Happy Is The Bride (4 page)
Read Happy Is The Bride Online
Authors: Caroline Clemmons
but she still had to live with the pain and embarrass
ment of being jilted. Everyone in town talked about
the snobbish, rich girl no one wanted to marry. After
the second cancellation, talk of her being a jinx
spread. To this day, she heard the whispers when she
went into town for church or shopping—as if she
were to blame for the shortcomings of the men cho
sen for her.
Public humiliation at the hands of three men had hurt her, and the gossip that followed hurt more.
Each cancelled ceremony had whittled away at her
confidence. But Beth thanked God none of those
weddings had occurred, because now she could wed
a man she admired and who understood her.
A large vase rocked and snapped Beth from her
reverie. Mrs. Pendleton caught it before it fell.
"Mother, those two urns look as if they might turn
over easily. If they fall, they'll soak someone in the
front pew."
brush against them. You see how the effect is visible even from the back pew? I'll warn Rachel since she'll
be standing near one." Her mother joined them at
the back of the chapel. "All we lack are the garlands."
"I'll get the stepladder." Beth picked up two empty
buckets and headed for the buckboard. At the top of
the steps, she saw a wagon approach. Her heart
skipped a beat when she recognized the driver. "Oh, look, Mason's here."
Mrs. Pendleton rushed to the door and tugged on
Beth's arm. "Hurry, back inside. He's not supposed to
see you on your wedding day. It's bad luck, and you've
had all of that I can stand."
"Nonsense, Mother. Surely you don't believe that
sort of thing. It would be rude not to greet him now
that we've seen him."
Besides, she wanted to see him. Wanted it a great
deal. She needed him to reassure her he hadn't
changed his mind. Beth descended the steps and set
her paraphernalia in the buckboard.
When the wagon drew alongside, Mason grinned at
her before he climbed down, and his smile set her
mind at ease. He wore denim pants and a gray-
checked shirt with sleeves rolled against the summer heat, and straw and mire stuck to his work boots.
"Hello, Mason. Hello, Mr. Vines. It's lucky for us
you came. We need help with the garlands inside."
Rowdy Vines tipped his hat. "Happy to oblige,
ma'am." He hopped down and took the stepladder to
ward the chapel.
seen her in months instead of only yesterday. His
warm gray eyes searched her as if he memorized each
part of her.
She smiled up at him. He was the handsomest man
she knew and the kindest. "We decorated the chapel
with flowers and such." What a silly thing to say when
he knew why they were here. Suddenly, she felt shy
and awkward as a schoolgirl with her first beau.
Mrs. Pendleton stood with hands on her hips at the
top of the steps. "You're not supposed to see the bride
on the wedding day. You should have known we'd be
here and stayed away."
Mason paid her no mind except to remove his hat
respectfully. "Already see Beth, so I might as well talk to her, ma'am." He resumed gazing at Beth. "You look
pretty as the sunshine this morning."
"Mason, you're hurt." When he'd removed his hat,
she'd spotted a large bruise on a raised lump. Beth
pushed his hair from his forehead. "Oh, there's a
break in the skin." She didn't believe in the jinx, but
this worried her. Did she bring bad luck to any fiancée?
No, surely not.
"Aw, I fell, but it's nothing. You know how my leg acts crazy sometimes." He nodded toward the wagon.
"We're gonna spread this straw so if it rains people
won't get so muddy or the buggies stuck."
Mrs. Pendleton threw up her hands and went into
the building with Rowdy. Beth was glad to see them go
so she could talk with Mason alone.
"That's real thoughtful of you, Mason." Beth could
count on Mason to think of others before himself.
She thanked her lucky stars she'd be wed to such a
kind man. "I sure hope it won't rain. You know,
'Happy is the bride the sun shines on'?"
He flashed that cocky grin that signaled he teased.
"Afraid of bad luck?"
Three
Beth realized she wasn't afraid of bad luck anymore.
She shook her head. "Not with you. I know you'd never
let me down."
"No, I never will. I promise you that." Mason took
Beth's hand and tucked it in the crook of his arm.
"Let's take a stroll by the river."
help her mother, and weighed her mother's irritabil
ity against her own desire to walk with Mason. He put
his hand over hers, and that contact swayed her. In
stead of the comfort his touch used to arouse,
currents of lightning shot through her.
Why would an engagement make a difference be
tween her and a friend of more than twenty years?
All she knew was that since she'd proposed to
Mason, her reaction to him had changed. His presence incited escalating odd sensations, and she had
the most scandalous thoughts. She questioned
whether he had the same thoughts, and the heat of a blush reached her cheeks.
There hadn't been time for proper courting. He'd
called on her, but other than the day she proposed to
him, they'd had no time alone. Her parents accom
panied her to his home and that of his parents. When
he called on her, one of her parents remained in the
room. A hasty kiss on the cheek was all he'd given her,
but his soulful looks let her know he wanted more.
Her breath hitched, and she struggled to keep her
eyes averted for fear he might read her mind. Her
mother said a lady never had thoughts of the flesh, yet
Beth couldn't stop dwelling on it. Would he be scan
dalized? Right now she wondered how his lips tasted.
Mason guided her under the back edge of the
building between two of the stone columns and
pulled her into his arms. "Forgive me, Beth, I can't
wait for this any longer."
Strawberry jam.
He tasted sweet as the jam she'd given him last
week. She melted against him, and he deepened the
kiss. His tongue traced the line of her lips, and she
opened to his invasion. She gasped, but his tongue
probed against hers and created a pool of warmth low
in her abdomen. Her knees threatened to give way,
and she clung to him.
Surprised at the giddiness his action evoked, she
soon matched his thrusts with her own tongue. Dear
heaven, the thoughts that aroused. A pulsing, aching
heat built in her private place. Much more of this and
she'd burst into flame.
One of his hands caressed her breast, and new tingles shot through her. He broke contact with her lips
to murmur between kisses to her neck, "I can hardly
wait to view these beauties tonight."
pered, "You mean see, um, see me without clothes
on?"
on either one of us, just like God made us."
wanted to give Adam back his rib.
But then Mason moved his hand across her nipple,
those tingles changed to jolts of pleasure, and she re
considered. Maybe this man-woman thing wouldn't
be too bad, in spite of what her mother said.
Mason's other hand cupped her bottom and
tucked her into him. She sensed a hard bulge press
ing against her as he resumed their kiss. It must be his
man thing, and she worried at the size of it. How
could that fit inside her?
Breathless, she broke the kiss. He pulled her to him
and cradled her head against his chest. She slid her arms around his waist and savored his embrace. In
spite of her worries about tonight, in his arms she
knew peace.
He kissed her temple. "Can't tell you how much
I've needed this. I've dreamed of us alone in our own
home tonight."
That's when they'd come together. But Mason
wouldn't do anything to hurt her. She trusted him.
"I look forward to it, too. We make a fine couple,
and we'll have a good life together." She raised her
head and asked the question that had worried her
since she'd proposed to him.
"Mason, you're not sorry you said yes, are you?" She
knew he'd never go back on a promise, but it worried
her that he might regret that he'd agreed to wed her.
He brushed his lips against hers in a soft, sweet kiss.
"I'm only sorry we've wasted years when we should
have been together. We belong with one another."
nuzzled into him. "In spite of all the talk, I'm feeling
very lucky right now."
as I can remember."
Thunderstruck, she looked up at him. He wanted
her? "Mason, you never said. Why didn't you tell me
long ago?"
"I couldn't. You were so all-fired set on pleasing
your folks by going to that fancy school up north.
Then when you came back, well, I thought you were
too fine a lady for the likes of me."
Did Mason think her a snob? The suggestion cre
ated a ball of worry hi her. "How could you think such
a thing? If—if I gave you that idea from anything I
said or did, then I apologize. There's no finer man
anywhere than you, Mason."
He pulled her back to his chest, and she heard him
exhale, a great whoosh of breath, as if he'd been hold
ing in the air. "I thought you deserved a whole man, someone not hampered by a limp."
She pushed away from him with her hands rested
on his chest. "Mason Whittaker, don't ever let me hear
you say another word against yourself. I'm real sorry
about your leg because I know it pains you, but that
doesn't make you less of a man. In fact, you've
achieved success in spite of being slowed by it, so that
makes you twice the man of anyone else I know."
He pushed a stray curl from her face. "You always
championed me. Guess that's one reason why I love
you."
He loved her.
She didn't know what to say. Mason Whittaker ac
tually said he loved her. She should answer him. But
how? Instead, she clung to him, pressed herself
against him, and held on.
Dear Lord, and she'd asked him to marry her be
cause of a bet. She should tell him, confess right now.
But she knew his temper and his hard-shelled pride.
If he found out, that pride of his would drive him
away. She couldn't bear another cancelled wedding.
More, she couldn't bear losing Mason as her best
friend and their future together.
