Country Bride: Country Bride / Woodrose Mountain

Kate tried to maintain a stoic expression, although the acid in her stomach seemed to be burning a hole straight through her. There were no secrets in this town.

“To tell you the truth, Luke and I haven’t been getting along very well lately,” she admitted, keeping her eyes lowered so as not to meet her friend’s questioning gaze.

Rorie took a tentative sip of coffee. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Kate nodded. She felt embarrassingly close to tears and paid careful attention to the silverware, repositioning the fork and the spoon several times.

“Luke was so good to me after you and Clay became engaged. He couldn’t have been a better friend. Then...after the wedding I was feeling lost and alone. Luke had been dancing with me and I felt so...secure in his arms, and I’m afraid I suggested something foolish.... And now Luke keeps reminding me of it.”

“That doesn’t sound like Luke.” Rorie frowned in puzzlement. “Nor does suggesting ‘something foolish’ sound like you.”

“I had a glass of champagne on an empty stomach,” Kate offered as an excuse.

“What about Luke?”

“I don’t know, but I swear, he’s become so unreasonable about everything, and he keeps saying the most ridiculous things.”

“Give me an example,” Rorie said.

Kate shrugged. “He claims I love him.”

Her remark was followed by a short silence. “What do you feel for Luke?” Rorie asked.

“I care about him, but not in the way he assumes.” Her finger idly circled the rim of the coffee cup while she composed her thoughts. “What irritates me most is that Luke discounts everything I felt for Clay, as if my love for him was nothing more than wasted emotion.” Kate felt awkward explaining this to her ex-fiancé’s wife, but Rorie was the one person who’d understand.

“And now that Clay’s married to me,” Rorie said, “Luke seems to think some lightbulb has snapped on inside your brain.”

“Exactly.”

“He thinks you should have no hesitation about throwing yourself into his loving arms?”

“Yes!” Rorie explained it far better than Kate had. “He keeps insisting I need him and that if I thought about it I’d realize I do love him. If it was only Luke I could probably deal with it, but everyone in town, including my own father, thinks I should marry him, too.”

“That’s when you agreed to have dinner with that new attorney. What’s his name again?”

“Eric Wilson. Yes, that was exactly the reason I went out with him. Rorie, I tell you I was desperate. Every time I turned around, Luke was there wearing this smug, knowing look and casually announcing that we’d be married before Christmas. He makes the whole thing sound like it’s a foregone conclusion and if I resist him I’d be...going against nature or something.” She paused and waved her hand dramatically.

Rorie laughed. “Is he really doing that?”

Kate nodded grimly. “Actually there’s more.” She felt she had to tell Rorie everything. “To be fair, you should know I have no one to blame but myself. Luke may be doing all this talking about us getting married. But I was the one who...suggested it.”

“How? When? Oh. The ‘something foolish’ you mentioned.”

Shredding the paper napkin into tiny strips, Kate nodded again, flinching at the memory. “Honestly, Rorie, I didn’t mean it. We were standing in the moonlight at your wedding dance and everything was so serene and beautiful. The words just slipped out of my mouth before I stopped to think what I was saying.”

“The incident with the attorney didn’t help.”

Kate sighed. “And now that Dad’s marrying Mrs. Murphy and Luke’s bought the ranch, everything’s getting worse.”

“Luke can be a bit overpowering at times, can’t he?”

Kate rolled her eyes in agreement. “But you know, what bothers me even more than Luke’s cavalier attitude is the way everyone else seems to be siding with him.”

“You mean about marrying Luke?”

“Yes.” Kate gave another forlorn sigh. “Look at my dad—he’s the perfect example. And everyone in town seems to think that if I’m foolish enough to let another good man slip through my fingers, I’ll end up thirty and a spinster for sure.”

“That’s crazy!”

Coming from San Francisco, Rorie couldn’t understand how differently people in this small Oregon community viewed life, Kate mused. A woman already thirty years old and unmarried was likely to stay that way—at least in Nightingale. “You haven’t lived here long enough to know how folks in this town think.”

“Kate, you’re over twenty-one. No one can force you to marry Luke. Remember that.”

Kate rested her elbows on the table and cradled her coffee cup in both hands. “I feel like I’m caught in a current that’s flowing too fast for me. I’m afraid to stand up for fear I’ll lose my footing but I can’t just allow it to carry me where it will, either.”

“No, you can’t,” Rorie said and her mouth tightened.

“Luke—and practically everyone else—apparently sees me as a poor, spineless soul who can’t possibly decide what’s best for her own life.”

“That’s not true at all,” Rorie declared. “And don’t let anyone tell you you’re weak! If that was the case, you would have married Clay yourself, instead of working so hard to make sure we found each other.”

Kate dismissed that with a shake of her head. “I did the only thing I could.”

“But not everyone would’ve been so unselfish. Clay and I owe our happiness to you.” She clasped Kate’s hands with her own. “I wish I knew how to help you. All I can tell you is to listen to your own heart.”

“Oh, Rorie, I feel so much better talking to you.” She knew her friend was right. She’d faltered for a step or two, but considering everything that had happened in the past little while, that was understandable. Luke might believe she needed him, but she didn’t, not really. In the weeks to come, she’d have the opportunity to prove it.

“Before I forget,” Rorie said, her voice eager, “Clay and I want to invite you over for dinner one night soon. As I said, we feel deeply indebted to you and want to thank you for what you did.”

“Dinner,” Kate repeated, suddenly dismayed. She’d need time to prepare herself before facing Clay again. Here she was reassuring herself in one breath and then doubting herself in the next.

“Would next Tuesday be all right?” Rorie pressed.

“But you’ve hardly had time to settle in with Clay,” Kate said, turning her attention back to her friend. “How about giving it another week or two?”

“Are you worried that I’m going to serve my special seafood fettuccine?” Rorie asked with a laugh. When she’d first been stranded in Nightingale, Rorie had cooked it for Clay and his younger brother, Skip, one night. But, unfortunately, because both men did strenuous physical jobs, they were far more interested in a hearty meat-and-potatoes meal at the end of the day. Neither of them had considered seafood in a cream sauce with fancy noodles a very satisfactory repast, though Clay had politely tried to hide his disappointment. Skip hadn’t.

Kate smiled at the memory of that night and slowly shook her head. “You serve whatever you want. I’m much easier to please than Skip.”

“Actually Mary will probably do the cooking. She’s been the Franklins’ housekeeper for so many years that I don’t dare invade her kitchen just yet. After the fettuccine disaster, she doesn’t trust me around her stove any more than Skip does.”

They both laughed, and to Kate, it felt good to forget her troubles, even for a few minutes.

“I should get back to the library,” Rorie said reluctantly.

“I need to head home myself.” Kate left some change on the table and slid out of the booth. Impulsively she hugged Rorie, grateful for the time they’d spent together and for the other woman’s support. “I’m glad you’re my friend,” she whispered, feeling a little self-conscious.

“I am, too,” Rorie said, and hugged her back.