Read Happy Is The Bride Online
Authors: Caroline Clemmons
Happy Is The Bride (5 page)
Now she was forced to face the question of whether
she loved Mason as a man or just as a friend? She
hadn't considered that. She'd been so determined
to show her cousin Rachel and stop the laughter and
humiliation that she hadn't stopped to consider the
consequences for Mason.
How selfish she'd been. The knowledge made her
ashamed of her hasty proposal. Then she remem
bered that when she decided to find her own groom,
she hadn't considered anyone but Mason.
Did she love him?
Mrs. Pendleton's shrill voice saved Beth from an
swering Mason.
"Bethaneeeeee. Where are you?"
"Oh, no, we'd better go around by the wagons.
Mother sounds upset with me." She loathed breaking contact with him, but stepped away. "Soon I'll be out of yelling distance, even for her." She laughed, wishing it were funny instead of sad.
Nothing she did would ever please her mother.
Heaven knew she'd tried for twenty-eight years. She couldn't remember one time when her mother had a kind word for her, not even one.
Mason grabbed her hand. "Knowing my temper, I can't promise I'll never yell at you, but I give you my
word I'll try not to."
"You haven't yelled at me yet And I'll try hard to be
the best wife in the world, the kind you deserve."
Mason loved her.
thoughtful of her every wish, listened to her secrets,
took up for her against anyone who said hurtful
things to her.
"One more." He swept her to him in a fervent em
brace.
have dreamed kissing Mason would render her into
a melting puddle? But it did, and she wanted to con
tinue for a long time.
She wanted him to touch her breast again. Did that
make her wanton? Her mother insisted only harlots
enjoyed the things that went on between men and
women.
Someone coughed. "Boss?"
Mason and Beth jumped. She knew her face red
dened at being caught in Mason's arms.
Rowdy pretended to look away. "Mrs. Pendleton
made me come fetch you two back up there right
away. She seems all het up, and I reckon you'd better
hurry along before she has a spell or something."
"Thanks, tell her we're on our way." Mason took
Beth's hand and smiled. "In a few hours, no one can
interrupt us."
His words gave Beth hope. They rounded the corn
er pillar and climbed the slope to the front of the
chapel.
At the buckboard, Mason held her hand and
looked into her eyes. "Guess Rowdy and me better get
this straw spread. I'm expected at my folks later this
morning."
Mrs. Pendleton tapped her foot. "Straw's not nec
essary, but if you've nothing better to do, I suppose it
won't hurt."
Rowdy helped Mrs. Pendleton and Beulah climb
onto the buckboard. Beulah took the reins, but
smiled at Beth and Mason and waited patiently.
Mrs. Pendleton snapped open her parasol.
"Bethany, we don't have time to dally all day."
Beth sighed, wishing as she had many times that
her mother was a kinder, more patient person. No
matter, soon she and Mason would answer only to
each other. Mason still held her hand, and she
squeezed his fingers before she pulled free. "I have to
go."
Mason pecked her on the cheek. "Yeah, I know, but
it won't be long until we're wed." He helped her up
and stepped back. "See you later."
Beth waved. "In a few hours." She thought ahead to
tonight when they'd come together and knew she
blushed.
His eyes darkened. Plainly, his feelings matched
hers. She recalled his words about seeing her naked
and wondered how her body would look to him.
Would she disappoint him?
Beth hoped not. All her life she'd disappointed her
parents, though she tried hard to please them. She
had no intention of disappointing her husband.
Would being a good wife be as impossible as being a
good daughter?
****
Mason watched the women until they made the
bend in the road. Then he grabbed his pitchfork. The sun still shone and the stifling heat slowed them, but
he and Rowdy spread straw in low spots where no
grass grew and at the base of the steps so folks alight
ing from buggies could step on it instead of damp
ground.
was so impossible to please. How had Beth endured
constant criticism without becoming hard and cyni
cal? He didn't know, but somehow she had. He knew
his bride helped many less fortunate citizens in the
community, and she tried to be kind to everyone.
Thank goodness she'd finally be his wife.
chapel. Unwilling to enter with dirty boots, he stood
in the doorway. He visualized Beth and him standing
at the altar. The day he'd secretly dreamed of for years
had finally become reality. Damned if he wasn't the luckiest man in the state.
"Looks purty, don't it, boss? Reckon if you're deter
mined to go through with this, there ain't a more
fitting place."
scended the stairs. He sure wasn't looking to break his
leg like George Denby had. "Wait until you see it this
evening with the candles lit and the prettiest woman
in all of Texas standing next to me."
nice to boot, but danged if that mother of hers isn't a
snippy old biddy. Couldn't please her with a blessing."
'Yeah, but the lucky thing is that Beth isn't turned
like either of her parents." And Mason could hardly wait to get her in his bed. From the way she had responded just now, she would be a willing lover, not
anything like the cold Ice Queen the gossips had labeled her.
Secretly, he'd suspected that all along. He knew for
certain that she was a warm and compassionate
woman who loved children and longed for a home of
her own. Each time she had been promised to some
one else had been hell for him. He'd fought with
himself each time, told himself over and over that the
man chosen for her would be a better husband than he ever could be. After all, he had this bum leg and
lived on a ranch away from town and all the niceties
she was accustomed to.
The relief he had experienced as each wedding fell
through sawed at his conscience. He had rejoiced in
his heart that Beth wouldn't spend the night in bed
with another man who had made her his woman. But every one of those occasions had torn a little piece of
Mason's heart away that she hadn't stood up to her
parents and chosen him. He knew how the Pendletons deviled her, nagged until they bent her to their
will. Just once, he wished she'd stand up to them and speak her own mind.
Mason smiled. She had in a way, by asking him to
marry her. Darned if that didn't stick in her pompous
parents' craw. But they'd given reluctant permission
because they believed the gossip that had grown with
each cancelled wedding. He'd have thought the par
ents of such a wonderful woman would have more
faith in her.
"If it don't rain, you're gonna be mad as hell we
went to all this trouble." Rowdy tossed his fork into
the wagon.
Mason peered at the horizon. “Those clouds build
ing in the southwest haven't turned threatening, but
the ache in my leg never lies. It's gonna rain." He laid his pitchfork next to Rowdy's.
"Well, then I believe it. 'Pears to me that leg of
yours is better than any barometer for predicting a
change in the weather."
When he'd climbed up on the wagon seat, Mason rubbed his temples. "Dang, my head's pounding like
a sonofabitch."
"Reckon you shouldn't a been in the sun like this
so soon after banging your head."
"Likely not." Mason handed the reins to Rowdy.
"Maybe you'd better drive. Drop me at my folks'
place, then you can take the wagon back to the
ranch."
"Sure thing, boss. Your ma's sure to have something
to soothe that lump. It's gonna worry folks, though."
Four
Mason clenched his jaw to prevent saying harsh
words to Rowdy. Danged if a lump on the head was
anything to worry anyone. Why did folks believe that
jinx business?
"Hate that the furniture hasn't arrived." He hadn't
fully furnished his house, but he had a new brass bed
and a big kitchen stove and a table with four chairs.
Beth had helped him order more furniture, but it
hadn't arrived yet. He couldn't get his mind off Beth
and him in that big bed.
Rowdy nodded. "Nice she helped pick out the
things, though. Women set a big store by choosing
their own things."
It had pleased Mason for Beth and him to pick out
their furnishings together. "Yeah, both sets of parents
tried to put in their two cents."
Rowdy laughed. "Reckon her mama wanted to do
all the choosing. She's a hard woman to please."
"You got that right. She wanted the fanciest stuff
available. But we stuck to our guns and got what we
wanted, practical things that would please a body after
a hard day. Of course, we picked some things just for
the heck of it." This marriage was a partnership as
far as he was concerned, and he wanted Beth to speak
her mind about decisions.
The ride to his parents' ranch took thirty minutes,
and Mason thought his head might burst before he
arrived. When Rowdy stopped the wagon, several bug
gies stood in the yard.
"My kin are here, at least some of them are." Mason
climbed down from the wagon.
"See you at the church, boss...maybe, if you ain't
too jinxed to show up."
Ignoring his ranch hand's doubt, Mason waved and
went inside. Soon as he got in the door and hung his
hat on a peg, his mother spotted the lump on his
head.
"What happened, son?"
Usually he hated her fussing, but this time he
hoped she had something for the ache. He touched
the lump. At least the swelling had decreased.
"Fell and hit my head. You know anything that'll
help?"
His mother pushed him into a chair. "I'll get my
ointment."
He heard laughter coming from his father's billiard
room at the back of the house. Mason rose and wandered that way. The laughter grew louder as he drew
closer.