Summer Wedding Bells: Marriage Wanted / Lone Star Lovin'

The Farmer Takes a Wife

(Exclusive short story)

Summer

Wedding

Bells

Marriage Wanted

Lone Star Lovin’

Debbie Macomber

featuring Marriage Wanted and Lone Star Lovin’

www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)

Marriage Wanted

To Randall Toye

who has supported and encouraged me

for twenty-eight wonderful years

One

Savannah Charles watched the young woman wandering around her bridal shop, checking prices and looking more discouraged by the moment. Her shoulders slumped and she bit her lip when she read the tag on the wedding gown she’d selected. She had excellent taste, Savannah noticed; the ivory silk-taffeta dress was one of her own favorites. A pattern of lace and pearls swirled up the puffed sleeves and bodice.

“Can I help you?” Savannah asked, moving toward her. Startled, the woman turned. “I…It doesn’t look like it. This dress is almost twice as much as my budget for the whole wedding. Are you Savannah?”

“Yes.”

She smiled shyly. “Missy Gilbert told me about you. She said you’re wonderful to work with and that you might be able to give Kurt and me some guidance. I’m Susan Davenport.” She held out her hand and Savannah shook it, liking the girl immediately.

“When’s your wedding?”

“In six weeks. Kurt and I are paying for it ourselves. His two younger brothers are still in college and his parents haven’t got much to spare.” Amusement turned up the corners of her mouth as she added, “Kurt’s dad claims he’s becoming poor by degrees.”

Savannah smiled back. “What about your family?”

“There’s only my brother and me. He’s fifteen years older and, well…it isn’t that he doesn’t like Kurt. Because once you meet Kurt, it’s impossible not to love him. He’s kind and generous and interesting.…”

Savannah was touched by Susan’s eagerness to tell her about the man she wanted to marry.

“But Nash—my brother—doesn’t believe in marriage,” the young woman went on to explain. “He’s an attorney and he’s worked on so many divorce cases over the years that he simply doesn’t believe in it anymore. It doesn’t help that he’s divorced himself, although that was years and years ago.”

“What’s your budget?” Savannah asked. She’d planned weddings that went into six figures, but she was equally adept at finding reasonable alternatives. She walked back to her desk, limping on her right foot. It ached more this afternoon than usual. It always did when the humidity was this high.

Susan told her the figure she and Kurt had managed to set aside and Savannah frowned. It wasn’t much, but she could work with it. She turned around and caught Susan staring at her. Savannah was accustomed to that kind of reaction to her limp, the result of a childhood accident. She generally wore pants, which disguised the scars and disfigurement, but her limp was always noticeable, and more so when she was tired. Until they knew her better, it seemed to disconcert people. Generally she ignored their hesitation and continued, hoping that her own acceptance would put them at ease.

“Even the least expensive wedding dresses would eat up the majority of the money we’ve worked so hard to save.”

“You could always rent the dress,” Savannah suggested.

“I could?” Her pretty blue eyes lit up when Savannah mentioned the rental fee.

“How many people are you inviting?”

“Sixty-seven,” Susan told her, as if the number of guests had been painfully difficult to pare down. “Kurt and I can’t afford more. Mostly it’s his family.…I don’t think Nash will even come to the wedding.” Her voice fell.

Despite never having met Susan’s older brother, she already disliked him. Savannah couldn’t imagine a brother refusing to attend his sister’s wedding, no matter what his personal views on marriage happened to be.

“Kurt’s from a large family. He has aunts and uncles and, I swear, at least a thousand cousins. We’d like to invite everyone, but we can’t. The invitations alone will cost a fortune.”

“Have you thought about making your own invitations?”

Susan shook her head. “I’m not very artsy.”

“You don’t need to be.” Opening a drawer, Savannah brought out a book of calligraphy. “These are fairly simple and elegant-looking and they’ll add a personal touch because they’re individualized.” She paused. “You’ll find other ideas on the internet.”

“These are beautiful. You honestly think I could do this?” She looked expectantly at Savannah.

“Without a doubt,” Savannah answered with a smile.

“I wish I could talk some sense into Nash,” Susan muttered, then squared her shoulders as if she was ready to take him on right that minute. “He’s the only family I have. We’ve got aunts and uncles here and there, but no one we’re close to, and Nash is being so unreasonable about this. I love Kurt and nothing’s going to change the way I feel. I love his family, too. It can be lonely when you don’t belong to someone. That’s Nash’s problem. He’s forgotten what it’s like to belong to someone. To be in a relationship.”

Loneliness. Savannah was well acquainted with the feeling. All her life she’d felt alone. The little girl who couldn’t run and play with friends. The teenage girl who never got asked to the prom. The woman who arranged the happiest days of other people’s lives.

Loneliness. Savannah knew more than she wanted to about long days and longer nights.

“I’m sure your brother will change his mind,” Savannah said reassuringly—even though she wasn’t sure at all.

Susan laughed. “That only goes to prove you don’t know my brother. Once he’s set on something, it takes an Act of Congress to persuade him otherwise.”

Savannah spent the next hour with Susan, deciding on the details of both the wedding and the reception. With such a limited budget it was a challenge, but they did it.

“I can’t believe we can do so much with so little,” Susan said once they’d finished. Her face glowed with happiness. “A nice wedding doesn’t mean as much to Kurt as it does to me, but he’s willing to do whatever he can to make our day special.”

Through the course of their conversation, Savannah learned that Kurt had graduated from the University of Washington with an engineering degree. He’d recently been hired by a California firm and had moved to the San Francisco area, where Susan would be joining him.

After defying her brother, Susan had moved in with Kurt’s family, working part-time and saving every penny she could to help with the wedding expenses.

“I can hardly wait to talk to Kurt,” Susan said excitedly as she gathered her purse and the notes she’d made. “I’ll get back to you as soon as he’s had a chance to go over the contract.” Susan paused. “Missy was right. You are wonderful.” She threw both arms around Savannah in an impulsive hug. “I’ll be back as soon as I can and you can take the measurements for the dress.” She cast a dreamy look toward the silk-and-taffeta gown and sighed audibly. “Kurt’s going to die when he sees me in that dress.”

“You’ll make a lovely bride.”