Chapter Five
L iam, Connor, and Riley arrived early at the tiny church outside Livingston. Now they were waiting on Val and Letty to arrive. When he’d met with Val in Livingston earlier that day to get the license she had been having a bout of morning sickness. He’d worried they’d have to postpone, but she’d managed to get through it. Luckily, all she’d had to do was sign and she didn’t leave until she was certain her morning sickness had passed.
Val was going to be his bride. His wife. He admitted the thought kind of freaked him out. But the marriage should work out. They both had horses in their blood. They knew each other, had for years, even if they’d never had a serious or long conversation until Logan’s wedding. And he hadn’t been lying when he told Val he’d thought about her but hadn’t done anything, mostly because of Riley.
He remembered the first time that the fact she was all grown up and beautiful had hit him in the face. She’d been about twenty-one. It had been summer and hot as Hades. He saw a woman come into Grey’s and hadn’t recognized her at first. She wore short shorts and a T-shirt, her long blond hair was down around her shoulders, and her legs looked a mile long. She stood at the bar with her back to him. Damn, she had curves like a racetrack.
Then she turned around, saw him, and waved. And he’d realized that seriously hot chick was Val Fletcher. He thanked God his friend hadn’t been there because he might have said something about the hot chick and Riley would have killed him.
But back to the present. The major problem he saw was if one of them fell in love with someone else. He sure as hell wouldn’t. Not with Val or anyone else. He’d been there and done that and wasn’t opening himself up again. He’d thought about it with Cici but all that did was convince him he wasn’t cut out for love. But Val was young. And he didn’t think she was cynical even though her baby daddy had renounced her and the child. He thought she was still pretty idealistic. She could be a problem.
No sense worrying about it now. Where the hell was Val?
As if he’d asked him, Connor said, “Maybe Val changed her mind.”
“She’ll be here. She’s just running late.” He hoped.
“Val is never late,” Riley said. “Maybe Connor’s right. She could have changed her mind.”
“She’s with Letty. Maybe Letty’s late.”
“She’s not,” Riley said decisively.
Luckily Val and Letty showed up before he had a chance to clock either Riley or his brother. He wasn’t usually so irritable. Maybe he was nervous.
“Sorry I’m late,” Val said a little breathlessly. “Getting out of the house with my stuff was difficult. Dad was at the barn, but Mom wanted to chat. Letty took some of it to her place yesterday or I’d never have managed.”
“What did you tell your parents?”
“I’m visiting a friend in Wyoming. Letty’s taking me to the airport.”
“Sounds good. We’ve still got a little time before the minister is ready for us.”
“Can I talk to you, Liam? Alone?”
Had she changed her mind? He hoped not. He’d discovered in the last few days that he was looking forward to marrying Val. Even if it did still freak him out.
Val stepped outside and he followed. She must really not want anyone to hear. It was pretty cold outside and she wasn’t wearing a coat. At least this time she wore long sleeves.
“I feel like I should give you one last chance to back out,” she said.
“You look beautiful,” he told her. She wore a long-sleeved, white button-down, very short dress and a pair of boots—not cowboy boots—that went to her knees. Her blond hair was loose around her shoulders and flowing down her back. Her eyes were blue, like the Montana sky, and he realized her lashes were amazingly long. When he saw her Saturday, she’d cried off most of her makeup.
“Thank you, but that’s not an answer.”
“I don’t want to back out. Do you?” How many times were they going through this same question? One good thing. After they married it would be a done deal so they could quit having the same damn conversation.
“No.”
He took her face in his hands, leaned down and kissed her. Her mouth opened, in surprise, he figured. But then she kissed him back. Her tongue tangled with his. She tasted sweet, with a hint of spice. He made himself stop before they became too involved.
“Let’s go get married.”
*
It wasn’t the wedding of her dreams, even if the groom was the man of her dreams. She was likely crazy to marry Liam. What if he fell in love with another woman? What would happen then? Would he leave her? Would he stay, wishing he hadn’t? He sure as hell wasn’t in love with her. But maybe he could be sometime down the line.
Shortly before the ceremony was about to begin Val started feeling nauseated. Realizing she had no clue where the restroom was she started to panic. Great. I’m not only going to barf at my wedding, I’m gonna do it in the middle of the sanctuary. She sent Letty a frantic look. Her friend grabbed her arm and quickly led her out of the sanctuary and to the restroom. Which was nearby, luckily.
“Thanks,” she told Letty after she finished and washed out her mouth.
“You’re welcome. I was afraid that might happen, so I scoped it out ahead of time. And I brought crackers.” Letty gave her a penetrating look as she handed her the crackers. “What’s wrong?”
Val ate a cracker and leaned back against the sink. “I’m afraid I’m making a huge mistake.”
“Then don’t do it.”
Pragmatic. But… “I want to.”
“Because you’re afraid of what your dad will do?”
“Partly. But mostly because I want Liam. Is it just dumb of me to think it might work out?”
“Not dumb. But I’d be careful about getting my hopes up. At least at first.”
Good advice but she wasn’t sure she could take it.
The ceremony was short and very pretty, the traditional words for a nontraditional couple. Letty had to remind her to hand her the flowers when she said her vows. Flowers that Liam had brought and given her before they walked into the room where the pastor waited. They were gorgeous. White roses and stargazer lilies, two of her favorite flowers. Riley must have told him, but she was still touched he’d done it.
The whole thing gave her a really surreal feeling. The preacher talked a bit to begin with, but Val didn’t pay a lot of attention until he turned to Liam and said, “Do you, William, take Valerie to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?”
“I do.” Liam’s voice was deep and firm.
The preacher repeated the vows to Val. She said, “I do,” but she couldn’t push the words out loud enough for anyone to hear except Liam. Then Liam slipped a gold band on her finger. She slid the plain gold band she’d gone to Bozeman to get on his finger. The preacher pronounced them husband and wife, and Liam kissed her. A very chaste kiss, unlike their earlier kisses. She wondered if he was at all attracted to her. He must be at least a little since he’d agreed they should have sex. Of course, he was a guy. She thought he was more discerning than to do it with just anyone but honestly, what did she know? She’d fallen for Trent’s lines, after all.
Riley and Letty hugged her, Connor kissed her on the cheek and everyone left the church. They all went their separate ways and she was alone with Liam. Her husband. Oh, God, what had she done?
“Hey, no fainting,” Liam said.
“I’m not going to faint.” Probably.
He looked doubtful but asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Yes. I couldn’t eat this morning. Letty gave me some crackers before the ceremony but I’m still hungry.”
“Can you last a little longer? I have crackers in the truck. From what I read on the internet crackers are one of the staples for pregnant women. I guess it must have been right since Letty gave you some.”
“They do make me feel better. Usually, anyway.”
“If we try to eat around here, even though we’re in Livingston and not Marietta, someone we know could see us and mention it to your parents or my mother. We don’t want them investigating and Connor won’t be able to disappear since he’s helping at the ranch. Mom will ask him, and I’ll be shocked if he can keep quiet. We really should tell them first.”
“You have a point. I haven’t really thought things through.”
“We’ll stop somewhere along the way to the cabin and eat an early dinner.”
“We’ll need a grocery store too, so we’ll have some food at the cabin.”
Val hoped the awkwardness between them disappeared before too long. Otherwise it was going to be a long honeymoon.