The Cowboy and the Princess (13 page)

Everything in Texas seemed oversized. It made her feel tiny, insignificant, unimportant, and to Annie’s surprise, she enjoyed the sensation.

“Howdy,” they were greeted repeatedly, most people calling Mariah by name. Gentlemen tipped their hats. Ladies wriggled their fingers in a wave.

“This is a very friendly place,” Annie observed.

“Very. Much different from where I grew up.” Mariah chuckled.

“Big city versus small town.”

“You’ll see the difference soon enough. Where are you from?”

Annie hesitated. She didn’t want to lie, but she couldn’t come out and tell Mariah the truth, so she hedged. “A small place.” That was true enough. The entire country of Monesta was about the same size as the city of Dallas.

“So you should feel right at home here,” Mariah said. “There’s just something about cowboys that makes a woman feel welcome.”

“I love cowboys,” Annie admitted.

“Cowboys
are
something else.” Mariah sighed dreamily. “But they have their challenges as well.”

“Which are?”

“For the most part, they tend to be the strong, silent types.”

“This is bad?”

“Only if you’re in a relationship with one and you have the normal feminine urge to discuss your feelings.”

“I see.”

“That sounds bad, doesn’t it? I didn’t mean it as a bad thing. In fact, speaking in generalities of course, a cowboy doesn’t have to tell you what he’s feeling. He shows it by his actions. You can count on a cowboy. They’ll be there for you through thick and thin. And although they might not talk much, when they do talk, you know it’s because they truly have something to say.”

“This is how it is between you and Joe?”

“Yes.”

“How long have you been married?”

“It’ll be two years in December. I can’t believe it’s been that long because it feels like two minutes.”

“You have a happy life.”

“Very. I’ve been blessed.”

“You have a beautiful family.”

“Thank you. We’ve been talking about having another baby, but this thing with Miracle—”

“Miracle?”

“The horse Brady is working with. Miracle is Joe’s prizewinning cutting horse. He was injured in an accident on Valentine’s Day and he hasn’t been the same since. Joe is grieving that horse something fierce.”

Across the street, on the corner in front of the UPS shipping store, was an old-style pay phone. Not that she had ever used a pay phone herself, but she’d seen them on television. What luck! Whenever she got a chance, she could slip away and call Rosalind from the pay phone. It would be difficult to trace her through a pay phone.

They reached Mariah’s shop with the whimsical name, The Bride Wore Cowboy Boots.

“That is an unusual name for a wedding planning business,” Annie said.

“I specialize in cowboy-style weddings. Business is thriving. We’ve got people driving out from Fort Worth and Dallas and beyond for real cowboy-style weddings.”

“I am intrigued.”

“I’ll show you inside. Introduce you to the crew. It’s going to be kind of crazy in here, but it’s a good chaos. You’ll get used to it,” Mariah assured her.

Mariah was right. The minute they entered the building, a pert red-haired woman, wearing her hair in braided pigtails, the way Annie had worn her hair when she was six years old, came running up. She had on a crinkly purple skirt—broomstick skirts, Annie believed they were called from her readings on cowboy culture—a bright orange, puffy sleeved blouse with wooden buttons in the shape of cow horns, and a pair of hunter green cowboy boots. She had cinnamon-colored freckles sprinkled over the bridge of her pug nose.

“Howdy,” she said to Annie, and then immediately turned to Mariah. “The bride has changed her mind. She’s decided she wants tussy-mussies instead of arm sheath bouquets for the bridesmaids. Where are we going to get five tussy-mussies at this late date? What are we gonna do?”

“Prissy,” Mariah said in a calm voice. “Take a deep breath.”

Prissy obeyed.

“This is Annie, she’s going to be working with us starting Monday. Today, she’s just going to hang out and observe.”

“I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Prissy,” Annie held out her hands as she had been trained in a proper princess handshake designed to show deference, respect, and caring.

Prissy ignored the handshake and instead enveloped Annie in a big hug. “Pleased ta meet ya.”

Annie was caught off guard by Prissy’s enthusiasm, but luckily Prissy had already swung her attention back to Mariah. “The tussy-mussies?”

“What do we specialize in?” Mariah asked.

“Cowboy weddings.”

“So think about it a minute. We’ve got the long-stemmed flowers for a sheath spray. Tussy-mussies are nothing more than cone-shaped vases with ring chains for easy carrying. Given those two parameters, what could we use to quickly make inexpensive tussy-mussies?”

Prissy’s eyes lit up as she followed Mariah’s line of reasoning. “Horse training cones. The small ones.”

“Clever woman,” Mariah praised. “What could we use for the ring chains?”

“Loose ring snaffle bits!” Prissy crowed.

“And how do we make the cones look elegant?”

“Gold foil?”

“Absolutely, and perhaps some white lace streamer ribbons.”

“I’m on it.” Prissy beamed and took off.

Mariah’s aplomb and quick thinking impressed Annie. Plus, she admired how she’d guided Prissy to the answer and made her feel good about herself.

The office was small. Just the front desk where Prissy had been sitting, a small bistro table and chairs with sample books, and a computer for Internet searches. The walls were decorated with photographs of simple yet elegant cowboy-themed weddings.

This was the kind of wedding Annie wanted. Uncomplicated white dress made of a natural silk. Instead, her dress was a rococo monstrosity made of satin organza with heavy beading, an excess of hand-tatted lace, and a thousand-mile train. She wished she could hold her wedding in a simple white chapel instead of an ornate cathedral. Dreamed of riding away on a horse instead of in a Bugatti.

A set of double doors led to backroom storage. That’s where they found another employee.

“Morning, Lissette,” Mariah greeted the woman who was crouched searching through a box on a bottom shelf. “Need help?”

Lissette raised her head. Her dark brown hair was pulled up in a bun, but numerous corkscrew tendrils escaped to frame her face. She wore a yellow and white sundress and matching yellow sandals. She sported a French pedicure and a gold ankle bracelet. “Coffee and lots of it.”

“I’ll make a run to the Java Hut. What’s up?”

“I dropped the cake topper last night and broke it,” Lissette said. “I was hoping we had a similar replacement to save me a trip into Fort Worth.”

“We should have something.”

“I thought so too, but I can’t seem to find it. Then again, I’m so sleep deprived it could be right in front of me and I’m just not seeing it. Kyle’s not sleeping on a regular schedule and I ended up having to finish the cake at three in this morning, hence the fumble fingers and brain drain.”

“After this wedding is over,” Mariah said, “we are all going out. Joe’s got VIP seating for the Fort Worth Chisholm Trail Rodeo tomorrow night. You need a break and some fun with Jake before he ships out again. Ruby will be happy to watch Kyle. I pay her triple time after hours. The woman is pure gold.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Lissette sighed wistfully. “Thank you so much for the offer.”

“Kyle is Lissette’s two-year-old son,” Mariah explained to Annie. “And her husband, Jake, is going back for his third tour in the Middle East. Afghanistan this time.”

Lissette pressed her lips into a straight line and Annie could see unshed tears glistening in her eyes. She did not want her husband to return to war.

“Lissette, this is Annie. I hired her to help out around here.”

“Hello,” Lissette said, as reserved as Prissy had been exuberant. “Welcome aboard.”

“Thank you. I am delighted to meet you.” Annie didn’t miss the quick look Lissette darted Mariah’s way. A look that said,
Where did you find this character?

“Annie is a friend of Brady’s,” Mariah said in explanation of Lissette’s unasked question.

Annie was fully aware she did not fit in. She was doing her best. Her mother had started her on elocution lessons when she was six so that her speech would sound neutral and as sophisticated as possible. Her father had kept up the tutoring after Queen Evangeline had passed away.

“You are a princess,” King Phillip had said on more than one occasion. “You must sound like one as well.”

Sometimes, Annie felt that with all the lessons and the tutoring and the coaching and the rules to follow, her essential self had been buried deep and she had no idea who she really was anymore. Honestly, had she ever known? She was merely an image of what other people wanted her to be.

Loneliness pushed at her. “I can retrieve coffee from the Java Hut for you, if it is near enough to walk,” Annie offered. Not only would it give her time to clear her head, but going for coffee would allow her the opportunity to use the pay phone across the street and call Rosalind.

“That would be great.” Mariah pulled a ten-dollar bill from her purse. “I’d like a small soy latte. Lissette?”

“Straight up large black coffee,” Lissette said. “House blend is fine.”

“Prissy,” Mariah called out. “Annie’s making a coffee run. Do you want something?”

“Blended iced mocha,” Prissy called back.

“Where is the Java Hut located?” Annie asked.

“The block behind this one.” Mariah pointed. “Get yourself something as well.”

Annie did not drink coffee, but perhaps they would have hot tea. “I will return shortly.”

“You’re a life saver,” Lissette said, and went back to searching for a replacement cake topper.

Feeling like a furtive sneak thief, even though she had no reason to feel that way, Annie left the shop and went straight to the pay phone. She dug the coins from her satchel, deposited them into the pay phone, and punched in Rosalind’s phone number. The connection was spotty. The phone line crackled and hissed.

“Annabella, it is so good to hear from you,” Rosalind said. “How is the bride-to-be? Is she nervous? What time is it there? How long before the ceremony?”

So much had happened since she’d run away from the presidential compound yesterday evening during the wedding rehearsal dinner that she’d forgotten Echo’s wedding was still several hours away.

Apparently, Chandler and Strawn had not yet told her father the mononucleosis story, so Annie didn’t say anything about it either. “Echo looks beautiful,” she said. That was true. Then she went into details about the former president’s ranch and the elaborate wedding preparations.

“I wish I could be there with you. You know how much I love cowboys.”

“You would love it here,” Annie said, looking around at the myriad of men in cowboy hats strolling the street. “You must come to Texas one day.”

“Why would I ever leave Monesta?”

“There is a whole big world out here to explore,” Annie said. “You’re still young enough. Just barely past forty.”

“When would I have a chance?” Rosalind paused. “Unless you have decided not to take me with you to Dubinstein to care for the children you will have with Prince Theodore.”

“Of course I am taking you with me.” That is if Teddy still wanted her when she came back home. The thought that he might reject her because of her adventuresome exploration made her smile.

For the first time, Annie considered that maybe she had an ulterior motive by embarking on this adventure, a motive hidden even to herself. She had convinced herself she wanted nothing more than to live life like a normal person. Have a real job. Earn her own money. Make her own friends. Take care of herself. This was about independence and self-esteem.

But what if it was more than that? What if, because of her striking out on her own, Teddy deemed her unworthy of being his wife? They’d never spoken of her virginity. It had been a given. The royal physician had confirmed it.

Was this what she had secretly been shooting for all along? Was that why she really wanted to go off on her own? As a way to get out of the arranged marriage?

That is quite passive/aggressive, Annabella.

She recalled the previous night. Thought of what passed between her and Brady. If Teddy knew about that, he would be appalled. It was a deal breaker. Grounds to call off the wedding. Would he?

Annie smiled and her heart lifted. Yes. That was what she wanted. Only she hadn’t been able to tell her father this to his face. He was a strong, domineering man, and in all honesty, she was a little afraid of him. He’d never hit her or spoken cruelly to her, but neither had he shown her a great deal of affection, and when Henry had arrived, it was as if she was nothing more than a means to unite Monesta with Dubinstein. She had spent her life under her father’s thumb, in his shadow, and she could not deny him anything. But if she were to “ruin” herself and Teddy broke things off, then it was out of her hands.

No, this had not been a calculated plan, but if the outcome got her out of her impending marriage, it would make her a very happy woman.

“Annabella?”

“I am still here. Just know . . . just know . . .”

“Yes?”

“I love you,” she said breathlessly. “I love you more than . . .” How could she say she loved Rosalind more than she had ever loved her own parents? It was a betrayal. It was disloyal. And it was the truth.

“Please deposit two more dollars,” came an automated voice over the pay phone.

Annie dug into her satchel. She did not have two more dollars in change. “I have to go, Rosalind. Just know that I am safe. Nothing untoward has happened to me.”

“Something is wrong. You sound odd. What is it, child?”

But she never got to answer. The connection snapped off and she was left holding the receiver and feeling like something monumental had changed inside her. Like a ship breaking from its mooring and set adrift on the sea. No structure, no guide, just wide-open space around her. She could go anywhere. Be anyone. Do anything.