Sawyer lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers. It was a long, passionate, hot, wet kiss that ignited fires inside of Gwen that she never knew existed. She wanted this man more than she had wanted anything in the world and the aching need to touch him and love him was overwhelming.

Gwen suddenly stumbled back when a large white and brown bear-like dog jumped on her.

“Bubba, down. You know better than to jump on people.”

She wrapped her arms around the dog and smiled. “Don’t listen to him. You’re a good dog. You’re not going to eat my cat, Mochi, are you?”

“Don’t worry about that. He’s extremely gentle, even with cats.”

Sawyer looked at Gwen. “I don’t believe in long engagements.”

“Me either,” she said.

“How does a month sound?”

“A month? Can we get something organized that quickly?” she asked incredulously.

He smiled widely. “You don’t know my mother.”

****

A month later, Gwen was in Willow’s bedroom. Although Willow was several years younger than Gwen, she remembered her, and the two women hit it off quickly. Taylor, Talia, and Sadie were also incredibly warm and welcoming. The room wasfull, as Abby, Samantha, Maddie, and Emilia were sitting on the bed.

“How much longer until you’re done?” Gwen asked. “I’ve been sitting in this chair for hours.”

“Quit fussing. It hasn’t been that long. Besides, you want your hair to be perfect for your wedding day. You don’t want a bunch of messed hair to ruin your wedding pictures, do you?”

“Don’t worry. She did it to each of us, too. It’s a right of passage. Willow gets to do your hair and your makeup,” Taylor said. “I don’t even wear makeup and she had me looking like a high fashion runway model.”

Everyone laughed. Gwen had quickly learned that Taylor was more at home on a horse and was just as able a ranch hand as Robert and Sam. Talia was the head nurse of the ICU at Meadow Springs Hospital, while Sadie was an intern. Her specialty was trauma medicine.

Audrey sat on the bed watching her. She smiled warmly at the five young women.

“You know that we’re all going to call you Mom, too, right,” Willow said. “That’s what we call Taylor’s mom, too.”

“It’ll be an honor to have a whole bunch of daughters. She looked at Gwen and added, “And maybe some granddaughters, too.”

Gwen blushed. “Until then, there are a whole bunch of little ones you can spoil as much as you want.”

Finally, Willow finished with her hair. Gwen had to admit that she loved the way her dark brown hair hung in curls down her back.

“Now for the dress,” Audrey said. She looked at the other women and said, “I wore it when I married her father. We didn’thave to get it altered too much. Gwen is just a little shapelier than I was.”

Gwen blushed.

Willow put the veil on and clapped her hands. “You look absolutely beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Gwen said.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

“It must be Brent. I guess it’s time,” Audrey said.

Brent had been over the moon excited at the prospect of walking Gwen down the aisle.

Audrey opened the door and gasped. “Jerome. What are you doing here?”

His face flushed bright red. “I was wondering if I could talk to Gwen, alone.”