“If you’re going to tell me this is over, then don’t. Just get in your truck and leave and I’ll take the tractor back to the barn and we’ll pretend what we had never happened,” she said.
“And if I’m not going to tell you that?” he asked.
“Then you can go first.”
“I sat in Grandpa’s bedroom all night and thought about how to say this. I thought if I was in his room, maybe he would give me some advice. He didn’t, so I’m having to wing it on my own. It was the most miserable night I ever spent in my life. So here goes, and I hope it don’t send you running like a jackrabbit with a coyote right on its heels. I’m going to marry you. It might not be this year or even next year, but eventually you will figure out that I’m in love with you and that you love me, too.”
“If I run?” she asked.
“Then I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth. That’s how much I believe in us. I realize it’s only been about a month since the funeral, but looking back, I knew then that you were the woman for me.”
She scooted across the bench until their sides were touching. “How?”
“I felt it in my heart, but I didn’t want to admit it. After all, I like red-haired women, not brunettes or blondes.”
“Like that one trying to undo your pants last night?”
“Yep, that’s the kind I’ve always liked, but I sent her packing because now I can’t get you out of my mind and I’m afraid that what you told Nona meant you don’t want to be branded.”
“I guess she meant that you were going to put the Lucky Seven brand on me, right?”
He nodded. “It’s an expression.”
“I’m not property and I’m not a cow.”
He grinned. “No, you are not.”
“What’s funny?”
“Your temper.”
“Are you a bull?” she asked.
“I will be if you decide to be a cow.”
“This conversation is crazy. I was joking last night. My first thought at being branded was that I’m afraid of needles, so I don’t have pierced ears or tattoos. I can’t imagine being branded. If she’d said that you might want to call me yours instead of branding me, I would have probably answered her differently.”
“Okay, now what about the baby?” he asked.
“I’m not pregnant. Before I started plowing I drove up to Claude and bought a test. I should have waited to be sure before I said anything to you,” she said.
He let go of her hand and dropped down on one knee in front of her. “Abby Malloy, I love you. I’m sorry that I made such a mess of last night, but I want you to be the mother of my children. It can be in nine months. In nine years. That part doesn’t matter right now. I want to wake up every morning with you in my arms and to go to sleep at night in the middle of a sweet afterglow. I want to grow old with you on the Lucky Seven and if you die before I do, I want you to walk up the steps to the pearly gates real slow. I’ll be behind you real quick, because I can’t live without you.”
“That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard, but are you absolutely sure that this isn’t just the moment talking?” she asked.
“I’m more sure of this than I’ve ever been about anything in my life, but if you aren’t, then I’ll wait until you are just as doubt-free as I am.”
She leaned forward and looked past his sexy brown eyes into his soul, and there were no fears.
Not a single one.
“I don’t have a ring today, but by damn, I’ll get one tomorrow soon as the stores open, if you’ll say yes. You can choose the date, the time, and the place. Just don’t ever leave me, Abby,” he said.
She cupped his cheeks in her hands and kissed him. “Yes, I will marry you. And Cooper, I love you.”
There, she’d said the words. She was ready for commitment, ready to start a life in the canyon with Cooper and it was right—that much she could feel in her bones, as Haley always said.
“You’ve made me the happiest man on earth,” he whispered.
“And the happiest woman is right here beside you. Can we go home to Lucky Seven now, Cooper? I want you to hold me for the rest of my life.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Six weeks later.
The wild daisies were in bloom, giving the canyon a splash of yellow that day. Haley and her husband had driven up from Galveston for the wedding so that she could be one of the bridesmaids with Shiloh and Bonnie.
“I’m so happy for you.” Haley hugged Abby.
“You being here makes my day extra special. This couldn’t be any more perfect,” Abby said.
“You are in love—everything is rosy to you.” Haley smiled.
Ezra’s lawyer had handed her the check that morning. Seeing that many zeroes boggled her brain and the worst part of the whole thing was there was a disclosure paragraph that said she couldn’t tell her sisters how much they’d inherit if she accepted it.
“Hey, it just dawned on me,” Shiloh said. “You left. That means you’ve forfeited your share of the ranch and took your inheritance. Was it worth it?”
“It would have been worth it if it had been zero dollars. I hope that y’all are as happy someday as I am right now.” Abby handed Shiloh the coronet of white daisies laced with ribbons and pearls. She set it on top of Abby’s blonde hair, securing it with the combs attached to the sides.
“Look, Bonnie, now she’s really got a crown.”
“That doesn’t make me the queen.” Abby smiled. “It makes me a bride.” She went to the window and blew a kiss down at the small tombstone in the tiny fenced area under a big oak tree. “Mama likes it here.”
“I like that you buried her ashes like that and put up a stone. It brings peace to you, I can tell. And I’m really, really glad that you are having this wedding. She would have liked that,” Haley said.
“She always talked about the big dress and the fancy wedding I’d have,” Abby said. “I would have been happy going to the courthouse, but not in camo. I left that at the house. Y’all can have it or throw it away. I did keep my boots, though. And Haley, thank you for loaning me your dress. Mama loved this thing.”
Abby adjusted the sleeves of the white satin-and-lace ball gown. It was definitely not what she would have chosen, but when Haley had reminded her of the fun they’d had the day they’d picked it out, she couldn’t refuse. Martha had clapped her hands and said, “When Abby gets married, I want her to have a dress just like that one. I want to see her waltzing down the aisle carrying a bouquet of daisies.”
“You look like you are about to cry, and if you do and mess up your makeup that I just spent more than an hour getting perfect, I’ll shoot you like I did the coyote,” Shiloh said.
Abby forced a smile. “I’m just thinking of Mama. I’m not going to cry, I promise.”
“Well, changing the subject here, but I don’t like it that you took Martha away from Vivien and Polly. They’re lost without her,” Bonnie said.
“I would be, too,” Abby said. “Are we ready? I hear the first strands of the music and the guys will be waiting for us at the bottom of the steps.”
“Are you sad that our father won’t be giving you away?” Shiloh asked.
“No, I’m not sad. Today I’m marrying Cooper. There is nothing to be sad about. The future is beautiful. The past is gone,” Abby said.
Cooper waited at the bottom of the steps with Waylon, Travis, and his deputy. Jackson was supposed to be the fourth groomsman, but Loretta had gone into labor on the way to the wedding.
Bonnie came down the steps first and Waylon escorted her out to the yard. Thank God, it was one of those lovely spring days that don’t come along real often. A nice morning breeze moved the cool morning air and big white puffy clouds dotted the sky. Abby had sent Cooper a text that morning saying that the clouds were providing a chair for her mother so she could see the
ceremony.
Shiloh was next and Travis took her arm. Then Haley started down and stopped at the bottom of the stairs to hug Cooper. “Be good to her. She’s tough as nails on the outside, but she’s fragile as glass on the inside. I’d hate to have to shoot you if you break her.”
“Never happen,” Cooper said. “I love her so much I’ll carry her around on a satin pillow.”
“Make it velvet and you might live a long life.” Haley winked.
Haley was outside when Abby appeared at the top of the stairs. Cooper’s breath caught in his chest. Her hair had been pulled up and she looked like an angel with that halo of daisies on her head. She carried a bouquet of daisies tied with blue ribbons and he could already envision all of it on the floor of their bedroom as soon as the reception was over.
Then she pulled up the front of her dress so she wouldn’t trip over it and his eyes widened out as big as saucers. Underneath all that angelic beauty, she wore her camouflage combat boots.
“Like it?” she asked.
“Love it.” He grinned. “That’s my Abby. Tough as nails, but soft at the same time.”
She looped her arm in his and rolled up on her toes to kiss him, but he shook his head.
“Not until the preacher gives me permission.” He grinned. “You wouldn’t let me see you until now, so we’re not taking any changes with jinxing the marriage. And before this all starts, Abby, you should know you’re stunning today.”
“You look pretty damn handsome yourself. Now let’s go outside and get this marriage started,” she said.
He escorted her out to the porch, down the stairs, and to the aisle they’d made by setting up folding chairs facing an arch entwined with greenery and daisies. Martha ambled along beside them with her head held high.
“I don’t think I could be any happier than I am right now,” Cooper whispered when the pianist hit the beginning chord and the friends and neighbors stood up.
“Oh, I think you could be,” Abby said softly. “Remember that fight in the Sugar Shack?”
“How could I forget it? That was the most miserable night I ever spent,” he said.
“Remember what started it,” she asked.
“Yes, I do. Are you . . .” He paused and looked at her.
“Not right now, but if we got pregnant on our honeymoon, which starts tonight right here on the Lucky Seven, by the end of the year we could have a family started.”
Cooper stopped in the middle of the aisle, right in front of the pianist playing the old-fashioned upright under the shade tree, in front of all the people attending the wedding and even in front of the Almighty. He picked her up and swung her around in a circle, showing off her combat boots to the whole crowd before he set her down and hugged her tightly.
“I love you,” he said loudly.
“I love you, Cooper,” she whispered in his ear. “But remember, no kissin’ until the preacher says it is okay.”
Acknowledgments
Dear Reader,
Thank you for coming back to visit the canyon again. As I finish this book, it’s springtime in southern Oklahoma and the Arbuckle Mountains are yellow with coreopsis. Last week I noticed the wild daisies blooming along with the red clover and buttercups. The whole area is full of beautiful color. Winter, with all its bitter winds and chilly weather, is finally gone.
Writing this book has been cathartic to me in many ways. I never knew my father very well and didn’t see him for many years before he died. As I looked into his casket, I grieved for the father I’d never known. I could feel Abby’s pain and knew all about her commitment issues and I truly hope that I’ve told her story well.
Thank you seems like such a small thing, but I do thank many people for taking this book from an idea to the finished product. First of all, thanks to my husband, for all the takeout food he’s eaten while I wrote Daisies in the Canyon. It takes a special person to be married to a writer and he’s the best. A huge thank-you to Krista Stroever, my absolutely fabulous editor, who pushed me to write a stronger book. To the entire Montlake staff, from my editors to the folks who create and design covers—y’all are the best and you have my undying gratitude for believing in me! And finally to my sister, whose spirit talks to me like Abby’s mama did to her, and continues to tell me to keep writing.
I’d also like to thank all of you readers for continuing to support me, for talking about my books, telling other folks about them, sending me encouraging notes about them, and everything you do! You are all awesome. Keep your boots on! There are more cowboys on the way.
All my best,
Carolyn Brown
About the Author
Photo © 2014 Charles Brown
Carolyn Brown is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and a RITA finalist. Her books include historical, contemporary, cowboy, and country music mass-market paperbacks. She and her husband live in Davis, Oklahoma. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young.
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