly lit dance floor. “Thank you,” she said again, but the words still seemed wholly inadequate to express her gratefulness for all her family had done to make her wedding day perfect.
The island of opulence her mom had created in the middle of Falcon Ridge, the beautiful altar her Papas had built, the flowers, cake, the promise of forever with Clay, all of it had been more than she’d ever dreamed. But Connor and Carson’s contribution to the fairytale wedding had been something she’d never forget.
“I still can’t believe you got Kyle Dodge to sing at my wedding.”
After a marathon photoshoot with Pryce, she and Clay had finally joined the reception. She’d noticed the jumbo screen mounted behind the head table, but had no idea what they’d planned to use it for. When her favorite country singer appeared live behind her a few minutes later, his smile filling all nine feet of the huge screen, well…let’s just say she was sure that video would get Con and Car’s blog a few million hits.
Speechless, she’d clenched Clay’s hand to her heart, giggling and nodding like an idiot as Kyle congratulated and wished them well, but when he’d broken out his guitar and began to play the song they’d chosen for their first dance, the floor had disappeared from beneath her and never returned.
She’d been floating on a cloud ever since, dancing her boots off for hours and feeling no pain, until movement along the edges of the darkness caught her eye and she recognized Papa Daniel, walking alone toward the altar.
Carson must have seen it, too, because he slowed to a stop as the song played on. They watched Daniel meander aimlessly through the rows of empty white chairs in the distance. There was no purpose in his direction until he reached the front row, where he sank somberly down onto the empty seat beside the one she’d reserved in Cade’s honor.
“He must miss him terribly,” Dani said, the ache in her chest constricting the words to a wavering whisper. “I should go to him.”
“No. Give him a few minutes,” Carson suggested. “Hey, don’t cry.” He gave her hand an encouraging squeeze and anxiously turned them back onto the dance floor. “There’s no crying on your wedding day. Papa Daniel will be fine.”
“Please.” Dani swiped at her tears. “You bawled like a baby at your wedding.”
“Yeah, well, that’s different.”
“Of course it is.” Dani rolled her eyes, following Carson’s lead despite feeling like her boots had suddenly been filled with concrete. “I still miss him, too,” she admitted, glancing up at the stars.
Cade was always watching over us. The last words Papa Daniel’d spoken at Uncle Cade’s wake had stuck with her, easing the raw ache of his absence in the months since, but there were times she thought the pain would never go away. He’s still watching, just with a better view.
She didn’t know if it was true, but she pressed her fingers to her lips and blew a kiss into the night sky just in case, hoping he’d catch it and know she was thinking of him.
“We all miss him, Boo,” Carson sighed, then nodded toward Papa Daniel, still sitting alone in the dark. “That was a nice touch, though, reserving the seat for him.”
Dani smiled up at her brother. “It was Breezy’s idea,” she admitted, scanning the guests as Carson spun her around in search of her sister-in-law, frowning when she didn’t see her or Connor. “Where is
Breezy?” she asked. “I haven’t seen her since we cut the cake.”
“Man,” Carson chuckled. “Papa Joe was right. Bev outdid herself with that cake. I think Clay’s dad has proposed to her at least a dozen times.”
The sound of his anxious laugh deepened her curiosity, and she drew back to look at him.
“The triple-chocolate fudge layer was my favorite,” he continued, “though the strawberry filling in the other one—”
“Car.” She pulled him to a stop at the edge of the dance floor. “Why are you avoiding my question? Where’s Breezy?”
Her brother slumped forward with a sigh. “She’s fine,” he insisted, pulling her back into his arms. “She just needed some fresh air.”
Fresh air? “Car, we’re outside, in the middle of a field.”
“I know,” he maintained. The panicked look in his eyes begged her not to push the subject but made her all that more determined to know.
“Car, what—oh.” She frowned when she realized what he was trying not to say. “I thought she was doing better since…you know…”
Uncle Cade’s last words to Breezy had shocked them all, but despite Connor and Carson’s concerns and caution, Breezy had latched onto them like a lifeline. The hopelessness in her eyes had vanished, and Dani couldn’t remember a day since then that she hadn’t been bubbling over with renewed excitement about going on tour with her brothers.
“If she’s feeling depressed, you don’t have to stay,” Dani offered. “You can even take what’s left of the chocolate cake.”
“What—no.” Carson shook his head. “She’s not depressed.”
Dani furrowed her brows. “Then what is it? What’s wrong with her? Is she sick?”
“No-I mean, yes, but it’s not…” Carson released an anxious sigh. “Look, I’m not supposed to tell you, okay?”
What? “Car?” When it was clear he wouldn’t say more, she reached for her phone in her back pocket to call Breezy, cursing when she realized she was still wearing her wedding dress. “Was it the food? Did she get food poisoning from the reception dinner? Oh, my God! I told Mom not to serve chicken.”
