Lone Star Kind Of Man

“I Wanted To Make Love To You So Bad That Day, I Could Taste It.” Letter to Reader Title Page Dedication About the Author Letter to Reader Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Epilogue Copyright

“I Wanted To Make Love To You So Bad That Day, I Could Taste It.”

Reggie tipped her face to his. “Why didn’t you?”

He peered down at her. “Well...because,” he finished lamely.

“Because I was the boss’s sister? Because you were afraid of what Harley would do to you if he caught us?”

Cody frowned. “No, because I was three years older than you.”

“Three years. Big deal.”

“Yeah, it was a big deal,” he replied defensively.

“You were sixteen, and I was nineteen, legally a man who was supposed to know better than to play around with innocent young girls.”

“I’m not sixteen anymore, Cody,” she reminded him, smoothing a hand across the flat plane of his stomach. “And I’m not innocent.”

Cody sucked in a breath. “No,” he agreed, as the breath rattled out of him on a sigh. “You’re not.”

Dear Reader,

This month: strong and sexy heroes!

First, the Tallchiefs—that intriguing, legendary family—are back, and this time it’s Birk Tallchief who meets his match in Cait London’s MAN OF THE MONTH, The Groom Candidate. Birk’s been pining for Lacey MacCandliss for years, but once he gets her, there’s nothing but trouble of the most romantic kind. Don’t miss this delightful story from one of Desire’s most beloved writers.

Next, nobody creates a strong, sexy hero quite like Sara Orwig, and in her latest, Babes in Arms, she brings us Colin Whitefeather, a tough and tender man you’ll never forget. And in Judith McWilliams’s Another Man’s Baby we meet Philip Lysander, a Greek tycoon who will do anything to save his family...even pretend to be a child’s father.

Peggy Moreland’s delightful miniseries, TROUBLE IN TEXAS, continues with Lone Star Kind of Man. The man in question is rugged rogue cowboy Cody Fipes. In Big Sky Drifter, by Doreen Owens Malek, a wild Wyoming man named Cal Winston tames a lonely woman. And in Cathie Linz’s Husband Needed, bachelor Jack Elliott surprises himself when he offers to trade his single days for mamed nights.

In Silhouette Desire you’ll always find the most irresistible men around! So enjoy!

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Lone Star Kind of Man

Peggy Moreland

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Carolyn and Jerry Hawes. Thanks for answering

all my “dumb” questions about birthin’ calves.

Your patience is equaled only by the goodness

of your hearts!

PEGGY MORELAND

published her first romance with Silhouette in 1989. She’s a natural storyteller with a sense of humor that will tickle your fancy, and Peggy’s goal is to write a story that readers will remember long after the last page is turned. Winner of the 1992 National Reader’s Choice Award, and a 1994 RITA finalist, Peggy frequently appears on bestseller lists around the country. A native Texan, she and her family live in Round Rock, Texas.

Dear Reader,

There’s only ever been one woman for me.... Regan Giles... my Reggie. We pretty much grew up together, our homes being less than a mile apart. When we were youngsters, she was like a kid sister to me, but then, as we grew older, my feelings for her changed to less-than-brotherly ones.

Reggie had it pretty tough growing up. She lost her father, her mother, then her stepfather If that wasn’t bad enough, her stepbrother’s wife took an instant dislike to her and made Reggie’s life a living hell. Since she didn’t feel she could go to her stepbrother with her troubles, she turned to me for comfort She made me feel important, needed, loved. And for a man without a family of his own, that made me feel pretty darned good.

But then everything went to hell in a hand basket. Reggie decided she couldn’t take living at home anymore, and she asked me to run away with her and marry her. Though there was nothing that would’ve made me happier, I had to tell her no, because I had nothing to offer but a run-down cabin and the salary I earned working on her family’s ranch. And I felt Reggie deserved more. I’ve had years to regret that decision. Reggie ended up running away without me, telling no one of her plans or her destination... and I lost her—the only woman I’ve ever loved.

And now she’s back in Temptation, even prettier than I remember, and a successful businesswoman to boot She broke my heart the last time she left...and it seems she’s determined to break it again when she leaves this time. But how can I ask her to give up everything she’s worked for and stay in a two-bit town like Temptation, Texas, with a broken-down cowboy like me?

Prologue

The Kerr Ranch, Temptation, Texas 1986

Cody squinted against the darkness in the hayloft. “Regan?” he called softly.

“O-over here,” came her muffled reply.

Quickly Cody climbed the last few steps and hurried to the pile of hay where she lay sobbing and dropped down to a knee at her side. “Honey, what’s wrong?” he asked as he gathered her into his arms.

“She burned them,” she cried, curling her fingers into fists against his chest. “She burned them all.”

Cody knew without asking who “she” was. Susan Kerr, Regan’s sister-in-law, her stepbrother’s wife. He’d known as soon as he stepped into the barn and heard Regan’s sobs coming from the hayloft above him that the two had had another fight. More often than he cared to think about, Cody had found Regan just so, crying her heart out after crossing swords with Susan.

“What did she burn?” he asked gently.

“Everything in Mother’s trunk. Her pictures, her wedding gown, m-my christening dress.”

All the memories of the mother she had lost. Hugging her to him, Cody felt her pain as if it were his own. “I’m sorry, Reggie. So sorry.”

“Why does she hate me?” she cried helplessly, clinging to him.

“I don’t know,” he murmured, trying his best to soothe. When she continued to cry, he sat down on the scattered hay, pulling her to his lap.

Regan curled against the warmth of his chest, accepting his comfort as she had so many times in the past. “You’re all I have, Cody,” she said, her breath hitching.

Because he knew what it was like to be alone, Cody tightened his arms around her. “That’s not true, sweetheart. You’ve got Harley.”

She jerked free of his arms. “No, I don’t,” she cried angrily. She scrambled to her feet and crossed to stand before the hay door that opened from the loft to the outside. Moonlight limned her shape.

She stood, arms folded beneath her breasts, staring out into the darkness in silence for what seemed like an eternity to Cody. He wanted to go to her, but knew that no matter how many reassurances he offered her, she wouldn’t believe him. Not when she was this upset.

He watched a sigh shudder through her. “You’re all I have, Cody,” she said again. The anger was gone, but her voice was still thick with tears. “And all I need.” She turned then, holding out her hand to him. “Make love to me, Cody,” she whispered.

Cody rose, his gaze fixed on hers, his conscience warring with his own needs. “Reggie, we can’t. You don’t know what you’re saying. You’re only seventeen. You’re—”

“I’m a woman,” she told him, lifting her chin defiantly. With trembling fingers she reached to free the top button on her blouse. “And I know what I want. And what I want, what I’ve always wanted, is you.”

Cody took a step nearer, thinking to stop her. “Reggie, don’t,” he murmured. But she ignored him, freeing another button, then another, until her fingers all but raced down the length of her blouse. When she reached the last, she shrugged out of the shirt and tossed it to the hay.

Cody stopped, frozen by the sight of her bare breasts, full and ripe, rising and falling with each heaved breath in the shaft of moonlight coming through the hay door.

“Tell me you don’t want me,” she dared him, reaching for the snap of her jeans. Without waiting for an answer, she kicked off her shoes and peeled the jeans down her legs. She straightened, lifting her chin in challenge. “Tell me you don’t want me as badly as I want you.”

Cody swallowed hard, trying to form the words to voice the lie she demanded of him... but he couldn’t. He wanted her, had wanted her for more than a year. But he was three years older, supposedly wiser, and had kept his needs in check, knowing that he had to wait until she was of age...until he had something more to offer her than what he had now.

Sensing his hesitation, Regan took a bold step, closing the distance between them. With her gaze on his, she lifted a hand to his chest. “I love you, Cody. Tell me that you love me, too.”

Though he tried his damnedest to remain unaffected, the pressure of her fingers burned their way through to his heart, weakening his resolve. He closed his hand over hers, holding it against his heart. “I do love you, Reggie. You know I do, but we can’t do this.”

She took a step nearer, pressing her naked breasts against his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck. “Make love to me, Cody. Please,” she begged.

The wall of control Cody had managed to keep between them crumbled at the feel of her body pressed against his. “Oh, Reggie,” he moaned, gathering her tight against him. “We shouldn’t do—”

Regan silenced his arguments by crushing her mouth over his. Boldly, she kissed him, showing him in the only way she knew how that she was more than ready to take this final step into womanhood.

Though Cody tried to keep a grip on reason, on sanity, the tender bites on his lips, the stab of her tongue into his mouth, the rake of fingernails down his back, slowly robbed him of all rational thought.

“Regan—” But before he could say more, she pulled him down with her to the hay.

They rolled, both fighting at the buttons on his shirt, the snap on his jeans, until Cody was as naked as she. Bracing himself above her, he looked down at her, his heart beating violently in his chest. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glazed with heat as she reached for him, drawing his face to hers.

He knew it was wrong, knew that he should do something to stop this before it was too late... But he was powerless to do anything but give in to the needs that had been escalating for months, leading to this moment. Stolen time alone, kisses that had started out innocently enough, but ended leaving them both breathless and wanting.

He’d dreamed of this, even prayed for it, but nothing had prepared him for the reality, the beauty of Regan, his Reggie, lying naked beneath him, the burning heat that raged through him at the seductive pressure of her body flattened against his.

On a ragged sigh, he claimed her mouth, teasing it open with his tongue as he guided her thighs apart with his knees. Slowly, he lowered himself over her. At the first touch of his hardened manhood, she arched away, moaning against his mouth. He withdrew slightly.

“This might hurt a bit,” he warned, knowing it was her first time.

“I don’t care, Cody,” she whispered breathlessly. “I want you. All of you.”

Easing down again, he slipped a hand between them, wanting to prepare her for what was to come. Teasing the folds apart, he dipped a finger inside. She bucked against his hand.

“Oh, Reggie,” he groaned, trying desperately to hold on to the thin threads of his control.

But she wouldn’t allow him that slim hold. She lifted her hips, stretching her arm to meet him and guided him inside.

At the first thrust, she gasped, sinking her nails into his back. Fearing that he’d hurt her, Cody pressed hot kisses across her face. “I’m sorry, Reggie. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“No,” she murmured, wagging her head in denial. “You didn’t. Please,” she begged, “just—” The plea dangled uncompleted between them, for Regan, in her inexperience, didn’t even know what to ask for.

“I know, sweetheart,” he soothed, and began to slowly move inside her. “Just follow me.”

Regan did follow him, mimicking his movements until they took on a life of their own. Passion built, dampening her skin in a fine mist of perspiration, hardening into a tight knot of frustration low in her abdomen as she raced along with him. Squeezing her eyes shut against the mist of pain/pleasure that threatened to smother her, she strained, reaching for that elusive flood of pleasure she somehow knew awaited her.

Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist. “Cody,” she cried. “Cody, please!”

Gathering his arms at her back, he rose to his knees, bringing her with him, and buried himself deep inside her. She arched hard against him, throwing back her head. The explosion was simultaneous, rocking them both to the very core of their souls.

Breathless, his heart pounding against the wall of his chest, Cody braced an arm at her waist and a hand on the loft floor and lowered her, following her to the hay. Rolling to his side, he gathered her close, smoothing her damp hair from her face. She lifted her head to look at him, and amber eyes softened by passion met his in the moonlight. The trust and love he saw there squeezed at his heart.

My Regan. My Reggie. The thought swelled in his chest. A man fragmented by a solitary life suddenly felt whole.

“I love you, Reggie,” he whispered as he pressed his lips to her forehead.

“And I love you,” she whispered in return, snuggling against him.

He held her, one hand knotted in the coal-black hair that curtained her back, while with the other he traced the curve of her waist, the gentle rise of her hips, the slope of her thigh.

Regret came then, sneaking up on him like a ghost in the night. He’d taken Reggie’s virginity, robbed her of her innocence. He’d allowed lust to overrule common sense. He tightened his hold on her, knowing full well that what he’d done was wrong, but knowing, too, that if he had it all to do over again, he’d do the same thing.

Worries crowded his thoughts, one piling up on the other. What would they do now? He couldn’t marry her. Not yet. She was too young and he too old. She was the boss’s sister and he was nothing but a wrangler on her family’s ranch.

“Cody?” she murmured.

“Hmm?” he murmured, distracted by his troubled thoughts.

“Run away with me.”

Startled, Cody lifted his head to stare at her, sure that he had misunderstood. “What?”

“Run away with me. We can get married and have a place of our own. Please, Cody,” she begged, sinking her fingers into his arms. “You’re all I have.”

Though it broke his heart to do so, carefully, Cody set her away from him. “No, Regan. I can’t.”

One

Houston, Texas 1997

Silence. It pressed from every corner of Reggie Gile’s private office, a constant, if not painful, reminder of the fact that she was alone. Silence really didn’t bother her, nor did being alone. She’d had years to learn how to live with it peaceably. It was what the silence represented that she found so disconcerting.

Not so many months before, she might have avoided the silence and the loneliness by picking up the phone and calling her friends, Mary Claire and Leighanna, and making plans for the evening. But they were gone now, both having moved to Temptation to start their lives anew.

She almost laughed at the irony of that. Temptation. Her friends had gone there to start over, to the same town she’d run from ten years before. But of course, Mary Claire and Leighanna didn’t know that.

That was Reggie’s little secret...or was it Regan’s? She almost laughed at the absurdity of the question. She hadn’t thought of herself as Regan since she’d left Temptation. Along with her past, she’d given up her name, choosing instead to call herself Reggie, the nickname used exclusively by—

No, she wouldn’t think about him now. That was another secret.

Secrets, Reggie thought on a weighty sigh. Everyone had them, but few could keep them, not like she had. She’d kept hers for ten long years, although the burden of carrying them had never seemed as oppressive as it did now. Every call from Mary Claire and Leighanna from their new home in Temptation, every mention of the town they’d moved to and the people they had met, every invitation for a visit brought with it a guilt, a yearning that weighed heavily on her heart and mind. Never had she longed for home more than she did now. Never had she wanted so desperately to give up her secret for the opportunity for a past, for a future, for even a glimpse of those she still held dear.

But she couldn’t. She knew that. A person could never go back and reclaim what she had so foolishly tossed aside.

Saddened by her thoughts, she pushed away from her desk and the contracts she’d been reading and settled her spine against the soft, cushy leather of her chair. Unerringly her gaze went to the wall opposite her desk and the Georgia O’Keeffe original that hung there. Soothing in its simplicity, the painting’s bold colors drew her as strongly as they had on the day she’d first seen it hanging in a gallery in Santa Fe; a radiant yellow sunflower projected on a background of cornflower blue.

She’d purchased the painting for the memories it drew of the fields that surrounded her childhood home where sunflowers had grown, tall and proud, their cheery, smiling faces tipped to the sun. The memories of home were vivid, if distant, and secreted away in her heart along with those of the loved ones she had lost—some to death, others sacrificed for a freedom that she’d once thought so important.

The phone rang, jarring her from her thoughts. Since it was after office hours, she was tempted to ignore the call and let the service pick it up, but she knew who was more than likely on the other end of the line and knew, too, that she couldn’t avoid this conversation forever. On the third ring, she punched the speaker button. “Reggie Giles,” she said briskly.

“Do you ever return calls?”

In spite of the feelings of apprehension that pricked her, Reggie found herself smiling. “Hello, Mary Claire. How are you?”

“Fine now. Hold on a second. There’s someone here who wants to talk to you.”

Reggie grabbed for the corners of the desk and curled her fingers around the burled wood in need of something, anything, to anchor herself to. She didn’t want to talk to him. Not now when she hadn’t had an opportunity to prepare herself for this confrontation.

“Reggie! We’ve been calling you for days! Where have you been?”

Reggie wilted at the sound of Leighanna’s voice, collapsing against the chair’s back, her fear giving way to relief. Another reprieve. How many more would she receive before her past caught up with her?

“Working. Where else?” she replied, trying to keep her tone light.

“Well, I’m glad we finally caught you. I have news, we both do. Mary Claire? Are you on the extension?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Okay. On the count of three. One...two... three...”

“We’re getting married!” they chimed in unison, laughing.

Reggie’s eyes widened. She’d known Mary Claire and Harley were getting married, had even suffered a tremendous bout of guilt for not attending their engagement party, had already spent hours fabricating excuses for not attending the wedding. But Leighanna now, too?

“Both of you?” she asked, sure that she had misunderstood.

“Yes,” Leighanna replied, laughing gaily. “Hank asked me to marry him and I said yes!”

“We’ve decided to have a double wedding,” Mary Claire added. “And we want you to act as maid of honor for both of us. Isn’t this exciting?”

Exciting? How about a nightmare? It was all Reggie could do not to put her head down on her desk and cry. She could just see Harley’s face when his stepsister Regan, whom he hadn’t seen since she’d run away from home ten years before, walked down the aisle toward him.

“Well, of course it is,” she replied, trying to force a level of enthusiasm over the knot of dread choking her. Already mentally reviewing the list of excuses she’d offer when she declined their invitation, she asked, “When’s the big event?”

“In two weeks and don’t you dare say you can’t come.”

“It is short notice,” she hedged.

“It wouldn’t matter if the wedding was months away. You’d still find an excuse not to come. Some big real estate deal pending. A client from out of town you had to entertain. A remodeling on one of your rental properties that you had to personally oversee. We aren’t accepting any excuses this time, are we, Leighanna?”

“Nope,” Leighanna confirmed in a no-nonsense tone. “You’re serving as our maid of honor and that’s that.”

“It’s going to be a small wedding,” Mary Claire explained, before Reggie could start offering excuses. “Weather permitting, we’re having it in Harley’s backyard. We’ve just finished remodeling the house, but a garden wedding has such an appeal. We’re only inviting a few friends from Temptation and, of course, Harley’s children will be there.”

Tears burned behind Reggie’s eyes. Harley’s children ? Tommy and Jenny? How many years had it been since she had seen them? They’d be almost grown now. Would they remember their Aunt Regan?

“You don’t even have to shop for a dress,” Mary Claire assured her, unaware of Reggie’s state of distress. “You can wear that darling blue silk sheath with the matching jacket that you wore to the Chamber of Commerce banquet in the spring. It’ll be perfect with the color theme we’ve chosen. And you’ll adore the best man,” she added. “He’s a doll. I think I’ve mentioned him to you before. Cody Fipes? He’s the sheriff of Temptation and a good friend of both Harley and Hank.”

Cody? Pain, red-hot and searing, burned its way through Reggie’s heart at the mention of his name and she had to press her fingers to her lips to stifle the sob that rose to her throat. She could see him still in the hayloft that night so many years ago when she had thrown herself at him, begging him to run away with her and marry her. He’d held her tight in his arms, offering her comfort as he had so many times in the past... then had broken her heart by steadfastly pushing her to arm’s length and telling her that he couldn’t marry her. Another year, he’d told her, and she’d be able to make the decision to leave without running, without tying herself to a man who had nothing to offer her.

There was a moment of silence while Reggie struggled to choke back the tears, the memories, the regrets.

“Please say you’ll come, Reggie,” Leighanna begged. “It would mean so much to me. To both of us.”

Reggie gulped back tears, knowing that if she ever gave in to the emotion she might never stop crying. Her heart warred with the secret she’d harbored for so long and the longing to be a part of her friends’ wedding and their lives. If she agreed, her secret would be out and she would have to face them all. Harley, Tommy, Jenny...Cody. If she refused, she would disappoint Mary Claire and Leighanna, and ultimately lose two friends whom she held dear.

“I can’t,” she finally managed to choke out “I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”

The road to Temptation stretched before Reggie like a ribbon of silver in the bright sunshine. She drove with her hands cinched tight around the steering wheel of her Lexus, praying with each passing mile that her arrival wouldn’t ruin what should otherwise be the happiest day in her friends’ lives.

The decision to attend the wedding hadn’t been an easy one, in fact she’d vacillated almost daily. She’d carefully weighed the pros and cons, just as she did every decision she made. The pros were obvious: continued friendship with two dear friends and, she hoped, the renewal of a family relationship she’d turned her back on ten years before. The cons were just as obvious and a whole lot more daunting: having Harley call her Regan and expose her secret, subjecting herself to possible rejection and public humiliation, seeing again the man who had rejected her, the man she’d never been able to forget.

In the end, cowardice had given way to duty and love and she’d decided to take her chances, telling no one of her plans, hoping that the element of surprise would work in her favor.

As she drove through Temptation, she kept her gaze focused on the road ahead, denying herself even a glance at Carter’s Mercantile, Will Miller’s barbershop or any of the other landmarks that remained from her childhood. There would be time enough for a nostalgic tour later, she promised herself. But for now she had to reach Harley’s ranch where the weddings were to take place.

She had timed her arrival carefully, waiting until the very last minute to appear, hoping to avoid seeing anyone other than Leighanna and Mary Claire before the actual wedding took place. With her hands damp on the wheel of her car, she turned onto the drive, parked behind the other cars and trucks already there and climbed out, pausing only long enough to listen.

The murmur of voices and soft strains of music came from the backyard, and she knew, as she’d prayed, that everyone was already gathered there, waiting for the ceremony to begin. With her heart pounding in her chest, she hurried to the front door. Taking a deep breath, she stepped across the threshold of her childhood home.

Once inside, she closed her eyes, fighting back the ghosts that rushed at her, then opened them to look at the room where her family had once known such happy times... before tragedy had struck, robbing her of her mother and stepfather, before Harley had brought home his bride, Susan.

She steeled herself against the hate that flooded her. She wouldn’t think about Susan now. Wouldn’t think of the cruel things she’d said and done. She wouldn’t think of how miserable Susan had made her life, until Reggie had finally run just to escape the torment.

She was here for a wedding, she reminded herself. A celebration of life and love. She wouldn’t think about the past. Only the present.

Certain that the brides would be in the master bedroom, waiting to make their entrance, she slipped down the hall. She found them, just as she’d expected, in the room once shared by her mother and stepfather. The sight of the two of them brought tears to her eyes.

Wearing an ivory suit, Mary Claire sat in front of a cheval mirror. Leighanna, dressed in soft pale blue, stood behind her, struggling to pin Mary Claire’s veil into place.

“For heaven’s sake, Mary Claire!” Leighanna fussed. “Be still or I’ll never get this on straight.”

“I am sitting still,” Mary Claire snapped impatiently. “It’s your fault the dang thing’s crooked. Your hands are shaking like a leaf.”

In spite of her own nerves, Reggie bit back a smile. “Here, let me,” she offered from the doorway. “After all, that is one of the duties of the maid of honor, isn’t it?”

Both women whirled, mouths gaped wide at the sound of Reggie’s voice.

“Reggie!” they both cried and bolted for her.

The three met in the middle of the room, gathering each other in a tearful hug. Mary Claire was the first to pull away. “I knew you would come! I just knew it!”

Leighanna sniffed, dabbing at tears with one hand, but refusing to let go of Reggie with the other. “She’s lying,” she said, casting a disdainful look Mary Claire’s way. “She’s been crying for hours, cursing you because you refused to come.”

Mary Claire’s chin came up. “Oh, and what were you doing?”

“The same,” Leighanna replied without batting an eye. “But at least I’m not too proud to admit it.”

“Girls, girls,” Reggie admonished, laughing. “This is no time for squabbling. This is your wedding day!” Giving Leighanna’s hand a squeeze, she took the pins from her, then guided Mary Claire back to the chair. “Now let’s get this veil in place before y’all start pulling out each other’s hair and there’s nothing left to anchor it to.”

At that moment, the door flew open and Mary Claire’s daughter Stephie burst into the room, her crown of spring flowers slightly askew. “Mama, hurry up! The preacher said it’s time.” She stopped short when she saw Reggie.

“Reggie!” she squealed and threw herself at Reggie, wrapping her arms around her waist. “You came!”

Laughing, Reggie dropped down to her knees, giving Stephie a quick hug before leaning back to straighten her headpiece. “Yes, I’m here. I wouldn’t have missed this—” she glanced at her two friends behind her and laughed. “Rather, these weddings for the world.”

Stephie twirled for Reggie’s benefit, showing off her new dress. “I’m the flower girl and Jimmy’s the ring bearer. He’s a ’fraidy-cat and refused to walk down the aisle, so he gets to stand by the preacher.”

Remembering the purpose of her errand, she grabbed Reggie’s hand, tugging her to her feet. “Come on! We have to hurry! The preacher said it’s time.”

Reggie slowly rose, turning her gaze on her two friends. Drawing a deep fortifying breath she reached for their hands. She squeezed, knowing she had to prepare them in some way for what was about to take place, but not at all sure what to say.

“You’re the best friends a woman could ever ask for and I wish you both all the happiness in the world.” She swallowed and blinked back the tears that clogged her throat, thinking about what was to come. “No matter what happens today,” she said, her voice growing hoarse, “please know that I love you both like family.”