by Lola Kidd
She was passed around the room as everyone congratulated her on the new relationship. “Thanks, guys.”
“Isn’t LK the best?” Jackie asked. “I knew it had potential, but I had no idea it would be this spot on.”
Rachel nodded. “Yeah.”
“Sit,” Molly commanded, pushing Rachel onto an open spot on the couch. Everyone looked at her expectantly. “We all got together tonight to talk about the upcoming LK ads they’re going to shoot in town. We wanted to know if you and Clint were interested in being in them. Well, if you were interested. If you say yes, Clint will go along with it too.”
The ladies laughed. Rachel exchanged glances with Gwen before answering. “See, I don’t know if we’re the kind of couple you want to have in an ad. We’re not even married yet.”
“It’ll only be a matter of time,” Amy Franklin assured her. “It never takes long. Plus, you two have known each other for ages. It’s even better than Dom and Gwen’s story.”
“Very true,” Gwen said. “You two are steady and true. It would be a really nice story for the campaign.”
“When will this thing start shooting?” Rachel asked.
“At the end of summer,” Erin Brooks said. “About a year after I first came. By then, we’ll know if we made ASW’s list too.”
“Why are you getting together so early, then?”
“Olivia asked us if we had any ideas,” Erin explained. “Plus, it’s nice to have a ladies’ night every now and then.”
“We’d love it if you’d join us at our monthly meetings,” Molly added.
“That’s so nice,” Rachel said. “I’d love to. If Clint and I stay together, anyway.”
Molly laughed. “There’s no way you two aren’t right for each other.”
Rachel tilted her head. “There could be reasons.”
The room was silent as everyone thought about Rachel’s cryptic statement. Then Gwen cleared her throat. “I think Rachel is just feeling nervous. It is still a new relationship.”
That was enough to appease everyone, and the conversation quickly turned to baby Jacob and the milestones he’d hit. His proud parents weren’t sure if he was a shifter yet, but it was likely. There hadn’t been a single non-shifting baby born to the Brooks Pride.
Erin was worried about his first shift. Gwen told the story of her first shift and how it had freaked out her human mother. Living in a town with a big shifter population, it hadn’t occurred to Rachel to be afraid of a baby shifting. It just happened. As long as you didn’t let the kid run into traffic, it was no big deal.
By the time they finished speculating who would be the next LK bachelor to be matched, Rachel was totally relaxed. She felt bad for leaving Clint hanging, but she would fix it. She didn’t need a pep talk. Hearing all the ladies talking about their lives, she realized that it would be alright. Everyone had problems, and hers were no worse than anyone else’s. If Clint said he didn’t want to be with her anymore, she’d get over it. Not for a long time, but she would.
“You okay?” Gwen asked her as they hugged goodbye at the end of the evening.
“I will be,” Rachel promised.
“I know you haven’t told Clint yet, but you need to just rip that Band-Aid off. It won’t be nearly as bad as you think.”
Rachel smiled. “I know. Thanks for inviting me tonight.”
“You’re one of us now. You belong here.”
Rachel took her phone out when she got in her car. She texted Clint to see if he was awake. He got back to her immediately and said he was still up.
It was now or never. She was going to tell him and get it over with once and for all.
Six
Clint waited in the dark with a glass of scotch. She’d said maybe. What kind of answer was maybe? She’d taken the ring off the cake and handed it to him, then she’d kissed him on the forehead and rushed off to her ladies’ night. It didn’t make any sense. She hadn’t seemed mad or uncomfortable. She’d seemed sad. She’d wanted to say yes but something was holding her back.
He’d acted too rashly. He should have waited and given her time to get used to being in a relationship with him. Maybe six months or a year in, he could try again. If she wasn’t coming over to break up with him, he could try again. He was a fool. A stupid fool too excited that a beautiful woman was interested in him. He was going to be licking his wounds for a while.
At least he could talk with his friends about it. Frank knew he was going to propose and would commiserate about fickle relationships. His own wife Amy had run out on him while they were dating too. Frank would have some advice and then would make fun of Clint for jumping the gun. Clint was set to walk the grounds of Ben Shelby’s property with him the next afternoon. Ben was a nice young guy. He’d have jokes all day to keep Clint from feeling down.
When he heard Rachel come into the house quietly, he was prepared for the worst but hoping for the best. She called out to find out where he was.
“I’m in the living room,” Clint called back.
She flicked on the small table lamp before sitting down. “It’s way too dark in here to talk. I want to be able to see you.”
Clint put his glass down hard. “Whatever you have to say, say it now and be done with it.”
“You’re mad. I get that. You have every right to be. I shouldn’t have just run away without explaining.”
“Explaining what?” Clint prompted when she paused for too long. The suspense was killing him.
Rachel took a deep breath. “I should have told you this right way. I meant to, but the timing was always wrong.”
“Tell me what?” Clint said, pained when she paused again and stared at her hands.
She didn’t look up. “I can’t have children. You should know before you ask me to marry you. If you want to be with me, we’ll have to adopt if you want children.”
Clint burst out laughing. All the tension had gone out of him at once. He tried to stop when he noticed Rachel was crying. He knelt by her side and took her in his arms, still laughing. “I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry, Rachel. I shouldn’t be laughing now, but I thought you were going to break up with me. My emotions are running a little high.”
“I don’t think this is funny at all, Clint.”
“It’s not.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I thought I was going to lose you. At best, I thought we were going to have to start at square one and build our way back to the level of intimacy we had.”
She wiped her eyes. “I don’t want to break up with you. I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you.”
Clint stopped laughing for a second. “Is this why you wouldn’t go out on a date with me?”
Rachel nodded and Clint began laughing again, deep belly laughs, until tears were rolling down his cheeks. “Rachel, I want to be with you. Yes, I want to start a family, but there are lots of ways to have a family. The important part is that it’s a family with you. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be together this whole time. You love me and I love you. Nothing else matters.”
“Really?”
He pulled the ring out of his pocket. “Really. Will you marry me?”
“Yes, yes I will.”
He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her. He wasn’t laughing anymore when he deepened the kiss and slid his hand across the top of her jeans.
Rachel moaned and then pushed him away. She gave him a sheepish look. “I was actually thinking that maybe we could wait.”
“Wait?” Clint moaned. His stag didn’t like the sound of that.
“Yes. Like, until we’re married. I know it’s silly and old-fashioned…”
Clint put a finger to her lips. “I like old-fashioned, and I don’t think it’s silly at all. If that’s what you want, we’ll wait.”
Rachel kissed him again. “Thank you.”
“If you want to wait, you’re going to have to stop kissing me like that… and maybe we can have the wedding tomorrow?”
She laughed. “I don’t think I ca
n whip something together that fast. We’re only doing this once, remember?”
“May as well do it right.” He sighed and shook his head. His pants were painfully tight and his mate was right there in his arms. It was going to be a very long time until the wedding. “How long do weddings usually take to plan?”
“Usually about a year to a year and a half.”
“No way! We’ve had like eleven weddings in the last six months in town.” Clint was suddenly feeling very grouchy.
Rachel laughed. “You asked how long it usually takes. I don’t think it’ll take us that long. I’ll talk to the ladies and see how they got their act together so fast.”
“Call the LK Bride cabal now! We can do this in less than a month. Hell, I vote we do it in two weeks.”
Rachel frowned. “I don’t know if I can find a dress that fast.”
“Money is no object. You can fly out to New York or Paris or wherever to get the dress and we’ll pay to get it tailored. That’s a thing, right?”
She looked doubtful. “I’ll try. Like I said, I’ll see how the other ladies did it.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Clint was determined to get this wedding done as soon as possible. He didn’t care how much it cost. At least he was finally putting his money to good use. Rachel was going to get the best wedding money could buy and it was going to happen fast. He loved Rachel very much and wanted to make her happy, but he didn’t know how long he’d be able to wait.
***
“I just heard!” Frank lifted Rachel off her feet in a big bear hug. “Congratulations! Clint is one lucky man. I’m sending you home with a box of cupcakes.”
“Thank you.” Rachel blushed. She hated being the center of attention, and the whole shop was looking at her. It was good-natured, but it made her nervous. She was with Clint. The sooner the wedding happened, the better.
She was having lunch with Amy, Molly, and Gwen. She’d already picked Gwen’s brain for the best way to get everything organized. It seemed harder than she had anticipated.
“Your real problem is going to be finding a location,” Molly told her. “You could have it at our ranch if you want.”
“I have a location,” Rachel said proudly. “Clint went on a hike with Ben yesterday and he offered us his ranch.”
“That’s perfect!” Amy said. “He had that gorgeous gazebo and a garden. You’re going to be able to get great pictures.”
“How complicated do you want to get?” Molly asked. “We all had pretty simple weddings. I think Amy’s was the most elaborate and she took a few months to plan.”
“Mine took about three hours to get together.” Gwen laughed and patted her belly. “We were working with a ticking time bomb, though.”
“I’m not sure how elaborate we want to get,” Rachel said. “We’re both simple people.”
“You have location, and catering. Two Wolves, of course.” Amy ticked the items off on her hand. “You can handle the guest list pretty easily. I sent out e-vites. Not the classiest option, but it was the cheapest and quickest.”
“E-vites? Where do I find some?” Rachel hadn’t ever heard of an e-vites but she could figure it out from the name.
“I had Erin make me some, actually,” Amy said.
“We’re forgetting the biggest part,” Gwen said. “The dress! We talked about this yesterday.”
Rachel nodded. “That does sound like my biggest obstacle. Clint said I could spend as much as I want, but that doesn’t matter if I can’t find anything.”
“I have no advice there.” Amy put up her hands. “I had time to get mine.”
“Neither of us wore anything really special.” Molly wrinkled her brow. “I bet you can find something online or at a boutique. What about Vegas? They have to be used to people needing dresses right away.”
Gwen tapped her forehead. “Of course! Pregnancy brain. I didn’t even think of Vegas. Molly, do you even get pregnancy brain? I swear you’re always on top of things.”
“Honestly, I think the baby is making me kind of a superhero.” Molly laughed. “I do feel much smarter. It’s the opposite of what everyone told me to expect.”
Amy cleared her throat and took a sip of tea as she glared at Molly. The young teacher blushed and clamped her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. We won’t turn this into a pregnancy chat,” she said to Rachel. “If you go to Vegas for the dress, I think you’ll have everything.”
“Let me text Erin and see if she can mock up an e-vite for you.” Amy punched at her phone.
“We can order your flowers today,” Gwen told Rachel. “You already had some picked out yesterday and it’s better to get the order in early.”
“What about the menu?” Amy asked, looking up from her phone. “Frank’s going to do the cake, of course, but what about dinner and appetizers?”
“I’m going to let the twins do whatever they want,” Rachel said. “All the food there is great, so I know we won’t be disappointed.”
Molly took a notebook from her purse and made a list. “I think we’ve got everything covered. Oh! Music? We just used one of the guys from the Lunar Pack. He was cheap and he played good music at the block party.”
“Sounds great.” Rachel smiled. “I think this is coming together nicely.”
“Rachel Drummond!” An older woman approached the table. “Frank just told me the good news. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Shelby.” Rachel stood up to hug the matron of the Shelby family, Maude. She was still good friends with Frank’s mom and had hung out with Rachel’s mother while she was still living in town.
“Have you told your mother yet? I can’t believe she didn’t tell me when we talked last night.”
“I did. I didn’t know you and Mom still talked.”
“We Skype, dear.”
“The wedding is going to be at Ben’s place,” Gwen told Maude.
“Wonderful. At least someone’s using that beautiful property.” Maude grabbed Rachel’s arm. “I have no idea when that son of mine will give me a wedding. Please, let me pay for the flowers.”
“Oh, no. I couldn’t let you do that, Maude. Clint and I are paying for the wedding ourselves.”
“But I don’t have a daughter! Your parents are going to buy you a dress and pay for the food. You have to let me do this for you,” Maude begged. “It’s going to be on our property. This is just me paying for landscaping for my boy, really.”
“I don’t think she’s going to take no for an answer,” Frank said from behind the counter.
“I won’t,” Maude said.
“Okay,” Rachel said reluctantly.
“Wonderful!” Maude hugged her. “Thank you, Rachel. Congratulations again. It’s going to be nice having your parents in town again for the wedding.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Shelby.”
“That’s very nice of her,” Molly said after Maude had left. “She’s Ben’s mom, right?”
Gwen nodded. “And the second richest person in town. Only Ben has a bigger bank account than his dear old mom.”
“Whoa,” Amy said. “I didn’t realize. Lucky you, Rachel. Your wedding is going to be beautiful.”
“It sure is! Now, I just need to find a dress,” Rachel said. “Which one of you is coming to Vegas with me?”
Seven
Clint had to resist eating the flowers alongside the path leading to the gazebo. He, Ben, Owen, and Frank were taking a final walk of the property before getting ready for the ceremony. Ben had warned him that his mother had gone overboard with the flowers, but this was ridiculous. It looked beautiful, but she had probably bought out every flower shop in a fifty-mile radius. Clint had seen fewer flowers at the Rose Parade in January. Some smelled good enough to snack on, but Clint moved on. He followed the great brown bear in front of him to the outskirts of the property.
Frank sat sniffing around the fence for a moment before turning back to the house. Clint wasn’t ready to return yet. He only had to put on a
tux, so there was plenty of time to go for a longer walk. He hopped the fence and continued out to the desert. The leopard and the lion had returned to the house long before, so Clint was on his own. He could use the time to clear his head.
He wasn’t as nervous as he had expected to be. Everything was going off without a hitch. Rachel’s parents had bought the dress, the twins had insisted on catering the wedding for free, and Frank had given them the cake for free too.
With all his friends chipping in, there were very few costs for him and Rachel to pick up. Clint was seriously considering having a house built out near the ranches now that the wedding would cost him so little. His own home was more than large enough for him and Rachel, but he doubted it would house even two children comfortably. Dom and Gwen were on a search for a new home already and his home was smaller than theirs. If he was going to have one built, he would need to start the process soon.
He was happy all the changes were happening so fast. He’d never imagined that it would transpire so quickly when he signed up with LK Brides. It had taken almost fifty years, but he was ready to give up his bachelor days. And of course, he was looking forward to his wedding night. He couldn’t wait to fully claim his mate.
When he’d gone so far he could barely see Ben’s property, he turned and galloped back to the house as fast as he could run. More florists were making a delivery when he ran past the gazebo, and he gave them quite a fright.
“About time.” Owen looked at his watch as Clint galloped to the deck and shifted.
“Got a ton of time,” Clint assured him. “It’s not that hard to put on a tux. The flowers aren’t even all set up yet.”
“There’s more,” Ben groaned. “Thanks for getting my mom all hyped about weddings, man. I’m going to have to hear about this for months. I’d just gotten her off my back by signing up with Olivia.”
“You’re just about the last man left standing in our group,” Frank said.
“Who’s left besides him?” Owen asked.
“No one after today,” Clint said happily.
“Shit,” Ben cursed. “You’re right. I’m it. This is going to be a long summer. I never should have let you have the wedding here.”
