It’s real now.
Those words echoed inside of her. What did real mean? They were really getting married, but was their relationship real?
He didn’t love her. He wanted to fix her. And somehow, through fixing her, he believed he would fix himself.
Maybe that wasn’t any less real than what most people had. Maybe it was just more honest.
“Yes,” she said, her voice a whisper. “It’s real.”
“I know that my meddling upset him. I’m not stupid. And I know he felt like I wasn’t listening to him. But he has been so lost in all that pain, and I knew... I knew he just needed to love somebody again. He thought everything I did, everything I said was because I don’t understand a life that goes beyond what we have here.” He gestured around the living room—small, cozy, essentially a stereotype of the happy, rural family. “But that’s not it. Doesn’t matter what a life looks like, a man needs love. And that man needs love more than most. He always was stubborn, difficult. Never could get him to talk about much of anything. He needs someone he can talk to. Someone who can see the good in him so he can start to see it too.”
“Love,” Danielle said softly, the word a revelation she had been trying to avoid.
That was why it hurt. When she looked at him. When she was with him. When she looked away from him. When he was gone.
That was the intense, building pressure inside her that felt almost too large for her body to contain.
It was every beautiful, hopeful feeling she’d had since meeting him.
She loved him.
And he didn’t love her. That absence was the cause of the dark disquiet she’d felt sometimes. He wanted to use her as a substitute for his girlfriend, the one he thought he had failed.
“Every man needs love,” Todd said. “Successful businessmen and humble farmers. Trust me. It’s the thing that makes life run. The thing that keeps you going when crops don’t grow and the weather doesn’t cooperate. The thing that pulls you up from the dark pit when you can’t find the light. I’m glad he found his light.”
But he hadn’t.
She had found hers.
For him, she was a Band-Aid he was trying to put over a wound that would end up being fatal if he didn’t do something to treat it. If he didn’t do something more than simply cover it up.
She took a deep breath. “I don’t...”
“Are you ready to go home?”
Danielle looked up and saw Joshua standing in front of her. And those words...
Him asking if she wanted to go home, meaning to his house, with him, like that house belonged to her. Like he belonged to her...
Well, his question allowed her to erase all the doubts that had just washed through her. Allowed her to put herself back in the fantasy she’d been living in since she’d agreed to his proposal.
“Sure,” she said, pushing herself up from the couch.
She watched as he said goodbye to his family, as he collected Riley and slung the diaper bag over his shoulder. Yes. She loved him.
She was an absolute and total lost cause for him. In love. Something she had thought she could never be.
The only problem was, she was in love alone.
* * *
It was his wedding day.
Thankfully, only his family would be in attendance. A small wedding in Copper Ridge’s Baptist church, which was already decorated for Christmas and so saved everyone time and hassle.
Which was a good thing, since he had already harassed local baker Alison Donnelly to the point where she was ready to assault him with a spatula over his demands related to a Pop-Tart cake.
It was the one thing Danielle had said she wanted, and even if she had been joking, he wanted to make it happen for her.
He liked doing things for her. Whether it was teaching her how to ride horses, pleasuring her in the bedroom or fixing her nice meals, she always expressed a deep and sweet gratitude that transcended anything he had ever experienced before.
Her appreciation affected him. He couldn’t pretend it didn’t.
She affected him.
He walked into the empty church, looking up at the steeply pitched roof and the thick, curved beams of wood that ran the length of it, currently decked with actual boughs of holly.
Everything looked like it was set up and ready, all there was to do now was wait for the ceremony to start.
Suddenly, the doors that led to the fellowship hall opened wide and in burst Danielle. If he had thought she looked ethereal before, it was nothing compared to how she looked at this moment. Her dark hair was swept back in a loose bun, sprigs of baby’s breath woven into it, some tendrils hanging around her face.
And the dress...
The bodice was fitted, showing off her slim figure, and the skirt billowed out around her, shimmering with each and every step. She was holding a bouquet of dark red roses, her lips painted a deep crimson to match.
“I didn’t think I was supposed to see you until the wedding?” It was a stupid thing to say, but it was about the only thing he could think of.
“Yes. I know. I was here getting ready, and I was going to hide until everything started. Stay in the dressing room.” She shook her head. “I need to talk to you, though. And I was already wearing this dress, and all of the layers of underwear that you have to wear underneath it to make it do this.” She kicked her foot out, causing the skirt to flare.
“To make it do what?”
“You need a crinoline. Otherwise your skirt is like a wilted tulip. That’s something I learned when the wedding store lady came this morning to help
