by Meg Maxwell
She’d spent hours tossing and turning last night, unable to get comfortable, unable to fall asleep. Tears pricking her eyes every time she thought about Nick. Thanks for everything was about goodbye. About appreciation of service. About we’re done here.
Well, dammit, she wasn’t done here. This man wasn’t walking away until she said her piece. Until he knew how she felt about him. If he didn’t feel the same way, fine. Go live a quarter mile away and visit their baby every other day or however they’d work it out. But until she was officially defeated, she wasn’t giving up. Thanks for everything was close to defeat, but because Nick was the brick wall that surrounded him, there was a chance for them. Brick walls could be blasted through. Well, Nick Slater, meet Georgia, the human blowtorch.
Thanks for everything. Good Lord. Was he kidding? How dare he! A fresh round of hot indignation rose in her, and that was it.
“I have something to say to you, Nick Slater.”
He stared at her, and there was something different in his expression, something she couldn’t pinpoint. “Okay.” He let go of all the shopping bags, wedging them over on the porch with his leg so that diners could pass by on their way out.
Okay. Grr, he was impossible! She took him by the hand and led him down the street to a grassy area with a bench. Neither of them sat.
“You listen to me, Nick Slater,” she said, jabbing a finger at him. “I don’t want you here out of obligation. I want you here because you want to be here. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Ah. So that’s what you were talking about. Now it makes sense.”
Grr again. “You really couldn’t figure that out?”
He looked down, then away, then turned so that she couldn’t see his face.
“Nick?”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he finally said, turning back to face her. “After all you’ve been through, you deserve all the happiness in the world.”
“And...” she prompted. If he was going to say it, that he didn’t love her and it just wasn’t going to happen for them in the way she dreamed, she had to give him the chance to say it. Without trying to read his mind. Or project.
“And I love you, Georgia.”
Did he just say he loved her? Her hand flew to her mouth.
“I love you. And I’ll be there for you and the baby. I promise you that. I’ve made some kind of breakthrough today—I’m really ready to be our child’s father. Not out of obligation—out of want. The baby is coming in five months and I’ll be ready. I’m going to be the best father I can be. I’m sorry for all the mixed signals I’ve given you ever since you came back to town. I could barely resist you because you’re so damned beautiful. I thought I needed to let you go. Same way I let Avery go this afternoon.”
Oh, Nick.
“But if you’ll have me, I promise to always try to be the man, the husband you deserve.”
If she’d have him. She almost laughed.
From the pain shadowing his dark eyes, Georgia knew he wasn’t completely sure he was up to the task. But he was. Despite everything he’d been through, all the wrongs he made right in their world, he still didn’t realize how good a man he was.
“Nick Slater, you once told me to tell you if anything was ever wrong. And something is wrong. Do you want to know what?”
“Of course I do.”
Georgia nodded, then waved at Harriet Culver, who was walking Bentley across the street. She waited until Harriet had moved on far enough so that they had some privacy. “Okay, what’s wrong can be made right. But it depends on the answer to a question.”
Nick’s eyes narrowed. “This sounds complicated.”
Georgia smiled. “Yes or no isn’t complicated. You just say the answer to the question. Oh, and there’s no ‘yeah, but’ allowed. No ‘it depends.’ Either yes or no, a sentence in and of itself. Okay?”
“This sounds really complicated now, but okay.”
She looked at him, at this handsome man, this beautiful person inside and out, and closed her eyes for a second, making a wish in advance on tonight’s stars. She opened her eyes. “Do you really love me?”
He leaned back a bit, his gaze intense on her. “Yes. I really do.”
Georgia’s eyes filled with tears. “Another question, then. Are you in love with me?”
He reached for her hand and held it. “Yes. Very much so.”
Her heart was bursting. “So what the gobbledygook have you been doing?”
“Well, for the past few hours I was practically buying out Baby Center for our son. Onesies. Baby blankets. Diapers. Burp clothes. A mobile. Two car seats. At least four or five things we probably don’t even need, like a baby wipes warmer.”
She laughed, happy tears pricking her eyes again.
“But,” he said, “you probably mean since you came back into my life.” At her nod, he added, “What I’ve been doing is...worrying. Being terrified. Of letting myself feel anything.”
“Love is scary,” she said. “In a good way. I know, Nick, because I love you so much. So much.”
He took her hand and held it. “I love you too. And I don’t want to get this wrong.” He placed his other on her cheek, the look in his eyes full of tenderness. “I don’t want to let you down.”
“You just have to love me,” she said. “You’ll be surprised how much that covers.”
He reached for her and she melted against him, so much anxiety and fear and worry flitting away. “I love you, Georgia. Deeply. I have since the first day I met you.”
“Me too,” she said. “I love you so much sometimes I think I’ll explode.”
He held her tight, then said he’d stopped at one more shop earlier and pulled a little velvet box from his jacket pocket. “Will you marry me, Georgia?”
She couldn’t help the gasp, then brought a hand up to his cheek and looked into his eyes. “Yes, I will.”
He slid the beautiful diamond ring on her finger, then kissed her passionately.
“No wonder you haven’t found the thief who stole my clothes!” a voice shouted out. Georgia whirled around and there was Penny Jergen, tottering down Blue Gulch Street in three-inch heels, two similarly dressed girlfriends flanking her. She was glaring at Nick. “Too busy kissing women.”
Nick laughed. “Just one,” he called out. “Woman. Forever,” he added on a whisper.
Epilogue
Well, Georgia had tried on her grandmother’s beautiful tea-length wedding dress, the one Essie had worn to marry her great love over fifty years ago, the one Annabel had worn to marry her own great love a few months ago, but there was no way that dress, so elegant and simple and lovely, would fit over her belly. Not when she was five months pregnant.
Georgia, her sisters and her grandmother all headed over to Blue Gulch Bridal, Georgia wondering if she’d get the side eye from Marley, the owner, for being pregnant before the wedding. Not in any kind of judgmental way—just a gossipy way.
“I win twenty-five bucks!” Marley said the moment Georgia entered, her family behind her. “I told my sister that Georgia Hurley was knocked up and she said no, she’s just been eating for free at Hurley’s all day so she started packing on the pounds.”
Georgia couldn’t help laughing. “Nice to know, Marley. And yes, I have been enjoying quite a few po’boys for lunch, so technically you both win.”
A few hugs and congratulations later, Georgia explained that the wedding was this weekend, just days away, and that Clementine had amazing seamstress skills if Marley’s usual seamstress couldn’t get to Georgia’s dress on such short notice. Marley said she’d work her magic and make it happen on time, no worries.
“So, who all is in the bridal party?” Marley asked. “Yeah, I’m
nosy, but I want to know.”
Georgia smiled. “Well, we decided to keep it simple. My grandmother is walking me down the aisle to my groom, and that’s that. My sisters, my matron and maid of honor, are giving speeches at the reception.”
“I had ten bridesmaids,” Marley said. “I think you’ve got the right idea.”
Georgia’s sisters went through the racks, looking for what Georgia had described as her dream dress—a white gown, simple and sleeveless and pretty. Essie was looking through the “mother of the bride” section for her dress, determined to get dolled up, since she hadn’t attended Annabel’s quickie wedding-of-then-convenience in Las Vegas.
“I think I found it,” Clementine said, pulling a gown off the rack. “It’s you, Georgia.”
Georgia turned and gasped. It was her. And exactly what she’d been looking for. Classic and elegant, sleeveless and simple and flowy, with a row of delicate beading at the necessary empire waist, almost like something Audrey Hepburn would wear.
“So beautiful,” Annabel said, nodding.
Georgia took the dress into the large fitting room and removed her tank top and maternity shorts, then pooled the gown by her feet and stepped in and brought it up. So far so good on fit. “A little help zipping?” she called out, and her whole family rushed in.
Essie zipped and her sisters stood on either side of her, staring into the floor-to-ceiling three-way mirrors.
“I’m going to cry,” Annabel said, a hand covering her mouth. “I can’t speak.”
Clementine eyes welled. “Me either.”
“You’re going to make a beautiful bride, Georgia,” Essie said, wiping away her own tears.
* * *
Nick stood by the bay window in the dining room of Hurley’s Homestyle Kitchen, which had been turned into a wedding hall, complete with a red carpet aisle runner and more flowers than he’d ever seen in one place. He smiled at his sister and Quentin in the front row beside the Hurley family. Then winked at Dylan beside Quentin, Timmy in his carrier on a seat between Dylan and his great-aunt. Logan Grainger and his two cute twin nephews sat behind Dylan.
Nick had spent the past few minutes with not much to do other than look around at the people who’d come to witness his wedding, so he couldn’t help noticing how often Logan looked at Clementine’s profile, then quickly looked away when Clementine would realize someone was staring at her. He hoped those two figured it out. Nick had spent some time being miserable when the woman he loved was right beside him, and he had a feeling Logan Grainger was doing the same dumb thing.
Not that it hadn’t taken Nick some time to figure that out.
Harriet Culver, sitting at the piano that had been brought in from the parlor, began the traditional wedding march, and everyone turned around to watch Georgia, her face slightly obscured by a white veil, begin down the aisle, her grandmother beside her.
Nick actually gasped, the sight of the woman he loved in a wedding gown, walking to him, almost too much.
He didn’t take his eyes off her. As she reached him, Essie pulled back her veil, and Georgia stood smiling at him. He took both her hands in his, and then they turned toward the pastor, both of them ready to start their future as husband and wife, mother and father.
“I just felt the baby kick!” Georgia whispered, but everyone heard and their guests starting clapping.
Nick laughed and put his hand on her belly. He felt a little kick on the side, and his heart almost burst. “I’m glad he’s here for this,” Nick whispered. “The best day of my life.”
* * * * *
Look for Clementine and Logan’s story,
THE COWBOY’S BIG FAMILY TREE,
coming soon.
Keep reading for an excerpt from HER RUGGED RANCHER by Stella Bagwell.
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Her Rugged Rancher
by Stella Bagwell
Chapter One
Of all the damned luck!
Noah Crawford muttered the words under his breath as he rounded a curve of the narrow dirt road and spotted a slender young woman with long dark hair walking in the same direction he was traveling. A saddled bay mare followed close on her heels.
He jammed on the brakes and dust billowed as the truck and trailer came to a jarring halt. Up ahead, the woman quickly took herself and the horse off to the side, then with a hand shading her eyes, turned to see who’d made the untimely stop behind her.
Bella Sundell.
Her name shivered through him like an unwanted blast of cold wind. Hell’s bells, what was she doing out riding in the middle of the afternoon? Why wasn’t she in Carson City, practicing law with her brother?
He’d worked on this Nevada ranch for seven years and during that time he’d never seen this woman on horseback. Nor had he spoken more than two dozen words to her. In fact, he often went out of his way to steer clear of her.
Too bad there wasn’t some way to dodge her now, he thought, as he snatched up his gloves and climbed out of the truck. But she was his boss’s sister. Besides, he wouldn’t ignore anyone who needed help.
Striding across the hard packed dirt, he called out to her, “What’s wrong?”
“Thanks for stopping, Noah.” She pointed to the horse’s front right foot. “She slipped on a rock and jerked a shoe loose when we were riding in the canyon. I thought I’d better lead her the rest of the way home. I didn’t want to take the chance of damaging her hoof.”
Trying to look anywhere other than her lovely, smiling face, he sidled up to the mare, then bent over to examine her foot.
“Riding in the canyon,” he remarked. “That’s a little risky for a woman alone, don’t you think?”
Silence followed his question, but that hardly surprised Noah. She didn’t have to answer to him. He was just the ranch foreman of the J Bar S, hardly her keeper.
Reaching into the front pocket of his jeans, he pulled out a Leatherman tool and quickly went to work jerking out the remai
ning nails of the loose shoe.
Behind him, he could hear Bella clearing her throat. “In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s the middle of May and the weather is already hot. It’s shady and cooler down in the canyon. Especially along the creek bed.”
“It might be cooler,” he reasoned. “But it’s rough terrain and a fair distance from home. Anything could happen to you.”
“Anything could happen to me right here on the road,” she politely pointed out. “A cowboy not watching where he’s driving could run over me and Mary Mae.”
Like him? To argue the point with her would only end up making Noah look like a fool. A lawyer’s job was to give advice, not take it. And this one was clearly no exception.
Turning his attention to the loose shoe, he levered off the piece of iron, then lowered the mare’s foot back to the ground.
“Hang on, girl,” he spoke softly to the horse. “We’ll get you fixed.”
After giving Mary Mae an affectionate pat on the shoulder, he forced himself to turn and look directly at Bella. The result was a familiar wham to his gut. The first time he’d met this woman, he’d been bowled over by her appearance. Creamy skin, long hair just shy of being black, warm brown eyes and soft expressive lips all came together to make one hell of a sexy woman. So much of a woman, in fact, that the passing years hadn’t dimmed his reaction to her.
“When we get to your place I’ll see about putting her shoe back on.” He gestured to his truck and trailer. “Climb in. I’ll get the mare loaded.”
She hesitated and he realized she must have sensed his reluctance to become involved in her problem. Even though, to Noah, the loose shoe was a reasonably small problem. Bella was the big one.
“I’m sorry to put you out like this, Noah. If you’re in the middle of doing something I can walk Mary Mae on home. It’s not all that far.”
“She doesn’t need to keep walking on that bare foot. And I’m not in the middle of anything, except helping you,” he said curtly.
