In a Texas Minute

by Bagwell, Stella

  Her chin tilted to a challenging angle. “You’ve changed overnight?”

  His little dove had turned into a tigress, Alex couldn’t help thinking, as he studied the fiery sparks in her brown eyes. “Sort of. I don’t know. Oh, hell, Sierra, don’t keep me in misery. Are you going to forgive me or not?”

  She studied him beneath dipped lashes. “What will it mean if I do?”

  With a groan of misery, Alex reached out and brushed his knuckles against her throat and down the rosy-tan skin exposed by the deep V of her blouse.

  “It means, my darlin’, that the three of us will be together again. The way we should have been all along.”

  She released a shaky breath and Alex decided he couldn’t keep his distance any longer. Slipping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close against him. The scent of lilac drifted up from her windblown hair.

  “Alex, you’ve got to understand right now that I still have plans to adopt Bowie. With or without your help.”

  “I’m glad.”

  Disbelief swam across her face as she tilted her head back to look at him. “Glad? You said it was the wrong thing to do! What’s happened to you Alex?”

  Lifting his hands to her hair, he threaded his fingers through the silky strands until he was cradling the back of her head.

  “I went to see my parents.”

  “Yes, Pauline told me. But you’ve gone to see your parents before. What has that got to do with you and me and Bowie?”

  He smiled because he was a different man now and he desperately wanted her to understand that. “Because this visit was different, Sierra. When I first caught sight of my parents waiting for me at the terminal gate—I don’t know—everything inside of me seemed to turn upside down. I was seeing my parents in a totally different light. I suddenly wanted to hug them close, to talk with them, listen to them, just be with them in a way I’d never wanted before. Does that make sense?”

  Somewhere deep inside Sierra, a tiny flicker of hope tried to flare to life. “Yes. It does make sense. But why? Why now after all these years? There’s been so many times that I’ve urged you to be thankful for your wonderful parents.”

  The smile on his face broadened even more and Sierra could only stare at him in wonder.

  “I know. They are great, aren’t they?”

  “I’m glad you’ve finally realized that. But—”

  “Don’t you see, Sierra?” he interrupted. “It’s because of you and Bowie. Being with you two, as a family, opened my eyes in a way I’d never expected.”

  “And when were you going to let me in on this change?” she asked accusingly. “I haven’t heard from you since you walked out!”

  Groaning with regret, he pulled her close. “You probably won’t believe it, but I was planning to drive over to your place tonight, after court had recessed for the day.” His gaze roamed adoringly over her face. “I couldn’t believe my eyes a few minutes ago when I spotted you on the sidewalk. I—I was afraid you’d never speak to me again. The last thing I expected was for you to come here to me!”

  “Alex—” She paused, her face marred with doubt as she looked at him. “Are you trying to tell me that you want to help me adopt Bowie now?”

  He chuckled softly as his hands roamed her back and crushed her up against his hard body. “I’m trying to tell you that I want to marry you. I want for us to adopt Bowie.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Marry you?” Sierra asked, shocked.

  Alex grinned down at her. “That’s what I said. I think we should get married. Don’t you?”

  This was not the sort of marriage proposal Sierra had dreamed of. She’d always pictured a ring, and maybe roses or lilies. Much more important, she’d believed she would be listening as the man in her life to be vowed his love and devotion. But love had never been mentioned.

  Alex had never been bashful about speaking his mind. Getting the point across was his job. Knowing that, Sierra could only assume his feelings didn’t include love.

  “I—don’t know, Alex,” she said hesitantly. “Marriage is a huge step.”

  He studied her face for long seconds. “You don’t want to marry me?”

  She tried to breathe as a ball of emotion threatened to burst her heart. “I didn’t say that.”

  He frowned. “Well, you sure don’t seem to be cottoning to the idea.”

  She couldn’t think rationally when he was holding her close. Not when every inch of her body was begging her to snuggle against him, to seek his kiss.

  Pulling out of his embrace, Sierra turned and walked across the room. With her back to him, she said, “It’s not that, Alex. You’ve shocked me. I don’t know what to think.”

  “You don’t believe I’ve changed. Is that it?”

  Turning, she looked at him and instantly wished she hadn’t. Just the sight of him was enough to remind her of all those nights they’d made love, all those mornings she’d woken in his arms.

  “If you’ve changed your mind about adopting Bowie, then you must have changed.”

  He left the desk to stride quickly toward her and in that moment Sierra thought that she’d never seen him look so serious or so humble.

  “I have changed, Sierra. I realized that all these years I didn’t really resent my parents. Somewhere in the deepest part of me I knew that they loved me. I—well, all that anger I’d harbored was really directed at the man and woman who’d chosen to give me away, as if I were just a thing they didn’t want.”

  Sierra felt as if her heart was tearing right down the middle. How awful that he’d lived all this time with that sort of pain, she thought.

  Closing the space between them, she touched his face, then stepped into his arms. “Oh, Alex, I’ve missed you so much. It’s been awful since you left. I never want to go through that again.”

  Relief poured through Alex and he closed his eyes as he stroked her hair. “I haven’t been able to eat or sleep or work. All I could think about was you and Bowie.” He slipped his thumbs beneath her jaw and tilted her face up to his. “I never want to go through that much misery again, either. I want us to be married. I want Bowie to be ours and the three of us to be a family again.”

  Sierra wanted that, too. Desperately. But he didn’t love her. He cared about her, but he wasn’t in love with her. Could she live with that?

  “Alex, maybe we should go slow and think—”

  “Slow! Bowie is growing up even as we speak. If we file adoption papers, we need to be married. Sierra, you know that much without me having to tell you.”

  She drew in a long, shaky breath and let it out. “Alex, marriage is very serious. We haven’t been a couple for very long. We need to know—”

  He gave her a placating smile as he bent his head and touched his lips to her forehead. “Sierra, darlin’, we’ve been friends, close friends, for nine years. We know more about each other than most couples that go through long engagements. Our marriage will work, honey. We’ll make it work.”

  And she had to believe that, Sierra thought. Because, sensible or not, she had to have this man beside her.

  “All right,” she said with a little hesitant smile. “What sort of wedding date are you wanting?”

  “Uh, how about tomorrow?” he asked quickly.

  “You’re not serious! We can’t. I want to be married in church. Like my sisters.”

  “Dear Lord, Sierra, your sisters are planning huge, expensive ceremonies! Do you need all that to feel married to me?”

  In her heart she already felt married to him and she clasped her hands around his. “I don’t mean I want a fancy ceremony like that. I just don’t want to settle for a quick exchange in the judge’s chambers. I want the priest to pray over us.”

  “And so do I, Sierra. But we can do that in a week’s time, can’t we?”

  “A week!” His suggestion was so wild that excitement began to pour through her and she began to laugh. “I’ll have to put my sisters to work on this!”

 
Laughing with her, he bent his head and kissed her. “Let’s go get our baby,” he whispered.

  The next morning after a bite of breakfast, Sierra made a beeline to San Antonio and dropped Bowie off with the good sisters at St. Anthony’s child care services. Since Gloria had learned she was expecting, she’d already made a point of searching out reputable day cares and she’d suggested to Sierra that she might want to use St. Anthony’s once she started back to work. And with that time being only two weeks away, Sierra figured today would be a good time to give Bowie a chance to get adjusted.

  Once she’d made sure the baby was safely settled and content, she drove straight to Gloria’s jewelry shop, the Love Affair. When Sierra entered the building, there were already two customers inside perusing her sister’s beautiful creations.

  Sierra waited by one of the glass counters while Gloria waited on the two patrons. Eventually they both made purchases and left the shop. By then Sierra was about to burst with her news.

  “Sierra! What are you doing out so early? And where’s my sweet Bowie?”

  Sierra cast her sister a sly smile. “He’s at St. Anthony’s. And I’m here in the city to do a bit of clothes shopping.”

  Gloria giggled. “You, clothes shopping? This is a first. You’ve never been into fashion. What’s brought this on?”

  Sierra couldn’t hold it in any longer; a bubbly laugh burst past her lips. “I’m getting married! This coming Saturday! I need a dress, and fast. Will you help me find one?”

  “Married! Next Saturday!” Gloria was clearly shocked and she hurried around the glass showcases to take Sierra by the hand. “Sierra, are you—did you take something that’s made you delusional? The other day you were crying because you and Alex had split. Now you’re saying you’re getting married!”

  Sierra smiled patiently at her older sister. “That’s right. Alex and I have solved our differences. He proposed and I accepted. We want to get married quickly so we can start the adoption papers for Bowie right after.”

  “Oh.” A tiny frown creased the middle of her forehead. “Well, this is great news. Surprising. But great.” She smiled then and leaning forward placed a kiss on Sierra’s cheek. “Congratulations, sis.”

  Sierra kissed her in return. “Thank you. But you don’t sound all that happy about it to me.”

  Gloria waved a ringed hand through the air. “I am, Sierra, truly. But the part about Bowie. Are you sure you’re not just marrying Alex so that you’ll have a better chance of adopting? Maybe you’re getting your feelings for Alex and Bowie all tangled up together.”

  Of course her feelings for the two men in her life were tangled together, Sierra thought. That’s the way it was when a woman loved a man and their child.

  “No, Gloria. I’m not marrying Alex just as a way to get Bowie. That would be—how could you think I could be so conniving? I love Alex. Very much.”

  She’d thought admitting such a thing to anyone would be hard to do, but now that she’d said it, she was amazed at how good it felt.

  “Sierra, I wasn’t suggesting you were doing anything conniving—you’re the last person on earth who could use another person. I just want you to be sure that you’re marrying Alex for the right reasons.”

  Her eyes misty, Sierra hugged her sister close. “I am, Gloria. I can’t live without the man.”

  Gloria chuckled softly. “You must know what you’re doing because that’s exactly the way I feel about Jack. Have you told Mom and Dad yet? And does Christina know?”

  “I called them all earlier this morning. Christina wanted to come with us to shop for the dress, but she had an important meeting at work. Mom is going to meet me later to talk about the church and the flowers and what we’re going to do about a reception. I tried to tell her that we didn’t need a reception, but she won’t hear of it.”

  “Of course she won’t hear of it. We Mendozas like to celebrate,” Gloria said, then dropped Sierra’s hand and hurried back behind the counter. “Just let me get my purse. We’re going to shop for this wedding until we drop.”

  Sierra laughed. “What about your shop? You can’t just close up.”

  “Watch me,” Gloria retorted as she grabbed her handbag and motioned for Sierra to follow her to the door. Once there, she flipped a Closed sign toward the front of the glass. “My sister is only getting married once in her lifetime. I’m not going to miss any of it.”

  The week passed for Sierra like a blurred trip on a fairground ride. She was so busy planning the wedding during the day that she fell into bed at night so exhausted that she slept. Fitfully, but she did sleep. Which was somewhat better than the wide-awake nights she’d spent while she and Alex had been separated.

  Since the two of them had decided to get married, Sierra had asked Alex if he would refrain from moving into the house until they were married. She wanted their reunion to be special and blessed. She wanted their wedding night to be the start of all their tomorrows.

  Thankfully Alex had understood her needs and had used the week to pack up his apartment and deal with ending his lease. Once their brief honeymoon was over Trey and Mario were going to help him move what furniture he wanted to keep and his endless boxes of law books while Gayle had promised to help Sierra move things around so the two-story would have enough room to accommodate Alex’s things.

  At first, their longtime college buddies had been stunned to hear that Alex and Sierra were getting married. But once the initial shock wore off, they were all thrilled and confident that the couple would have a long, happy marriage.

  But now that the wedding day was upon them, Sierra was quaking with uncertainty as she dressed for the ceremony. With everything inside her, she hoped their friends were right. More than anything, she wanted their marriage to be happy and long-lived, but could that really happen if Alex didn’t love her? she wondered. Would the love she felt for him be enough to keep them together through the sad and trying times?

  “Sierra, you look like you’re about to go into the hospital for open heart surgery, instead of about to marry the man of your dreams,” Christina said to her as she fastened a pearl choker around Sierra’s neck. “Are you feeling okay? You’re as white as your dress.”

  Sierra, her two sisters who were also her bridesmaids, and her friend Gayle, who’d be standing as her maid of honor, were gathered in a small dressing room located in one of the lesson rooms at the back of St. Mary’s church. For the past thirty minutes, a crowd of women wanting to wish her well had passed in and out of the room. But now things had quieted down and the only thing left to complete Sierra’s readiness was attaching her veil.

  “Christina, I can’t look as white as my dress.” From her seat on the dressing stool, Sierra tried to laugh at her image in the mirror in front of her. “I’m Hispanic, remember.”

  Gayle, who was standing to one side in a svelte, dark blue shift, surveyed the bride with an eagle eye. “Your sister is right,” she said, shaking a finger at Sierra. “You look like you’re about to be sentenced to the death chamber. Are you scared or worried about something?”

  Shaking her head, she gave the two women a wobbly smile. “I’m just nervous. Doesn’t a bride have a right to be nervous?”

  “Yes, but—” Christina started to reply but Sierra quickly interrupted her.

  “Why are you looking for trouble?” she questioned crossly. “There’s nothing wrong!”

  Gloria rose from a folding chair where she’d been resting and walked over to where the two women were hovering over Sierra. “Christina, quit badgering her! For heaven’s sake, it’s her wedding day!”

  “I’m not badgering her,” Christina retorted. “I just want to understand why she’s so panicky.” She looked anxiously down at Sierra’s tight features. “All right, honey, if you expect to walk down the aisle when they start playing the ‘Wedding March,’ then you’d better speak up. Otherwise, I’m not letting you out of this room.”

  “Christina!” Gayle scolded again. “There is something
on Sierra’s mind. I can see it,” she said, agreeing with Christina’s observations.

  Sierra let out a weary sigh. “I don’t know why you’re doing this to me now—just a few minutes before the ceremony is supposed to start!”

  “Because,” Christina said gently as she laid a steadying hand on Sierra’s shoulder. “When Daddy takes you by the arm and leads you down the aisle to Alex, we want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy. I’m just a little scared, that’s all.”

  Gayle moved to Sierra’s side and took her by the hand. “It’s Alex, isn’t it?” she asked with somber concern.

  After a moment or two of looking into her dear friend’s face, Sierra realized she couldn’t hold up her front any longer. Nodding, she said, “Yes, it’s Alex.”

  “Well, honey, to be honest, I’d be more than a little nervous if I was marrying him,” Gayle reasoned. “He’s gorgeous, but he’s a handful. He’s so damn alpha male that you never know what’s going to come out of his mouth. And there’s also the problem of women eyeing him like a piece of candy.”

  “No. No. It’s nothing like that,” Sierra said in a low, strained voice. “I—I’m just not sure that Alex cares for me enough. I mean, not enough to be marrying me.”

  Gloria groaned in loud disbelief. Christina made a scolding noise with the tip of her tongue. Beyond the closed door, in the other part of the church, Sierra could hear the pianist playing “Tonight We Love.” But tonight wasn’t what she was worried about. It was tomorrow and all the tomorrows after that.

  “Alex cares for you deeply, Sierra,” Gayle said. “Next to you, I probably know him better than anyone else in this room. And I can see how happy you’ve made him.”

  “Caring for and loving someone are two entirely different things,” Sierra countered.

  “What makes you think Alex doesn’t love you?” Gloria spoke up.

  Sierra grimaced. “Because he’s never told me so. I’m not even sure he believes in love like that between a man and a woman.”

  “Good Lord,” Christina exclaimed. “Don’t you think it’s a little late to be worrying about that?”