A Real Keeper: Arranged Marriage Romance

by Rocklyn Ryder

  Logan looks at his daughter, then at me, with a slight frown, "I think you two owe me a story," he says, "but..."

  His expression goes from confused to pure anxiety and it occurs to me that finding out he's been a pawn in a scheme to marry him off might have just undone everything. Logan seems to move in slow motion as dread overtakes me.

  He pulls his hand from his pocket and looks down at his clenched fist like it's a foreign object, "Since you're so worried about your old man," he smiles at Mariah, "you might as well know--"

  Oh shit. What's happening?

  My world spins and tips on its side.

  No.

  That's just Logan falling down.

  No.

  Logan didn't fall.

  Did he drop something?

  No. He's looking up at me.

  "-- I have every intention of marrying Dr. Hayes." He opens the little box in his hand.

  Mariah screams.

  The sun glints off of something in the box.

  Mariah continues screaming. I'm vaguely aware of her bike crashing to the ground as she rushes to throw her arms around her dad's shoulders and then she's looking up at me with the same anxious look on her face.

  "Kendra?" Mariah calls my name to pull me back into the here and now, "Ohmygodyouhavetosayyes!"

  "I have to say yes?" I love how easy it all seems to her.

  "You have to say yes," Logan agrees, with a touch more authority in his voice.

  I have to say yes.

  Because that's the only answer that makes any sense.

  "Yes?" I squeak out.

  "Kendra," Logan pulls the ring out of the box and slides it up my finger, "Will you marry me?"

  "US!" Mariah screams, "Will you marry us?!"

  Of course I will. I nod emphatically, "Yes! Of course I will!"

  I'm wrapped up in the arms of my family and then Logan catches my face between his hands and locks his lips to mine in a kiss that convinces me not to second guess my decision.

  "Ewww," Mariah picks up her bike, "I have get back in time for dinner," she tells us, "I can't wait to tell mom you guys are getting married!"

  I feel Logan smile against my lips, "I'm gonna get phone calls," he says quietly, "I doubt she even knew I was dating someone."

  Mariah's off on her bike, waving and yelling about how happy she is as she disappears down the street.

  "Is Beth going to freak out?" I ask. I've only met her a couple of times when she's come to pick Mariah up from the clinic-- long before I knew about Mariah's connection to Logan.

  "Not likely," he says as he pulls me back into his arms, "she's probably going to tell me it's about time and give you a medal of bravery."

  "When did you buy this ring?" I laugh as I try to get used to seeing it on my hand.

  "This afternoon. You can exchange it if it's not what you want."

  It's exactly what I want. It's the ring Logan picked out for me. The ring he wants to see on my hand every day for the rest of our lives. It's simple and elegant and perfect.

  "I love it, it's a little big."

  "We'll get it sized down." He wraps his arm over my shoulders and we head back up the street.

  "You bought it today?" It seems crazy, "When were you planning on doing this?"

  I feel him shrug against me, "Six weeks ago."

  "Really?" I look up at him.

  "When you know, you know," he says casually, "You know?"

  I know.

  Epilogue

  Raven Swann

  I'm waiting to board my plane when I get the text:

  "OMG he totes proposed!"

  I smile at Mariah's message. I admit I'm a little surprised. I never had a chance to get to know Logan, I wasn't sure what I was dealing with.

  "What did she say?" I type out my reply.

  I get a picture of Logan still down on one knee with Kendra's hand in his. I can't see what the ring looks like, but there's a bright glint off a stone in the middle of what appears to be a gold band on her finger.

  The street corner in the picture looks familiar, "Where was that?"

  "OMG OMG OMG," followed by several smilies, "They saw you leaving the malt shop and K wanted to know how I knew you and then Dad asked her to marry him. I'm SO excited!"

  I am too. Looks like Mariah and I make a good team.

  "I am too. Congratulations." I answer.

  I'm sure I'd be caught up in a much longer text exchange with her, but my plane is boarding. I take one more minute to get Duncan caught up, "Better than planned, Babe. :-) They're engaged!"

  I have to turn off the phone, so I won't get his answer till I land in San Francisco but I know he'll be proud and give me far more credit than I deserve for this one.

  Switching the phone off, I pull my book out of my purse and open it, even though I'm still smiling out the window at how well things ended up with Kendra and Logan.

  I wasn't sure what to expect when I met her for coffee this afternoon. I was so happy when she told me she'd found someone on her own. It's what I wanted to hear, that she was sure enough of her new relationship to walk away from the possibility of a sure thing through my services.

  And now she's engaged.

  So soon for a couple that never actually hired me. I really am excited to hear it.

  The plane takes off and I watch the view outside my window turn to nothing but blue sky as we bank. Then I pull the bookmark out of my book and go back to the admittedly sappy romance novel in my hands.

  I am a sucker for a happy ending.

  Thank you for Reading!

  I hope you enjoyed A Real Keeper as much as I enjoyed writing it!

  It was fun to give Raven a challenge...and a little help from Mariah.

  Now that Logan and Kendra are officially engaged, subscribe to the mailing list for access to the extended epilogue and see where they are a little further on.

  Rocklyn Ryder's Newsletter

  Also by Rocklyn Ryder

  Arranged Marriage Romance (Raven Swann's client files:)

  A Perfect Gentleman (excerpt included)

  A Nice Boy

  A Smart Choice

  A Great Catch

  A Real Keeper

  Full Length Stand Alone Romances:

  BUSH (Excerpt included)

  WOOD (coming soon)

  There are more great stories to be told from the files of Raven's match making portfolio, and plenty of other stories in the works so keep in touch so you don't miss a new release.

  Rocklyn's Newsletter

  Have you read A Perfect Gentleman yet?

  The first story from the client files of Raven Swann can be enjoyed on Amazon.

  Here’s a little snippet:

  Brooke

  "I'm serious!"

  I know I'm being dramatic but fuck it. I deserve to be over the top at a time like this.

  I fling myself back on the bed and throw my arm over my head. The tears threatening at the corners of my eyes are real. I'm over acting so I can keep my sense of humor but the truth of the matter is-- everything sucks and I really am going to start crying any minute.

  "Brooke," Paige isn't buying it for a minute, "there's nothing wrong with you. Or your picker."

  Paige might be my bestie, but she's so not helping right now.

  "My picker is broken, how else can you explain how I manage to keep ending up with assholes like Damian?"

  Paige laughs, "Well first of all, you could stop falling for guys with names like Damian! I mean really, how did that not tip you off right off the bat?"

  I throw my arm over my face and groan.

  "Seriously, Brookie, if you want to meet a good guy you're going to have to change your patterns."

  "I don't even know what that means," I moan into the crook of my elbow.

  "It means stop picking up guys based on their tattoos. Stop shopping in bars where all the guys are wearing leather jackets and ride motorcycles. Try a book club or maybe volunteer somewhere, that's how I met Jace."<
br />
  Her voice gets all lilty and high pitched when she says his name. It makes her sound like she's 15 again. I've been listening to her "I'm in love and this is The One" voice for ten years. I've only heard it about a hundred times, I'm really good at recognizing it by now.

  And really, "Jace," how can she even try to tell me that Damian's name should have given him away? But there's no point pointing that out to her, she and Jace just made it past their second anniversary. Their second month, that is, but that's half way to happily ever after for Paige so there's no way she's going to hear anything I have to say about the newest love of her life.

  "I'm going to sign up to be a mail order bride."

  When I say it I'm joking but Paige doesn't laugh at me right away and the few seconds of silence let me marinate in my words.

  "You are not." Paige's voice lacks the conviction that I'm used to.

  I expected her to immediately scold me for giving up on finding love the old-fashioned way. I expected her to tell me to stop talking crazy and launch into a list of ways to find a great guy.

  She tells me no, but she doesn't sound like she means it. I pull my arm off my eyes and look at her.

  She's got her phone in her hand and she's looking at the screen with an intense interest. She's Googling something.

  "On second thought..."

  Oh shit! She's looking up mail order bride sites?

  I sit up and give her my best deer-in-the-headlights look, "You are not looking that shit up!"

  I can't believe she's taking me seriously.

  Her face scrunches up. I watch her thumb work its way across the screen, clicking on links and then going scrolling through the sites she's opened. Her face scrunches, she frowns, then her eyebrows shoot up, she smiles, she frowns again.

  "What?!" The suspense is killing me.

  OK. It's not like I'm really serious about becoming a mail order bride. I mean, I didn't even think it was a real thing, but Paige looks like she's having no trouble finding sites.

  "Well," she starts off hesitantly while she's still browsing, "the good news is you can totally be a mail order bride if you're serious?" She looks up me with a curious look on her face.

  "What's the bad news?" I have to admit, this is getting my mind off Damian. I almost even crack a smile.

  Paige looks back down at the site she has open and shakes her head like she can't believe what she's reading, "The bad news is that you can totally be a mail order bride if you're serious."

  "That bad?" I finally laugh.

  "Depends on your idea of bad," she grins, "Apparently mountain men needs brides, as do truck drivers, fisherman, and prison inmates."

  "No lighthouse keepers?" I tease, but seriously, mountain men? I crane my neck to see what site she's on.

  "I don't see anything for lighthouse keepers, but if you're willing to relocate to Bolivia, this guy's only missing a few teeth," she holds her phone for me to see a picture of smiling man that appears to be 300 years old with only 2 visible teeth. Only two teeth are visible because that's all he has. The empty spaces along his gumline are obvious.

  I shiver.

  So much for mail order matrimony.

  "Hmm," Paige has switched to a different site, she sounds intrigued. Always dangerous, but still, I'm curious.

  "What?"

  "Arranged marriage," she reads.

  "Arranged?" I mimic her curious tone.

  Fiddler on the Roof comes to mind. As does Bobby Jenkins. That's probably what I'd end up with if I let my dad pick a husband for me. There's a reason I wouldn't let Dad pick for me.

  I'm ready to pull the whole "forget I said anything" routine but Paige is downright into this site now. She jumps up and fires up the lap top on my desk.

  Oh shit. She's serious if she needs to see the site on a real computer!

  "Arranged," she's explaining to me, "it's a modern day matchmaking service that focuses on marriage as the end game."

  She's scrolling through the full site now, concentrating on the fine print.

  "So it's not cheap," she muses, "but this Raven chick claims to have a 98% percent success rate with her matches."

  "Raven chick?"

  "Yeah, her name's Raven Swann. Looks way more normal than her name suggests though."

  Paige holds up my lap top so I can see Raven's photo on the site. Ms. Swann doesn't look anything like the goth/hippy/new age/witch that I expected. She's a pretty woman in her mid-30s with long straight hair and soft brown skin. She's not even wearing too much eyeliner. And she's way younger than I would have expected a matchmaker to be.

  "Says she been matching couples for 20 years, and that she's a third generation matchmaker."

  Paige sounds impressed. She continues reading for a while and then turns to me with a dangerous grin, "How serious are you?"

  Turns out, I'm pretty fucking serious.

  I'm 26 years old for crying out loud. I've been through a handful of failed relationships, 2 of which I actually thought were going to turn into forever.

  The problem is, I like em rough around the edges. I see a little ink peeking out from under the sleeve of a leather jacket and my panties fall right off. Add a motorcycle and a filthy mouth and I'm gone.

  I like boys that drink too much, swear too much, and win bar fights.

  Turns out, I also like boys who can't keep a job because they keep throwing punches at their boss, who get thrown out of their apartments because they sleep with their roommate's girlfriends, guys who can't keep it in their pants. Which would be fine if they took it out to slip it into me-- not their roommate's girlfriend.

  I thought Damian was different. Because he promised me he was different. I should have known better.

  I really do want that happily ever after. I want a family of my own. A husband that can keep a job and his temper. A man that doesn't flip out if my period is two days late.

  Wouldn't it be nice to be with someone who wants to have babies?

  I mean, yeah sure, I get it. I know Dame and I weren't ready. He'd been unemployed for six months already and no prospects in sight. We were living on my salary alone, which is decent and all but not really enough to support a household.

  We weren't married-- I mean, we'd talked about it and all. He always said he was "open to the idea," "down the line," "when I'm back on my feet."

  Stupid me, I thought that meant he wanted to marry me. What it really meant was more like, "please don't kick me out and stop paying my bills."

  When I had my little scare, it all became clear. It's one thing that neither of us were ready for a baby but the way he flipped out? Obviously it was more than "not ready now," it was pretty clear the idea of being shackled to me for the rest of his life was more than he could handle.

  Thank God I started my damn period! And kicked that asshole to the curb. And went on a 6 week mope fest where I ate nothing but chocolate ice cream drowned in peppermint schnapps.

  I mean really. This guy was with me for over a year, living with me-- off of me-- for 8 months, he talked like I was it for him, like we were going somewhere as a couple, like we had a future. And even if it would have been crappy timing and all, it would have been nice if he was just a little bit secretly excited about starting a family, you know?

  What I really learned from Damian is that I want a man who really loves me and who's really in it for the long haul, the big picture, the whole nine yards.

  I'm looking for a future with someone who wants the same things I do and isn't a total loser.

  And I obviously can't be trusted to pick that someone out on my own.

  Aiden

  I can't believe I'm filling this out. There's gotta be 3,000 questions on this thing.

  I click "next" at the bottom of the page. Make that 4,000.

  If Grant hadn't spoken so highly of Raven's services I'd have called this off when she said "background check."

  Grant's so damn happy with Amelia. They're two years in and just announced their second baby's on th
e way. I'm sure I'll be getting another fucking Christmas card with them dressed in matching outfits in front of the damn tree any day now.

  They even dress the damn dog up.

  It's so cute it makes me want to puke.

  That's what I tell my brother. I roll my eyes and make retching noises and tease the bastard that I have to ask Amelia if he can have his fucking balls back long enough to go hunting with me, but the truth of the matter is that it kills me because I'm so damn jealous.

  I wasn't one of the people that Raven interviewed when Grant used her services to find Amelia. That was the year I was out of the country. Out of touch really. Off the grid, only checking in via email now and then to let everyone know I'd made it across another South American border without getting killed or arrested.

  So I missed out on all the fun when our sister and parents were interviewing candidates and deciding who my baby brother was going to marry.

  I still remember reading Mom's email when I finally found a hotel with wifi after being stuck for 14 hours at the Honduras border. Worst border crossing of the whole trip.

  Grant was getting hitched, to some girl he'd never even met! He'd found Raven's agency through some buddy of his and he was gung ho on finding himself a wife and starting a family.

  At the time I thought it sounded crazy. Paying some crazy new age match maker to set you up. And this Raven chick doesn't deal with dating or hooking up, no way. She's serious. Her clients are looking for the real deal. If marriage isn't what you're looking for, you aren't looking to do business with Raven Swann.

  There's no keeping it secret. You can't play off how you met by making up some story. Raven deals in arranged marriages. After an extensive application process, her clients are essentially left out of the process while their closest friends and family get to interview the prospective matches.