“Why?”
She shrugged. “I needed to always be the center of attention. I can’t blame my parents, but they did make it easy for me to be nasty. They made sure I always had the prettiest clothes and I always did everything I wanted. When they realized how utterly horrid I was, they made me work in the cousins’ bed and breakfast. I had to learn to cook from Bri, who was my favorite victim. She didn’t want to work with me, but my parents offered them money they needed to get their business off the ground to train me.”
“I bet that was hard for you.”
“Harder for them, I think. Bekah taught me how to clean. I hated cleaning. I learned fast though. And then they made me learn how to talk to customers. My parents owned the big hotel next door to the bed and breakfast. I liked being the reigning princess and lording it over everyone else.” She looked down at her hands, realizing then she hadn’t picked up a single puzzle piece, so she took one in her hand and started trying to match the colors on it. “I spent the next six months working in my parents’ hotel, and I was good at what I did. I was kind to everyone. But no one wanted to talk to me. No one invited me to go out to eat after work. They all remembered me being so cruel.”
“I can see that.” He was surprised by all she said, but as he thought back over the past few days, it did all make sense. She truly believed she was still the person she was talking about. “Is that why you came here?”
Jennifer nodded. “I had experience in the hotel industry, and I knew I was good at what I did. So I applied to work at the front desk here. They needed a front desk manager, and I had the qualifications, so they hired me. No one here knew anything about how I used to be, so I made friends. Slowly, because I was afraid. A couple of times I lost my temper with people, so I’d make a huge apology. Like I did when you caught me talking about your name.”
“And that’s what you’ve been hiding from me? That you used to be a mean girl?”
“I don’t know if it’s possible to just stop being mean. Deep down inside, I still want to rage at people sometimes. I see someone, and I think I should make fun of how they dress. What they say. What their name is. So…it’s still inside me. I know you’ll figure it out soon enough, and I didn’t want to keep hiding it from you. Now you know all my deep, dark secrets.”
Maynard shook his head. “Everyone has those thoughts. It’s whether you say the horrible things in your head that makes you good or bad. You’re not a mean girl anymore, Jennifer. I know you used to be, but now you’re just a sweet girl, who I’m very quickly falling in love with. You need to quit worrying that you’re not good enough to be married to me, because you are. We’re going to live together until we’re old and gray and wrinkled, and we’re going to have dozens of babies and hundreds of grandchildren.”
She looked at him as relief washed over her. Truly, she’d believed that he would not want to even talk to her again. “Babies? I think you’re mispronouncing puppies. Let me write them both for you, so you can see the difference in the words. I’m sure it will help you!”
He took her hand and pulled her around the table to him, tugging her into his lap. “There’s nothing wrong with you. I’d rather you didn’t teach our daughters to act like you’re talking about, but I think you have gotten past it. There’s nothing for you to be ashamed of. You moved here to start over, and that’s exactly what you’ve done.”
“You really don’t think I’m a mean girl any longer?”
“It sounds to me like if you say something you shouldn’t—and we all do—you apologize and make things right. That’s not mean. That’s doing the right thing when you’ve messed up. I accidentally dumped coffee all over Gabby. I apologized and bought her flowers, and told her I was the biggest dunce alive. How is that any different?”
“Well, you dumped the coffee on accident. The words…they’re not exactly accidental.”
“Maybe not…but you make up for them the same way I made up to Gabby. You’re not a mean girl. Not at all. Have you ever apologized to Bri and Bekah?”
She shook her head. “No, and I’m not sure I could.”
“I have a feeling it’s what you need to do to feel better about yourself. Write to them and tell them how bad you feel for being so mean.”
“Maybe. I’ll see if I can find it in me.”
“Good. Now, do you have any other deep, dark secrets you’re hiding from me?”
She shook her head. “Well, maybe one…”
“What’s that?”
She lowered her head to his ear and whispered what she was thinking to him.
He grinned at her, pulling her to him and kissing her. “I think I can take care of that right now!”
He jumped to his feet and took her hand, dragging her toward the bedroom. The grin never left his face.
10
The next two weeks were a flurry of activity. Jennifer got everything ready for the move into the new house, while Maynard went back to work. On the day they signed papers for their move, filming was adjusted so there would be no need for Maynard to go into work, and he could instead be present for the closing on the house. They had arranged for the furniture to be delivered that day, and Jennifer was ready for everything to fall into place, just the way she’d planned.
Except nothing went as planned. They closed on time, but the paperwork took longer than she’d scheduled. The delivery trucks arrived early, and she was getting calls even as her hand was cramping from signing all the documents.
Maynard kept grinning at her, and she was tired of it all. She’d worked so hard to make everything perfect, and there he was smiling when it didn’t go right.
She glared at him as she signed the last paper. He took the keys from Chad, who had kindly gone to the signing to help them out. “If you need anything else from me, let me know,” Chad said as Jennifer hurried out the door. She didn’t care if Maynard went with her or not, she was not paying another delivery fee for that furniture after everything she’d already done to make things fall into line.
When she got to the house, she saw the furniture truck was backing out of the driveway, and she hurried over, shaking her head. She pounded on the passenger window, and the man in the seat there jumped. “Yeah, lady?”
“You were early, and the closing on my house went late. You’re going to deliver that furniture, and you’re not going anywhere.”
Maynard stood behind her, a grin on his face. He watched as his tiny wife took charge, telling the deliverymen exactly what they were going to do and how they were going to do it. He could tell that if the little general had told the men to jump, they’d have asked how high. And what amazed him is she did it all without once raising her voice.
She had stressed herself out trying to line everything up perfectly so the men would be there right after they arrived, and it hadn’t worked out, but she was adjusting. No matter how many times she told him how she’d been in the past, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to believe her after watching this.
At the end of the day, he had Ciran—the guy in the taco-truck—appear in the driveway. “I have a surprise for you,” he said softly to Jennifer, who was sitting exhausted on their new couch. He pointed out the window, and she got to her feet and ran to the truck, ordering exactly what she wanted.
He followed her out, placing an order of what he wanted and getting extra sopapillas for each of them.
Jennifer was quiet as she walked into the house, overwhelmed at the sweet thing her husband had just done. Once the door was closed and the tacos were on the dining room table, she turned to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, crying into his shirt front. “I don’t deserve to be loved like you love me!”
Maynard stood there for a moment, holding her. “I’ve never told you I love you.”
“You just did. You had a taco-truck pull into my driveway at the end of a really rough day. Not only did I not have to make dinner, which might have just killed me, but I got to have my favorite meal. You love me all right.”
Maynard chuckled softly. “I do love you. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you.”
“I love you right back, Maynard Butts! You have the most horrible name on the planet, but it’s your name, and I love it because I love you so very much. I don’t deserve you, but I’ll take you just as you are.”
He picked her up off her feet and swung her in a small circle. “I’m glad you accept my name for what it is, because our kids are going to get my name too. Have you decided if you’re going to stay Jennifer Olson or transition to Jennifer Butts?”
Jennifer pulled away from him and calmly walked to her purse, pulling out her temporary drivers’ license and handing it to him. “I have chosen.”
He stared down at the identification card, and right there next to her picture, was her name. Jennifer Butts. “You know people are going to make fun of your name for the rest of your life now, right?”
She nodded. “It’s worth it to have you for a husband. I don’t care if the whole world knows my name and I become the butt of every joke. It’s your name, and it’s something that ties us together now. I’m Mrs. Maynard Butts, and I’m not even a little bit ashamed of it.”
He grinned at her. “I’m so glad you chose to share my name. Now we won’t have to explain to the kids why Mommy has a different last name than they do. Jennifer Butts has such a nice ring to it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Let’s eat some tacos, and you can gloat over my name change later.”
“Sounds good to me!”
On Saturday September twenty-second, half of the people who worked at the ranch were crowded outside the event barn. All of the Westons were there, including Bobbi and Wilber.
Jennifer felt strange standing there with her new husband, waiting for the doors to open. No one knew why they were there, or how they’d received invitations, they just knew they had.
Finally, the door opened, and everyone walked in. The room was completely lit by fairy lights everywhere. There were fairies hanging from the ceilings, and several of Jaclyn’s lawn gnomes stood guard around the tables of food. Tables that looked like they would break under the weight of the food on them.
Everyone walked inside and stood in the middle of the room, just looking around them. There was silence, which was odd for such a large group of people, but no one had any idea why they were there.
And then from behind a screen came Jaclyn and Simon. They were holding hands, and Jaclyn was wearing a tea-length white dress with a wedding veil covering her gray hair. She had a silly grin on her face, and her cheeks were lit with a blush. “We knew everyone wanted us to get hitched, and Simon has asked me over and over through the years. It just didn’t feel right until recently. I think it was the end of June when Simon asked for the millionth time. And this time the fairies told me that it was time I said yes. So I did.”
There was much cheering in the room, and that’s when Jennifer realized who was there and who wasn’t. Everyone in the room had been matched by Jaclyn and her fairy friends. Well, everyone she knew. She hadn’t been around long enough to know everyone in the room.
As Jennifer walked across the room to try to get a word in with the bride, a bunny hopped across her foot. When she looked down, she saw that there were rabbits absolutely everywhere, hopping all over the entire barn. Her eyes met Maynard’s and she couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Of course the bunnies would be here for her wedding reception.”
Maynard nodded. “Where else could they possibly be?” He shook his head. “When I first came to the ranch, I went to see Jaclyn. She told me to talk to Dr. Lachele if I wanted to be matched up with the woman who was perfect for me. So…I went to Dr. Lachele. I guess Jaclyn had a hand in us getting together as well as everyone else.”
“Well, of course she did. It’s her job after all. She is the matchmaker for the entire ranch.” Jennifer finally made it to Jaclyn, and she hugged the other woman tightly. “You did good with us, but you already know that. The fairies told you, didn’t they?”
Jaclyn laughed. “Of course they did. It’s their job, just like matching everyone up is mine.” She looked over at Simon, a soft look on her face. “And now it’s my turn to be happy as well. Who’d have thought that a woman my age would get a chance at a happily ever after?”
“Oh, I’m sure romance readers everywhere think you should have a happily ever after. The weddings you’ve made happen, and all the love you’ve seen pass through the ranch…You needed a happily ever after too, Jaclyn, and I’m so happy you got it.”
Jaclyn pulled Jennifer’s head to hers, and she whispered, “Never think of yourself as a mean girl again. You’re reformed. You are a special woman, and I don’t ever want you to forget it.”
Jennifer had a tear in her eye as she wandered off with Maynard. Between her husband and that crazy old matchmaker, she knew that she really wasn’t a mean girl anymore. She was a woman who had an infinite amount of love to give. To puppies or babies.
Epilogue
Jennifer reclined on the bed in the midwife’s office, a wand going over her stomach. She’d grown faster than anyone had expected, and Robyn Quinn—of course her midwife was a Quinn—was expressing concern.
When the doctor smiled, she knew everything was going to be all right. Maynard was beside her, his hand squeezing hers, and they both squinted at the monitor, trying to decipher whatever the midwife had seen to make her so happy.
“Triplets. That’s why you’re growing so fast. There’s nothing wrong with you!” Robyn seemed very excited, but Jennifer wasn’t sure how she felt about the idea of having three babies at once. She wasn’t sure she could handle one.
Jennifer collapsed back onto the bed, not looking at the monitor any longer. “Triplets? Are you sure? There’s no mistake?” She’d joked about puppies while Maynard had joked about babies so much. It looked like she was having a whole litter of babies!
“There’s no mistake. They all look healthy. I’m going to do some quick measurements, but you’re definitely having three babies. Now your rapid weight gain is making sense. You are a small woman, and those babies need sustenance.”
Jennifer shook her head. “No wonder all I want to do is eat. And here I thought I had a taco addiction.”
“Oh, everyone in Quinn Valley has a taco addiction now! Ciran has spoiled us all!”
As Robyn explained the ways her pregnancy would be different than others, Jennifer watched Maynard, wondering what was going through his mind. “I’m going to have to send you to a doctor for high risk pregnancies. There’s no way I can deliver triplets.”
Jennifer sighed. There went her birth plan. “I guess we can do that.”
When they left the office, he turned to her and brought her to him in a gentle hug. “Triplets!”
She laughed. “I guess that means you’re happy, huh?”
He nodded. “So happy. We’ve been triply blessed, my love!”
“Just so I get to name my first-born son Harry, I don’t care about anything else.”
“You are not naming my son Harry Butts.”
Jennifer frowned at him. “I took your name. The least you can do is let me name my own son…”
“It’s not happening. No guilt trip in the world is going to make me give in.”
“We’ll see.”
Author’s Note
Note from the author:
For those of you who have not yet heard, this will be the last book in the River’s End Ranch series. We are starting a new series, with the first book coming out October eighth. If you’ve noticed, there have been a lot of mentions of Quinn Valley Ranch, and that will be the title of our new series. The first book, by me, will be Taco-Truck Tryst, and is already available for preorder on Amazon. I certainly hope you’ll follow us on our new journey! The authors participating in the new series will be Pamela Kelley, Melissa McClone, Amelia Adams, Caroline Lee, Liz Isaacson, and Kay P. Dawson.
Thank you for your support!
Kirsten Osbourne
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Jennifer's Journey Page 9
