by Liz Isaacson
They hadn’t talked about marriage yet, though he had said early on in their relationship he wasn’t worried about her cheating on him because they’d love each other so deeply.
Please let that be true, she prayed.
When it was her turn to order, she got bacon and egg plates for her and Cache, substituting a pancake in hers and adding salsa to his.
She wanted to call her sister and tell her she’d fixed the problem with Cache. At least she hoped she had. He’d kissed her like she had. She wanted to meet his family too—no secrets.
Back at the ranch, she pulled further into the driveway and found Cache sitting on the top step. He met her at the door and took the food with a quick smile. She followed him into the cabin, which held more charm than the ones at Last Chance Ranch. It was almost like everything in Shiloh Ridge, including the ranch, had been touched by magic.
Even Karla felt different here. “So,” she said as she sat down and opened her container of food. “We’re okay, right?”
He placed her phone on the table in front of her. “We’re okay.”
She smiled at him and picked up her fork. “Good. Because I don’t think I could’ve eaten this pancake if we weren’t.”
He chuckled and spread his salsa over his eggs. “I did want to talk to you about something.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He put a bite of eggs in his mouth and chewed, prolonging the conversation. He swallowed and said, “Marriage. Me and you. What are your thoughts on that?”
Warmth spread through Karla, making every cell tingle. “I think that’s a great idea.”
“Tell me what you’re envisioning,” he said. “You’ve been married before. Was it big? What time of year?”
Karla told him all about the fall wedding in Virginia and how she’d been engaged for over a year. “We don’t need to do anything like that,” she said.
“No?”
“I think Lisa will kill me if I get married before her and steal our mother’s attention. But maybe just after that. I can coordinate it all and just invite my family.” She poured maple syrup from the cutest little bottle over her pancake. “Will your family come to the ranch?”
“You want to get married on the ranch?” His eyebrows went up, matching the surprise in his voice.
She blinked at him. “Yes.”
He nodded. “My dad’s probably going to get married soon. I asked him and Leo to come back for lunch so they could meet you. I don’t know how long you’re planning to stay.”
“I don’t actually have a ticket back to California yet,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if you’d talk to me, or how long I’d be here.”
Something like regret touched his eyes. “I’m sorry, Karla. I—didn’t mean to make you do something you didn’t want to do. I didn’t mean to push you away.”
“You didn’t,” she said. “I’m really great at doing those things myself.” She managed a weak smile, but Cache didn’t return it.
“One more serious question,” he said. “And then we can go meet the cows.”
“The cows?”
“Yeah, I have hundreds of cows here. Well, I mean, Leo and my dad do.”
And cows were important to Cache, so Karla nodded. “Yeah, I want to meet them.”
And she thought she knew what he was going to ask next, so she wasn’t surprised when he said, “Do you want kids, Karla?”
“Yeah,” she said, the last of the sadness over her miscarriage years ago finally fading. “I do want kids, Cache. Your kids.” She honestly wasn’t sure if she could have kids with her history and her age, but she did want them.
Cache finally grinned that full-wattage grin she’d seen on his face so often. “Great,” he said. “Me too.”
When they walked into the cabin for lunch, two other men were already there. His brother and his father, obviously. Karla could see Cache in both of them, and she knew instantly that his bright blue eyes must have come from his mother.
His father had dark eyes that saw everything about her in two seconds flat. And he liked her instantly, she could tell. “You must be Karla.” He hugged her quickly and added, “The pizza is almost done.”
“My dad, Woody.”
“Nice to meet you.” Karla wasn’t hungry at all, but she’d eat to be nice. She looked at Leo, who bore more of a resemblance to his father than to Cache. Everything was just washed out a bit. His hair sat somewhere between the two of them, and his eyes seemed more gray than blue or brown.
“Hello, Leo,” she said, regretting the formality.
Cache laughed and nudged her toward him. “My older brother,” he said. “Leo, this is Karla.”
“Just as pretty as she sounds,” Leo said with a smile, and Karla couldn’t decide if he was flirting or just being kind.
She shook his hand and retreated to Cache’s side. No one said anything, and these Bryant men didn’t seem to mind the silence. It drove Karla toward battiness, and thankfully, the timer on the oven went off and activity ensued.
Leo got down plates while his father pulled out the pizza and cut it. When they’d all crowded around the table, Woody said, “I think I’m going to ask Brenda to marry me today.”
Cache choked and Leo dropped his piece of pizza with a wet thud. “Today?” he asked while Cache coughed.
Karla picked up a can of lemonade and opened it for him. “That’s great,” she said. “How are you going to propose?”
“I think I’ll just show up at her house and ask her,” Woody said, looking around at everyone.
Cache quieted and said, “Good idea, Dad,” and Karla picked up her phone to send him a quick text. I want more of a proposal than that. Please don’t just show up at my house and ask me.
His phone lit up, and he glanced at it. A swipe and a tap later, their eyes met. Karla nodded and Cache smiled, and everything seemed absolutely right in the world.
Finally.
Chapter 23
Cache tugged at the tie around his neck, wishing Dave had chosen a normal tie for his groomsmen. Of course, Cache knew Dave hadn’t really chosen anything for the wedding, so he should be blaming Sissy for the agonizingly tight bowtie currently cutting off his air supply.
He’d been back in town for a couple of days, and life had gone on as normal on the ranch. Karla hadn’t stayed long in Shiloh Ridge, but Cache had hung around while his father proposed to Brenda. They’d had a big dinner celebration at the ranch, where Cache had met the owner, Bear Glover. And then a smaller shindig at his dad’s cabin the night before he’d left.
He liked the air much better in California, and it was all because it was the same oxygen Karla breathed.
Sissy had paired him with her to walk down the aisle, and Cache’s nerves seemed to be rioting about it for some reason. Almost like it was their wedding—or at least a preview of it. And he knew neither of them were really ready to get married, though they’d talked about all of those serious things in Colorado.
It wasn’t until he and Karla had been able to cuddle into Cookie’s side that Cache felt secure in his relationship with her. She’d been madly baking to make sure Dave and Sissy’s wedding cake would be perfect, and she wouldn’t let anyone see it. Not even the bride.
Someone knocked on his front door, and he turned away from the view out his back window, his mind switching from where he and Karla would live once they tied the knot to putting on a smile and mustering up all the support he could for one of his best friends.
“Ready?” Lance asked on the other side of the door, and Cache nodded as he stepped onto the porch with him.
“Why is your tie like that?” Cache asked, glaring at Lance’s tie. It didn’t seem to have a pythonic grip around his throat.
Lance chuckled, but that only made Cache’s mood darken. “Fix mine,” he said, and Lance started tugging and twisting to get the tie right. It finally loosened, and a sense of relief cascaded through Cache. “Thanks.”
Lance stepped back, turning serious as he surveye
d Cache in his more formal attire. “The boots look good,” he said.
“Thanks,” Cache said, glancing down at them. “My dad bought them for me. An early birthday present. I have to wear them to his wedding too.”
“And church,” Lance said. “I like my dress boots for that.”
Cache had honestly never bothered with dress cowboy boots, but he did like the black pair he wore right now a whole lot. He and Lance went down the steps together and started over toward the administration building where Sissy had chosen to set up their wedding.
Sweat ran down his face before they reached the turn in the road, and he started thinking he and Karla should opt for a winter wedding date. Maybe February, he thought.
The admin building was air conditioned, and Cache found Dave in a room with a few other cowboys and his dad. He knew enough to stay out of the way and do what he was told, which was exactly what he did until an intercom beeped and a woman said, “Dave, can you send your party out to line up? And then take your spot, please.”
“All right, guys,” Dave said. “You heard her.”
Cache didn’t know who she was, but he stepped over to Dave and gave him a quick embrace with a man-clap on the shoulder. “Good luck, man,” he said before following the others out the door and down the hall.
Sissy had a huge bridal party, and the space under the shade of the tent where she and Dave would be married was already taken by the time Cache got there.
“Hey,” Karla said, appearing at his side.
“Hey.” A smile moved through his whole body at the sight of her. “You look beautiful.”
She glanced around as if someone might pop out of thin air and contradict him. “When we get married, we are not having any bridesmaids,” she muttered. She linked her arm through his and tugged him to the left and into a part of the shade that hadn’t been claimed yet.
“No?” he asked, grinning down at her. “Why not?”
“I hate these dresses.” She looked as put out as he’d been about the choking tie. “At least Sissy has normal colors.” Karla shook her head. “No, I just want something simple for our wedding. People should just show up after work one day and then I’ll feed them.”
Cache almost scoffed. Thankfully, he sucked it in when he realized she was serious. “Really?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I mean, I’ve been married before. I don’t need a whole show.”
Cache laced his fingers between hers. “What if I want the whole show?”
She looked at him, surprise in her eyes. “Do you?”
He enjoyed going against something she thought she knew about him, and he shrugged casually to prolong the moment. “Not really. I would like the cows there.”
Karla laughed, earning her a few glares from nearby patrons. She took the volume down and covered her mouth, her eyes still crinkled. “Of course. You and the cows.”
“Hey, you like those cows too.”
“Yeah, but they can’t be bridesmaids.”
“Why not? I bet you could put skirts on them. Tutus.”
Karla dissolved into another round of giggles, and one of the older people nearby actually shushed her.
“The wedding hasn’t even started yet,” Karla said.
“Dave’s up front,” Cache said, peering over the tops of the chairs. “We should probably line up.” He moved over to the rest of the group, and everyone fell into line.
It seemed like a really long time, and he leaned over to Karla and said, “Please don’t take this long while I’m standing up there. Look at him. Dave looks like he’s about to pass out.”
Karla tightened her grip on Cache’s arm, and said, “Deal. I’ll give you thirty seconds to get in place and no more.” She beamed up at him, and a strong feeling of love moved through him.
“I love you,” he whispered, scanning that pale pink dress again as it hugged her curves and fell to her ankles. “Tall heels?”
“Yes, so hold onto me,” she said. “I don’t want to trip.”
A month later, the weather started to cool. A month after that, Cache and the band played at the Pasadena Halloween festival, which they’d done in years past. With Sawyer and Dave married now, Cache had expected the band to slow down. Maybe even break up.
But they hadn’t, though Cache had relaxed quite a lot. After all, a lot of his energy needed to go to Karla these days, just like Sawyer’s went to Jeri and his new son, and Dave’s went to Sissy and the adoption process they were starting.
He’d been thinking a lot about asking Karla to marry him, but he didn’t have a ring and they’d never really talked about it again.
She didn’t act like she minded all that much. He still found her in the pasture every day, and they still snuck kisses from the safety of the cow cuddling barrier. They ran the cuddling classes, and life was going well.
Karla burst into his house one morning while he stood in the kitchen, a fresh mug of coffee in his hand. He dropped it, and the shattering sound of breaking glass mingled with the hot splash of coffee everywhere.
“Oh, no,” she said, “I’m so sorry. I was just so excited, and I figured it would be okay if I came in.” She crossed through the cabin to him, while he stood there and stared at the mess.
“It’s fine,” he said, finally reaching for a wash cloth. “What are we excited about?”
“The trip.”
The coffee wiped up easily as she picked out the bigger pieces of the mug. “The trip to Virginia?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said.
“When’s that again?” he asked. She was supposed to go in August, but something had happened with her sister’s dress, and she’d asked Karla to delay the trip.
“You’re kidding, right?” Karla stilled and looked at him. He kept mopping up the coffee. “Cache.”
“My bag’s right there,” he said. “Now, if someone hadn’t made me drop this mug, we’d be on our way to the airport.” And when they finished flying all the way across the country, he’d meet her family.
He wasn’t sure why the thought made his nerves quake, only that it did. She’d told them about him. They knew what he did for a living, and she’s assured him he didn’t have to be anyone but himself.
“I’ve already broken my father’s heart,” she’d said. “You’re a huge step from Jackson.”
Cache had never met Jackson, so he couldn’t be sure. But yeah, he wasn’t taking Karla from her family and flying across the country. She was already here.
With the mess cleaned up, he poured himself another mug and offered her one. “No, I want that mocha from Beans and Brew.”
“Well, we better go then,” he said. “If we have to make a stop.”
“We have plenty of time.”
“Have you driven in LA traffic?” He gave her a raised-eyebrow look and went to get his bag. “I wanted to ask you something we haven’t quite talked about yet.”
“Oh yeah?” She pulled the door closed behind them and came down the steps while he loaded his luggage in the back seat of her car with hers.
“Yeah.” He paused and looked at her. Lifted his coffee to take a sip as he peered over the rim of the mug. “Where we’ll live when we get married.”
They hadn’t talked about anything like this since Dave and Sissy’s wedding, and the shock in Karla’s eyes testified of that.
“I’m thinking your cabin,” he said. “Do you pay Scarlett rent?”
“No,” she said, her eyes searching his, looking for an answer.
Cache wasn’t sure what it would be. Yes, he and Karla would still be working for the ranch, so maybe they could just share the cabin on the back lawn of the homestead without a problem. “Maybe we should talk to her about it when we get back.”
“Maybe you should ask me to marry you first,” she said, almost rolling her eyes as she turned toward the passenger door and opened it.
“Maybe you should tell me what kind of ring you want.”
She froze for the second time that morning and aske
d, “Really?”
“It’s a long drive, sweetheart. Start talking.”
Chapter 24
Karla didn’t need Cache to buy her a diamond ring. She had the perfect one back in Virginia—which was the real reason for her excitement to be flying across the country. Sure, she wanted to introduce Cache to her parents and her sisters. She wanted to hold her baby nephew and smell the powdery scent of his hair. She wanted to help Lisa with her wedding plans, which included the bridesmaids dresses.
She’d spoken true when she’d said she didn’t want a big wedding. Or the ugly, uncomfortable bridesmaids dresses every bride seemed to have. Heck, she’d had them the first time too.
But this time…this time, she wanted the men in jeans and checkered shirts, and women in denim skirts, and everyone to be wearing cowboy boots while she and Cache said I do near the water pump in the cow pasture.
If the man would ask her to marry him, that was.
Doesn’t matter, she told herself as he pulled up to the drive-through at Beans and Brew and ordered her mocha. You can ask him when you get to Virginia.
Her mother had confirmed that her great-grandmother’s ring was still available, and that Karla could absolutely have it if she wanted it.
She turned the conversation toward something else on the sluggish drive through city traffic, and after that, Cache turned quiet. She supposed meeting her family was a big deal, but at least he wasn’t showing up at her dad’s house, hoping she’d talk to him.
Now that had been hard.
She slept most of the way across the country, and it was dark by the time the plane landed in Norfolk. They’d packed light, so they didn’t have baggage to wait for, and Karla led him out onto the street to the pickup area.
After her mom picked up her call, Karla said, “We’re at pickup eight.”
