Text Order Bride (5 page)

He smiled, stroking her cheek. “Don’t be. It’s going to be beautiful.” He

kissed her one more time before putting the truck in gear. “You hungry?”

“I’m not sure I could eat. Too nervous,” she admitted.

“We’ll wait ‘til we’re closer to home then. Stephanie is expecting you for

dinner anyway. She has a few last minute details about the wedding she

wants to go over.”

The drive went quickly with them talking about the last couple of months,

and the preparations each had made for the wedding. “I meant to get the

house cleaned top to bottom, but well, that hasn’t happened,” he said. “I’m

sorry, but it’s a mess.”

She shrugged. “I’m not worried about that. I know the spring is a really

busy time for you.” She’d done a lot of research on dairy farming. She

knew that he grew his own feed, so in addition to the calves being born in

the spring, he was planting crops. She couldn’t expect him to keep an

immaculate house at the same time.

By the time they pulled into Stephanie’s driveway, she was more relaxed

than she’d been in weeks. Seeing him again had reminded her why she’d

agreed to marry him in the first place. She wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t be

nervous again in the morning, but for now, she was okay.

He carried in her bags for her, and put them in the boys’ room again.

Stephanie hugged her tightly and looked at her eyes, trying to determine

whether or not she was okay now. She must have been satisfied by what

she saw, because she didn’t say anything about it.

Jason kissed her softly before leaving. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he

whispered.

“I’ll be the one in white.”

He smiled and left. He had a lot to do. Taking the time to drive that far

wasn’t something he should have done, but she’d obviously needed it. She

seemed a lot calmer now, and that was what was important.

Amanda enjoyed spending the evening with the kids. Little Avery showed

off her flower girl outfit, and showed her just how she was going to drop

petals with some torn up paper. Having been an only child, Amanda hadn’t

been around small children a lot and was thoroughly charmed by the sweet

little girl.

They would be doing a reception after the wedding in the fellowship hall at

the church. Jason’s parents wouldn’t be able to make it, but two of his

sisters would be there. The wedding had been planned so quickly that

people from far away just weren’t coming.

As Amanda sat watching Bob with his family, she sincerely hoped that

Jason would be as good of a father as Bob was.

They had decided on an eleven am wedding, because she wanted to have

some time alone with Jason after the wedding, but before she’d be

expected to crawl into bed with him.

When she went to bed at nine that night, she knew that this was the last

night she’d be sleeping alone. Tomorrow, she’d be giving her virginity to a

man she barely knew. She lay in bed for a long time that night, staring at

the wall, trying to imagine what tomorrow would bring. Her degree in home

economics prepared her to be a wife in every way but the physical way.

*****

room. She wished her father could be there to walk her down the aisle.

She had never missed him quite as much as she did facing that long walk

down the aisle by herself to a man she barely knew.

She received a cue from Stephanie’s friend and slowly walked toward the

front of the church. She felt all the eyes on her. She knew she wasn’t a

raging beauty. She had nice strong features, and wasn’t plain, but wasn’t

really someone who could be called pretty either. She was still nice and

slender, with curves in all the right places.

There hadn’t been a wedding dress long enough, but she thought now that

had been to her advantage. She was able to make this one to show off her

figure perfectly. She’d combined two different patterns to get just the right

look for her body. The neckline was modest and just hinted at the swell of

her breasts. She’d made the skirt full to make up for what she was lacking

in the hips department. The waistline was tight and fit her beautifully.

She made eye contact with Jason as she was about halfway to the front of

the church. He stood almost a head taller than the men surrounding him,

and was definitely built like the linebacker he’d once been. He had a soft

smile on his face, and his eyes twinkled at her. She took a deep breath

and walked slowly toward the man she’d be spending the rest of her life

with.

As she reached the front of the church, he reached out and grasped her

hand. She could feel the calluses on his hand as his thumb slowly rubbed

across her palm, calming her nervousness. She barely registered what

Bob was saying as he talked about the commitment they were making to

one another. She turned toward Jason as they made their vows, nervously

looking up into his eyes.

It was over quickly. He dipped his head and barely brushed her lips with

his own for their first kiss as a married couple. Then they were introduced

to the church as Mr. and Mrs. Jason Daugherty.

As they walked to the church toward the reception area, Jason held tightly

to her hand. She was almost embarrassed to even look at him. He sensed

her nervousness, and pulled her off into a corner for a moment. “You okay,

Mandy?”

Her gaze jerked up to his. “No one has called me Mandy in years.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Don’t you like it? I’ve been thinking of you as Mandy for

months now.” His deep voice sent shivers up her spine.

“No, it’s okay. It just surprised me, that’s all,” she whispered. “I’m okay.

Just really nervous.”

He brought that strong hand to her cheek and stroked one finger down it.

“Don’t be. We just have to get through the next couple of hours, and then

all will be good.”

She laughed softly. “I’m less worried about the next couple of hours than I

am about after that.”

Stephanie ran over and grabbed them each by the arm pulling them back

to the group. “You two have the rest of your lives to be alone together.

Today, we all get to celebrate.”

The wedding lunch had been arranged by Stephanie and cooked by many

of the women in the church. Amanda ate a little bit of everything, but

couldn’t have told anyone what she’d eaten. She was too aware of the

man at her side to be able to think of anything else.

It seemed like only five minutes had gone by when it was time to leave.

Jason slipped his arm around her shoulders as he guided her toward the

door. They ran out of the church while everyone blew bubbles at them. He

led her to his pick-up truck and helped her to tuck her dress around her.

As he started to drive out of the parking lot, she quietly asked, “Do you

already have my bag in here?”

“Stephanie had me put your overnight bag behind the seats. She said

she’d take the wedding gifts and the rest of your stuff to my place.”

“Okay. Just wanted to make sure I’d have some clothes to wear other than

my wedding gown,” she said, thinking of the white nightgown she’d made

for that night.

Jason slid his fingers through hers. “Don’t worry about that. You won’t

need clothes. I picked a hotel with room service.”

Amanda blushed. “Where is the motel we’re going to?”

Jason laughed out loud at her change of subject. “Wausau. They have a

really nice hotel in downtown. It’s not so far that we’ll be driving all day, but

far enough that I’ll feel like it’s a vacation.”

“That sounds nice,” Amanda was watching his face as they drove. His

fingers on hers had little butterflies flying around in her stomach. She still

couldn’t believe how strong the physical attraction between them was.

“If you want, we can go back to the hotel and change, and maybe take a

walk down to the Wisconsin River. It runs right through Wausau and is

really pretty along here,” he told her.

“That sounds nice,” she told him, relieved that he had made some plans for

the day that would keep them out of the hotel room.

He pulled up in front of the hotel and helped her down. When they reached

the suite, she was amazed. It was hard to believe he would spring for

something so nice. She knew he didn’t have a lot of money to waste on

things like this. “You went to a lot of expense on this room. Thank you,”

she said softly.

He walked to her and took her hands in his. “We’ll be frugal for the rest of

our lives. We only have one wedding night and one honeymoon. It’s going

to be as special as I can make it.” Holding her eyes with his, he slowly

lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers.

His kiss sent tingles up her spine. It was just a soft kiss, no tongue, but it

was so nice. It made her feel like she was a real bride about to spend the

night with the man she loved.

He pulled away to rest his forehead against hers. “I didn’t get a chance to

tell you that you look absolutely incredible in that dress.”

“Thank you,” she whispered as she pulled his head down for one more

kiss. “I think you look great in your tux.”

He hugged her close. “Do you want to get changed and go for that walk, or

we can stay here and get started on the wedding night? The choice is

yours.”

Amanda pulled back. “I think I need a little more time to just be with you

first if that’s okay. I’m willing to make love tonight, but can we spend the

day just getting used to each other first?”

He took a deep breath and smiled down at her, kissing her palm. “Not the

choice I was hoping for, but the one I expected.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“There’s no need to be sorry. It’s only a few more hours. You take the

bathroom and I’ll change out here. Something casual with tennis shoes if

you brought them,” he told her.

“I did,” she said. “Ummm…I can’t get out of this dress by myself. Would

you unbutton me?” She turned her back to him.

He stood looking down at the buttons along the back of her dress. There

were a dozen tiny buttons from her back all the way down to her waist. “I

have no problem undressing you.” His hands felt huge and clumsy as he

began unfastening each one individually. “Do I need to undo them all?”

“Yeah, I don’t want the dress to tear. I should have thought of that and

changed before we left the church. Stephanie would have helped me.”

“But then I would have missed out on the fun.” He dropped a kiss to the

top of her back. “Have I told you that I love how tall you are? I hate getting

a crick in my neck when I go to kiss a woman. You’re just the perfect size.”

She laughed. “I never expected a man to say that to me. In my experience

tall men only like tiny little women. It has always driven me crazy.”

“Not me. I’ve always prayed for an Amazon goddess.”

She felt more and more buttons coming undone. He had to be almost

finished. She held the dress to the front of her to make sure that it didn’t

fall off. “Amazon goddess? You’re going to be great for my self-esteem!”

“There, that’s all of them.” He eyed her back covered in a thin slip. “You’d

better go get changed if you want to go on that walk.” He swallowed hard

and reminded himself how nervous she was.

She smiled at him over her shoulder, holding the dress up with one hand,

and carried her overnight bag into the bathroom with the other. She quickly

changed into jeans and a blouse and put on her socks and shoes. She

pulled her hair out of the elaborate twist it was in and let it fall past her

shoulders.

Walking out of the bathroom she hung up her dress. Jason was waiting for

her in jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. Her fingers actually itched to touch

his shoulders. She’d always loved nice broad shoulders.

His eyes swept her from head to toe. “That’s perfect for walking. You

ready?” He put the key card to the hotel room onto his key chain and put

his hand to the small of her back as he guided her out of the room.

He held her hand as they walked. She’d never truly appreciated hand

holding before Jason. When he held her hand, he made her feel like she

was protected. She didn’t know from what she felt protected, but it made

her feel protected and cared for in a way that she never had before.

She listened as he explained about the Native Americans who had once

lived in this part of the state. She, like most other Texans, had never really

thought of the rich history of the mid-western states. She was amazed at