Tessa pulled Coalie against her heart. David pulled Tessa to his.
Coalie hugged them both. The two people he loved most in all the world, David and Tessa. His family.
The people of Peaceable roared their approval.
“I told you something was going on between those two.” Margaret Jeffers whispered to her employee as they stood in front of the mercantile watching the family scene.
Lorna Taylor sniffed into her handkerchief and wiped her eyes before she delivered a vicious elbow to Margaret’s rib cage. “Shut up, Margaret. Stop being such a prig! Then maybe one day somebody will love you like that.”
Epilogue
Peaceable, Wyoming Territory
Three days later
“I hope Coalie’s all right,” Tessa said. “I hated to leave him.”
“He’s fine,” David told her. “He was having a great time when we left the ranch.” They’d been married that morning in the church in Cheyenne, then gone to the Trail T ranch to celebrate with David’s family. “I thought you said you wanted to honeymoon here in Peaceable.”
“I do,” Tessa replied. “I was just thinking about the wedding. It’s a shame Lee couldn’t stay a little longer after the ceremony.” She snuggled into her husband’s arms in the big bed where they’d spent the last few hours exploring the joys of marriage.
“Not for me.” David kissed the corner of Tessa’s mouth. He wasn’t sure he was ready to forgive his friend.
“It was a nice wedding, wasn’t it?” Tessa asked.
“The best,” David agreed, “the absolute best I’ve ever attended.”
Her white satin wedding dress was draped across a chair. On top of it perched an enormous white satin hat decorated with artificial roses, orange blossoms, and a stuffed white dove, all of it covered with an Irish lace veil. The hat had been a wedding gift from David, who had shuddered every time he looked at it. But Tessa loved it, and that was what mattered. He kissed Tessa’s shiny red hair, preferring it to any hat ever created.
Tessa raised herself on her elbow and leaned over him, bracing her hand against David’s wide chest for balance. A thin gold band had joined the sapphire and diamond ring on the third finger of her left hand. Tessa never tired of looking at it. “I think Mary likes him.”
“Who? Lee?” David laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. She’s the one who told me to break his nose.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
“I tried.” David smiled, planting a kiss on her nose. He lifted his swollen right hand for her to see.
Tessa wiggled against him, moving to kiss it. “Better?” she asked.
“Much better.”
“I’ll bet Mary’s glad you didn’t really break Lee’s nose.” Tessa continued her train of thought.
“Where’d he go in such a hurry?” David asked, humoring Tessa. She wouldn’t drop the subject of Lee and Mary until she was ready, anyway.
“He had a train to catch,” she told him. “To Chicago and then to Washington and Baltimore.”
“How do you know that?” David wondered aloud. “Did Mary tell you?”
Tessa smiled at her lawyer husband. Now she had his interest. “No, Lee did. He read me a copy of his”—she searched for the word Lee had used—“itinerary.”
David moved her aside, sat up, and looked at her. They’d been married almost five hours, and he wondered just what she was up to. “Why would he do that?”
“I asked him to keep me informed of his progress,” Tessa answered.
“Progress? On what?”
“On finding my wedding gift to you.”