Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
When he’d gotten there, he’d told me his horse was about to die because her baby was stuck.
Holly and I had immediately jumped into action, delivering the two foals.
Sadly, neither foal had made it, and the mother was well on her way to dying as well.
I hoped with some relaxation and rest, she might pep up in the morning.
But still, I’d missed my own wedding day.
“We’re going after this.” She bumped me with her shoulder, a smile on her face. “I rescheduled when I called and you didn’t answer.”
Relief hit me like a battering ram.
I’d been looking forward to this day since we’d picked it.
We’d decided to go with the day that we’d met.
A day neither one of us would ever forget.
I’d never been the same since I’d first seen her standing in my grandmother’s cottage.
So it was fitting that we continue to make this day the best one of the year.
“Thanks, baby,” I said as I placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “But stay back here, yeah?”
She rolled her eyes, but backed up to stand with the employees who were watching the free show with glee.
They’d never liked my mother, and it showed now in the way they were all standing in a defensive arc around Nettie.
I walked unhurriedly to my mother who was standing in handcuffs by Gentry’s cruiser.
She stared at me pitifully, and I noticed then that her clothes were unkempt.
They weren’t as starched and pressed as they usually were.
I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.
“I didn’t tell you about your other sister because she was supposed to die.”
I shouldn’t be surprised by her words, but I was.
Still, I didn’t talk.
“She has a heart condition,” she persisted. “They expected it to kill her being born. It didn’t.”
“And you think that your husband would’ve been upset with a baby that had a heart condition?” Gentry snorted. “Get the fuck out of here.”
He opened the door to the cruiser and started to shove her inside.
She resisted, her eyes on me.
“Felicia was born the same day, in the same hospital,” my mother continued. “She was abandoned. I took her home instead.”
I blinked.
“I had a nurse switch her with the other girl.”
The other girl.
That was how she referred to Ida Bell?
“And Ida Bell?” I asked. “What happened to her?”
“I made sure she was safe. Provided for.”
“And who does she think you are to her?” I pushed.
“Just a family friend of her father’s.” She swallowed. “Your dad wanted that girl so much. I just…I had to make sure he got his girl.”
“That’s not for you to decide,” I pointed out. “And let’s talk about why you poisoned Felicia. Why does she hate us so much? Why does she act exactly like you? She was an innocent baby herself once. Her attitude is a learned behavior.”
My mother’s eyes narrowed for a heartbeat in time, then cleared.
She was pissed that I was questioning her, but she didn’t want me to know it.
“Felicia is just Felicia. I didn’t turn her into anything.”
Uh-huh. Sure.
On that note…
“Have a good one, Mother,” I said. “I’m going to get married.”
Gail inhaled swiftly.
Hearing that I was done, Nettie started toward me.
She opened her bag and pulled out something rectangular from her purse before she turned it to face my mother and me.
“Don’t worry, Gail,” Nettie cooed as she held the mugshot photo to her chest. “You’ll be there in spirit.”
My lips tipped up at the corners as I caught my girl around the waist and pulled her to me. “Let’s go get married.”
The only people at our actual ceremony at the courthouse were Weaver, Eddy, Denver, Sorcha, Grams, and my dad.
We were standing in front of the judge who was marrying us, both of us dressed casually. Nettie in a light, flowy dress that barely showed any of her middle. And me in a nice pair of jeans, tan button-down, and boots.
She’d had me wear my cowboy hat, too, which had me grinning like a loser. I wore the hat in the deep summer only when the sun blazed and my poor neck liked to fry.
I knew that the hat really did things for her—she’d been telling and showing me so since I’d started wearing it the first year she’d bought it for me after a bad hiking burn. But for her to want it in our wedding photos meant that she wanted to have the look encapsulated for all of time.
“And did you write your own vows?”
Nettie opened her mouth and said, “I did!”
Denver snorted.
My grams shoved him with a feeble elbow.
Nettie twisted back and forth in place, causing her dress to flit around her knees.
It was mesmerizing, and I didn’t know where to look. Her eyes as they sparkled. Her legs as they shifted and the muscles there bunched and relaxed. Or her midsection where I could finally see the beginning of a baby bump.