Epilogue
It was the strangest thing. Once she and Wade had agreed to get married, Lauren had been in no big hurry to arrange the ceremony. She’d had excuse after excuse, from the birth of Karen’s baby to Gina’s marriage to Rafe. The delay had driven Wade and the Calamity Janes crazy. They’d been pestering her for months now to set a date or to explain why she was so reluctant to stand in front of a minister and exchange vows with the man she loved.
The truth was, she had endured a media frenzy with her first two marriages. There was no way she wanted news of this wedding to leak out and turn a special, private moment into a circus. She had finally explained that to Wade, who’d come up with the perfect suggestion—a small wedding right here at their house with only friends and family in attendance. Even better, they hadn’t even told the guests they were coming to a wedding, so there was no chance of an inadvertent leak. And they’d picked a date before Emma’s due date, so they wouldn’t steal that baby’s thunder.
“Are you sure you’re okay with all the secrecy?” Wade had asked a dozen times.
“I am deliriously happy with all the secrecy,” she insisted.
“Gina’s going to pitch a fit when she realizes you’ve flown a caterer in to do all the food,” he pointed out.
“I couldn’t very well have had her do it. Besides, she’ll have other things to do. She and the other Calamity Janes are my bridesmaids.” She frowned. “I just hope Emma isn’t going to flip out at the dress I ordered for her. It is very difficult to find anything formal and flattering for a woman who is eight months pregnant.”
“I thought bridesmaids almost always hated their dresses,” he said. “Besides, I think she’ll look fabulous. There is something about a pregnant woman….” His voice trailed off as his gaze wandered over her. “I can hardly wait.”
“But wait you will, sweetie. We are not getting pregnant until after foaling season. I can’t imagine what I was thinking planning a wedding for now. I’m so exhausted I can hardly see.”
“Which is precisely why you are going inside, taking a long hot bath and going to bed,” Wade countered. “I’ll stay up with Miss Molly.”
“But I want to be here when she has Midnight’s foal,” she protested. “It will be their first.”
Wade hadn’t even tried to argue with her, which was why she was running around frantically the next day an hour before their guests were due and two hours before the ceremony itself. Miss Molly’s foal, a gorgeous colt, had been born just before dawn, which meant Lauren was operating on automatic pilot.
The kitchen was in chaos as the same Beverly Hills caterer who’d done Cassie’s impromptu wedding two years earlier moaned and groaned about the outrageous miracles people expected of him.
“Just do it,” Lauren ordered him. “I don’t have time to pacify you. You can go back to L.A. and tell everyone that you know the reason that I left, that I am certifiably crazy.”
Her offer put a gleam in his eye and he went back to putting the finishing touches on the elaborate wedding cake.
Lauren raced upstairs, showered and washed her hair and was just finishing her nails when the doorbell rang. Sighing, she put aside the polish and ran down to answer it. All four Calamity Janes simply stared.
“What?” she demanded.
“Are we early?” Gina asked.
“Exactly on time,” Lauren said.
“Then why aren’t you dressed?”
“Because I need a little help from my bridesmaids for that,” she explained, laughing when they stared at her with openmouthed astonishment.
“Bridesmaids?” Emma said cautiously, her hand on her huge belly. “As in, you’re getting married today?”
“Yep,” Lauren confirmed, then grinned. “Surprise!”
Wade hadn’t thought his life could get one bit sweeter, but that was before he stood in his own backyard wearing a tuxedo and watching Lauren walk toward him looking like a princess. It was exactly the way he’d envisioned it, yards of white satin, a gossamer-sheer veil and all. He’d be lucky not to trip all over the vows, she made him so tongue-tied.
Which was nothing like what she’d done to his mother. He glanced at the small collection of chairs for the guests and winked at his mother when he caught her eye. She had been astonished when he had introduced her to Lauren. Turned out Arlene was one of Lauren’s biggest fans, that she owned every one of Lauren’s movies on video. She couldn’t seem to get over the fact that her idol was actually marrying her son.
“Wait until I get home and tell everyone at the bar. They’ll die. They’ll absolutely die,” she said.
“Actually, Mom, we’ve been thinking you might want to stick around here,” he’d told her. “You don’t need to work anymore. We have plenty of room. You can have your own house right here on the ranch.”
Arlene had stared at him, perplexed. “But what would I do?”
“Nothing, unless you wanted to. You’ve earned the right to some time off.”
She had waved off the suggestion. “Absolutely not. You’re going to be newlyweds. I’m not about to be underfoot. We can discuss this after you have my first grandbaby.”
Now she caught his gaze and winked back at him. Then Lauren was at his side, and he had eyes for nothing else.
From then on everything was a blur—the exchange of vows, the congratulations from the Calamity Janes and their spouses and Arlene. Wade’s heart was too full to take any of it in. All he wanted to do was stare at his wife. His wife! He couldn’t get over it.
“Oh, my.”
Wade’s gaze instantly shot to Emma. There had been no mistaking the
