BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (76 page)

At that, the whole house grew deathly
silent and my father gaped at Diana, as though she was completely out of her
mind.

I backed up and eyed Valerie. For as much
as I didn’t want to be the cause of their unhappiness, it was Diana who had
made the decision and to that, all I could do in response was smile.

Epilogue

Four years passed. The divorce was final
and as I stood in front of the mirror, staring at myself as I reflected in awe
of what was about to happen and as far as we had come, I heard my mother come
in behind me.

She smiled as tears welled up in her eyes.
Her hand covered her mouth carefully as she tried to hold back the rush of
emotion she felt. Behind her, Shawn’s mother came in and beamed brightly.

“You look absolutely beautiful,” Cindy
said. “Shawn couldn’t have asked for a more perfect bride.”

In the four years since the two women
finally found the real culprit behind all of the lies and manipulation, they
first found common ground, and eventually became friends.

Shawn’s father had never admitted what he
did or his end goal, but eventually, his reason and even his admission ceased
to matter. Life went on for the four of us without him.

Even with all of the planning, all of the
memories and all of the excitement that had led up to this day, I still
couldn’t quite believe that it was here.

I was nervous and the jitters of both my
mother and my soon-to-be mother-in-law didn’t help. Still, I was happy that
they were there.

“Everything is going to be perfect!” my
mother answered. I could tell that now, even with all of the reservations she
had about the two of us going through with this at such a young age, she was
completely content and at ease with our decision.

She didn’t say anything, but I could tell
by the excitement in her eyes and that made me extremely happy.

“Thank you,” I answered, turning around in
a flash of form-fitting white. My long train was my mother’s idea, but now that
I was wearing it, I had come to enjoy the thought of having something
traditional; even though we weren’t such a traditional couple.

I smiled and took a deep breath, trying to
calm my frantic nerves.

“I think it’s almost time,” Cindy answered
as she stuck her head out of the door and then made her way to her seat.

My mother hugged me briefly, probably
afraid that she was going to lose it completely before she made her way back to
her seat also.

It had been a long road. In addition to
college and distance separating us at times, Shawn’s relentless, unsuccessful
attempts to have his father join back into his life had caused a few highs and
lows in the relationship, but we had persevered. And now, we were about to make
our love official.

A few moments later, the organ started up
and I began my walk toward my handsome groom. It was true, we were both young,
but after dating through the rest of high school and college, we knew what we
wanted so it didn’t make sense to wait anymore.

I smiled as I walked past the small
congregation. Every face in the crowd I knew, but there was one that was not
present, who I was certain would only be missed by one person.

Shawn’s father was invited to the wedding,
but he never responded, despite the calls that Shawn had placed requesting his
presence.

Still, even in his father’s absence, Shawn
looked happier and prouder than I had ever seen him before.

This year had been good for us, even though
things had not gone exactly as we had planned. Shawn’s father not caring about
getting back into his son’s life wasn’t the only hurdle, but we had made it
through and that was the important thing. After all, it was our life that we
were living.

“It’s just as I told you a long time ago,
Shawn…” I whispered to him as I made my way up to the altar and stood in front
of him, “and it’s even truer today than ever before.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” He smiled and
swallowed hard before turning toward the priest.

“No matter what, we’ll always be friends
forever,” I replied, smiling softly.

Then, just before the music officially
stopped and the ceremony began, I heard Shawn whisper, “Yes, but starting
today, we officially become so much more.”

At that moment, I couldn’t have been
happier. I turned and smiled, realizing that was the moment when it all sunk
in. This was finally happening and it was then that I started to look forward
to our tried and true happily ever after.

The
End

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