Chapter Twenty-Two #2
She’d been amazed when he’d taken a spare pair of jeans, a couple of shirts, two pairs of underwear and a four-pack of socks from the duffel and then put both bags on the high shelf in her closet. The only boots he had were the ones he’d been wearing.
But was that everything?
Amy Sue hated not trusting him, but she had to look.
If he was hiding something, she would find it.
She stood on tiptoe but still couldn’t reach where Shane had stored them.
Pulling over a chair, she stood on it and was able to pull down both of Shane’s bags.
The first one felt empty. It was. She almost didn’t check the second one. Of course he didn’t have any secrets.
The second one appeared completely empty, as well. She felt small and shameful and blamed her sister for making her have doubts about the man she loved.
But then she felt something thick on the bottom of the second bag. She took the duffel over to the window where more light came through and saw what appeared to be a slit in the fabric of the double bottom. She could feel what felt like folded papers shoved in there.
It took a few minutes, but she was able to work the wad of papers out. Her breath was coming in short gasps as she started to unfold the sheets of what appeared to be copy paper.
She tried to flatten them out on the bed, but the pages had been folded too tightly. Still, a couple of words grabbed her attention. She caught her breath as she realized what she was looking at. This was information about the farm, the kind of information you might get from a real estate agent.
At the sound of a motorcycle roaring into the yard, she hurriedly tried to get the papers folded again.
Her hands were shaking too hard to force the thick wad back into the slit in the bottom of the duffel and she was running out of time.
Shane had cut the bike’s engine. He seemed to be in a hurry.
She heard his heavy footfalls on the porch steps, then the porch. The screen door slammed open.
“Amy Sue! You in there cooking already? I’ve got a surprise.”
She tossed the papers into the duffel, zipped it back up and hurriedly tried to return it to the crowded shelf in the closet. But the bag fell to the closet floor.
“Amy Sue?”
Her heart was pounding, her chest hurting with each breath. “I’ll be right down!” she called, but he was already heading up the stairs at a run.
She closed the closet door only an instant before he came rushing into the room. Turning, she fought to hide her panic after her discovery, after what her sister had said about Shane killing them both, about him promising her that all he wanted was to farm the place with her.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice if she was acting as strangely as she felt. He rushed to her, picked her up and swung her around. “We’re getting married!”
“I know,” she said when he finally set her down.
“No, silly, we’re getting married.”
She stared at him, trying to tell herself that of course he had an interest in the farm.
He had told her that he wanted to work it with her, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t curious about what it was worth.
He’d been excited to find out how many acres there were and talked about what he would grow once it was no longer leased out.
The papers meant nothing. She was letting Josie get into her head.
When he set her down, he grinned down at her. He was so handsome and when he looked at her like that, her heart flip-flopped in her chest. He was so sweet. He called her his angel. He said she’d saved him. How could she not love this man?
“I don’t want to wait,” he said. “We’re going to Vegas. We can get a marriage license and get married the same day. There is no required waiting period and there are all these little chapels. They even provide witnesses. All we need is the two of us.”
“Shane—”
“I know you’d hoped your sister would come around and we’d get married here.
But angel, she doesn’t think we’re serious, that I’m serious about you.
So, let’s prove that she’s wrong. I can’t wait to marry you and make you my wife.
It’s a two-hour flight to Vegas. I got us two tickets.
We fly out of Billings tonight. We’re getting married, baby! ”
He pulled her into his arms. “Come on, Amy Sue. Let’s do this.” His enthusiasm was contagious, and the way he was looking at her made it impossible to say no.
She met his eyes and thought about asking about the papers in his bag.
She wanted him to tell her that they meant nothing.
So why had he hidden them? asked a voice that sounded just like her sister’s.
But she blocked out anything else Josie had to say, knowing not to spoil this moment or Shane’s excitement by bringing up the papers.
They were flying to Vegas to get married. It was romantic and exciting and spontaneous, something Josie could never do. Something Amy Sue would never have done—before Shane.
“Let’s do it,” she said to him. “Let’s go to Vegas and get married.”