The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

by Macie St James

  Mina looked around, trying to find a way to delay. When nothing came to her, she actually considered dropping the fruit salad. Then they’d have to go to the grocery store and buy something to serve or, even better, whip something up from the ingredients in Clay’s cabinets. Either of those two options would delay their arrival at the concert, which was the goal here.

  But before she could do something incredibly cruel to Harley’s concoction, Mina heard the front door open and the all-too-familiar sound of cowboy boots on the floor.

  She looked up, half-expecting Clay to come walking in. Which would be weird, considering he was supposed to be on the other side of the ranch at that very moment. Still, she was even more surprised to see Colton entering the kitchen.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  The question wasn’t said in greeting. It was said in a way that indicated he thought something was actually going on. Had he figured out his brother’s surprise somehow?

  “Not much,” she said. “Just waiting for Harley so we can go to the concert.”

  He could help her stall Harley. All she’d have to do was open up to him about it. But she’d promised Clay she’d keep his secret, and the last thing she wanted to do was alienate Colton’s brother. Although she still wasn’t one hundred percent sure why that was the last thing she wanted to do.

  “Reilly said you needed me over here.” He headed straight to the refrigerator, then opened the door and grabbed a bottle of water, shutting it before turning to look at her.

  “Oh,” she said.

  Was she supposed to come up with some fake reason she needed him? Now she wished she’d dropped that fruit salad. At least then she could look like she was under stress and maybe have an excuse.

  “We got it figured out. I thought maybe the front door was locked. Harley showed me you just turn the handle.” She added a giggle to that last sentence, like maybe she was helpless with things like turning door handles. All the while, her mind was spinning. She’d just blurted out the first thing that had crossed her mind, but what if Colton asked Harley about the whole front door incident? They’d both be confused, and she’d be at risk of blowing the whole thing.

  “Maybe you could drive us over, though,” Mina said. “Harley will have her hands full with this fruit thing she made.”

  Also weak, but she was trying to distract him, hoping maybe he’d forget about the whole front door incident before Harley arrived. The worst thing would be for him to mention it.

  “What was that?” Harley asked, rushing into the kitchen, still running at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour. It was hard to delay someone who was operating at a full-on racing speed.

  Colton turned to face her. “Mina thinks I should drive. Something about your big fruit dish.”

  “Sure,” Harley said. “Let’s go. I want to get there in time to catch up with Brandi Norcross. She’s due soon, and I need to find out if she’s having a baby shower or something.”

  Mina had no idea Brandi Norcross was pregnant. These days, she always felt out of the loop around Canyon Falls, which was weird considering she was the one who’d grown up here, while Harley was the newcomer. Maybe she, too, needed to show up for events early so she could catch up on the latest gossip.

  One problem with that, though. If she got there early tonight, she’d be messing up Clay’s surprise. She still had to delay.

  “You know what?” Mina stepped away from Colton. “I need to run to the ladies’ room really quickly. Do we have a few minutes?”

  It didn’t matter what the answer was, she was going. She headed around Harley and went straight to the hallway where she assumed a bathroom was. There had to be a bathroom back here. There was at least one bedroom, she noticed.

  “Make it quick!” Harley called out.

  Mina did the exact opposite of that. She stood in the mirror, staring at her reflection and touching up her makeup. She washed her hands for an abnormally long time, figuring if anyone crept down the hall to check on her, they’d hear the water running and give her a little extra time.

  “Mina!” Harley called after Mina had lingered far longer than could be normal for anything someone would do in the bathroom—aside from maybe showering.

  Okay, she’d delayed as long as she could. This would just have to work. She pulled her phone out of her purse, texted Clay that they were leaving using the number he’d programmed into her phone earlier, and headed out of the bathroom.

  “We were thinking we might have to put out an APB,” Harley said, but she was smiling. “Is everything okay?”

  Harley was holding a ginormous clear bowl with something extremely colorful inside. That had to be the fruit salad. She also had her coat still on and looked very ready to go.

  “Colton’s already in the truck.” Harley turned to start toward the front door of the house.

  Shrugging, Mina followed Harley. Mina had shoved her phone back into her purse, so if Clay had responded that she needed to delay a little longer, she wouldn’t see it. There wasn’t much she could do at this point anyway.

  One thing was for certain: Colton had no clue what was happening. He wasn’t even coming close to delaying getting to the concert. As soon as Harley and Mina were in the truck—Mina in the center so she could sit next to her husband, of course—he took off at a pace that made it seem like they were actually running late.

  “I’ll drop the two of you off and find parking,” Colton said.

  Great. That would have them getting there well before Colton. Mina was pretty sure Clay would want his brother to be around for this.

  “Go ahead and park.” Mina pointed toward the not-so-full area off to the left. “I think we can walk a few extra steps.”

  He gave her a look. “My mom would be ashamed of me if I made two ladies walk.”

  Mina returned his look. She widened her eyes, hoping that would transmit a secret message without having to give away that there was a surprise. She supposed there was nothing wrong with letting him know something big would be happening tonight, especially if he didn’t have time to ask her what that something was.

  Colton’s face scrunched up in a confused expression, prompting Mina to open her eyes wider. Could she push any stronger a hint without saying actual words? She didn’t think so.

  Apparently, he got the hint because he pulled into the closest parking spot available and cut the engine. Harley said nothing. Mina was afraid to look over at her, thinking it might prompt her to ask what was going on. Instead, she crawled across to exit on the driver’s side and waited while Colton went around, opened the passenger door, took the fruit salad from Harley, and waited for her to exit.

  “Such a gentleman, your husband,” Harley whispered to Mina as they started walking. Colton was a few steps back, having delayed to make sure his truck doors were locked.

  Her first instinct was to say, “Yours, too,” but Clay wasn’t Harley’s husband…yet. She realized how close she’d come to giving away the surprise and reminded herself to be careful. At least for the next few minutes.

  “It runs in the family.” Mina flashed her a smile.

  “It sure does. We got lucky.”

  “Have you been to one of these potluck things?” Mina asked.

  Harley shook her head. “No. Any advice?”

  “It’s been a while.” But after taking a pause to think, Mina realized she did have some advice. “If you see macaroni casserole, skip it. Mrs. Singer has a bad habit of letting her cats wander around the kitchen counters while she’s prepping her food.”

  Harley laughed. “Now that’s some useful advice. I probably will just stick by your side and watch what you scoop onto your plate.”

  Mina launched into a nostalgic story about the fall fest that happened downtown every year. She remembered, while telling it, that Colton had been there, even though she’d been too afraid to talk to him, as was always the case when he was around. But younger Mina had been all too aware of Colton’s presence.

&nb
sp; By the end of the story, Harley was laughing so hard, Mina was sure she was going to have to grab the fruit bowl to keep her from dropping it. Harley had already wrestled it from Colton’s hands when he’d offered to carry it. The last thing they needed was to get all the way there without Harley’s dish.

  As they drew closer to the impromptu amphitheater the brothers had worked on all week, Mina saw things were already set up. Harley spotted it, too. Up ahead, on the stage, stood Clay. He was wearing a suit, which was very uncharacteristic of him, and above him was a banner that read, I Love You.

  “What…?” Harley asked, stopping in her tracks.

  Mina reached out and put both hands on the bowl Harley was carrying. It was easy to take it from her—in fact, Harley’s grip was so loose, Mina was surprised she hadn’t dropped it already. Harley’s attention was one hundred percent focused on the stage.

  “Go on up.” Mina nodded toward the stage.

  Harley looked over at Mina. “You knew about this?”

  Mina nodded and smiled. “Go get your man.”

  It sounded cheesy, but that was the first thing she could think of to say. She still didn’t want to give away what was about to happen, although she figured it was pretty obvious at this point.

  “What’s going on here?” Colton stepped up next to Mina, staring up at the stage just like she was.

  “It’s a surprise,” Mina said. “Your brother wanted me to make sure Harley got here a little late so he could set it up.”

  “I knew there was something happening. That look in the truck was a tip-off.”

  “Thanks for going with it.” She bumped against his arm affectionately. After that move, though, she worried she’d maybe crossed the line somehow.

  They watched as Harley stepped up on the stage and Clay lifted the microphone he’d been holding awkwardly in front of his abdomen. The audience was made up of rows of chairs, similar to what they’d seen at the conference in Butte. Only this time, every chair was full. It was like the whole town had shown up for this event without knowing what was even about to happen.

  “You walked into my life and everything changed,” Clay said into the microphone. “I can’t imagine living without you.”

  Someone in the crowd cheered, followed by a smattering of laughter from others. It didn’t break Clay, though, who was probably too nervous to even know what was happening outside of that stage.

  “So I brought you here today to ask you something.” Clay got down on one knee and reached into his right jacket pocket. Long pause while he fumbled around, finally pulling out the box and opening it. Meanwhile, the microphone rubbed against the velvety box, making a noise that made the moment even more awkward.

  “Will you marry me?” Clay asked Harley, who had already covered her mouth with both hands.

  Harley let out a squeal that was thankfully far enough away from the microphone not to pierce everyone’s ears. She threw her arms around Clay. “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”

  Mina sighed. “Perfect.”

  “Perfectly awkward,” Colton said.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Mina saw Colton shaking his head. He seemed to disapprove of his brother’s performance.

  Mina flashed him a look. “That’s what makes it perfect. He’s nervous. It’s adorable. The most romantic moments are just like that one.”

  Colton had an expression she couldn’t quite decipher. Surprise, maybe? He hadn’t expected her to be all swoony over something like that, she supposed. And she couldn’t blame him because up until now, she hadn’t exactly shown herself to be the type of person who spent her weekends watching romantic movies.

  Little did he know, she was.

  15

  “Heads-up. Mayor Cobb is here.”

  Those two sentences moved everything into sheer chaos. In the minutes preceding it, everyone had been excited about the engagement, and for a very brief time, it had been easy to believe that was all they had to think about. But the news that Mayor Cobb had arrived reminded Colton this was not, in fact, a personal event. For Mina, it was part of her campaign strategy.

  “I’ll hold your plate if you want to go greet him,” Colton offered.

  He mostly wanted her to get the whole thing over and done so that they could focus on enjoying the rest of the evening. Of course, the logical part of his brain knew that made no sense. Now that Mayor Cobb had arrived, this event would be nothing but a political opportunity for Mina.

  The thought almost made him laugh out loud. As if it had ever been anything but that in the first place.

  “No,” she said. “Let him work the crowd. I’m going to eat.”

  Colton wasn’t sure what to make of that, but he didn’t let himself see it as a good sign. She knew what she was doing, and he couldn’t forget that. Even if she’d seemed to have been bonding with his future sister-in-law earlier. Even if she had begun to feel like part of the family. She was his wife for political reasons and only political reasons. Every time he let himself forget that, he put his heart at risk.

  “You’re eating that?” Mina’s question pulled him out of his thoughts. She’d stopped moving along the table where food had been carefully lined up and was now just staring at him.

  He followed her gaze to his hand, which was holding a spoonful of macaroni salad. There were few foods he loved more than Mrs. Singer’s macaroni salad. He usually went straight for it.

  “Yes,” he said. “I know it’s probably not good for me, but—”

  “It’s not that.” Mina looked around, then leaned closer to whisper, “What about the cats?”

  Huh? He had no idea what she was talking about.

  She gave it a second try as he stood there with what was probably an extremely perplexed look on his face. “Mrs. Singer’s cats.”

  “What about them?” he whispered back.

  “She lets them roam around on her counters while she’s cooking, I hear.”

  This time she hadn’t leaned closer to him to whisper it, probably noticing nobody was paying a bit of attention to them. It was all about the food at this point.

  “I’ll take my chances. Do you know anything about any of the food you’re eating?”

  She looked down at her plate, and it hit him that he probably shouldn’t have asked that. No point in ruining her appetite so he could enjoy some macaroni salad without guilt.

  “Touché.” She continued to move up the line. He noticed she was very selective about the items she scooped onto her plate after that, though.

  “Mina Baxter!”

  The loud, booming voice came from behind Colton just as they’d reached the area where they picked up plasticware and napkins. They turned to see the mayor ambling toward them.

  “Good evening, mayor,” Mina said. “Nice to see you here. You’re doing well?”

  Colton noticed she didn’t outwardly address his hospital incident, probably because of the crowd around them. Somehow, Mayor Cobb had managed to get in and out of the hospital, heart procedure and all, without the news ever making its way to the public. If the roles had been reversed and Mina had been the one with an emergency room visit, Colton would bet his last dollar it would have been front-page news around here. In fact, it probably would have been posted in the local social media group before she’d even finished filling out the admissions paperwork.

  “I’m doing great!” Mayor Cobb pretty much shouted. Colton actually winced, it was so loud. But then, he wasn’t sure this guy ever did anything at a volume lower than ear-piercing. “I heard you got married. Congratulations!”

  “Yes.” Mina turned to look at Colton.

  That was his cue. Step up and be the good husband.

  He nodded at Mayor Cobb. “Glad to see you’re doing better.”

  There. That might plant the idea in the heads of those listening that the mayor had, in fact, not been doing as well at some point. Maybe someone would look into it.

  “Never better!” the mayor shouted. “I hope you two are going to take a honeym
oon after this election is over.”

  Colton gave him a confident smile. “I doubt we’ll have time. Lot of work involved in running a city.”

  Mayor Cobb’s mouth twitched, and Colton couldn’t determine if it was from annoyance or amusement. Either way, Colton had gotten to the gas bag, and he considered that mission accomplished.

  “Why don’t we get something to eat?” one of Mayor Cobb’s entourage, probably detecting he needed to be saved, asked. The woman stepped up next to him and gestured toward the line for the buffet.

  Colton looked behind them at the line of people. “I’m sure someone will let you cut in line if you’re hungry.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Mayor Cobb said. “But good to see you both again.”

  He flashed a look at Mina as he walked away, and Colton would have sworn it was a glare. It was almost as though the mayor were quietly telling her to get her husband in line. It wouldn’t surprise him if that was exactly what the mayor thought.

  “Colton.” Mina’s tone was pretend admonishment. She seemed amused by the whole exchange. If that was supposed to be Colton’s role, he was more than happy to oblige.

  They headed down to the front of the audience near the stage, where a section had been set aside for the Briscoe family and friends. Mina slid in next to the empty seat saved for Harley, who was still circulating the area somewhere, probably gushing about her engagement.

  “Where did you get the band?” Mina asked.

  Colton wasn’t sure he’d heard her question correctly, and then he wondered if she was joking. But she looked dead serious as she stared up at the stage, where the Andrews brothers were playing bluegrass music.

  “They’re passing through on their world tour,” Colton said before taking a generous bite of franks and beans.

  “World tour?” Mina asked. “Wow.”

  Wow indeed. “I was joking. It’s the Andrews brothers. They’re local. Mostly do church events and potlucks. People around here love them, but I don’t think they’ve played professionally.”