Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (12 page)

Adelaide’s dogs were not thrilled to see Charlie’s pick up pull up in front of her house again. The four terriers made the loudest racket, but it was the shepherd that worried him the most. The look in that dog’s eyes was somewhere between hostility and hunger. Either way, Charlie wasn’t sure it boded well for him.

“Who the hell is here? How many times do I need to tell you people to call first?” Charlie could hear Adelaide complaining all the way to her front door. When she flung it open, it crashed against the wall hard enough to knock some of the stucco loose. “I could have been naked. Or sleeping. Or both!”

“Hi, Miss Adelaide,” Charlie said. “I’ve come to invite you to my wedding.”

“And who the fuck are you?” Adelaide said, stepping forward to peer at Charlie’s face. Recognition dawned slowly. “I know you. You’re Chuck’s boy. The one who came after the mail.”

“That’s right, Ma’am,” Charlie replied.

“Didn’t I say I was going to kill you?”

“You said you might,” Charlie agreed, “But I thought you might want to do a little dancing first.”

Adelaide cackled. “Well, imagine that. I’m going to go to a fancy wedding party. When is it?”

“This weekend,” Charlie said.

“Boy, you work fast,” Adelaide said. “Delores told me you just moved into town a little while ago, and here you are getting hitched.” She shook her head. “You’re just like your Grandpa.”

“I understood he wasn’t exactly the marrying kind,” Charlie said, with a gentle smile.

“Oh, he was great at getting married,” Adelaide replied. “It’s staying married he had the tough time with.” She snorted. “Hell, after me, I think he had three, four more wives.”

Charlie blinked. “You and Grandpa were married?”

“Just for a little while,” Adelaide replied, dismissing the union with a wave of her hand. “We weren’t a good match.” She beamed at Charlie. “But I guess if we’d stuck it out, I would have been your Grammy.”

“Well,” Charlie said, “Let’s just pretend that did happen.”

Adelaide cackled. “Why not? Let your lady love know what kind of family she’s marrying into right from the get-go.”

When Ada arrived with her family on Friday night, she couldn’t stop grinning. Even after she introduced everybody, her smile still stretched from ear to ear.

“What’s up with you, happy lady?” Charlie said, as he kissed her. “You’re so beautiful when you smile.”

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” she said. “Remember how you said you like surprises?”

“I like some surprises,” Charlie replied.

“I’m pretty sure you’re going to like this one,” Ada replied. She bounced on her heels. “We’ll know for sure tomorrow afternoon.”

“If you had a hand in it, I’m sure I’ll love it,” Charlie said. He couldn’t get over how excited his bride-to-be looked at the prospect of surprising him. If this was how their relationship was starting out, he thought, the future looked bright indeed.

“I didn’t do anything,” Ada protested. “I just know what’s going to happen.” After that, she refused to say another word about it.

Much to Charlie’s amusement, Ada’s mother was firm that her daughter should not spend the night before her wedding sleeping in the same bed as her future husband. “You’ve got the rest of your life to do that,” she said. “Besides, it wouldn’t be proper.”

Ada rolled her eyes. “Please, Mom. Who is possibly going to know where I sleep tonight?”

“Cassie will know,” Ada’s Mother said. “As so will I, and so will you. And so will this fine young man,” she said, nodding her head in Charlie’s direction. “I’m sure he agrees with me. Make your wedding night special.”

Charlie smiled and said nothing.

Ada’s step-father, Mike, looked at Charlie and grinned. “I can already tell you’re a smart one. Sometimes the best thing you can say in these situations is nothing at all.”

Charlie laughed. “I know better than to get between a woman and her mother.”

Ada’s mother smiled, tightly. “And will your Mother be joining us, Charlie?”

“I’m sure both of my parents will be watching over us from heaven,” Charlie said. “They were in a horrible accident shortly after I graduated high school.”

Ada’s mother’s body language softened immediately. “Oh, you poor darling!” She stepped forward and flung her arms around Charlie. It was a little bit like hugging his bride-to-be, Charlie thought, and yet completely different. He squeezed her gently, not sure at all how enthusiastically one was supposed to be when embracing their new mother-in-law.

Apparently he did all right, because Ada’s mom squeezed him back, released him, and stepped back. “It is all going to be fine,” she pronounced. “You’ll see.”

Charlie thought about how this short, prim woman was going to get along with Adelaide, and he smiled. “I’m sure it will be.”

Saturday morning dawned fine and bright. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and Ada’s father’s flight arrived on time and without incident.

“So you’re the young man who’s caused my daughter to abandon rational behavior?” he asked sternly.

“To be fair, sir,” Charlie replied, “your daughter has had the same effect on me.”

Ada’s father smiled, briefly, and then muttered, “Well, I can see this is going to end in disaster,” before moving off to take a seat on the front porch.

“Wow!” Ada said. “Daddy likes you!”

“He does?” Charlie said. “How can you possibly tell?”

“This is going to end in disaster is Dad-speak for welcome to the family, boy!” Ada said with a smile. “He expects everything to end in disaster, but he only tells that to the people he likes. Everyone else gets to be surprised.”

“Speaking of surprises,” Charlie said, “what do you have up your adorable little sleeve?” Ada had been grinning all day long, a sly cat-who-ate-the-canary grin he found absolutely irresistible.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Ten thirty, almost eleven,” he said.

“Then’ you’ll find out in just about an hour,” Ada replied. “Right when the preacher man gets here.” She shook her head. “I need to go make myself gorgeous for you.”

“Too late,” he said. “That’s already done.”

“Very funny.” She went up on tip toe and gave Charlie a quick kiss on the lips. “The next time I see you, you’ll be hearing
dum-dum-da-dum
,
dum-dum-de-dum
.”

“I can’t wait,” Charlie said.

She smiled, whirled on her heel, and disappeared into the bedroom to get ready.

Charlie thought the hour to come would be longest of his life, but it turned out to be far busier than he’d expected. Delores and Adelaide arrived together. Adelaide was dressed in an unbelievably ornate gown, and she’d brought all six of her dogs with her.

“Oh my goodness, Adelaide, I wasn’t expecting the entire family,” Charlie said.

“Shut up and give your Granny a kiss,” Adelaide responded. “I can’t exactly leave this bunch home alone. They’ll eat anybody who wanders up in my yard uninvited.” She turned to the dogs and told them something, pointing toward a shady spot alongside the house. Moving all as one, they went and flopped down on the cool grass.

“Excuse me?” Charlie turned to find, much to his surprise, that Ada’s father had joined the conversation. “Pardon me for interrupting, but when you were speaking with the dogs…was that Navajo?”

“Well, it wasn’t ancient Greek,” Adelaide laughed. “You’re a nice, cool drink of water, aren’t you?” she asked, looking Ada’s father up and down. “Why don’t you get me a glass of sweet tea, and we’ll talk indigenous dialects for a while?”

Ada’s father’s face lit up like he’d just won the lottery. “My,” he said to Charlie, right before he went in search of the requested drink. “You do have a truly fascinating family.”

The preacher man pulled in at quarter of noon, as expected.

“Darling,” Charlie said to his closed bedroom door. “It’s almost time for us to do this thing.”

“Not yet,” Ada protested. “I need your surprise to get here first.”

“How much longer will that be?” Charlie asked. Just then, he heard the sound of a large vehicle. It was honking its horn and gunning its engine. Outside, Adelaide’s half dozen dogs started going nuts.

“Not long at all,” Ada said, pulling open the door just a crack. “Don’t look at me! It’s bad luck. But get out there now and see who’s in that jeep.”

Charlie ran out of the house. A huge, olive-drab jeep was in his driveway, and climbing down from the driver’s seat was his brother David.

“Oh my God!” Charlie ran across the yard. “What are you doing here? I can’t believe it! This is wonderful!”

“That little woman of yours,” David said. “She’s a force to be reckoned with. She called over there, got my CO on the phone, and next thing I know, my ass is on a plane back home with orders to be here for your wedding.” He smiled. “And that’s not all.”

He stepped back toward the jeep, and opened the passenger door. Matthew got out, looking a little thinner and more haggard than Charlie last remembered seeing him. “She even managed to get this reprobate released into my custody.”

“Holy shit!” Charlie embraced his older brother. “It’s really good to see you.”

“I’ve got to go back,” Matthew cautioned. “That wife of yours can’t work miracles. But I’m sprung until my court date at least.”

“I’m glad you’re here, man,” Charlie said. He reached out for David and pulled him into the hug. “I’m so glad you’re both here.”

“Well,” David said, after a moment, “Let’s do this thing. It’s not every day I get to see my brother tie the knot.”

Charlie thought he was ready to get married. He’d been thinking about nothing except how wonderful it would be to have Ada by his side every day since she agreed to be his wife. But as the bridal march started playing, the full import of what it meant to be married, to hitch his life to hers for the rest of his days, hit him hard.

“You all right, dude?” Matthew was standing right next to him, in front of the preacher. “You’re looking a little green.”

“What am I doing?” he whispered. “I’m not ready to be married. What if I fuck this up completely?”

“Then you’re human, just like the rest of us,” Matthew said. He put his hand on Charlie’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “Relax. You’re going to be just fine.”

“I hope so,” Charlie said.

“Just take it one day at a time,” Matthew said. “Be honest. Pretty much do everything the opposite of the way I did it.”

“Well,” Charlie said, with a little laugh, “that approach has worked for me so far.”

“Smartass,” Matthew said. “Now straighten up and smile. Here comes the bride.”

Ada appeared on the front porch, with her father on her left and her step-father on her right. She had a small bouquet of daisies and bluebells in her hands, and a smile that went from ear to ear. Charlie had never seen her look so beautiful – and she’d been beautiful every time he’d looked at her.

“Wow,” he breathed. “Wow, oh, wow.”

The preacher man smiled. “You’re a lucky man.”

It seemed like it took forever for Ada to travel the short distance from the house to where Charlie was waiting with the preacher. Delores was crying the whole time she walked, while Ada’s own mother remained dry-eyed.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of this man and this woman,” the preacher man intoned. Adelaide’s dogs sent up a howl then, as if they were cheering, and everybody laughed.

“If I may continue,” the preacher man said, smiling as the dogs quieted down. He turned to Charlie. “Charles Andrew Daniels, do you take this woman to have and to hold, through sickness and through health, for richer and for poorer, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Charlie said, squeezing Ada’s hand tightly.

“And do you, Ada Marie Torintino, take this man to have and to hold, through sickness and through health, for richer and poorer, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Ada said.

The preacher man turned to Charlie. “You have the ring?”

Charlie blanched. Throughout all of this, with saving the ranch and finding true love, it had never once crossed his mind that he would need a wedding ring to seal the deal with his new bride. His mouth fell open, but no sounds were coming out. He wasn’t sure what in the world he was going to do when Adelaide got to her feet.

“I’ve got it right here!” she said. She tottered to Charlie’s side, and addressed Ada directly. “This is the ring his Grandpa married me with. And it worked out all right; I used it with three husbands after that.” She handed it to Charlie. “Every happiness, young man. Every happiness to the two of you.”

“Repeat after me,” the preacher man said. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

“With this ring,” Charlie said, savoring every word, “I thee wed.”

“Now, by the authority vested in me by the great state of Texas and the good Lord almighty, I now pronounce you man and wife.” The preacher man smiled at Charlie. “Go ahead and kiss your bride, son.”

Charlie did, and it was glorious.