Almost A Bride (Montana Born Brides) (15 page)

“I called them on Thursday and told them I didn’t want it.”

Reid
’s dark eyes were steady on her as he waited for her response.

“
But you don’t want to live in Marietta. You can’t imagine your life playing out here.”

“
That was before us. Before I understood that what I’ve been looking for all my life is right here. Tara, I love you. I’ve been crazy about you since the moment I met you. Wherever you are is where I want to be. It’s that simple.”

She shook her head. It wasn
’t that simple. Her father had been like Reid, a born gypsy. Restless. Always wanting more. He’d handled being domesticated for thirteen years before his nature had gotten the better of him.

“
I’m not going to make the same mistake my mother made,” she said. “You want to be out there. You love exploring new places. What is there for you in Marietta, besides me?”

“
My parents. The orchard. Mountains. Lakes. A life with you by my side. The children we will have together. Believe me, that trumps Rome or Egypt or Mumbai every time, Tara.”

She shook her head again. She wanted to believe him. He was offering her everything, her heart
’s desire. But she couldn’t believe him. She couldn’t.

He reached out and caught her hand, pulling her close, his other hand reaching up to tilt her chin so he could look into her eyes.

“Let me tell you the way I see this working. My parents move into town, and we take over the house. Anything you want to change, you change, with my blessing. I’ve got some savings, and we sink a bit of money into modernizing some of the machinery to make things easier. We both take our detective’s exam, and when the time comes when we want to have kids, we work it out between us. Maybe I take some time out, then you take some time out. Whatever. And at least once a year, we turn our backs on all of this, and we go somewhere just for us. Somewhere new, somewhere we can discover together.”

“
Stop it,” she said, desperately trying to hang onto her hard-earned sense of self-preservation.

“
You don’t like any of that? Fine. The only part that’s not negotiable for me is you. I’ve gotten a lot of things ass-backwards in my life, Tara, but this is right. I love you, and I will always love you. You are my future. Only you.”

He was holding her face in both his hands now, his thumbs brushing her tears away.

“I want to believe you so much,” she whispered.

“
Then believe, baby. I promise that if you fall, I will catch you. And I know you’ll do the same for me.”

Tara felt dizzy, as though some fundamental anchor within herself had just snapped free. If she did this and it didn
’t work out—if they tried and failed—the pain she’d just stared in the eye would be nothing.

If Reid left her, it would destroy her. She would become her mother.

Reid leaned forward and kissed her lips, and she tasted the salt of his sweat and her tears, and she felt the gentleness in his hands, and when he pulled back she saw the fierce love in his eyes.

“
I love you,” she said.

“
I know, sweetheart. I love you like crazy. I love you so much I’m going to pretend I don’t mind about that damned motorbike, and I cannot wait to start my life with you.”

He kissed her again, deeply this time, his tongue stroking hers, one hand palming the nape of her neck, the other sliding down her back to urge her closer. She felt his arousal against her belly, and the flare of her own desire, and knew that even though she was terrified, even though life had taught her that this was the most dangerous thing she would ever do, she couldn
’t not do it.

To do so would make a lie of everything she had ever tried to be, and
mean she would be turning her back on a man who filled her with love and pride and heat and need.

“
Yes,” she said. “Yes. Let’s do it. All of it. The house, the exams, the babies, all of it. All of it.”

“
Good answer,” he said, and then he kissed her to seal their deal.

One Year Later

“I’m going to bed now, but you are not to touch anything, Tara, do you hear me?” Tammy Buck said as she pushed herself upright from her seat. Bottles of nail polish, emery boards and polish scattered the kitchen table in front of her, along with a number of soiled cotton balls. “The last thing we want to be doing is fixing your nails tomorrow when you’ll have a million better things to do.”

“
Like getting married,” Scarlett chimed in.

Tara waggled her fingers in the air.
“I’ll be good, I promise.”

“
You did a good job, Scarlett. There’s a career there if you want it,” her mother said approvingly. Between them, she and Scarlett had transformed Tara’s nails from workaday practical to wedding glamorous, shaping them and buffing them and finally painting them with a pale pink varnish that was pearlescent in the overhead light.

“
I would be high as a kite on all those fumes, Mom. And all I did was follow your expert instructions,” Scarlett said.

“
Don’t blow smoke up my skirt, I know how good I am. At least, how good I used to be.”

Tara resisted the urge to offer to escort her mother to bed. In recent months, her mother had reached a sort
of peace with her illness, and a new independence had grown out of her acceptance. These days, she liked to do as much for herself as she could, claiming that there would be plenty of opportunities for them to fuss over her in the future.

Scarlett waited until they heard the bedroom door click shut before standing.

“You want some of the good stuff now?”

“
Yes, please.”

Their mother preferred sweet
spumante, always had, but Scarlett had bought a bottle of French champagne to celebrate Tara’s last night as a single woman.

The pop of the champagne cork echoed in the kitchen, and Tara accepted a brimming, frothing glass from her sister.

“To sunny skies tomorrow and for the rest of your lives,” Scarlett said, raising her glass in toast.

They clinked glasses, both making appreciative noises as they swallowed a mouthful of yeasty, dry goodness.

“So good,” Tara said.

“
You nervous?” Scarlett asked.

Tara shook her head instantly.
“No. Excited, but not nervous.”

Tomorrow, she was going to become Mrs. Reid Dalton, and the next stage of their life together would begin. While the thought of all the theat
er of tomorrow’s wedding made her feel a little twitchy, she didn’t have a single doubt about the man she would be marrying.

He was her rock, her heart, her everything. She adored him. She admired him. She lusted after him. She couldn
’t wait to walk down the aisle and make her vows.

“
You love him,” Scarlett said in a childish, sing-song teasing voice.

“
Yep,” Tara said, grinning unashamedly.

“
Good thing Mr. Douchebag had a thing for cheerleaders, then, huh?”
Tara shuddered as she thought about the terrible mistake she’d almost made.

“
Don’t remind me. I was such an idiot.”

“
You had your reasons,” Scarlett said, her green eyes warm with understanding and acceptance.

Tara felt a rush of love for her twin. For so many years, they had pulled against one another, each attempting to carve her own place in the world. Somehow, though, their mother
’s illness and the changes in their personal lives had led to a new accord between them. Scarlett had let go of the need to always be the rebel and the entertainer, and Tara had resigned from her role as family protector. For the first time since they were little, they were friends, and it felt good.

“
You want some chocolate, too?” Scarlett asked.

She was already on her feet, heading for the pantry. Tara smiled at her sister
’s fluffy-bunny slippers, paired with a pair of rather sexy shorty pajamas.

“
You wear that outfit at home?” she couldn’t help asking.

“
Hell no. Mitch won’t let me wear anything to bed. He’s an impatient man.”

Tara laughed.

Scarlett returned with a big box of chocolates bearing the Copper Mountain Chocolates logo, sliding the lid off as she placed it in front of Tara.

“
Wow,” Tara said, surveying the decadent array in front of her. Sage Carrigan’s chocolates were legendary in Marietta, and there were enough here to make her teeth ache.

Scarlett passed her the little booklet which told her which chocolate was which.
“Save me a coffee cream, but the Turkish Delights are all yours.”

“
I thought you loved Turkish Delights,” Tara said, looking up from studying the booklet. She could remember having to strategize like crazy to get her share as a kid.

“
Nope. Dad was the one who loved them, remember?”

She said it so matter-of-factly, but the mention of their father stole the smile from Tara
’s lips. Even though it had been a long time since he’d been a part of her life, she’d been haunted by thoughts of him lately. Only natural, perhaps, in the lead-up to the wedding, but a little disconcerting, too.

She picked a caramel from the box and passed the guide to her sister.

“Did you miss him at your wedding?” she asked quietly.

Scarlett took a second to answer.
“I thought about him. I didn’t miss him. He’s been gone so long, I can’t really remember what it was like to have him in my life.”

“
Yeah.” Tara pushed the tray of chocolates away.

“
Hey. You okay?” Scarlett’s forehead was wrinkled with concern.

“
I need to tell you something. But I’m scared you’ll hate me,” Tara confessed.

“
I will never hate you. Ever.”.

Tara glanced down into her lap at her perfect pearly nails.

“A month before Dad left, I came home from school and caught him and Wendy in the kitchen.”

Scarlett blinked a couple of times, processing. Then she mouthed a four letter word.
“What did he say?”

“
He cried. Told me it was a one-off.” Tara reached for her champagne glass and took a big gulp to ease her dry throat. “He told me it would never happen again, and made me promise not to tell Mom.”

“
What an asshole.”

It was so not what Tara had been expecting she almost laughed. It came out as a sort
of hiccup, and she had to blink away tears again. Scarlett was watching her closely, her head tilted to one side.

“
Wait a minute. You were worried I’d hate you because of this?” Scarlett asked, her tone incredulous.

“
When we came home that day and he was gone and Mom was crying with Aunt Margot... It took me ages to accept that Dad wasn’t coming back. That he’d lied to me. And Mom kept on saying that she’d had no warning, no idea that it had all come out of the blue, and all I could think was that if I’d told her what I’d seen, maybe they could have fixed things... “ She broke off to wipe away the single tear that had found its way down her cheek.

“
God. And you’ve been carrying that around all these years. If I knew where he was, I’d hunt him down and kick him somewhere it hurts,” Scarlett said fiercely. “Tara, you were a kid, and he was a liar and a cheat and too charming for his own good. Everything that happened was his fault. All of it.”

“
I know that. I do. I just...There will always be that question inside me, you know?” Tara said.

Scarlett scooted her chair closer and wrapped her arms around Tara.

“Let it go, Tara Banana. Let it go.”

Scarlett hadn
’t used the childish nickname for years, and Tara had to blink away more tears as her sister embraced her.

“
You have been an amazing sister, the backbone of this family,” Scarlett said. “When I think of all the shit Mom and I have put you through over the years... please don’t blame yourself for his selfishness. Please don’t think that that was anything to do with you.”

Her sister
’s words were a balm, the forgiveness and acceptance that Tara had needed for fourteen years. Resting her chin on her sister’s shoulder, Tara let herself cry, clinging to her twin.

“
I love you so much,” she said brokenly.

“
Back at you, baby. So back at you,” Scarlett said.

They were both red-eyed and wet-cheeked when they drew apart. Scarlett sniffed and used the back of her hand to wipe her face.

“Boy do we know how to party,” she said dryly.

Tara smiled, and the next thing she knew she was laughing. Scarlett watched her with a bemused smile.

“You okay there?”

“
Yes. I think so. How about you?”

“
I’m good.”

They smiled at each other, then Scarlett nudged the box of chocolates toward her.
“You get another pick now because you’re so tragic,” she said.

Tara shot her a mock-outraged look.
“I’m going to take it, too.”

She made a big deal out of searching for the coffee creams, making lots of yum noises when she bit into one. Scarlett commandeered the box then, stockpiling the remaining coffee creams in a pile in front of her.

“Can I ask you something?” Tara asked as she watched her sister be a pig. “Do you think I should tell Mom?”

Scarlett was silent for a moment as she considered the question. Then she shook her head.
“I don’t see the point. It will only upset her, and it won’t change anything.”

The last of the weight Tara had been carrying lifted from her shoulders.

“Reid told me I should talk to you about it,” she admitted.

“
He’s a smart guy. Great taste in women, looks hot in jeans. You should totally marry him as soon as you can.”

Tara smiled.
“That’s a good idea. Why didn’t I think of it?”

“
Because I’m the ideas twin.”

“
Right, that must be it.”

They talked till midnight, then Tara went to bed in her old bedroom and stared at the ceiling, chocolate, champagne and emotion buzzing through her body. Finally she drifted off to sleep, waking early the next morning. The nerves she
’d denied last night made a late appearance, and she went for a quick run to burn off some adrenaline before jumping into the shower. She and Scarlett did each other’s makeup, then their mothers, then Mitch arrived looking outrageously good in a dark suit.

“
Good God am I glad you married me,” Scarlett said, kissing him hello.

Mitch gave her an appreciative head to toe.
“Am I allowed to touch any of this or is it for display only?”

He didn
’t wait for an answer, dropping a kiss onto her lips.

Tara cleared her throat.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hit the road. I believe there’s a certain someone counting on me turning up.”

Mitch let out a whistle when he saw her.
“Looking good, Mrs. Dalton. Someone’s going to be very happy to see you.”

Tara blushed, pleased. She was excited for Reid to see her in her figure hugging, lacy gown, complete with a modest train. She felt beautiful, and she hoped he would think she was, too.

Mitch ushered them out to the car, helping their Mom into the front seat while Scarlett helped Tara wrangle her gown into the back. Tara’s belly danced with butterflies during the short drive to the orchard. The front gate was decorated with white balloons that danced on their strings as they drove past. Tara could see the snowy white peaks of the tent that had been erected for their reception as they stopped in front of the house. Scarlett helped her out, and Tara took a moment to catch her breath and arrange her veil before her sister passed her her flowers.