Read Happy Is The Bride Online
Authors: Caroline Clemmons
Happy Is The Bride (2 page)
Beth pretended to stare at the house while she
waited, knowing Mason hated anyone watching the
labored gait due to his crushed limb.
Did she dare do as she planned
?
From the corner of her eye she observed his
progress. Tall and powerful except for the leg he'd smashed under a wagon wheel at thirteen, he cut a
rough but handsome figure in denim work trousers
and chambray shirt with rolled-up sleeves. He'd been
her best friend since childhood; she could tell him
anything without fear of censure, so she confided all
her secrets to him.
He frowned as he stopped in front of her. "Beth?"
He looked at the buggy. "Are you all alone? Is some
thing wrong?"
Before she could change her mind, she took a deep breath. "Mason, will you marry me?"
Three Weeks Later
June 29, 1885
"What a glorious morning." Beth threw back the
covers and hurried to the window. Sunshine poured into her room. Thank goodness. Blue sky overhead
promised perfect weather. "Nothing can spoil this
wedding day."
She pushed down the giddy laughter that tickled
her stomach. Dare she hope the perfect wedding
she'd always dreamed of would occur today? Heat traveled up her throat to her face when she thought of her life as Mason's wife. Slowly she pressed her
hands down the front of her nightgown, and her nip
ples tightened in response.
What would it feel like tonight when he made her
his wife in fact as well as name? When they became
one would it hurt or would her heart explode with
love and joy? She trusted Mason and knew he'd never
hurt her. That meant there would be joy.
She touched her cheek where he'd kissed her last
night right in front of her parents. They hadn't been
alone a minute since he'd agreed to marry her, but
she recognized the longing in his eyes. She hugged
her arms, yearning for a real kiss from him, one
where his lips settled over hers.
Elated she'd soon know that pleasure, she washed quickly and put away her nightgown. To go with her mood and the sunny day she put on her yellow silk morning dress and perfectly matched slippers. She brushed her hair and wove a yellow ribbon into the braid she had rolled into a neat coronet.
added a few last things to the open trunk at the foot
of her bed. Tomorrow, she'd awake no longer a
maiden, but in her new home with her husband. She
took one last look around the room. She had lived
here a long time. She said goodbye to childhood and
hello to her new life as woman and wife.
Ignoring the butterflies fluttering in her belly, she
turned and headed for the stairs.
Her father's booming voice floated up to her and
drew her to a halt. "Louise, I tell you Whittaker
doesn't deserve our girl. We sent her to the best fin
ishing school money could buy. I expected her to
marry a wealthy businessman. Dammit, Whittaker's
not only a hayseed cowpuncher, he's a cripple. Only
time he's been out of the county is on cattle drives.
What kind of match is that?"
"Shhhhh, Howard. Bethany will hear." Her
mother's voice sounded peevish, as usual. "You know very well this is probably her last chance. We'd better
pray Mason actually shows up at the church."
Beth sighed and ran lightly down the thickly carpeted stairs. Clearly even her mother doubted she'd
be married today, or that she'd ever marry. Her
mother held little hope for her only child.
"With her training and upbringing she should
marry a society leader, perhaps someone with a future
in politics, not that cowboy. He's not good enough for
our girl." Her father sat tall and regal with the news
paper at his elbow.
Hiding the sting of her parents' words, Beth glided into the breakfast room and kissed her father's cheek
beside the silver tingeing his dark sideburns. "Good
morning. Mason's almost thirty, Daddy. He's hardly a
boy."
Crossing behind her father, she kissed the air near
her mother's cheek, then slid into her chair and
spread her napkin across her lap. "According to folks
in town, I'm an old maid, a jinxed spinster, and not a
girl at all. You'd best be grateful to Mason for taking
me off your hands."
Even from her own lips, the mean-spirited labels sliced through her heart Old maid. Spinster. Did no
one realize the cruelty of those words or how utterly hopeless they sounded?
Her father regarded her as if he'd not seen her
when she kissed him. His brown eyes were not un
kind, yet she stiffened under his gaze, bracing herself
for the censure certain to come.
He didn't disappoint her. "We didn't send you to
that exclusive finishing school so you could marry a common cowpuncher." He already wore his suit, his
dark hair brushed neatly, ready for his day at the bank
he owned three blocks away in Ransom Crossing.
"Mason owns the ranch, Daddy, and it's three thousand acres joining his parents' land of even more acres
which he will inherit some day. Besides, the men you
chose were city men, but they were hardly suitable."
The humiliation of those engagements washed over her. She wondered how she had endured so
much embarrassment in the past few years. Once
more she wondered how her parents could have
thought any of those men would make a good hus
band. And she wanted to kick herself for letting her parents push her into accepting their proposals.
Her father had the grace to look uncomfortable.
"Don't remind me of those bounders, even though each came with good recommendations. My usual
judgment might have erred there—"
Beth interrupted her father. "Yes, as it has with Mason. He's a kind man who would never let me
down." She couldn't resist adding, "And he certainly won't run afoul of the law."
Beulah, their housekeeper, brought in a plate of
fluffy scrambled eggs and a rack of toast and set them
in front of her. "You eat up, honey. This is gonna be
a busy day." She poured Beth a cup of tea.
Beth stabbed her fork into the eggs with determi
nation. She refused to let her parents or anything else
spoil her mood. "The sun is shining, and it's going to be a wonderful wedding."
"Hmph." Beth's father scowled at his plate.
Mrs. Pendleton appeared regal this morning in a
pale blue gown the color of her eyes, and her straw
berry blond hair swept into a neat chignon. She
patted Beth's hand.
"Now, dear, don't get your hopes up too high." The
pity and unspoken criticism in her mother's voice
sliced into Beth's heart.
Didn't anyone but her believe she'd marry today?
That tonight she'd lie in the arms of her new hus
band? That some day she'd have children and live
happily ever after?
Beth pulled her hand away from her mother's.
"Mama, Mason will be at the church, and the wedding
will happen."
Her father peered over his spectacles. "Let's hope so.
You'd better get married this time." He looked down at his paper and muttered, "Probably
is
your last chance."
Beulah put her hands on her hips. "Y’all leave Miss
Beth alone so she can eat without getting the jitters.
She's gonna be the prettiest bride this town ever seen."
Finally, one other person who believed Beth would
be wed today. Beth smiled her thanks, and Beulah
went back to the kitchen.
"Don't eat too much, dear, or your dress might be
tight. After all, we've had it for several years."
"Mama, I know precisely how long we've had the
dress." As usual, Beth's sarcasm was wasted on her
mother.
"It's just like you to be thoughtless and agree to wed
that boy with only three weeks' notice. There's been
too much to do. As soon as you've eaten, we need to
hurry to the chapel. The buckets of flowers and other
supplies are already loaded on the buckboard."
"I'll hurry." Beth dug into her food, thankful for the fact that Mason would never leave her at the altar. But
after being jilted three times in as many years, a tiny seed
of doubt swelled deep inside her. She prayed that noth
ing would keep Mason from meeting her at the chapel.
Dear God, help me. I couldn 't take the humiliation of another wedding gone wrong and cancelled.
Tomorrow morning she would be mistress in her
own home, subject only to sweet Mason's directives—
but no more than he would be to hers. Then the folks
in town would be forced to admit she wasn't jinxed. It
might take a couple of children to convince them she wasn't cold, but surely her marriage to Mason would
put an end to the constant gossip about her. That
thought cheered her. Today was indeed a special day.
Two
Mason forked straw from the loft onto the wagon.
The sun shone brightly overhead, but he thought rain
clouds gathered low on the southwest horizon. He fig
ured the church grounds needed the coarse stem
roughage spread to prevent buggies from sticking and
help keep folks' feet dry if it rained before the wedding.
His ranch hand, Rowdy Vines, worked beside him.
"Boss, you sure this marriage is what you want?"
"Yep, dead level positive." Mason had loved Beth
for as long as he could remember, but had never told
anyone. He thought of her eyes when he looked at a
perfect spring bluebonnet Her hair matched honey, or maybe cornsilk. He couldn't decide, but it didn't matter. He loved her, and after tonight she'd be his
forever. Nothing could please him more.
Thinking about her made him grow hard and his
denim britches fit too tight. Dang, he wanted Beth so
much he had trouble sleeping nights, but he wanted
more from her than her body. He loved talking to her,
wanted to spend his life at her side. Until now she'd
had little love in her life, but he planned to protect her
and shower her with the love and devotion she de
served.
For years he'd dreamed of building his future with
her as his partner. She was the woman he wanted as
mother to his children, and he hoped their future
held a couple of blond, blue-eyed girls like her and a
boy or two to carry on the ranch. With or without chil
dren, they'd have a grand life together.
Mason knew how hard her parents were on her, al
ways wanting her to be a society leader, sending her to
that fancy school when she wanted to stay home, never
saying anything nice no matter how she tried to please
them. The Pendletons had never consulted Beth to ask
what she wanted. He'd see Beth had anything she de
sired that was within his power to give her.
eight and she was seven, she'd never given him any in
dication she returned his affection other than to tell
him she thought of him as her brother and best
friend. That was, until her proposal three weeks ago.