There wasn’t a cloud in the sky the last Saturday in May. The sun was just setting over the western bank of the canyon, and wildflowers were in full bloom everywhere. It all made for a perfect setting for the wedding reception that was about to take place on the Wildflower Ranch—the brand-new registered brand for Waylon and Shiloh’s property. She’d spent the night before at the bunkhouse with her sisters, Bonnie and Abby Joy, and Waylon’s sisters, Patsy, Emmylou, and June.
Shiloh was barely awake when Bonnie and Abby Joy bounced into her room and jumped onto her bed. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” Abby Joy said. “You’re getting married in three hours and you look like hell.”
Shiloh kicked off the covers, sat up, and looked at her reflection in the mirror above the dresser. Abby Joy was right. Her dark hair was a fright. She was sunburned from helping bring in the first cutting of hay the day before, and her eyes were puffy from staying up too late with all the ladies the night before.
“You’ve got your work cut out for you,” she moaned.
“Not to worry,” Bonnie said. “We’ll get you beautified and to the church on time.”
Shiloh’s mother, Polly, poked her head in the door. “Breakfast is on the bar. Amanda and I made pancakes and bacon. You don’t want anything too heavy on your stomach for the wedding.” She came on into the room and sat down on the end of the bed. “As much as you were going to prove Ezra wrong and inherit your part of that ranch, I’m surprised that you’re giving it all up.”
“I figured out that some things are more important than revenge.” Shiloh leaned over and gave her mother a hug. “I love Waylon, Mama.”
“He’s a good man,” Polly said. “And I can tell by the way he looks at you that he loves you. I couldn’t be happier for you than I am this day.”
“How does it feel for you to be back here? Does it bring back painful memories?” Shiloh asked.
“Honey, I put Ezra out of my heart years ago. Some folks just aren’t worth stealing your peace. I’m glad that you found that out for yourself,” Polly said.
Shiloh scooted closer to her mother. “I’m glad you let me do it on my own, and that you didn’t lecture me, but just let me do what I had to do. If I hadn’t I would have never met Waylon.” She kissed her mother on the cheek. “And he’s my soul mate.”
Bonnie slung an arm around Shiloh. “You lost a bet. I’ll expect you to pony up on it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of forgetting that.” Shiloh stood up and handed her younger sister a bottle of whiskey with a hundred-dollar bill held tightly around it with a rubber band. “Here it is. Now you can celebrate me being gone. Break it open, and we’ll celebrate together.”
“I can’t drink with y’all.” Abby Joy shook her head. “I teased Cooper about getting pregnant on our honeymoon, and the test I took yesterday said that it happened, so Bonnie gets that whole bottle of whiskey all to herself.”
“That’s fantastic!” Shiloh hugged her older sister.
Bonnie jumped off the bed and did a happy dance. “I’m going to be an aunt, and the baby is going to love me more than Shiloh,” she singsonged as she pulled Abby Joy out of the room and toward the kitchen.
“We’ll just see about that,” Shiloh yelled.
“I can only pray the same thing happens to you, my child.” Polly held up a hand toward heaven.
“Whoa!” Shiloh grabbed her mother’s hand and put it down. “One thing at a time.”
Polly patted her on the back. “Well, darlin’, the first thing is breakfast. Today, you’re marryin’ Waylon. He’s everything I ever hoped that you’d find in a husband, and honey, I’m glad you left Malloy Ranch. You would have never been happy there.”
“But, Mama, I was happy there with my sisters,” she said.
Polly smiled. “The key words are ‘with your sisters.’ Without them, you would have been lonely, and besides, you belong with Waylon.”
“You’re so right, but I sure hope Bonnie sticks around, because I rather like having sisters.” Shiloh looped her arm in her mothers and together they left the room.
“Even Waylon’s sisters?” Polly whispered.
“Emmylou is outspoken, but I like her. Jury is still out on the other two. They only got here a couple of days ago, and things have been crazy, with trying to get hay baled and attending to wedding stuff,” Shiloh said in a soft voice.
Waylon sat down to breakfast with his two brothers and his father that morning. If he’d followed Shiloh’s advice and gone to the courthouse, got married, and then told his family and her mother and aunt, he could be plowing a field or hauling in that sixty acres of small bales of hay that was ready. But he was the first one of the six Stephens siblings to get married, and he knew his mother would be disappointed if they didn’t at least have a small wedding. So having to get dressed up, go to the church, and say his vows was no one’s fault but his own that day.
“Got what you’re goin’ to say to Shiloh all memorized?” his father, Jimmy, asked.
“Pretty much goin’ to wing it,” Waylon answered.
“Just say what’s in your heart,” Buddy advised. “Even if you stutter a little, it’s better than a rehearsed thing that has no feelin’.”
“Great advice, Dad.” Waylon pulled out his phone and stepped to the other side of the room.
He typed in a text to Shiloh: I wish we would have eloped.
One came right back: Me too!
He was typing another text when his phone rang. When he saw that it was Shiloh, he almost dropped it, trying to answer on the first ring.
“I’ll be so glad when—” she started.
“I know—” he said.
“I am looking forward to the reception and dancing with you out in our new gazebo, and Waylon, you’re never going to believe what my one-third of the money is. I almost fainted when I saw all those zeroes,” she said. “The lawyer brought me the check last night, and I signed the papers saying I was giving up my rights to the Malloy Ranch.”
“That’s your money, darlin’,” he told her.
“No, it’s ours, and I’m thinkin’ we might make an offer for the land to the north of us. We’ve got plenty of room in the bunkhouse to house the hired help,” she said. “I’m not interested in anything but building a life with you.”
“I love you,” he said.
“Me too. See you at the church at eleven o’clock. I’ll be the one in the white dress.”
“I’ll be the one that has eyes for only you,” he whispered as he made his way out to the porch. “I’m the luckiest cowboy in this whole canyon.”
“You’re almost as lucky as I am,” she said.
The church was packed that morning at eleven o’clock when Shiloh arrived. Her sisters, her mother, and her aunt waited with her in the nursery until Loretta Jackson came to tell them that it was time to start the ceremony. “Jackson is going to seat your aunt Audrey, then Bonnie and Abby Joy will make their way up the aisle, and when you hear the first of the song you’ve chosen to walk in to, then your mom will take you down to where Waylon will be waiting.”
“Got it.” Shiloh gave her the thumbs-up sign.
The next couple of minutes went by in a blur. Then the first chords of “Mama He’s Crazy” started, and she took her mother’s arm.
“Not exactly wedding music,” Polly whispered.
“Waylon and I aren’t exactly traditional folks,” she said as she took her first step down the aisle.
When the lyrics said that he was heaven sent, Waylon gave her one of his special smiles, and the whole world disappeared. To Shiloh, they were the only two people in the church, and nothing mattered but the vows they were about to say.
It wasn’t planned, but he left his place in the front of the church and met her halfway down the aisle. Polly gave him a kiss on the cheek and then put Shiloh’s hand in his. She waited until the two of them finished the walk together and then went forward to sit on the front pew.
“Well, I usually start with ‘dearly beloved,’” the preacher chuckled, “but after that song, I think we’ll just let these two say their vows.”
Shiloh handed her bouquet to Abby Joy and raised her dress to show off the pair of brown cowboy boots that she wore to work on the ranch. “See these boots. I come to you today in my pretty white dress, but under it is a ranchin’ woman who wants to spend her life with you. I love you, Waylon Stephens, and I give you my promise that I will love you longer than forever, and right into eternity.”
Waylon took her hands in his. “My granddad told me once that life is like a river, and I should find the right woman to ride the river with. I didn’t find the right woman. I found the perfect one. I love you, Shiloh, and I give you my promise that my love for you will last through eternity.”
Shiloh heard a couple of sniffles from the front pew. She was glad that she’d had a few moments in the nursery after her mother left. That had given her time to switch out the pretty white satin shoes for her old cowboy boots that she’d snuck into the church in a duffel bag.
They exchanged plain gold wedding bands, and then the preacher pronounced them man and wife, and told Waylon he could kiss the bride. The new husband bent his bride backward in a true Hollywood kiss, then stood her up to the applause of everyone in the church. “And now it’s my turn,” he whispered.
“What?” she asked.
The music started and Blake Shelton’s voice came out loud and clear with “You Name the Babies, I’ll Name the Dogs.”
She giggled. “It’s fitting after the one I walked down the aisle to.”
He took her in his arms and two-stepped all the way out of the church with her. He scooped her up at the door and carried her to his truck. When he’d settled her into the passenger seat, he leaned in and kissed her one more time. “Love the boots.”
“I’m excited that I get to ride the river with you. Let’s go enjoy our reception,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am.” He whistled all the way around the truck.
Want to read Abby Joy’s story? Look for Daisies in the Canyon wherever books are sold.