“This is different,” Penny hedged.
“This is the right thing for us.” He knew it, deep in his heart. Rose needed someone, and he was that man. He already felt more for her than pure friendship. It was a start. “And she deserves to be settled before the baby comes.”
He remembered the look on her face back at the cabin when he’d asked about her preparations for the baby. She had virtually nothing but herself, and he didn’t want for her to want.
Ma squeezed his hand. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Are you sure you aren’t rushing into this just because you miss your brother?”
Her words hit him like a blow he hadn’t braced for and stole his breath away. He did miss Ricky, fiercely. But what he felt for Rose was something completely different.
He stood up from the table. “I’d like your blessing on our marriage, even though it might seem rushed to you. But if you won’t give it...it isn’t going to stop me.”
He’d never said anything like that to his parents. Never had cause.
But he felt something for Rose, something he couldn’t—wouldn’t—identify yet. He wasn’t going to abandon her, not when he could give her his name and his protection. She didn’t have a few weeks or a few months for a courtship. Her baby needed a pa.
* * *
Rose registered movement in the kitchen and turned away from where she’d stood in the mouth of the hallway, scurrying back to Breanna’s room before she could be discovered.
She knew better than to eavesdrop. How many times had she been hurt, overhearing her stepmother speaking of her?
But when she’d heard Davy’s mother expressing her concerns, she’d found herself frozen in place.
She closed the door with a soft snick and sank onto the bed. Penny had been echoing every thought that had spun through her mind since last night.
For a span of a few bright moments after his kiss, she had felt hope. That she would be able to form a family with Davy, give her baby a home.
Find a home for her heart.
But doubts assailed her. What if this wasn’t the right decision?
All she could think about were all the faults her stepmother had found in her character. The things about her that had made Jamie so angry time and time again.
Davy didn’t seem to see those things in her now, but what would happen when he learned of them?
Would he regret being stuck in a marriage with a woman he’d barely known?
And now this. What if she caused a rift in his family?
She knew how much he valued them. Would she be able to stand it if he lost that closeness because of marrying her?
She should call off the wedding. She could find some way to survive on her own, couldn’t she?
She wiped the surprising wetness from her cheeks and pushed off the bed.
Only Penny remained in the house, bussing dishes from the table to the counter. Rose swallowed against the urge to offer to help. She couldn’t bear to face Penny right now.
She slipped past the other woman and outside, wrapping her shawl around her shoulders.
Neither Davy nor his father was in sight. She wasn’t sure where to find the cowboy, but headed toward the barn.
When she’d lugged open the heavy barn door, a beam of light fell into the shadowed area. She couldn’t detect any movement within.
“Davy?” she called out.
A shrill whistle from behind her had her turning back toward the house. Breanna strode toward her, in her usual trousers and with a single braid swinging down her back.
“Been looking for you,” Breanna called out.
Rose made another quick wipe beneath her eyes, hoping Davy’s sister couldn’t see the remains of her tears.
“Have you seen Davy?” she asked.
“He sent Matty and Seb and Oscar on some errands and went to town.”
Had she been ensconced in her room for that long? It had only seemed like minutes. Turmoil bound her rib cage like a corset set too tight.
“I need to speak to him.”
Breanna winked, moving past Rose to shove the barn door closed. “Plenty of time for that when you’re stuck in that cabin with him all winter.”
“I don’t think—”
“I’m supposed to bring you over to Sarah’s place. Sarah and Fran and Hattie and Cecilia are waiting.”
“But—”
Breanna didn’t wait for her protest, but took Rose’s arm and began dragging her away from the barn and past the house.
“Breanna, wait.”
The other girl shook her head. “They’ll be upset with me if I don’t deliver you. They’re muttering something about getting you ready for the wedding.”
Rose’s tension spiked and she dug in her heels, jerking back against Breanna’s hold and finally breaking it.
She stood shivering in the wind, her arms crossed over the shawl across her middle.
“I can’t marry Davy.”
Breanna scowled, crossing her arms across her chest. “How come?”
Rose couldn’t tell Davy’s sister when she hadn’t told him.
“This is just...not right.”
Breanna forehead crinkled with the force of her frown. “That’s not an answer. I know my brother ain’t perfect, but...”
Rose shook her head. “It isn’t about Davy.”
Davy had been perfect since she’d met him. That was the problem. She wasn’t. And he would tire of her. Jamie had too quickly.
She didn’t know what she would do if Davy found fault with her after they’d married.
Breanna put her hands to her hips. “If you think he don’t have feelings for you, you’re wrong. Anybody can see how he watches you anytime you’re in the room.”
Breanna thought Davy had feelings for her? He hadn’t spoken of them, had only spoken of the marriage for convenience’s sake.
The thought stunned her, and Breanna began dragging her forward again.
He’d seen her at her worst. How could he admire her? It seemed impossible.
And wasn’t that reason enough to avoid the marriage? If he liked her now, there was more room for disappointment when he discovered her faults the way that Jamie had.
She wasn’t the best cook. She had very few domestic skills. She made mistakes often, couldn’t really take care of herself.
Breanna pushed her into a cabin made up of several rooms. The five other women were inside, and halted their chatter long enough to call out a welcome. Sarah held up a pretty, dark green gown, loose in the front.
They had all gathered to dress her up?
Anxiety and tension rolled through her, but Breanna blocked her from the door and somehow she found herself swept up in the event. Cecilia and Susie bickered over the lack of flowers for a bouquet. Fran and Emma worked together to pin up Rose’s hair in an intricate design.
Their chatter and warmth swirled around her, but even though they plied her with dainty sandwiches and attempted to draw her out in conversation, Rose still felt like an outsider. Like she didn’t belong.
She’d had nothing like this for her wedding to Jamie. She’d been eighteen, still mourning her papa and her stepmother hadn’t cared to help with any preparations, only cared about getting Rose out of the home.
Sarah rounded in front of her, fluffing the small wisps of hair they had left free of the hairdo. “You’ll look beautiful for Davy.” Her eyes flicked to Rose’s face. “Especially if we can take a little of that fear out of your gaze. Davy’s a good man.”
Rose let her eyes slide down to the floor.
Sarah tapped her on the nose with one long finger. “But that isn’t what you’re afraid of, is it?”
Rose stood up, using her bulk to move aside the other woman. She went to t
he mirror, where she could see what they’d done to her.
From behind her Sarah murmured something and the other women cleared the room.
Rose stared at her reflection. The dark color of the dress gave her some color in her face, and she’d never had a fancier hairdo.
Her eyes flicked to Sarah, who stood behind her in the now-empty room, just watching. Rose had the sense she would wait there all day.
“I disappointed my first husband daily—and my stepmother before that. I don’t know how to be a good wife.”
Sarah laughed.
The unexpected sound brought Rose’s eyes up from the dresser top where her gaze had fallen. Hot resentment surged, but she quickly realized the other woman wasn’t laughing at her.
“Neither do I,” Sarah said, stepping closer to Rose and holding her gaze in the mirror.
“I speak my mind much too often. I can’t sew a stitch...That’s not what marriage is about.”
“What then?”
“It’s about making the other person happy. About sharing their burdens.”
Rose had serious doubts about her ability to do either of those things for Davy.
* * *
Davy stood beside his bed in the bunkhouse, straightening the cuffs of his nicest Sunday shirt.
It was unusually quiet in the room with its multiple bunks and crowded with his brothers’ belongings. He’d heard Matty and Seb ride into the yard minutes ago and knew they’d be settling their horses in the barn and then coming in here to change. They’d gone up to the line shack, helped with the favors he’d asked earlier in the day.
And if he knew his brothers at all, they would rib him mercilessly for wanting to do something nice for his bride. His goal was to get up to the main house before they came in to change into their Sunday best.
The preacher was due any minute for the wedding.
Davy looked down at his extended hands, palms down. They were completely steady. Should he be nervous, especially in light of the concerns his parents had expressed earlier?
He didn’t know. But he wasn’t. He was sure God had dropped Rose in that mountain cabin for him to find. He was going to make a family with her, raise her baby and more babies of their own. He’d finally have the family he longed for.
He straightened his collar and used the small looking glass on Ricky’s old bureau to check that his hair was somewhat presentable before walking across the yard to the house.
Inside, his ma had outdone herself with a meal they would all eat together after the short ceremony. Fried chicken, judging by the smell. His favorite. Pa was dressed in his Sunday best but still wrestling with the little kids.
And Breanna came out of the back hall, in a dress for once on a weekday, dragging Rose behind her.
Rose looked like her name. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her hair was tamed in some intricate design. She wore another new dress, this one a deep green that made her seem to glow. Or maybe that was just her.
But when her eyes met his, he could see trepidation and worry.
She marched right up to him. “Can we talk?” she whispered. “Somewhere private?”
He took her arm and escorted her out to the front porch, helping her wrap her worn shawl around her shoulders.
One of his surprises would replace the garment that was badly worn.
He stood slightly behind her, both of them looking out across his pa’s land. He could see a speck moving on the horizon. Probably the preacher, riding out this way.
“Are you entirely sure this marriage is what you want?”
She was still whispering, even though they were outside with no one to hear them.
Every muscle in him tightened with tension. He looked down on her, close enough to count every eyelash but she didn’t look up at him. Was she having second thoughts?
“Have I pushed you into something you don’t want?” he asked.
She shook her head minutely.
That much gave him the courage to reach out and take her elbows in his hands, turning her toward him.
“I want this.” Saying the words made him vulnerable, but he didn’t flinch back from her when she looked up at him. He let her see what he’d already come to realize. He cared about her.
Something shifted behind her eyes. She was vulnerable, too.
“But if you don’t...want to be married to me, I’ll see that you’ve got enough funds to get by for a while. That’s what a friend would do, right?”
She looked up at him with unreadable eyes.
“Let’s get married,” she whispered.
He smiled down on her. “All right. Here comes the preacher.”
* * *
Rose stood with Davy in the crowded family parlor with Sarah and Breanna at her side. With his father behind him, Davy clasped her hands in his as the preacher spoke of love and commitment. His eyes never strayed from her face.
She was trembling slightly, unable to help that. Everything had happened so quickly, but she had made the best decision she could under the circumstances. She would go forward from today as Davy’s wife, anchored to his side.
This was so different from her wedding to Jamie. She’d been alone then, with only two witnesses present. Now she was surrounded by Davy’s family. Breanna had bossed her into a friendship, of a fashion. Sarah had been more subtle but had encouraged her when she needed it. She’d never really had friends before, not with the way her stepmother had kept her sheltered.
The preacher asked Davy if he would love her, honor her and comfort her. And Davy’s serious reply made her believe, just a little bit, that they were in this together.
And then the preacher turned his grave gaze on her and asked her the same. Would she love Davy, honor him and obey him?
And she couldn’t help tearing up as she answered in the affirmative.
When the preacher told Davy he could kiss her, he touched her jaw and leaned forward to brush her lips in a tender caress, and her tears overflowed.
Davy must’ve felt the moisture against his fingertips. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, unobtrusively brushing the tears away as he kissed her forehead. The moments of delay were enough for her to compose herself and then his family crowded around, offering their congratulations.
She was married to a cowboy.
Chapter Eleven
Rose felt overheated and flustered as the center of attention when the large family gathered for a celebration meal. A flash of hurt and uncertainty passed through her when Penny approached from the crowd and embraced Davy. She had been the one who had warned him against marrying Rose. Had she somehow seen what Rose was afraid of, been aware of the faults that Davy seemed blind to?
When Penny moved to embrace her as well, Rose froze. The other woman hugged Rose lightly, even though her arms hung at her sides.
“Welcome to the family, dear.”
How could she say that when she hadn’t wanted Davy to marry Rose?
Unsure and confused, Rose hesitated when the other woman moved back. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a rift in the family or do something wrong. But Davy was there, his hand beneath her elbow.
He smiled down on her, his blue eyes sparkling so brightly that she was momentarily dazzled.
This time when they sat down at the long table surrounded by his noisy family, he clasped her hand beneath the table, settling her.
They sat closer than they had before. Every time he shifted, his shoulder bumped hers. Her skirt brushed his legs.
And all of it was a reminder that she was no longer alone.
But how long could these happy moments last? With Jamie, the happiness had faded in days, when he’d snapped at her for burning a batch of muffins.
* * *
As the meal wrapped up, Davy felt
Rose flagging beside him. And they still had to ride out to the line shack before the sun went down.
“You about ready to head out?” he asked. He’d purposely kept his voice low, but his brothers heard anyway and wolf whistled.
Rose’s cheeks pinked becomingly.
Davy stood up from the table and pulled her with him. “We’ll leave these rascals behind, at least for the winter.”
Matty laughed. “I’d be surprised if Ma doesn’t have us all up there all the time, what with the baby comin’.”
Davy shook his head as the family kept talking and laughing at the table.
He knew Rose wasn’t comfortable with their big boisterous group. But maybe in time she would grow to know his brothers and become more comfortable there. He had to remember what an ordeal she’d been through, her life uprooted and then stranded.
If his brother’s horse training could be applied here, some animals took longer to trust a body, but once they did they were the most loyal sort.
“C’mon, I’ve got a little present for you.”
He tugged her down the hall toward his parents’ room, where he’d stashed the surprise.
“What?” She tugged against his hand.
“A gift. I figured a gal needs something special on her wedding day.”
Then he thought that maybe he was getting her hopes up too high and quickly went on, “It’s more practical than pretty.”
“Davy...” She tried to resist again, but he kept hold of her hand and pulled her into his parents’ empty room.
Laid out on the bed was the warm, full-length woolen coat he’d chosen for her when he’d been in town fetching the preacher.
And the colorful knitted scarf that had seemed almost as beautiful as she was, he hadn’t been able to resist buying it as well. And standing next to the bed, a pair of good quality boots, not like the fancy, useless city girl shoes she wore.
A package of other things was tied to his horse outside. He was, waiting for the right time to give it to her once they were home.
She stood just inside the doorway, still and staring at his purchases.
She almost looked perplexed. “You bought me a winter coat? And boots?”
And then before he could say or do anything, her face crumpled and she buried it in her hands.
Her Convenient Cowboy Page 12
