Marrying The Cowboy: A BWWM Cowboy Billionaire Romance (9 page)

Tears came to Mrs. Stanger's eyes. She pulled a tissue from her purse
to dab at them. "What happened? When did you propose? When did
you decide to marry? Can we have some details?"

Kate and Bruce looked at one another. He gave her a gentle nudge.

"Well, we've touched on the subject of marriage from time to
time. So we always knew it was a possibility on the table. Last year,
Bruce gave me a beautiful promise ring to let me know he was going to
be here and be patient with me.

"He whisked me off on a trip to Paris and everything was so
magical. When he proposed, the only thing I could say was yes."

She turned to look at Bruce, who gave her a reassuring smile. Kate
continued.

"He has encouraged me to be spontaneous, and live in the moment.
So we decided to get married. At the base of the Eiffel Tower. The
day was perfect. And to be honest, I was happy to not have the stress
of wedding planning on my back. So now, I feel like I can take the
time to plan this wedding the way I would like to be because we're
already married."

"Well then, I guess we need to get to planning a wedding."
Mrs. Walker approached her daughter with open arms.

Tears came to Kate's eyes. She snuggled in her mother's embrace. All
she wanted was to know that her parents supported her decision. As
her mother hugged her, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Mrs.
Stanger, with an approving expression.

"Bruce, you kept this a secret. But I knew it. I knew how much
you loved this woman. Me and your father love her too."

Mrs. Stanger gave Kate a tissue to wipe her tears. The ladies laughed
as they stood there hugging.

"Why don't we all grab a cigar?" Mr. Stanger offered. Bruce
nodded in agreement and showed the fathers the way to the balcony.

The women sat back down.

"So tell us everything," Mrs. Walker encouraged.

"Oh wow." Kate was still sniffling, taking in the gravity
of the moment. She wiped away another tear.

"Bruce is such a wonderful man. He is exactly what a girl would
ask for when it comes to love. Mom, after talking with you, I did not
want to lose the man that has been the love of my life. And I always
have all of you telling me that I don't focus on my social life and
my personal life enough. I simply decided to take everyone's advice
and put as much time in to my love life as I do my career. And that
worked out.

"I've never thought about having the huge wedding with all the
trimmings. That's not me. I would rather have a quiet ceremony with
friends and family. A simple dress. Good food and good music. And of
course, the man I love."

"Well then, that's what we will do."

Kate was surprised. She turned to her mother. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. You and Bruce should do this your way. It will be your
memory."

"Mom, that means the world to me. I had no idea what you all
would think when I told you that we got married."

"Oh dear. Bruce's father and I absolutely love the two of you
together. I have to apologize for my reaction. I was taken aback.
Bruce has always been one to be spontaneous, and I knew the two of
you were obviously on the path to marrying. But I had no idea the two
of you would go off and get married. But I'm happy that you did."

"Thank you. You two don't know how much this means to me. I was
so worried about how our family would react to the fact that we left
for vacation and came back married."

Mrs. Stanger gave Kate a pat on her leg. "Dear, we do things
when we are in love. We've all been there."

Mrs. Walker confirmed. "Yes, I have to agree with that."

"But I will say, the two of you will not leave us mothers out of
the planning phase. We will not be denied that much."

Kate smiled, filled with happiness that he night had gone better than
she imagined.

"It's a deal."

Once everyone was gone for the evening, Bruce and Kate sat back with
a glass of wine, sitting in front of the fireplace. Bruce held her
hand up in the air.

"That ring looks amazing on you."

Kate admired the sparkle. "It is absolutely perfect. Just like
you."

Bruce hugged her. "Perfect I am not, but I make do."

They sipped their wine.

"I'm a grown adult and I have no clue why I was so nervous to
share with our parents."

"No matter how old you get, you are always your parents' child.
Hell, I'm over forty and I know my mother still sees me as her little
boy from time to time."

Kate curled up closer to Bruce on the couch. "I get it. I wanted
them to jump for joy. The fact that it took them a moment to come
around was almost scary."

"We made it through. That is all that matters. But did you have
any doubt that we would?"

"No."

Bruce sipped his wine. "And besides, even if they did not like
it, there was no turning back. You are Mrs. Bruce Stanger."

"Hmm. That is true. Can you say that again?"

That sly grin came across Bruce's face. "What? The part about
you being Mrs. Bruce Stanger?"

Kate kissed his soft lips. "I love hearing you say that."

"If I would have known that I would get this kind of response, I
would have made you Mrs. Bruce Stanger a long time ago, pretty lady."

Bruce kissed his wife.

"Let's set the date," Kate suggested.

"Alright. Let's give it two months. That will put us both past
the busy season and make sure that we have the time to properly spend
with our family and friends celebrating over the weekend. I have a
few speaking engagements coming up and want to clear some of the
travel off of my schedule."

Kate whipped out her cell phone and opened the calendar. "Here
is the date."

Bruce looked at the phone. "Okay, July 5th it is."

Although they were already married, Kate was excited all over again
to marry him. She shared with him her idea of getting married at the
beach.

"You want small and intimate right?"

"I do."

"I have an idea."

*****

Kate gathered every wedding magazine she could get her hands on. She
wanted the right inspiration for the ceremony. She and Bruce settled
on a cerulean blue theme accented with silver.

She put her mother in charge of the centerpieces. Mrs. Stanger was in
charge of décor. Linda was in charge of finding the caterer
and the music. Kate would oversee all areas. She knew they were
pressed for time and two months would not be a lot of time to pull it
all together. Especially when she and Bruce had full schedules.

Neither of them worked normal nine to five jobs so they needed to
carve out the time wisely. But being in control of their own careers
allowed them make the time they needed for family and for their
wedding.

So far, everything was coming together smoothly. The anticipation
building as the day drew near.

Kate was happy that for the next few speaking engagements and
conferences, Bruce would be in town. For the first time, he invited
her out to see him in action.

On an extended lunch break, Kate drove over to the convention center
where Bruce would be speaking. She was in awe of the man she had
fallen for. On stage, he was charismatic, commanded attention, and
was witty and knowledgeable. She knew there was something about him
that attracted people to his workshops, but to see Bruce in action,
room filled to capacity with people eager to learn from him, made her
admire him even more.

Kate sat in the back of the room, watching him at work. It was as if
she was getting to know him all over again. He had seen her at work,
and she hadn't had a chance to check him out in his element.

There were so many facets to this man. He was the former Fortune 500
executive who was brave enough to branch out on his own and start a
consulting business. He was also the family man who loved his parents
dearly, loved to live off of the land, and was the rugged cowboy she
first met and fell head over heels for.

He was easily able to make the switch between the two, but the more
she took a look, the more she realized he was doing nothing more than
changing clothes. Bruce was always confident, self- assured, and
willing to take a step out and try something new. It was the same
principles he taught during his speaker's workshops and it was the
same principle she learned from him.

Of course, maybe Bruce had picked up these life lessons in his
experience. She was sure to pick them up and learn from them as she
lived as well. Thankful that she had such a wonderful man by her
side, Kate gathered her things and quietly left out of the back door.

Her heart swelled with love for Bruce. Even more so than normal. It
was nice to have a reminder of what kind of man loved her. Not that
she questioned her marriage, or had any second thoughts, she knew now
that taking that risk had yielded such great return.

*****

The day of the wedding, the weather was absolutely perfect. The
weather was warm. The sun was high overhead, brightly illuminating
the day. Kate had no idea what the venue would look like and she was
excited to see how everything had turned out.

She and Bruce decided to have the wedding at the ranch. It seemed
like the ideal place for friends and family to gather and celebrate.

The ceremony was set for early afternoon so they had an early start
for their day. First up was a relaxing massage to get rid of the
pre-wedding jitters. She had a facial a few days before and was now
completely relaxed and glowing.

As much as Kate wanted it to be a smaller, more intimate affair, with
no fuss, the family wanted the opposite; an all out social
extravaganza. Between the mothers wanting to invite each and every
member of their church ladies' league or all of their neighbors, and
the list of decorations beginning to get out of control, Kate was
sure she would lay down that night with a migraine. Instead, she sat
both her mother and her mother in law down and asked them both to
compromise.

Out of that came something to make everyone happy. A guest list of
about two hundred and fifty people, the archway of the ranch
decorated with an elaborate spread of white roses (Mrs. Walker's
idea), a caterer to handle all of the food and drinks, and a wedding
coordinator to handle the day of activities.

Once Kate knew the mothers were happy, she could breathe a sigh of
relief. There was nothing worse than a mother who felt like she had
not had proper input in the wedding planning for her child's big day.

It all came together smoothly and Kate was happy that she did agree
to go ahead and have a ceremony and reception to celebrate such a
momentous occasion with family and friends.

Kate and Bruce decided not to have a wedding party. The day would
just be about the two of them. They wanted to share the love they had
for one another with others without holding anyone else financially
obligated to be a part.

The couple spent the night apart, the first in many weeks. Kate had
not been able to sleep that night without feeling Bruce's warm
embrace. She tossed and turned, partially because of his absence,
mostly because of her anxiety about the wedding.

It had been so much easier to say 'I do' with no one else around.
Now, they would have an audience and for some reason, that seemed to
make it feel more official.

The wedding coordinator sent Kate a text to let her know that
everything was going as planned and she had nothing to worry about.
As she approached the ranch, Kate was overcome by the sight of the
roses intertwined with the wrought iron gate. As she drove in, she
could see the workers hustling to and fro setting up the white fold
up chairs.

As soon as she pulled her car in to the driveway, there was a valet
there to meet her.

"Thank you," she said as she gave him the keys.

"Bruce thought that since we invited so many guests, we should
have a valet help with parking."

Kate was relieved to see Mrs. Stanger standing at the door.

"I guess it is a good idea. He is always on top of things."

Her mother in law was smiling from ear to ear. She patted Kate on the
hand gently.

"Your friend Linda delivered your dress and all of your clothing
and accessories yesterday. And your hair and makeup artist are both
here already waiting on you."

"This is starting to feel unreal." Kate
was not sure if she was overwhelmed in a good way or a not so good
way.

"Right this way dear." Mrs. Stanger spoke slowly, with a
low voice tone, almost as if she did not want to startle Kate.

She took her toward the back of the house, where there was a small
suite. Kate had no idea that the house was that expansive.

"You can dress in here. And Kate," Mrs. Stanger turned to
her. "Every girl needs to feel like a princess at some time.
Just so happens that most of us call that day our wedding day."

Her mother in law's reassuring smile was supposed to make Kate feel
more calm, but all it did was make her feel slightly more unsure
about the entire wedding.

"What was your day like?" Kate took a chance asking. She
did not know what she expected the answer to be.

Briefly, it seemed as if the older woman ventured into a far off
land. "When my husband and I married, we were two young kids who
did not have any money. Just dreams of being together and having a
loving family. I'll tell you a little secret," the woman
chuckled and leaned in closely.

"My mother in law did not like me. Wanted my husband to marry
this sophisticated little tartlet. What the woman did not know was
that tartlet was beautiful, came from money, but she was willing to
be with whomever was the highest bidder. My husband on the other
hand, he chose quality. A foul mouthed, tomboy who could out fish him
any day of the week."

Kate laughed at the revelation. "I would have never seen you as
a foul mouthed tomboy."