Oregon Outback (36 page)

Nausea swirled inside. She pressed her hand against her midsection. “All that time thinking that I had pre-engagement jitters. That was nothing compared to this.”

Darrow waited while Trace fiddled with the veil.

“You ready?” Now
Trace’s
eyes were tearing up.

Darrow nodded. Trace dropped the veil over Darrow’s face and smiled. “You’re such a beautiful bride.”

“You look amazing in your gown, too. I’m sure you’ll wow Jeremy.” Darrow smiled.

“Oh, and I plan to use that for all its worth.” Trace winked then wiped her eyes with a tissue.

Minutes later, Darrow stood behind a partition that was set up outside just for the ceremony, waiting for the moment when she would walk down the aisle to Justin.

“You make a mighty pretty bride, Darrow,” Carver said and winked. As Justin’s oldest brother, he’d agreed to walk her down the aisle since Benson couldn’t make it back to Oregon for the wedding.

Darrow’s cheeks grew warm under Carver’s pride-filled gaze, but it was Justin’s admiration she grew impatient to see.

Holding a bouquet of roses in shades of white and pink, Trace took a step forward, disappearing from Darrow’s sight. She held her own larger bouquet, and waited for her turn to make her way to the beautiful white gazebo.

“You ready?” Carver offered his arm. Darrow slid hers into the crook of his elbow and together they stepped from behind the partition. Rows of chairs on either side lined the path. Family and friends from the community, draped by sunlight on a beautiful spring afternoon, filled the chairs.

Suddenly, the pianist started playing the “Bridal Chorus.” Darrow’s palms grew slick. The crowd, gathered to witness Darrow and Justin’s wedding, stood, and many turned to look at her.

A few gasps, mutters of how beautiful she was, rippled through the gathering.

Darrow took her first step, Carver at her side, and then another. She continued walking down the aisle created just for today. Her day. Justin’s day.

He stood next to the gazebo waiting.

Justin in a tux
. Her pulse soared at the sight of him. She almost swayed on her feet, but Carver held her steady.

One step, then another.

Carver’s wife, Sheridan, stood to the right, her appreciative gaze on Carver before moving to Darrow. “Beautiful,” she whispered. She smiled and winked at Darrow and her husband, pressing her hand against her large belly. She’d taken a leave of absence from her job as sheriff of Rimrock County while pregnant to keep Carver from having a heart attack.

Now that was love.

One step, then another
.

Familiar faces from the community looked on from ahead on both sides. To her left, Jonas stood next to Darcy and held their beautiful little girl, her golden curls framing her face. So precious.

That was love.

Trace stepped into place, opposite Justin’s best man—his brother Lucas. Darrow spotted Avery, Lucas’s wife, sitting on the front row. Tears streamed from her beautiful blue eyes. Darrow understood. She always cried at weddings, too.

Darrow and Avery had become close, and Darrow knew that the couple had struggled to have a child. Darrow caught Lucas’s glance at his bride, love pouring from his eyes.

Then, Darrow drew her own gaze up to her husband-to-be. She hadn’t known him very well when she’d first fallen for him. But now, she felt like there had never been a time when she hadn’t loved him.

Justin smiled, his eyes meeting hers, and Carver relinquished her to Justin, who took her hand so they could both step into the gazebo and face the pastor. A warm current rippled up her arm.

Darrow smiled, remembering the first moment they met—that moment when his simple touch had changed her life.

And in the end … her life was only beginning.

Elizabeth Goddard is a seventh-generation Texan who recently spent five years in beautiful Southern Oregon, which serves as a setting for some of her novels. She is now back in East Texas, living near her family. When she’s not writing, she’s busy homeschooling her four children. Beth is the author of several novels and novellas. She’s actively involved in several writing organizations including American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and loves to mentor new writers.