Chapter 33

Jessie sat slumped over in the wagon seat, her heart heavy and worn.

“What’s the matter, pumpkin?” Daddy asked.

Jessie sighed. “Oh, nothing.”

“It’s got to be something. You look like you lost your best friend. Have you?” Daddy pressed.

Jessie groaned and leaned back against the wagon seat. “I don’t even know. I’m so confused.”

“Confused? It appears to me that there’s nothing to be confused about. Just tell me if you want to go back and I’ll take you.”

Jessie was very tempted to take him up on that offer.

She shook her head. “I can’t. If he wanted me to stay, he would have just asked.”

“Ever think that maybe he was too scared to ask you?” Daddy asked.

Jessie paused. She hadn’t thought of that, but Colt was never scared to talk to her.

Suddenly, she heard hoof beats and turned around. A smile broke out across her face. She knew it.

She knew he would come after her.

“Stop the wagon, Daddy,” she said.

Daddy pulled the wagon to a halt and Jessie hopped down. She ran out to meet Colt halfway, not trusting either of them with the patience to wait until he reached her.

Colt pulled his horse to a stop and dismounted just as she reached him. She fell into him, his arms surrounding her. She wanted to cry and she wanted to laugh, but she couldn’t seem to even talk. Not that she felt words were needed. It seemed that neither of them did for a while as Colt ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her closer to him.

Finally, he set her back and smoothed her hair behind her ears.

“I should have never let you out of my sight,” he said. “You can’t leave me. I don’t know what I’d do. When you’re around… everything seems to make just a little more sense. You… you make it all a little better for me. It’s the most selfish thing in the world and I admit it, but either you stay with me or I follow you. There’s no in-between. Not for me. Not now. I love you more than life and everything in it.”

Jessie took his hands from her face and clasped them in her own. “If you think I’d leave you again you’re crazy. I was about three seconds of telling Daddy to turn around when you came after me. I love you, Colt Kidd. I love you with all my heart.”

Colt smiled down at her. “I’m not much, and all I’ve got is a job at a ranch and couple dreams as big as the sky, but if you… Now wait a minute.” He dropped onto one knee. “Figures I’d mess this up somehow.”

Jessie covered her mouth with her hands, not believing that this day was actually happening. Hadn’t she dreamed of it for weeks?

“Jessie Steele, will you marry me?” Colt asked.

“You know I will,” Jessie said through her fingers.

Colt stood up and took her in his arms. Jessie finally let out that giggle that she had been reining in. Colt set her down and she suddenly remembered her father. She turned and smiled at him, and he stuck his thumb up in the air.

“I guess he approves,” she said to Colt.

Colt smiled and put his arm around her waist. “Good. We’d hate to have to elope.”
Jessie smacked him on the arm for thinking such a thought, but couldn’t resist a smile.

She could hardly believe that this man was going to be all hers. No thoughts of Adam slithered into her mind to ruin the moment, no regrets or doubts of Colt’s character surfaced in her thoughts.

She lifted her eyes up to the clear blue sky and thanked the Lord for his blessings and second chances.

*****

“We’re gonna have ourselves the biggest Southern wedding you ever did see!” Colt watched as Mrs. Steele scurried about the kitchen of Jessie’s home and placed several magazines in front of Jessie.

“Momma, why can’t we just reuse the last ones?” Jessie asked.

“Because, that’s just strange. Besides, I’ve already given them to another couple in town to use,” Mrs. Steele explained.

“And giving away wedding decorations to a random couple isn’t strange? Not to mention it’s a waste of the money y’all spent,” Jessie commented.

Mrs. Steel cut her eyes at her daughter. “You be quiet and pick out what you want. Colt, you help her.”

“How am I supposed to know what to do?” Colt asked.

“Basically just nod to whatever Jessie wants,” Jake sat across from him and grinned.

Colt grinned. “Sounds easy enough.”

Jessie smacked him on the chest. “You better help me. We’ve only got a few weeks to cipher all of this out. Now what colors do you want?”

Colt looked at her shrugged. “White?”

Jessie rested her chin in her hand and groaned. “Better make it a few months.”

“Where are you gonna take her on the honeymoon, Colt?” Mrs. Steele asked.

Colt froze. He hadn’t even thought of that. “I… um… I haven’t given it much thought.”

“The beach?” Jessie offered with a grin.

“What beach?” Colt pulled his eyebrows close together.

“We only live about a day from the coast. I’ve always wanted to see it,” Jessie told him.

“Then the coast it is,” Colt told her.

Jessie squealed. “Thank you, Colt.”

Jake shook his head across the table. “I’m glad I’m not dumb enough to get hog-tied to a woman.”

“Ha!” a voice said as a duster collided with Jake’s face.

Colt looked to see the maid in the doorway.

“We’ll see about that, Mr. Steele,” she said.

Jake grinned at her teasingly. Colt looked at Jessie, who was trying her best to hide a grin. He suspected that there was some sort of unspoken agreement between the family members that the maid and Jake would end up together someday.

“What about daisies for the reception?” Jessie asked him, finally reining in her smile.

Colt shrugged. “Sounds fine to me.”

“Buttercups will be blooming around that time, too,” Mrs. Steele said.

Jessie nodded. “Those will be pretty.”

“Wait, what are we walking about?” Colt asked.

Jessie shot him a look. “Flowers, Colton. Flowers.”

Colt nodded.

Footfalls were heard coming down the hall toward the kitchen.

“We got it,” Granny’s voice said.

Granny entered to room, followed by Doc, who looked like the box he was carrying was bigger than his arm span.

Jessie squealed and hopped up and down in her seat. “Set it down here.” She moved some magazines to clear a space big enough for the box.

Doc set the box down and heaved. “I was beginning to think my arm wouldn’t hold out for that thing.”

Jessie smiled at him and opened the box. She and her mother both gasped at the same time.

“It’s gorgeous!” Jessie exclaimed.

She pulled out the long, satin garment and held it up for everyone’s inspection. The creamy white color on it looked nearly gold, and there was enough ruffles and lace on it that even Jessie was happy. Though Colt didn’t necessarily understand frivolity, he had to admit that it was a pretty dress.

“What do you think of it, Colt?” Jessie asked.

The way her eyes lit up and sparkled at him prevented him from saying anything other than, “it’s lovely.”

She giggled and twirled around, holding the dress up against her. Colt smiled at her, content to sit there all day and watch her if he needed to.

“You’re lucky we were able to return that dress we bought you for the other wedding. That would have been disastrous,” Mrs. Steele said.

“It’s just a dress, Momma,” Jessie said, still admiring her new dress.

“But Adam picked it out, Jess. Imagine the impropriety,” Mrs. Steele objected with a disgusted shake of her head.

Jessie looked at Colt and smiled. While the two of them didn’t mind what dress or what decorations were present, they were sure thankful that Mrs. Steele was around to make things come off without a hitch.

*****

It was the night before the wedding. Jessie was staying up late helping her mother, making sure that everything was set for the next day. She bundled up white and yellow flowers, tied them with twine, and placed them in small vases to go on the wooden tables at the reception.

“Jessie, you better go to bed, sweetheart. We’d hate to have you waking up looking all puffy and tired,” Momma told her.

“I don’t think I could sleep if I tried,” Jessie smiled. It was all so exciting. Tomorrow she would officially be Jessie Kidd. It was nearly too much to take in.

“You should still try, honey,” Momma pressed.

Jessie sighed. She probably did need to get some sleep, but she didn’t feel the least bit tired.

“I think I’ll take a quick walk before I go to bed,” she told her mother.

“Okay, but don’t go far toward town. Ain’t nobody out this time of night but thieves and bad women,” Momma warned.

Jessie smiled. “I won’t.”

She took her shawl and wrapped it around her shoulders as she walked down the hall toward the front door. The spring night air greeted her and chilled her some, but she soon accustomed to the change in temperature. Not wanting to traipse down the road after that debacle in Plateau all those weeks ago, she walked around to the back of the house and wandered around the pond until she found a place to sit and think. She sat on the bank and pulled her knees up to her chest, breathing deep of the chilly night air.

The full moon reflected off the water and sent flickers of white over the rippling expanse of it. Crickets chirped off in the distance and a frog croaked nearby. She admitted that she would miss this place. She would miss the humid nights with the familiar sounds of Southern evenings around her. However, Arizona had beautiful sunsets and majestic buttes to admire. Most of all, it had the man she loved, and that was worth more than any crickets chirping.

She sat there for a while, admiring the last night she would have at her home as a single young woman. She wasn’t sorrowful about that, but she was trying to wrap her mind around the idea. She had dreamed about a man like Colt since she was a little girl, and now he was right up there asleep in her home.

God worked in very mysterious ways sometimes.

She smiled at the thought.

This is so unbelievable. To think that six months ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of a man like Colt, or a night like this, or a love this deep. It’s amazing how much a person can change in such a short amount of time. Thank you for never letting me go through it all. Help me to be the very best possible wife for Colt and the best granddaughter-in-law for Carby. I never want to let them down.

“Hey gorgeous,” a voice said as a figure plopped down on the ground beside her.

Jessie jumped before she recognized that voice. “Goodness, you scared me, Colt.”

Her fiancé grinned over at her.

“How did you know I was out here?” Jessie asked.

Colt shrugged. “I may or may not have been watching you from that window over there for the past ten minutes.”

Jessie elbowed him softly and smiled. “Stalker.”

“More like enraptured groom, don’t you think?” Colt wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

She snuggled closer to him, welcoming his warmth, and breathed in the scent of him. He put his other arm around her and kissed her hair.

“You know that Momma would have a conniption if she knew we were out here together, right?” Jessie smiled.

“Yep. That’s why I snuck out the back door,” Colt said.

“Daddy was reading by the back door,” Jessie said, puzzled.

“He distracted your mother so I could sneak out.”

Jessie laughed. “She’s gonna kill all three of us.”

Colt held her tighter. “Then we die together. Deal?”

“Deal,” Jessie smiled.

A brief silence came over them and the crickets serenaded the night air and the pond rippled in time to their notes. Jessie sighed deeply and leaned against Colt.

“Colt?” she asked.

“Hmm?”

“We’ll feel this way forever, won’t we? We won’t get tired of each other or get caught up in the same old thing until it’s like we feel nothing?”

Colt shook his head, his chin rubbing against the top of her head. “Of course not. Jess, I fall in love with you all over again every single day. Not a moment goes by that I don’t think of how amazing it is that of all the people in the world, you picked me. No matter how many years go by, I don’t think I’ll ever stop falling in love every time you look at me.”

Jessie leaned her head against his chest and sighed. There was no doubt in her mind that this was where she was supposed to be for the rest of her life.

“Jessie! Colt Kidd! You better both get your hindquarters in this house before I wear the both of you out!” A voice screeched from back at the house.

Colt and Jessie both froze, not daring to move a muscle out of fear of the wrath of Myra Steele.

“I know y’all two heard me! Get in here and go to bed!” Momma yelled.

They both jumped up and Colt turned to Jessie. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Jessie nodded. “Meet you at the church.”

Colt smiled. “I’ll be the one at the end of the isle all gussied up standing by that preacher.”

Jessie grinned up at him. “I’ll look for you.”

“I won’t hesitate to take a switch to the two of you!” Momma yelled again.

The both took off running toward the house as fast as their two feet could carry them.

Well, I guess y'all are glad I cut that chapter in half! So much went on...

But, anyway! Hope you all liked it and be sure to let me know what y'all think in the comments and don't forget to tickle that star over there and give a cowboy his spurs! :D

Yep.. that's my new sign-off.

;)