Chasing the Runaway Bride (21 page)

“Right.” Cade shook his head. “Poor Mom.”

Ellie said, “Your mother will be fine. Now that she’s out of the house, her days are better and better. I think she’s got the patience to wait out your dad.”

“But I don’t,” Cade said, reaching for a roll. He glanced at his watch. Ten minutes until Devon got there. Another twenty minutes for the meeting, then he could go to Piper.

Finn seconded that. “Neither do I. I’d give him a million dollars just to get him out of our lives, but I know that won’t go over well with Devon.”

When Devon and their mom arrived, Cade told them about the baby, and announced he would be asking Piper to marry him. Once the shock wore off and the celebration was over, their mom told them their dad had called and said he wanted a new agreement with a lump sum payment for him.

“Notice he didn’t call me,” Devon said, clearly furious. “It’s obvious the bastard has figured out there was more to the estate.”

Eager to get this business done, Cade said, “And he wants what?”

LuAnn sucked in a breath. “Two million dollars.”

“Counter with an offer of a million,” Finn calmly said.

Devon gaped at him. “I will not give him one cent.”

“Then be prepared for him to be a thorn in our sides—in
Mom’s side
,” Finn emphasized, “forever.”

Devon ran his fingers along the top of his head and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I’ll think of something.”

“I’m sure you will.” Cade rose. “But before it gets too late, I’m going to go talk to Piper.”

Ellie walked him to the door, kissed his cheek. “Good luck.”

He smiled sheepishly. His family was being overrun by women. Good women, but women all the same. “Thanks.”

He stepped out into the brisk October night and walked to his truck. The moon was bright. The air smelled like fall. And going to Piper’s seemed so right it was weird.

Driving to her apartment, he ran through several different versions of what he could say to her, but when she opened her door to him, he stepped inside, slid his hands under the hair at her nape, and kissed her senseless.

“I want to marry you.”

“What?”

He pushed back so he could see her eyes. “Before you answer, think about the fun we just had kissing. Imagine having that much fun every day for the next sixty or seventy years.”

…

She could. She could see them old and gray, still hot for each other.

“But we both know this isn’t just about sex now.” He pressed his hand to her belly. “We made a baby. We have responsibilities. We need to take care of business…”

“Cade—”

He took her shoulders and forced her gaze to his again. “I’m trying to tell you that we will have the best of both worlds. We’re smart enough to know we have a child to raise, but—” He smoothed his hand down her bottom. “We kind of like each other.”

The simplicity of his logic made her laugh. Technically, he’d just described a recipe for a very good marriage.

Except he’d never once used the word
love
.

Of course, his father had probably loved his mom and her dad had undoubtedly told her mom he loved her…right before he went out and gambled away their livelihood in a poker game.

So what was love anyway, when compared to responsibilities and lust?

She blinked up at him.

He smiled hopefully. “Say yes.”

She shook her head, thinking it amazing, but said, “All right. Yes. I think we have a better foundation than most people.”

“Especially since we’re committed to raising a child.”

“Exactly.”

“Exactly.”

The room became quiet. Weird.

He smiled at her and she smiled at him.
We’re getting married.

He kissed her then. Slowly, deeply, differently than he’d ever kissed her before. And she gave herself over to the kiss, telling herself that just because they were getting married, nothing would be different.

But everything was different. She was pregnant. They were getting married.

Married.

She’d tried this twice before and hadn’t been able to go through with it either time.

Of course, she hadn’t had the chemistry she had with Cade. Hadn’t loved her other grooms the way she loved Cade.

They kissed their way to the couch, not stopping for air, but giving themselves enough room to unbutton buttons and remove shirts. When Cade undid her jeans and pushed them down to her knees, she stopped.

“They’re skinny jeans. You’re not going to get me out of them. I have to step out.”

“Good. Then I’ll get rid of these.” He had his jeans and boxers off before she’d fully stepped out of her jeans and though there was some serious stuff going on between them, she laughed. “Are you as nervous as I am?”

“Maybe more.”

“It’s kinda crazy.”

“I know.” He looped his big hand around her small waist and hauled her to him. “So let’s just pretend we’re back to doing this just for lust.”

“Sounds good.”

Kissing her fiercely, he eased her down to the sofa, parting her thighs with his knee as she went.

They touched and caressed, bit and savored, until they just sort of came together…as if they’d been doing this a lifetime. It didn’t diminish the intensity, the fervor and sharpness of the need that whipped through her, but when they were done, they cuddled.

And her heart sang. He might not be able to say he loved her, but he did.

“You know, of course, that I’ll soon have a ranch in Montana.”

Oh, Lord. His family had money! She thanked God she’d gotten pregnant before she’d learned that. But she leaned up a bit so she could see his face as they had this discussion.

“Are you saying you’re going to want to move?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But the present owner, Tim Tucker, ran the ranch long distance.” He smiled. “Of course, he had me.”

She forced a smile. Love him or not, having him talk about this part of his life suddenly made her feel like she’d just agreed to marry a stranger.

“So we’ll have to find somebody to run the ranch?”

“Yes. I’m not going to desert Devon with running the whole estate. As much as I’d like to go back to Montana and just run my ranch like I’d always planned, I finally figured out there’s a lot of money to be managed. Investments to be investigated. I won’t force the whole job on Devon.” He paused, peeked down at her. “But that doesn’t mean I want to live in Harmony Hills.”

She did. But she wasn’t alone in the decision-making. They were about to be married. She’d be half of a couple. She couldn’t have everything her way.

The shock of it rippled through her, but she said, “Okay.”

“Look, we don’t have to decide everything tonight. Tomorrow we can go to the courthouse and do whatever needs to be done to get married on Saturday.”

Her eyes widened. “Saturday?”

“What’s wrong with Saturday?”

“Are you talking about eloping?”

“Don’t you have to leave town to elope?”

She edged her way out from under him and off the couch. First they were getting married, then he talked about moving away, now the wedding was on Saturday? “Geez, I don’t know. But I do know that I don’t want a cheap little wedding that makes it look like we’re hiding.” She paced away, then spun to face him. “We’re going to stir up so many hornet’s nests that the smartest thing to do would be do it in style.”

His eyes narrowed. “You want a big wedding?”

“The biggest.”

As if finally catching on to her logic, he laughed. “Bunny Farmer’s going to go hoarse from the gossip.”

Chapter Eighteen

That night Cade stayed over. When Piper’s alarm sounded for her to get up for work, he rolled to his side and mumbled, “Have a good morning.”

She slapped his butt. “Very funny.”

“I’m a funny, funny guy.”

He was a funny, funny guy. And he was worth his weight in gold in bed. And she was going to marry him.

Her world went wonky for a few seconds as the thrill of it made her dizzy. Then reality returned. They were talking about moving away. Plus, they still had to run O’Riley’s. Otherwise, the store her mother loved would become a parking lot. And she couldn’t let that happen, either.

She slid out of bed, showered, and dressed to go to O’Riley’s and do her job.

She drove to her mother’s house to pick her up for work, and met her first wedding hurdle. She had to tell her mom she was getting married before the news got out.

She considered telling her on the way to O’Riley’s, but pictured the scene her mother would make and held off.

All day, she nervously watched her mom interacting with customers, praying nobody already knew. She and Cade hadn’t discussed telling their families, and she prayed he hadn’t yet made any big announcements.

When he arrived at two, she followed him into the office.

“Have you told your family yet?”

He winced. “Actually, I told them before I asked you.”

She wasn’t sure if that was sweet or odd.

“I wasn’t exactly getting anyone’s permission, but I didn’t want them to be shocked.”

“Well, that’s where I am with my mother right now. I need to drive her home so I can tell her.”

“So what you’re really saying, darlin’, is that you’re reneging on our overlap hour?”

She winced. “Sorry.”

“Go. I’m just kidding around. I know she’s got to be told before the word gets out.”

He gave her a quick kiss and she left the office.

Walking toward the checkout counters, she said, “Hey, Mom, I’m leaving now, too. Why don’t you let me drive you home?”

Obviously tired from a full day’s work, her mom sighed happily. “Sounds great. My knees are killing me.”

They climbed into her little car and neither said anything as they drove to the Cape Cod with the blue window boxes. Piper stopped the car, turned off the ignition, and followed her mother to the back door.

Her mom frowned. “What’s up?”

“I just have something I want to tell you.”

Karen unlocked the kitchen door. “Should I make us a snack?”

“No. This isn’t exactly snack news.”

“Now you’re scaring me.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Mom, because I’m very, very happy, and I want you to be happy for me.”

She sighed. “Oh, God. You’re going to tell me you’re dating
him
, aren’t you?”

“Nope. I’m going to tell you we’re getting married.”

Piper’s mom’s face fell. Her mouth opened and shut comically. Finally she said, “You’re
marrying him
?”

“He’s a good guy.”

“And we’ve been through this two times already. Piper, you’re not the kind of girl to settle down. You like your freedom. I can’t go through planning another wedding only to watch you bolt at the last second!”

“Yeah, well, I’m pregnant.”

Her mom nearly collapsed. Blindly feeling behind herself, she found a chair and plopped into it. “You’re pregnant by a Hyatt?”

“Donovan.”

“He’s a
Hyatt
.”

“Yeah, well, the feud is over.”

“You were supposed to be nudging him out!”

“I couldn’t punish him for Richard Hyatt’s sins.” She waited a beat then said, “No comment about Lonnie?”

Karen raised her hands in the air with a hoot. “Lonnie? Ha! Now that the dust is settling I can see why Cade ran.”

“Good, because I love him. And we want this baby and we intend to be happy.”

Her mother dropped her head to her hands. “Dear God.”

Piper walked over and kneeled in front of her. “Don’t be mad.”

“Piper, I never get mad at you. I could shake you silly. But you’re twenty-eight. You have the right to do what you want. And even though I’m not thrilled at the prospect of another wedding, I’ll do whatever you need me to do and then I’ll pick up the pieces when you leave him at the altar, too.”

Piper gaped at her mom. “You think I’m going to leave him too?”

“You don’t?”

“No!” The thought had entered her mind, but she felt differently about Cade. “Why would you think that?”

“Because it’s what you do.”

She gasped. “You think I’m crazy!”

“No. I think your dad soured you on commitments.”

“That’s funny, because that’s what Cade says his dad did to him.”

Her mother only shook her head. “Oh Lord, Piper, this is a mess, but you know I’ll support you whatever you decide.”

…

When Cade opened the door of his grandfather’s house to Piper that night, she stepped inside, grabbed the collar of his T-shirt, yanked him to her, and kissed him the way he’d kissed her the night before.

“How’d it go?”

“She thinks I’m nuts.”

“So she’s on board.”

She laughed. Only someone who truly understood her mother could say that. “Yes. Ready to pick up the pieces when we fail.”

“We’re not going to fail.”

“No, but we’re going to have a bumpy two weeks or so while we quickly plan a wedding.” She caught his gaze. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready.”

They started the next morning with a visit to the church. To his credit, Father Macnamara only said, “Oh, that’s nice,” when they came into the office and announced they wanted to get married—quickly because they were expecting. He had them fill out forms, told them he’d have to get a special dispensation from the bishop, and wrote their date—two weeks from Saturday—on his calendar.

They stopped at Sandy Wojak’s next. Her husband Arthur let them in and led them back to the dark room Sandy used as an office for the Dinner Belles. When they told Sandy, she burst out laughing. “And you’re getting married?”

“We’d like the Dinner Belles to cook the meal.”

“Oh, sweetie, we wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

By the time they got to Buds and Bouquets, the news had traveled to Isabelle, and she greeted them with a grin she couldn’t hide.

“Last time Cade was in, he said he was buying flowers for his mom, but I sort of suspected they were for you.” She winked at Piper. “He said you liked pink.”

“We’re having a fall wedding, so let’s stick with autumn colors.”

“I love autumn colors,” Isabelle said, directing Piper to look at sample bouquets in the big fat flower binder, and Cade glanced around.