The Reluctant Bride (Montana Born Brides) (16 page)

Risa stood in the doorway and watched Monty give his father a hug.
The older man looked a lot like Monty, but smaller in the big recliner he sat in.

“
Who’s that?”

“
That is Risa Grant. She’s my fiancée.”

“
You’re getting married. You hardly seem old enough. Do her parents approve?” Heath asked.

Risa got a lump in her throat as she remembered how happy her parents had been when they
’d talked to Monty on Skype. “They do. You raised a good man, Heath.”

“
Did I?”

“
Yes, you did,” Risa said.

“
I’m glad.”

They settled onto the settee next to Heath
’s chair and Risa listened to the two men talk. Sometimes Heath acted like Monty was a teenager and then other times he’d get lucid and ask him about serving in the Middle East. When it was time for them to go, she gave Heath a hug and kiss on his forehead. She wished she’d had the chance to meet him before he’d gotten so sick.

“
She’s a good one, Monty. A keeper. Not a runner like your mom,” Heath said.

Monty looked over at her and gave her one of his patented solid stares.
Then he nodded. “Yes, she is, Dad. Love you.”

“
Love you too, son,” Heath said.

They walked out of the room.
How hard must it have been for him to come after her?

“
I’m sorry.”

“
For?”

“
Leaving you behind. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“
You did what you had to do. That’s in the past. We’re building a solid future together.”

Scarlett Buck looked like a soon-to-be-bride should look. Happy and so in love that it scared Risa a little for her. She didn’t know the other woman, beyond the fact that she’d picked pink roses with yellow peace roses for her bouquet. Very pretty choices for the flowers and Risa had been working on Scarlett’s bouquet trying very hard to forget that she, too, was a soon-to-be-bride.

But it was much easier to focus on other brides and other weddings, rather than the one she and Monty had been planning in private.

They’d both agreed that pressure was the last thing they needed and, as May had faded into June, she’d made that visit to meet his father at the care home in San Diego. It had been surreal to meet a parent who was different from her own. Made her miss them so much more than she had before. But she’d known. All the dreams of the future she’d had were going to have to be changed.

She
’d get married without her dad to give her away. She’d pick out a dress—something she hadn’t been able to bring herself to do—without her mom. Tears burned the back of her eyes and she turned away from Scarlett so she didn’t notice. Maybe she was fixing to get her period. That would explain why she was so on edge today.

But Risa knew the truth was she
’d agreed to shop for a dress with Annie and Sienna. Annie and Carson were planning a Christmas ceremony, and Annie had a friend who was a famous wedding designer from Manhattan who was designing a special dress for her. And she’d brought her sketchbook and a trunk of dresses for Risa to look at.

“
Are you okay?”

“
Yes. I think I’ve got a little hay fever today.”

“
That’s not good for a florist,” Scarlett said with a kind smile.

Risa suspected the other woman knew that it was tears and not allergies making her eyes water.
But she was kind enough not to mention it. They finished talking about flowers for the bridesmaids, and for the tables, and then Scarlett left.

Risa sat on the stool behind the register, doodling on her order pad and thinking about her fears.
She had to find a way to purge them. Keep faking it. Except she knew nothing had been superficial since she’d met Monty’s dad.

There was a knock on the back door and she glanced around expecting to see her teenaged helper, but there was no mistaking Monty
’s silhouette.

“
I know you’re busy with wedding stuff. But I brought lunch.”

She kissed him and hugged him close, because she needed to touch him and hold him and convince herself that he wasn
’t going anywhere. “Thank you.”

“
How’s it going?”

“
Pretty good. You’re right that I’m busy. Think you want to learn how to arrange flowers? I could use an assistant.”

He looked down at his big hands that were scarred from a lifetime of working with them and then back to the delicate blooms that were nestled in long buckets of water.
“I’m not sure I have the right touch for it.”

“
There’s nothing wrong with your touch. You can be gentle enough when you need to.”

“
I can be. But only because I like touching your skin,” he said, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her neck and his hands moved over her torso, cupping her breasts.

She grabbed his wrists and looked over her shoulder at him.
“Not right now. I have a lot of work to do. And I’m expecting a delivery soon.”

“
Fine,” he said, dropping his hands and stepping over to the desk where she usually ate her lunch. “Where’s your delivery coming from?”

“
Holland. I’m getting some tulips. I can’t wait for them.”

“
Why?”

She took a deep breath.
They’d danced around when they’d be married and kind of just acted like the event would take place in the always-nebulous future. No specific date. She wondered if that was because he wasn’t sure of her, or if he wasn’t sure of them.

“
I’m thinking of using them for my wedding bouquet,” she said.

“
We haven’t set a date yet,” he reminded her. “Or picked a location, or any of that bride and groom stuff.”

“
You did. That night at the Long River Cookhouse when you told Maude where we would marry.”

“
So June, at the red barn house?”

“
Yes.”

“
Well, okay then. I’m guessing mid-month since we’re running out of time. What should we do first?” he asked. “I just need a clean shirt and a place to show up to, right?”

“
Not exactly. Since our parents are sort of not here for us, I was hoping we could plan it together. If you don’t want to, I’ll understand.”

He put the lunch bag on the table and left it alone.
“Is that what you want?”

She nodded.
She knew that this kind of thing wasn’t exactly what Monty liked to do, but she needed it. She needed to plan it and make it feel real, then maybe she wouldn’t feel so afraid when she fell asleep each night.

“
Then I’d love to do it with you.”

Monty had been working hard and acting like nothing had changed, and everything was about as normal as it could be.

Despite the fact that she hadn’t said anything, he knew that the wedding weighed on her mind. It did on his, too. He wondered if just a quick elopement to Vegas would put them both at ease. But then he had decided that felt way too much like a cop-out and he wasn’t one to take the easy path.

Evidenced by the fact that he was taking any job the security company offered him.
Including acting as a bodyguard for a pop star who was too young, too rich and not too smart. He’d spent the last three days keeping her safe in the dives of Mexico. There had to be a better way to make a living.

There was, but he
’d have to be more secure in where he was and until today, at lunch, he’d had no idea what Risa wanted to do next. And that wasn’t like him. So instead of waiting for her to tell him what she wanted to do, he went to the internet and started searching. Found a place where couples could register and make a website and really think about their story.

He had a few pictures of them.
He flipped through the ones on his phone. He had an old one from Vegas that he’d taken when she was looking at him. It was a side view and she’d been that girl that he thought he’d never have. But it was blurry. He laughed to himself as he remembered that he’d lifted the phone to take a second picture when she’d caught him.

That picture was there, too.
She smiled at him full of sass and sex appeal. He’d looked at that photo a million times a day, it seemed, when he’d been deployed, but now that he was home…He traced the angles of her face, his finger too big for the image. But he hadn’t looked at this photo in a long time.

It had felt like a lifetime ago, but the truth was, this wasn
’t where their story started. True, it was when they had met, but their story had started when they’d been apart and both afraid to reach out to each other.

There was a knock on the door and he got up to answer it.
Lane stood there. “You okay?”

“
Yeah, what’s up?”

“
Not much. Just heard that your girl is picking out a wedding dress and thought I’d come over and see if you set a date,” Lane said, coming inside when Monty gestured for him to.

“
Want a beer?”

“
Yes, please,” Lane said. Monty got them both one and followed Lane into the living room, taking a seat in front of the TV where he had ESPN playing.

“
June 21st,” he said, as he sat down and glanced over at his friend. “We’re just making plans. You still going to be my best man?”

“
Yes. That’s why I’m here. I take my responsibilities seriously.”

“
Me too.”

“
What about Risa? I’m not getting in your business, but I feel like our lives are linked now. You saved my life, so that means I owe you,” Lane said.

“
You don’t owe me anything. That’s what brothers do for each other,” Monty said. Besides he had mounds of guilt over the fact that he’d been glad it hadn’t been him who’d stepped on the landmine that day. Lane didn’t owe him anything.

“
I feel like I do. So what does the best man duty entail?” Lane asked. “Do you want me to guard your bride and make sure she shows up at the wedding?”

What kind of message would that send to Risa and to the world?
“No, if she doesn’t want to come on her own, then we shouldn’t be getting married.”

“
Which brings me back to—are you sure about this?” Lane asked, after he took a long swallow of his beer.

His friend looked relaxed and casual.
At ease with the world around him and at home in his body, despite the fact that he’d lost the bottom half of both his legs.

“
You remember how isolated it felt when we were deployed. Like the real world existed somewhere far away from us?”

Lane nodded.

“The only thing that kept the mission from getting to me was thinking about my life with Risa. I still see my future with her,” he said.