Chapter 39
Mackenzie
“Honey, you look beautiful.”
Standing in Bruce’s bedroom, staring at the full-length mirror we’d set up in the corner, I saw it.
The dress was beautiful, but it was more than that.
It felt like I’d spent my whole life waiting for this moment and now it was here, I didn’t know how to process it.
Turning around, seeing Mom’s teary eyes and the wonder on the faces of all my female family members, feelings, so many feelings, rose and that stopped me from saying thank you.
Instead my hand shook as it went to my eyes.
“Oh, Mackenzie…” Mom rushed forward, wrapping her arms very carefully around me to give me a hug. “Today will be amazing. Just you wait and see.”
“Especially as you didn’t make us wear some ugly dress as bridesmaids,” Madison said, plucking at the champagne coloured satin of her dress.
“Props, cousin, for not forcing us into some puce monstrosity.” Madison, Emily, and Charlie were my bridesmaids and apart from the colour, I let them pick whatever style suited them best. “Because damn girl…” Madison made a show of looking over Charlie’s suit. “You look amazing.”
“Everyone does.” Charlie’s voice was a little clipped, but I knew why. There were more people on the farm than there had been, ever, and I knew she had to be longing for the peace and quiet of the rescue.
Because I was craving it too.
“Now, if I can get all of your ladies to come outside. I’ll drive the tractor up to the paddock.”
“Tractor?” one of my aunts said. “What no limo?”
“No limousine is going to make it up a dirt road,” Mom replied. “We decorated the trailer last night. It looks amazing, Jackie, you’ll see.”
And it did. The big trailer used to transport hay had been scrubbed within an inch of its life and spray painted white. Organza bows decorated the sides, as well as bunches of white daisies. Everyone started twittering at once as they walked up the ramp and sat down around the sides.
“Last chance to back out.” Charlie smiled as she stood beside me. “If you need me to get you out of here and far away from that brother of mine, I’m your girl.”
“Chicks before dicks?” I said, holding out a hand for her to fist bump. She obliged.
“Sisters before misters,” she replied.
“You’ll be my sister after this.” God, my voice cracked on that and Charlie’s eyebrows shot upwards. “Like I always wanted a sister and—”
“We’ll have the rest of our lives to work through that, but if I know my brother.” She glanced down at her watch. “He’ll be freaking out, thinking you’ve bolted, right about now. As much as I like tormenting him…”
I didn’t. I loved Troy Drysdale so much that today, I was going to marry him.
Nothing felt real on the trip up to the paddock.
Not when I saw how the boys had transformed the area from a cow pat strewn grassland into a gorgeous outdoor venue.
The sun was starting to set, staining the sky pink, orange, and red, but it was him that caught my eye.
Standing on a podium made from wooden pallets, the celebrant and Troy’s groomsmen were standing around chatting, but he seemed to sense me before I even got close.
Turning around, his smile faded, replaced instead by wide-eyed wonder.
He’d stared at me like that for a second when he found me in that paddock, then again when he asked me to marry him, but right now, he didn’t try to mask that behind a frown.
He just smiled, really beamed, and then nudged his brothers.
As we got out of the trailer, the band took up their instruments and started to play the wedding march.
“Ready?”
Mom appeared at my side, resplendent in a pewter dress. My dad was never a figure in my life, so it made sense that she would be the one to walk me down the aisle.
“Totally ready.”
People rose from the white wooden chairs that had been set up either side of the aisle.
I smiled when I saw that a walkway had been created out of yet more pallets.
This was not the swanky wedding I had planned with Alex.
That wedding was what I thought marriage should be, but this?
This is what I actually wanted. Something real, a little rough around the edges maybe, but solid and strong.
Just like Troy.
“You look so damn beautiful,” he growled under his breath the moment I drew near. “Mackenzie…”
“We’re gathered here today…” the celebrant started to say, quiet falling over the field. Strangely it was the sound of the bird calls and far-off flocks of sheep I heard, not the words. I didn’t need a ceremony to make this real, yet when it came time to say our vows, we knew exactly what to say.
“Mackenzie.” Troy smiled down at me. “I should’ve known I was in trouble when I found an American girl trying to rescue a wombat from a bull.
I’ve spent my life protecting things, this land, my family, but all of that paled into insignificance when I laid eyes on you.
You call me on my bullshit.” A little titter of laughter went across the crowd.
“People call me stubborn, but you’ve got me beat.
When I dig my heels in, you keep pushing me, right where I need to be. ”
Work-roughened hands stroked my cheek as he leaned closer.
“I promise to stand between you and any storm you might face. I will spend my life protecting you.” His lips quirked at the corners. “Though if you could steer clear of cattle paddocks, that would be great.”
Bronson fought the urge to smile, it taking real effort to stay solemn.
“I promise to stop and listen, to think before I react because the thought of hurting you.” His hand went to his heart.
“It hits me here. I want smiles and sunlight on our skin. Long, hard, happy days with you by my side. I’ll drink all the coffee in the world, if it means I treat you right.
Whatever it takes to make you happy, love, I’ll do it. I’ll always be there for you.”
OK, this is why my mother had urged me to wear waterproof mascara, because my eyes were filling with tears. I beamed up at him, clutching my bouquet far too tightly, before delivering my own vows.
“Troy, I didn’t come to Australia looking for forever.
My life felt like it was falling apart, but you put me right back together without even trying.
You showed me that love isn’t loud promises or grand declarations.
It’s checking my boots for spiders.” That had the crowd muttering.
“Or taking out snakes with a throw of a knife. It’s standing between me and anything that could hurt me, even when I’m sure I can handle it. ”
My hands gripped his.
“You’re more stubborn than a wombat.”
“Got that right…” Billy mumbled, then winked at me.
“But you showed me that softer side you rarely let the world see, and I was hooked.”
Blinking furiously, I tried to forge on.
“I promise to love the man who carries too much on his shoulders, to remind you that you don’t have to carry it alone. I promise to be brave with you, laugh with you, and share every single sunrise together. I promise that no matter what challenges we face, I will always choose you.”
“The rings?” the celebrant said.
“OK, Nugget, now’s your time to shine.” Charlie pulled away from the dais, retrieving a familiar furry ball from the cab of the tractor.
My family oohed and ahhed at the sight of him, but when she set him down, she straightened a white ribbon that had been tied around the animal’s neck.
“Nugget…” she growled as he went to amble off away from the wedding. “Nugget!”
“On it.”
Bronson stepped forward, pulling a bunch of carrots from his jacket and brandishing them in front of the wombat. Nugget stopped, eyed the prize, and then cheerfully trotted up the aisle and towards us.
“You little furry bast—” Troy stopped himself, looking back at my family, then at me, before passing the rings to the celebrant.
“I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!” he said, after the rings were exchanged.
“C’mere, Mrs. Drysdale.”
Troy swept me into a deep bow, kissing me before the crowd and their responses had the wombat turning and trotting off towards a stand of trees, the bunch of carrots in his jaws.
“Nugget’s got his carrots and I’ve got you.” His arm went around my waist. “Ready to get this party started?”
“With you?” I asked. “Always.”
Sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would, but what happens instead? It can be so much better than what you had planned, especially with a wombat as your wingman.