The Airman's E-Mail Order Bride (Heroes of Chance Creek Book 5) (27 page)

Since they couldn’t hold their reception at the Hall, they’d chosen the Cruz ranch’s Big House as the next best thing. With its furniture removed, its huge living room would accommodate their guests. Autumn would cater the affair from the bed and breakfast’s stunning kitchen and all their friends had helped decorate the house beautifully.

She tried to release her worries and focus on the present moment. Today was her day.
Their
day. In just a few minutes she’d walk down the aisle on her mother’s arm and marry the man she had loved for most of her life. No matter what they faced next, they would face it together.

Mia popped her head in the door. “Everything is all set. Colt’s waiting for you at the altar. Are you ready?”

Heather grinned. Was she ever.

“Nervous?” Mason asked
Colt over Richard’s head, as he took his place with the rest of his brothers at the end of the aisle in the Chance Creek Reformed Church. Richard had agreed to be Colt’s best man, as long as the rest of the Hall men joined him at the altar. Colt had gladly acquiesced.

“Nope.” He was lying. He was nervous. Nervous that Heather would change her mind at the last minute. Nervous that he’d mess up during the ceremony somehow. Nervous that they’d never find a ranch, or that he wouldn’t be the father his children needed.

“Yeah, you are.” Mason grinned at him. Richard smiled, too. Austin and Zane chuckled.

“Shut up.”

Behind them, Reverend Halpern cleared his throat. Mason muttered, “In trouble, as usual.”

“Bite me.”

Halpern cleared his throat again as all of them laughed, but a swell of music from the organist covered it up. Camila appeared in a peach-colored dress followed by Regan, Ella and Storm in similar gowns. Ella’s strained over her very pregnant belly, but Regan’s accentuated her now svelte form. Julie held her new grandbaby, Aaron, in her arms as she sat in the front row. Colt’s gaze slid past all of them to Heather, who’d just appeared on her mother’s arm at the head of the aisle.

“You got this.” Mason straightened. Colt took a deep breath. Yeah, he had this. At least, he’d do his best, but as Heather progressed toward him he knew he was shaking. He hoped like hell he could be the man she deserved. He never wanted to let her down again.

When Heather reached his side, Colt met her gaze and knew that for all the love that shone in her eyes, more must be shining in his. He would always regret the thirteen years they’d lost, but now they’d spend the rest of their lives together.

“Dearly Beloved,” Halpern began and Colt took Heather’s hand.

“Just as I
thought.”

Several hours later, Heather nearly tripped and dropped her glass of faux champagne when Heloise walked into the Big House and put her hands on her hips.

“It’s a fine how-do-you-do when your nephew gets married and doesn’t even invite you!”

“Heloise, this isn’t the time.” Mason tried to intercept her. She jabbed at him with her cane until he held up his hands in surrender and backed off.

“This is exactly the time. Everyone’s here; I won’t have to repeat myself.”

“Heloise, don’t make a scene,” Julie said, stepping forward. Heloise waved her cane at her, too.

“I’ll make a scene if I want to.”

“You actually thought you’d get an invitation to our wedding after what you did?” Colt pushed past the others and faced his aunt.

“I don’t see why not, seeing as how I practically arranged it.”

“Are you out of your mind? You told me you wouldn’t stand for a fake wedding!”

Heather stepped forward, afraid Colt might take a swipe at his aunt. Heloise stood her ground. “Are you saying this is a fake wedding?”

“Of course not!”

“Exactly my point. I wouldn’t have stood for it if you’d married that Melanie woman.” Heloise raised her chin smugly. Melanie, who stood nearby with Eric, frowned.

Colt sputtered. Heather watched him fight for words. She was eager to say a few choice ones of her own.

“But—”

“As for who’s responsible for this wedding, I am—just like I’m responsible for each and every one of your brothers’ weddings, too. Not one of you would be married before fifty at the rate you were going. If I hadn’t made it a requirement to get your ranch, you all would still be single!”

“Heloise, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Julie said.

“But it’s true, ain’t it?”

Nobody seemed to know how to answer that. Finally Colt said, “You know what, Heloise? You’ve had your say. I think it’s time you left.”

“Why?”

He stepped closer to her. “Isn’t it enough to kick me off my property? You have to ruin my wedding, too?”

“Who’s kicking you off your property?”

“You are!”

“Says who?” She put her hands on her hips.

“Says you,” Colt bellowed, clearly at the end of his patience. “When I went to tell you I planned to marry Heather, you said you wouldn’t stand for a fake wedding—”

“And since all of your weddings have been real,” Heloise interrupted, “I’m going to give you this.” She thrust the package into his hands.

“What is it, a letter bomb?” Colt held it at arm’s length.

“It’s a gift. Open it! Imbecile,” she muttered.

After a long moment, Colt did. When he’d torn off the small silver bow and the white and silver wrapping paper, he held up a packet of papers. “What is this?”

“It’s the deed,” Mason said in a shocked tone, coming to stand next to him. “It’s the deed, isn’t it, Heloise?”

“You all have eyes. Use them.” But Heather noticed Heloise watched avidly as Colt, his brothers and their wives crowded around the document.

Colt handed the deed to Mason and came to take Heather into his arms. He lowered his mouth to hers and tightened his arms around her. For a moment Heather forgot everything else and she melted in her husband’s embrace. “I love you,” Colt whispered into her ear. “No matter if we’d landed in a tent in Siberia, I would still love you.”

“Forever?”

“Forever.”

“I’m the one who just gave you a ranch. Why don’t you sweet-talk me?” Heloise humphed.

“Under all that vinegar you’re as sweet as shoe-fly pie, aren’t you, Heloise?” Zane pulled her into a bear hug and planted a loud kiss on top of her head.

Heloise whacked him with her cane. “Enough of that!” But Heather glimpsed the smile that flitted across her face.

Chuckling, Zane let her go and swept Storm into his arms.

“Thank you, Heloise,” Mason said, still reading the document. Regan clung to his elbow, reading it, too. Austin held Ella, who had buried her face in his neck, her shoulders shaking.

Heather knew how she felt; her relief threatened to overwhelm her, too. They would have made a good life anywhere they went, but Crescent Hall was their home and it meant the world to her to know they could remain there. As Cheyenne and her daughters enveloped Storm and Zane in an embrace, Colt tightened his grip on Heather. “Thank you, Heloise,” she managed to call out over Colt’s shoulder before he kissed her again.

“That’s more like it,” Heloise said. “Now, I have some ideas for the place…”

Julie groaned. “Really, Heloise. Don’t you think you’ve—”

“Uh-oh,” Ella said. She pulled away from Austin and clutched her belly.

“Honey? What’s wrong?”

“I think it’s the baby. Oh…” Her focus went inward. Regan sprang into action.

“Zane, pull Austin’s truck around close. Mason, call the hospital and let them know we’re on our way. Austin, do you have the number for your doctor?”

Heather stepped back and let the others do what they needed to do, trailing after them when they began to make their way to the front door, Austin half-supporting, half-carrying Ella. Camila, Maya and Stella came to stand near Heather, and she appreciated their unspoken support.

“I’m sorry, Heather,” Ella called over her shoulder as Mason threaded her arms into her coat.

“Don’t be sorry,” Heather exclaimed. “You’re having your baby!”

“Are you coming?” Storm asked her excitedly.

Heather laughed. “I think Colt and I better stay and take care of the rest of our guests.”

“We’ll help,” Camila said, and Stella and Maya nodded.

“Good luck, Ella!” Heather added. “Can’t wait to meet your baby.”

“Bye!”

“Bye!”

Heloise managed to slip out in the rush toward the door, so when Heather and Colt made their way back into the Big House’s great room, only a small group of their friends and family remained. Heather noticed an envelope on the refreshment table she hadn’t seen before. When she picked it up, she felt something heavy in the bottom.

“What’s this?”

Colt shrugged. “Open it.”

She did and found a card and an old-fashioned key inside.

This old key hasn’t fit a lock at Crescent Hall for fifty years,
the card read in a spidery handwriting Heather instinctively knew was Heloise’s,
but it opened the original front door and I wanted you to have it. Thank you for helping me to bring the last of my nephews home to Chance Creek. Just in time, too. I’m off to Missouri for a month. My cousin has five granddaughters, and none of them are married yet!

Heloise hadn’t signed the card, but Heather didn’t care. She knew she’d treasure it for the rest of her life, just as she’d treasure the memories of how she’d found her way back to Colt again.

“What is it?” Colt asked.

“Just a gift from a friend.” She pocketed the key and set the card aside, and took her husband’s hand. “Dance with me.”

“Any time.”

‡

Six months later

“I
loved the
Founder’s Day celebration last year,” Regan said as she packed the last of the food into a picnic basket and reached down to chuck baby Aaron under the chin. “The fireworks were the best part. I can’t wait to see them again tonight.”

“I can’t wait for the live music,” Julie remarked, taking the basket when Regan handed it to her. Julie had moved back to Montana only the month before, after her sons had built her a house on the east side of the ranch.

“I’m looking forward to seeing everything.” Ella held her baby, Michael, in one arm and a folded blanket in the other. “Ready, Storm?”

“Just about.” Storm finished hooking her tiny newborn, Gabriel, into a front-carrying pouch. “Let’s go, Sarah. I told Mom and the girls I’d be there by ten.”

“I’m coming.” Sarah had rejoined them on the ranch in June, when she’d left the Army and married Dan. Now she worked alongside her husband at their extreme training camp, but lately Heather had seen a secret smile dancing on Sarah’s lips and she felt sure another baby would arrive at the ranch next winter. “Melanie, how about you?”

“I’m ready, too.” Melanie and Eric had driven from Missoula, where they’d settled down together in anticipation of their wedding in November. “Come on, Heather.”

“Coming.” Heather finished packing cans of pop and beer into a large cooler. “Colt, I need you!”

“Be right there.” He came downstairs a moment later, reached around her large belly and gave her a quick kiss. “How’s the mama?”

“This is so much harder than I remember,” she complained. “I’m as big as a house.”

“You’re as tiny as a sparrow. Besides, you still have a month to go.”

Heather groaned good-naturedly. She was definitely larger this time around, but that was because she was carrying twins.

“Everybody ready? Let’s move it out!” Mason called from the front hall. Richard pounded through the house and burst out the front door ahead of them.

“Are you going to be all right today?” Colt asked Heather as he hefted the cooler and followed her to the front of the house.

“Sitting while the parade goes by, sitting while you all check out the fair, sitting while I eat my picnic food, sitting while I watch the historical re-enactments and fireworks later tonight? Yes, I think I’ll be all right.”

“That’s a lot of sitting.”

“Maybe I’ll walk to the pretzel booth.” She craved soft pretzels these days. She liked the big flakes of salt.

“Don’t forget we have to dance under the stars.”

“I guess I can do that, too. Slowly.”

“Mom! Dad! Hurry up!” Richard called through the open front door.

Heather paused when they reached the front porch and watched her family—her large, extended family—load up their trucks and pile in for their day of fun in town. She let her gaze trail over the wide lawn, the pastures in the distance, and the hills far beyond. She turned to look back at the Hall itself.

“What are you thinking?” Colt paused beside her, biceps bulging as he held up the heavy cooler.

“How proud your father would be of what you’ve done. Look at this place. You’ve restored it to what it used to be. It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah. It feels like home again.”

“It feels like home to me, too.”

The End

Read on for an excerpt of Volume 1 of the
SEALs of Chance Creek
series –
A SEAL’s Oath
. Please note that this novel is not part of the
Heroes of Chance Creek
series.

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