Chapter 4 - Claire
I've made a terrible mistake.
That's the only thought running through my head as I sit in the chair Rhett pulled out for me, my hands sweating so badly I have to wipe them on my jeans under the table.
There are so many people here: nine adults plus a seven-year-old who keeps staring at me with curious eyes, and every single one of them thinks they know who I am.
An old military friend of Rhett's. Someone who served, who saw combat, who has a legitimate shared history with the man sitting next to me.
Except I've never been in the military. I've never even been on a military base. The closest I've come to anything military-related is watching *Top Gun* with my father when I was twelve.
This lie is insane. This whole situation is insane.
"So, Claire," says the guy Rhett introduced as Wade—tall, dark-haired, sitting next to a pretty woman with kind eyes named Sierra. "How do you like Blackwater Falls so far?"
"It's beautiful," I manage to say, and at least that's true. "Very peaceful."
"Different from where you're coming from?" Sierra asks, passing me a bowl of salad.
"Yeah. I was in Denver. Lots of noise, lots of people." Also true. I'm clinging to any truth I can find in this web of lies.
"Must be nice to get away from the chaos," says the woman Rhett introduced as Marley. She's a veterinarian, with warm brown eyes and an easy smile. "I moved here from Denver too, actually. Six months ago. Best decision I ever made."
"What did you do in Denver?" asks Harper, the woman with short hair sitting next to Colt, who hasn't stopped grinning since I walked in.
My mind goes blank. What did I do in Denver? I had three different jobs in two years: waitressing, retail, cleaning offices at night. None of which fit with Rhett's story about me being in the military.
"Administrative work, mostly," I say, repeating what Rhett suggested in the truck. "Nothing exciting."
"Boring is good sometimes," Tucker says, spooning chili onto Emma's plate. "Boring means safe."
There's something in the way he says it that makes me think he understands more than he's letting on. Like he knows what it means to want safety after chaos.
The food is passed around—chili, cornbread, salad, everything homemade and smelling incredible. My stomach growls despite my anxiety, reminding me I haven't eaten since a sad gas station sandwich twelve hours ago.
"Wade makes the best chili in Montana," Sierra says, nudging him with her shoulder. "Don't let him tell you otherwise."
"Second best," Wade corrects. "Frank's was better."
There's a moment of silence around the table, everyone's expressions quickly changing to something sad and reverent. Frank. The man Rhett mentioned, the one who took them all in.
"Frank was the previous owner," Wade says, "He passed a couple years ago. Left the ranch to the six of us."
"I'm sorry," I say, meaning it. Loss is something I understand intimately.
"He would've liked you," Boone says. He's been quiet until now, watching me with dark, perceptive eyes that make me nervous. "He always said the ranch needed more women to balance out our collective stupidity."
That gets a laugh from everyone, breaking the somber moment.
"Well, I don't know about balancing anything," I say, attempting a smile. "But I appreciate the welcome."
"How long are you planning to stay?" Mason asks. He's the one who looks most military. Rigid posture, assessing gaze, the kind of presence that suggests he's always evaluating threats.
How long am I staying? Forever, if I marry Rhett? A week, if this whole thing falls apart? I have no idea, and I can feel sweat trickling down my spine.
"As long as she needs to," Rhett says firmly, and I could kiss him for stepping in. "No timeline. She's welcome here."
"That's generous of you," Nicole says. She's pretty and young, sitting close to Boone. "Rhett's not usually the charitable type."
"I can be charitable," Rhett protests.
"You made me pay you back for a sandwich once," Colt says, grinning.
"You were twenty-five and had a job!"
"Still. A sandwich."
The teasing continues, everyone jumping in with stories of Rhett's alleged cheapness, and I feel some of the tension ease from my shoulders. This is normal. This is just family dinner banter, the kind of easy ribbing that comes from people who love each other.
It almost makes me forget I'm living a lie.
Almost.
"Did you and Rhett serve together long?" Marley asks, turning her attention back to me, and just like that the anxiety slams back full force.
"Um," I start, my mind racing. How long? What unit? Where were we stationed? I know nothing about the military. Nothing. "A couple years, I think? Time kind of blurs together."
"I know what you mean," Mason says. "Some deployments felt like they lasted forever."
Oh God. He's actually been deployed. He knows what he's talking about, and I'm just making shit up.
"Claire did administrative work," Rhett says, his hand briefly touching my knee under the table, a gentle reassurance that nearly makes me jump. "Not field work. Different experience."
"Still military, though," Wade says. "Still serves. We appreciate that."
They're thanking me for service I never performed. They're looking at me with respect I haven't earned. I feel like I'm going to be sick.
"I mostly just pushed papers," I say weakly. "Nothing heroic."
"Every role matters," Tucker says kindly. "You don't have to downplay it."
But I'm not downplaying it. I'm making it up entirely, and the weight of the lie is crushing me.
I take a bite of chili just to have something to do with my mouth, and it's delicious, which somehow makes everything worse.
These people are kind and welcoming and feeding me amazing food, and I'm lying to all of them.
"Do you like horses?" Emma asks suddenly, her small voice cutting through the adult conversation. She's looking at me with big, hopeful eyes.
"I do," I say, grateful for the subject change. "Though I've never actually ridden one."
"Never?" Emma looks scandalized. "You live on a ranch now! Uncle Boone can teach you. He's the best with horses."
"I could do that," Boone says. "If you're interested. No pressure."
"That would be nice," I say, and I mean it. Learning to ride a horse feels like the kind of normal thing I desperately need right now.
"Just don't let Colt teach you," Harper says, smirking at her boyfriend. "He'll have you jumping fences on day one."
"I would not," Colt protests. "I'm a very responsible teacher."
"You taught me to ride by just putting me on a horse and slapping its ass," Nicole says.
"And you learned!"
"I also fell off three times!"
The conversation dissolves into more teasing, more laughter, and I let it wash over me. These people are so comfortable with each other, so at ease. It's like watching a well-choreographed dance where everyone knows the steps.
I'm just stumbling around trying not to trip.
Rhett's hand touches my knee again, and this time I look at him. He's watching me with concern in his brown eyes, a question written across his face: *You okay?*
I give him a tiny nod, even though I'm not okay at all. But what else am I supposed to do? Stand up and announce I'm a fraud? That I met him on a mail order bride website and we're planning to get married even though we've known each other for less than six hours in person?
No. I have to see this through. I have nowhere else to go.
"So, what made you decide to come to Blackwater Falls?" Sierra asks, and I appreciate that she seems genuinely interested rather than interrogating. "It's pretty remote. Not everyone's cup of tea."
"I needed a change," I say, which is perhaps the most honest thing I've said all night. "Where I was... it wasn't working anymore. I needed to start over somewhere new."
"Sometimes starting over is the only option," Wade says, glancing at Sierra with obvious affection. "Sometimes it's exactly what you need."
There's a story there, I can tell. Something about how Sierra came to be here, how she became part of this family. I want to ask, but I'm too afraid of inviting more questions about myself.
Dinner continues, and slowly, very slowly, I start to relax. The conversation flows naturally, touching on ranch business, town gossip, Emma's upcoming school play. No one asks me more military questions. No one demands proof of my shared history with Rhett.
They just... accept me. Because Rhett vouched for me, and apparently that's enough.
The trust makes me feel even worse about the lying.
After dinner, Wade and Tucker start clearing plates while Sierra and Marley make coffee. Colt and Harper disappear onto the porch, and I can hear them laughing about something. Emma begs Boone to tell her a story about one of the horses, and Nicole settles in to listen too.
It's so family-oriented. So completely foreign to someone who spent the last two years alone in a series of increasingly depressing apartments.
"Want some air?" Rhett asks quietly, and I nod gratefully.
We slip out the back door onto a smaller porch that overlooks the darkening fields. The temperature has dropped significantly, and I wrap my arms around myself. The sky is enormous here, stars already beginning to appear in the twilight.
"I'm sorry," Rhett says immediately. "I know that was hard. They ask a lot of questions."
"They're nice," I say, because they are. "Really nice. Which somehow makes the lying worse."
He leans against the porch railing, his profile sharp against the fading light. "I know. I feel like shit about it too. But I didn't know what else to do. Telling them the truth right away..."
"Would make us both look insane," I finish. "I get it. I do. It just feels wrong."
"Everything about this feels wrong," he admits. "But also... maybe right? I don't know. Is that crazy?"
I look at him. He's objectively handsome, with strong features and kind eyes. But more than that, he seems genuine. Uncertain and scared and clearly out of his depth, but genuine. He's not trying to be someone he's not. He's just trying to figure this out, same as me.
"I don't think it's crazy," I say. "Or if it is, we're both crazy together."
He turns to face me fully, and in the dim porch light I can see the vulnerability across his face. "Are you okay? Really? Because if this is too much, if you want to leave—"
"I have nowhere to go," I interrupt, then immediately regret the honesty. "I mean—"
"I know what you mean." His voice is gentle. "And I'm not trying to trap you here because you have no options. I'm just... I'm trying to offer you a real choice. A real chance at something different."
"I know you are." I swallow hard against the lump in my throat. "And I'm grateful. I just don't know if I'm strong enough to keep up this lie for however long it takes."
"We don't have to decide everything tonight," Rhett says. "We just have to get through tonight. Then tomorrow. One day at a time."
One day at a time. It's what my father used to say when things got hard. *Just focus on today, Claire-bear. Tomorrow will take care of itself.*
"Okay," I agree. "One day at a time."
The back door opens, and Mason sticks his head out. "Coffee's ready if you want some. Fair warning: Colt made it, so it's basically paint thinner."
"Hey!" Colt's voice comes from inside. "My coffee is fine!"
"Your coffee could strip rust," Harper calls back.
Rhett looks at me, a question in his eyes. I nod. We can go back inside. We can sit with his family and drink terrible coffee and pretend everything is normal.
Because maybe if we pretend long enough, it'll become true.
We head back in, and Nicole immediately pats the couch cushion next to her. "Sit with us. Colt's about to tell the story about the time he got his head stuck in a fence, and it's comedy gold."
"I was eight," Colt protests. "And I maintain that fence was poorly designed."
"You tried to squeeze through a gap designed for chickens," Boone says dryly.
"In my defense, I really wanted to see what was on the other side."
I settle onto the couch between Nicole and Rhett, accepting a mug of coffee that does indeed smell like it could fuel a rocket ship. The room is warm and loud with friendly bickering, and despite everything—the lies, the fear, the uncertainty—I feel something I haven't felt in years.
Safe.
It won't last. This fragile peace is built on deception, and eventually the truth will come out. Eventually everyone will know what Rhett and I really are to each other, and they'll judge us for it.
But for tonight, I let myself pretend. Let myself laugh at Colt's ridiculous story and accept Emma's invitation to come see the horses tomorrow and feel Rhett's solid presence beside me on the couch.
For tonight, I let myself believe this could actually work.
Even if I'm terrified it won't.