Avery left the bunkhouse kitchen before she spilled the beans or worse, cried with frustration, and returned to the main room, where everyone else was finishing their meals and milling about talking. She understood the need to protect Elizabeth and keep Fulsom from kicking her off the show, but her own happiness kept getting snatched out from under her, just when she thought it was secure.
A group of women had gathered in one corner of the room, chatting. Through the large front window, Avery spotted Maud Russell coming their way. A shriek made her jump, and she turned to find Leslie had just spilled a cup of tea down her gown and was fussing and fretting over it, trying to blot the liquid with napkins the other women were handing her. Avery took advantage of the distraction to slip outside the bunkhouse and head off Maud.
“Where’s James?” she asked.
“With the carriage. We just stopped by to say hello.” She frowned. “Just in time by the looks of things. Is there something I can do to help, my dear? You look distraught.”
“I… I’d love a ride in your carriage right away,” Avery confessed, needing to get away from Base Camp and all the secrets and frustrations, even for a short time.
“That will make James very happy!” Maud exclaimed. “Come on.”
Avery hurried along with her, hoping no gunmen were lurking about in the broad daylight, happy to escape the ranch before anyone noticed her. “I’m with the Russells,” she texted to Riley so no one would worry. “Perfectly safe.”
She figured it was only a matter of time before some of the men hopped in a truck and came after them to guard her, so as soon as the carriage was underway, she wasted no time in telling her problems to Maud. She’d learned over the time she’d known Maud that the woman might seem like a flighty Regency-era matron, but the reality was she was smart as a whip. She was playing a part, and as an actress herself, Avery understood that. It was a part Maud had chosen to act out 24/7, but a part all the same.
“I need a wedding. A real wedding. But it’s got to be a secret; no one else but me can know about it until the day.”
“A secret wedding. How intriguing!” Maud leaned forward. “Tell me all about it.”
Avery did, explaining Elizabeth’s predicament and the need to hide her in plain sight at Base Camp. She explained Fulsom’s rules, too, and the reason for all their secrecy. She even filled in Maud on her parents’ inability to keep a secret and her fear they wouldn’t make it to her wedding—and her inability to invite anyone else she might want to be there.
“I don’t know what to do. I love Walker, and I would marry him in a chicken coop if I really had to, but I’ve dreamed of my wedding day my whole life, and if it’s at all possible, I want the whole nine yards: flowers, music, dancing…”
“And that’s exactly what you shall have, my dear,” Maud said comfortably. “I’ll tell you what. James and I shall throw a party in your honor.”
“We’re never happier than when we’re throwing a party,” James tossed back over his shoulder from where he sat guiding the horses.
“We won’t tell anyone else at Base Camp about it, but rest assured we will be prepared for them all to attend once Elizabeth flies to Washington. It shall be a very wonderful, very secret, very formal party, and we’ll invite everyone you know,” Maud went on. “Including your parents. And if there happens to be a wedding when they all show up, including your Base Camp friends, who won’t have anything better to do, well, I doubt any of them will mind!”
Avery beamed. “I knew you’d have an answer. You’re so good to us.” She threw her arms around Maud and hugged her.
“Other girls dream of being Cinderella,” Maud said happily, “but personally I always wanted to be the fairy godmother.”
“Uh oh, we have company,” James said.
Avery looked over her shoulder. Just as she thought, a Base Camp truck was following close behind.
The scolding she was sure to get was worth it, she decided.
“What color scheme were you thinking of, dear?” Maud asked. “Don’t worry; those cranky men can wait. You and I are going to plan every last detail.”
“Addison is right, Sue would have liked the wedding to take place on the reservation,” Elizabeth said when Avery told her and Walker everything that had happened, including her disastrous attempt to get Kai and Addison to cater the affair.
“Do you mind if I let it slip that’s what’s happening?” Avery said. “That your wedding is going to be a small affair on the Crow reservation, and I’m done helping you? That will explain why I’ve suddenly stopped preparing for the wedding here.”
“Sue doesn’t like lies,” Walker said.
“Don’t tell them anything,” Elizabeth advised. “If they ask why you’ve stopped planning my wedding, just say, ‘Ask Sue.’ No more, no less. None of them will dare ask her anything, and she’ll be none the wiser.”
She was right, Walker had to admit, and it was good to hear Avery laugh. They all looked around to make sure no one else in their work party had heard them.
“So the wedding is sorted,” Elizabeth said. “I wish everything else was, too.”
“That’s the next item on my agenda,” Avery assured her. “Maud’s handling my wedding, so now I can handle your publicity problem.”
“Publicity problem?”
“Like we talked about, you need to educate the public. Get everyone to call their senators to get them to vote against allowing drilling in the Renning field.”
“We’ve worked
