Bridled and Branded (12 page)

“And you will?” Blaine asked. “Is that what this is about?”

“No,” he said softly. “Then again, I’d never take an oath to love and cherish her, something you’re bound and determined to drag her in front of a minister and promise her you’ll do.”

Lynlee stood there staring at Rhett like he was Satan himself, and for a minute, she thought he might be his next of kin. Blaine grabbed her hand and dragged her upstairs behind him, slamming his bedroom door.

“Do you love me?” he asked without wasting a second.

“You know I do,” she confirmed. “We’ve established that part, right?”

“Do you still want to marry me? Because if you do, I want you to marry me regardless of what those damn DNA tests show later on and regardless of whether I’ve fathered a child with another woman or not. In my heart, there’s no one else but you. There never will be.”

“I believe that, Blaine.”

“Then cross bridges with me, Lynlee. Cross them even though the weight we’re carrying across them threatens to collapse under us at any given time. Do it anyway because we both know how to swim. We’re survivors, and we don’t sink under pressure. You’ve waited a lifetime for my love. Now, you have it. Question is, what are you going to do with it?”

“Is this about Carlisle?”

“It’s about me and you. Carlisle and Rhett don’t think I’m good enough for you. Their opinion doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is if you think I’m good enough for you. Do you?”

“You know better than to ask something like that.”

“What if Rhett is right? What if Carlisle is right?”

“Do you think you’re the man they think you are?”

After a long pause, he said, “I was. I’m not now. I know who I am and what I want. The important thing is that you believe I’m who you want.”

“I love you just as you are, Blaine.”

“Carlisle believes Sarah Beth is carrying my child. Claims it’s a gut feeling. Maybe he’s right. If he is, I can live with that. What I need to know is will you love me if Sarah Beth gives birth to
my
child?”

“I’ll love you if every woman you’ve ever screwed comes through our front door claiming to have your baby on her hip.”

“Oh, God, Lynlee, don’t say that.”

She gulped.

“Don’t ask.”

“I won’t.” She stared at him in disbelief. “That many?”

“I thought you weren’t going to ask.”

“It doesn’t change how much I love you, Blaine. Nothing will ever change the way I feel about you.”

Epilogue

One year later

She’d been wrong before. If it were possible, Lynlee loved Blaine a thousand times more than when he’d proposed.

Blaine made all of her dreams come true, and walking into the church where they’d soon say their vows, she realized something for the first time. Her mother must’ve known she could count on Blaine all along. He was his father’s son, and the McCain men, while independent in many ways, treasured the women they promised to keep.

Blaine and Lynlee had enjoyed the best of times. Their bumpy start with the Sarah Beth ordeal ended when she gave birth to a healthy little boy. DNA tests proved the child’s father was a man who lived in their neighborhood. After hearing the good news, Lynlee and Blaine agreed never to mention the ordeal again. They had too much living to do and a whole lot of loving.

Lynlee peeked inside the church and admired the long-stem roses and beautiful, fresh greenery lining the pews. She’d asked for white and pink roses, but Blaine went to the extreme. She wondered if any florist within a hundred miles had pale roses left to sell.

Everything was perfect, or at least it would’ve been had her mother lived long enough to see them marry. Lynlee looked down at the simple, white wedding gown. She could’ve had any designer dress she wanted, but she chose to wear the same one her mother had worn all those years ago. It was the dress her mother would’ve worn to marry the man who would soon become her father-in-law.

Life sure had a bad sense of humor.

As if fate’s hand was in everything, she looked up in time to see her future father-in-law walking toward her. With his arms extended, he brought her in for a tight hug, and when he released her, he said, “You are as a beautiful as your mother was the day she wore that dress.”

Smiling, she dabbed a tear at the corner of her eye, and as if she thought her words could make things better, she said, “I love your son, Mr. McCain.”

“I believe you,” he said, running a finger over the tip of her nose like he used to do when she was ten or eleven.

“Can I escort you to your father so he can give you away to my son?”

“I’d like that.”

When they rounded the corner toward the sanctuary, Lynlee looked at her father and then glanced back at the man she believed had as much pride in escorting her as her own father would. Then she asked something inappropriate given the situation, but it was something she’d wanted to hear straight from him. “Did you love my mother?”

Patting her hand, he said with a gentle smile and eyes that gave everything away, “I loved her then. I love her today. I’ll go to my grave loving her.”

“And I’m sure she loved you, too.”

“She did, but I’m glad she didn’t have to face losing me. The loss I felt after your mother passed away was very hard, a burden I still carry. It’s one thing to see the person you love with someone else, happy, and making a good life. It’s an entirely different story when you discover the person you’ve loved for most of your life won’t be a part of your life at all. We were all good friends, Lynlee. Your parents loved one another. Victoria and I made a beautiful life together. Things worked out just as they should.”

He kissed her cheek, shook hands with her father, and said, “We have two fine kids, you and I.”

Lynlee’s father, a man of few words, only nodded and then he escorted her to the front of the church. “She would be proud of you.”

“And of you.”

“I think she would,” he said with understanding.

Lynlee’s gaze met Blaine’s, and he nervously took her hand and kissed her lips, adding, “It took you long enough to walk up here.”

The wedding guests laughed, and Carlisle, who was standing behind Blaine, said, “Easy boy, that honeymoon is coming.”

Blaine turned to the minister and said, “I do. I have, and I will.”

Again, the crowd hummed with stifled giggles, and Lynlee felt her skin heat in all the right spots. “Blaine, you have to wait.”

“No, honey, I don’t. I’ve waited about as long as a man can to have a beautiful bride. If anything, these kind people here today may end up getting a show.”

Lynlee squeezed his hands and whispered, “Behave.”

His eyes twinkled with plenty of mischief, and he said, “Never.”

By the time Lynlee focused on the minister, he was already saying, “If anyone gathered here today sees just cause these two people should not join in matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

THE END

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