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“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Blinking back tears, Cammie closed her eyes and lost herself in the sensation of being kissed for the first time by her husband. What a way to spend the first moment of being Mrs. Lucky Masters, a dream she had once thought unreachable, but had never stopped longing for.
Sure, she didn’t have the long, white, flowing dress or the cute little flower girls. She didn’t even have a cake. But she had the man she’d wanted from childhood, and the thin gold bands they’d found at the pawn shop that morning were priceless to her.
And she had Kenzie with her, the only person she really cared about witnessing the event, even if her best friend hadn’t been overwhelmingly supportive of the quick marriage. It had taken an hour to convince her that she was not marrying Lucky due to being pregnant, though she couldn’t fault Kenzie for jumping to that conclusion. She, herself, had thought it might be the reason behind Lucky’s proposal, but he’d assured her that whether or not she turned out pregnant, he wanted to marry her and would stay faithful to her.
As she and Lucky drew apart and turned to the only two guests at their wedding, Chance and Kenzie, her friend smiled, reassuringly if not overly excited. It was good enough. Cammie was marrying the man she loved, and that was all that mattered.
Chance nodded toward her, offering a small smile as well, before extending his hand to congratulate Lucky on the nuptials performed in the small courthouse. “At least you got to be comfortable on your wedding day,” he said, earning a chuckle from Lucky and an elbow in the side from Kenzie. His statement did the trick, though, breaking up the awkward tension.
“You could have worn jeans and boots, too, if you’d taken me to Vegas to get married,” Kenzie teased.
“No way in hell was I getting married by a singing Elvis who couldn’t even move like The King, let alone look or sound like him.”
The group laughed at the exchange as they exited the courthouse. Stepping out onto Main Street into the afternoon sun, they quickly came face to face with locals who eyed them curiously. Knowing Chance and Kenzie had already married at the ranch, there was only one conclusion to be drawn by seeing Lucky walking out of the courthouse with them, hand intertwined with hers.
Lucky took that moment to squeeze Cammie’s hand, knowing the thoughts running through the minds of the townspeople on the street. Before dark, the whole county would know there was a new member of the Masters family, and then the rumors would really start, along with the baby bump watch.
“You two didn’t exactly give us a lot of time to plan anything extra special for you,” Kenzie said as she slid her arm through Cammie’s. “But come on back to the ranch with us for lunch. It shouldn’t take us much time to whip up a cake, and we already have fresh churned homemade ice cream.”
“Sounds great,” Lucky said, speaking for the first time since saying his vows. He guided Cammie over to his truck, helping her inside before closing the passenger side door and rounding the front to join her in the cab.
Silence filled the space between them as they pulled out, and he navigated the truck onto the street, following his brother to the Calhoun-Masters Ranch. After five minutes of it, Cammie couldn’t take any more. “We’re married,” she stated the obvious.
“Yep, we sure are,” he replied, eyes never leaving the road.
“I think we set a record for quickest marriage from proposal to ceremony.”
“Yeah, pretty quick.”
Cammie chewed her bottom lip. She didn’t have any experience in being married, but surely a groom should be more talkative than this. “We were lucky to find rings on such short notice.” Geez, stop rambling already.
Lucky eyed the band on her left ring finger for a second before focusing back on the road. “I’ll get you a better one soon, one that’s all yours.”
“This one is fine,” she quickly assured him, hoping she hadn’t made him feel bad. “This is the one you put on my finger after promising me forever. This is the one attached to that memory. Besides, it’s not the ring itself that matters, it’s the man who gives it.”
He swallowed hard, and as Cammie watched his Adam’s apple bob, she swallowed down her own fear. Do you love me? The question danced along the tip of her tongue, where it had been since he’d proposed the night before, but she didn’t dare ask it. She was Mrs. Lucky Masters. Thousands of women, if not more, fell head over heels in love with men thought completely unattainable every day. How many of those women got to exchange vows with them? No, Cammie would not ask if Lucky loved her. He’d married her and promised to be faithful. He’d fulfilled a dream nearly two decades in the making. She wouldn’t shatter it by risking hearing him say no, or worse, cheapen the words by saying them as a lie.
She would be happy with what she had. If he chose to tell her the words she desperately wanted to hear, she would rejoice in them whenever they came. If the words never came, she’d be satisfied waiting, hoping for them. Either option was better than getting a definite denial, so she swallowed down the question plaguing her mind and adjusted to the silence as they traveled to the ranch.
“What the hell?” Lucky muttered as they approached, following Chance down the lane leading to the parking area. As they drove under the arch with the new sign identifying the land as the Calhoun-Masters Ranch hanging from it, they noticed familiar people waving to them from the front porch of Chance and Kenzie’s ranch house.
Cammie’s heart took a little plummet as she saw Flo standing with her hands on the railing, awaiting their arrival. She hadn’t told her about the wedding, and had no idea when Kenzie had found time to notify her and the rest of the small group gathered. She’d been dreading announcing her news to the motherly woman, not wanting to hurt Flo’s feelings by not inviting her, but everything had been so rushed.
If she were being honest, she’d been scared to tell anyone other than Kenzie and Chance. She’d spent every moment before the exchange of vows holding her breath and waiting for Lucky to change his mind and back out of the ceremony. Part of her had worried it was all just a dream, one that would leave her brokenhearted after waking up. That dreadful fear still clung to her mind as they pulled to a stop before the house.
Cammie climbed out of the truck at the same time as Lucky, and together they met up with Kenzie and Chance.
“I know you didn’t want a big fuss, but I had to have some kind of celebration for my best friend on her wedding day,” Kenzie explained as Chance stood silently, hands shoved deep in his pockets.
“When did you have time to get everyone together?” Cammie asked as she took in the guests waiting on the porch.
“Please.” Kenzie waved her hand dismissively. “Flo and Rhoda are practically on speed dial, and George works on the ranch. Somebody had to be here getting your reception together while the wedding was going on.”
“Reception?”
“Come on in here, lovebirds,” Rhoda called from the porch. “George and Flo worked up a good lunch, and I, of course, brought the alcohol!”
Flo smiled as they neared, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Cammie knew the woman didn’t approve of what she’d considered a childhood crush on Lucky, and therefore would not approve of the marriage. She silently prayed that the older woman would accept Lucky and not say anything negative to him. Cammie was not so blinded by love that she didn’t realize this marriage would take work to last. Between her illness and Lucky’s tendency to run from anything serious, they needed all the positive reinforcement they could get.
George shook Lucky’s hand as they approached, and nodded toward her with a warm smile, but was otherwise silent. Cammie didn’t know him very well, and it hit her how sad it was that Kenzie felt the need to invite a near stranger to her reception in order to fill space.
She stepped into Kenzie and Chance’s kitchen, Lucky right behind her, and the cold sadness that had filled the center of her chest only seconds ago blossomed into warmth.
A beautiful, white, three-tiered round cake with a basketweave design done in buttercream rested in the center of the kitchen table, atop a white lace tablecloth. Baby blue buttercream roses topped the cake and adorned the border on the bottom tier. Despite being three tiers, the size of each one was scaled down enough to make the cake just the right size for the small party.
“Oh my goodness...” Tears stung the backs of Cammie’s eyes as she realized how much trouble it must have been for Flo to whip up a wedding cake within the short amount of time she’d been given.
“I figured this was a more appropriate lunch than salad and sandwiches,” Flo said brightly as she stood to the side of the table, beaming down at the cake. “I never would have finished on time without George’s help. I tell ya, after this, I think I could go on one of them shows on the Food Network, where they make those big ol’ cakes in just a few hours.”
“I believe you could,” Cammie agreed, still surprised Flo had managed the feat. She hugged the older woman, touched by the trouble she’d gone to despite the many times she’d warned her away from Lucky.
“And I hope you fellas don’t mind trading in the longnecks for something more appropriate,” Rhoda interjected, eyes on the Masters brothers as she brandished a bottle of wine in one hand, two long-stemmed glasses in another.
“That’ll do,” Lucky answered, offering the bartender who’d threatened to cut him off on many occasions a small smile of gratitude. “Thanks, all of you. You didn’t have to do this.”
“Nonsense.” George waved them off as he helped Rhoda pass around the wine glasses. “This is a day to celebrate. We’re honored to celebrate it with you and look forward to celebrating the anniversaries and births!”
Cammie’s hand instinctively went to her belly, but quickly dropped away as she noticed Flo follow the action, a deep frown etched into her wary face. A quick glance to her left showed Lucky, standing stiffly at her side, until a nudge from Chance shook him out of it.
“I think we should cut the cake,” he said.
“Hold your horses, cowboy.” Rhoda raised her glass. “First, we toast.”
Cammie dutifully raised her glass, joining her friends and husband. She expected Kenzie to toast, or Rhoda, since she’d been the one to remind them they should do it first, but it was Chance who cleared his throat.
“Here’s to the bride and groom. Lucky, you’ve been a pain in my ass since the day you were born, and I don’t know what I’d do without you. Cammie, you’re my wife’s best friend, and that tells me all I need to know about the type of person you are. I am beyond happy that my brother found himself blessed with a good woman to keep him in line and add a little more honor to the Masters name.”
Cammie felt Lucky’s hand tighten around hers and looked over at his profile to see his jaw tightly clamped. He rarely showed emotion, and no one else in that room may have noticed, but she’d been paying close attention to him long enough to know his brother’s toast was tugging at his heartstrings.
“My brother and I... We don’t come from much, but we found a pot of gold when we found our brides. Here’s to Lucky and Cammie.” He raised his glass higher. “May your new life together be full of joy and blessings.”
“Hear, hear,” their friends toasted, all of them smiling, clearly moved by the sweet and unexpected words from Chance.
But as she raised the glass to her lips, Cammie just couldn’t find it in her to smile through the fear that this happy little moment was going to be followed by a lot of heartbreak.