Chapter 43 Daisy #2
My stomach twisted and my heart sped as I saw my name printed on the front. Written in that masculine, blocked font that I would recognize anywhere.
Daisy.
He’d drawn a bunch of those little daisies he used to draw around it. Tenderness panged at my insides.
How could a man who confessed to what he had last night be so thoughtful? Draw me flowers and pick out a dress?
I picked up the envelope, turned it over to loosen the flap, then pulled out the card.
I flipped it open to that same masculine font, my entire being quaking as I began to read.
Daisy,
My beautiful Wallflower. I can’t believe I get the honor of seeing you today in this dress. I know it doesn’t represent what it should, and maybe I’m only being selfish that I want to see you like this.
The most gorgeous woman wrapped in the most gorgeous dress.
Maybe I want to pretend for a little while that I’m right for you. Pretend for a little while that this is real. Pretend that I get to keep you.
I wish it was true.
But it will be my honor to stand beside you this afternoon and take the oath you’re asking me to.
An oath to protect you and those kids.
With all of me.
With all my heart.
With this life.
Guess my life has always belonged to you.
And with it, I will set this one thing right, I promise you.
Forever,
Cash
Tears blurred my eyes, my chest squeezing so fiercely as I set the letter aside and pushed back the folded layers of the tissue paper to reveal the dress.
A soft gasp wisped free, and a tear slipped down my cheek as I let my fingertips flutter over the cream-colored fabric. Fabric that was covered in the most intricate beads.
My limbs shook so badly I was worried I might drop it as I pulled it out and held it up to inspect it.
My gaze drifted over the stunning, fitted cut. It looked like it would go a couple of inches past my knees. Bare straps and a plunging neckline, a slit riding high up the side.
More of a formal party dress, and just like Charleigh had suggested, it was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.
I couldn’t believe I would be wearing it today.
That I would stand in front of Cash Cunningham and become his wife. I turned toward the full-length mirror in the corner and held the dress up against me. Picturing myself standing in front of Cash wearing it.
Spindly spines of sorrow cracked through my insides. God, how much I wished it was real, too.
But it didn’t matter the plan or the purpose, that’s what it was to me.
Real.
Because I knew, without a doubt, the love I had for Cash was the truest thing I’d ever felt.
I jolted when a soft knock rapped at the door. “Hey, Daisy?” Piper called. “The kids are ready if you want to come tell them goodbye.”
“I’ll be right there.”
I carefully laid the dress back into the box, then slipped from the room.
All three of my children came running, each fervidly wrapping their arms around my waist and legs.
A circle of adoration.
“I can’t wait to see you at the wedding, Mommy,” Colin said as he tipped his face toward me, his precious grin only making that pressure grow thicker.
“You get a really good husband, Ms. Daisy,” Maci said with her beaming smile. “My uncle Cash is really strong and really good, so that means you got the best husband.”
There went that squeezing. My throat closing off in a way that made me feel like I was suffocating.
“He’s one of my favorite people in the world,” I forced out.
It wasn’t a lie. I just hated that this wedding was. That these children didn’t understand. That they were confused. But I was afraid if we offered them the real truth, that confusion would only be exponential.
“Because we’re your favorite first, right?” Addy peeped, peering up at me. “But now that Mr. Cash is our family, he’s got to be our number one, too.”
I brushed my fingers through her hair. “That sounds about right.”
“All right, this train is leaving!” Piper said with a ton of enthusiasm, though I could feel the tiny bit of worry behind it. Like she could sense the despondency that rolled through me, all mixed with the awe.
God. Talk about a rollercoaster.
“I’ll see you soon, my sweethearts.”
The whole sleepover thing was unnecessary, but since it’d been mentioned, I was certain there would be no chance of talking my children out of it.
I watched through the window as Piper ushered them out to the waiting passenger van. Theo leaned against the driver’s side door, looking all stealthy and terrifying the way he did, chatting with another man who was just as scary. One I’d seen guarding the cabin once before.
Piper helped Theo get them piled in, then the man dipped in and kissed her hard against the front quarter panel of the van before he sauntered around to the driver’s side.
Piper waved at them, and the engine revved before they pulled out, flipping a U and heading down the dirt lane.
The other man climbed on a motorcycle and followed along behind them.
Piper turned and hurried back up the steps, and Charleigh pulled one of the bottles of prosecco from the bag and waved it in the air. “And that, my friends, is our cue to get this party started.”
A flurry of activity swirled around me. These women I only met yesterday coming together to support me.
To care for me.
To make me feel so incredibly special my head spun.
They had me seated on a dining room chair in the middle of Cash’s bedroom.
The curtains pushed back and a portable salon light that Raven brought shining on my face.
Apparently, they thought of everything.
Affection billowed through my being.
That’s exactly what they did.
Thought of everything.
Getting everything organized and bringing it here.
Giving their entire morning to take care of me and make me feel special.
Their friendship so…easy.
I never had that before. Girlfriends. Women that I meshed with in a way that made me feel better when they were around rather than nervous and out of place.
I’d conceded to the idea that I would never have a close-knit group of people.
But as they chatted and laughed as they pretty much “tortured” me the way Cash had worried they would, I couldn’t remember a moment when I felt like I belonged more than I did right then.
“Cash is going to lose his damned mind,” Emery enthused from where she stood behind me, curling my hair. Raven was in front, dabbing something on my cheeks, while Charleigh was on the floor, painting my freaking toenails.
Okay. I wasn’t all that familiar with the rules about friendship, but I was pretty sure that act alone shot her right up there to the best of besties.
“Cash has already lost his damned mind,” Raven said with an arch of a perfectly shaped brow. “That boy has it bad.”
“Yes, he does.” Piper glanced back over her shoulder from where she was inspecting the dress that hung against the back of the door, ensuring each bead was perfectly in place.
“How about you?” Charleigh asked from her perch on the floor. “How bad do you have it?” she teased.
They’d been pestering me nonstop the entire morning. No malice behind it. The drinks flowing and the giggles rolling for about the last four hours since apparently this primping thing took time.
I couldn’t help but get swept up in it.
Redness pinked my cheeks at just how wretchedly bad I had it for Cash.
“I barely even like him,” I deadpanned, trying to keep a straight face.
“Says the girl who looked like she had a mini orgasm every time she met his eye from across the room yesterday.” Emery grinned at me through the mirror.
“Those were just aftershocks.” My lips slammed shut. Did that actually come out of my mouth?
A gasp ripped out of Charleigh and Emery squealed, all while Raven sent both of them an I told you so look.
“Tell me you two actually got naked last night?” Raven demanded.
More of that redness blazed. The blush Raven was using would no longer be required with the flush that kept hitting my cheeks.
“Come on, dish it. There are no secrets between besties, remember?” Raven lifted her flute and took a sip.
“Not exactly naked.” The words were suddenly blubbering out without permission. “Okay, Cash was the first night, like really naked, but I was basically fully dressed both times.”
“Both times?” Emery shrieked like that was all the evidence she needed.
I blew out a sigh. “Don’t worry, Cash made it completely clear last night that it was a mistake and it wasn’t ever happening again.”
“What do you mean?” Worry slipped into Charleigh’s voice.
“Just…I don’t think Cash has ever been able to move on since the tragedy happened when we were teenagers.”
Uncertainty spun around me. A dark cloud.
It was an accident.
No blame given.
At least that was what the newspaper had reported.
But after what Cash implied last night…
Sympathy gushed out of Raven. “He’s always been the saddest person I know,” she whispered beneath her breath.
“Ever since you met him?”
I knew she had met him soon after he left West Virginia.
“Angry and so freaking sad. It breaks my heart a little more every time I look at him.”
Sorrow clutched my spirit. I hated it. Hated knowing that he’d lived in so much pain. Leaving me behind to deal with my own grief to wander in his alone.
Raven’s expression deepened in emphasis. “But there’s something different about him now, Daisy. A piece of him that came alive when you came to Moonlit Ridge, even though he’s terrified of it. I think he needs you just as badly as you need him.”
I didn’t want to fall into the hope, yet my wayward gaze drifted to the ring that glinted on my left ring finger.
His mother’s ring.
I couldn’t imagine the amount of pain it likely caused him, taking it out from wherever he had it stored and putting it on my finger.
“Just love him, Daisy,” Charleigh whispered. “Just love him from right where you are. I think you might be the only one who can reach him.”
I blew out a shaky sigh, and Raven touched my hand. “Well, I for one think the only thing any of us are going to be experiencing today is love. Can’t you just feel it?”