Page 10 of The Cowboy Takes A Bride

Making a decision in this state could very well be a mistake of epic proportions, but what options did she have? As she saw it, there were two. The first, she could take what money she had and try to strike out on her own. But spending each day looking over her shoulder wasn't freedom she envisioned. The other, shecould take Sabrina up on her offer. The idea frightened her, the unknowns were great, but it was an opportunity that couldn't be ignored. A stop-gap that gave her breathing room to figure out her next move. No reasonable person would force her to stay in a marriage she didn't want. Not all matchmakers had a hundred percent success.

Easing forward, she reached for her bedside table. She skimmed her fingers across the wood surface until she found the knob for the drawer, then slid it open. Inside was her old-fashioned address book. Though most people kept this info on their phone, Meredith liked having hers in a book. The strikethroughs and address changes of her college friends were vicarious little adventures she dreamt about, having let go of social media since it was too painful to watch people’s lives move forward while hers didn’t.

She wanted to be a strikethrough in someone’s book.

Her fingers sought the cool, smooth sensation that was the telltale leather binding. After opening the cover, she felt for and found a small, thick card. She didn’t have to see it to know what the embossed letters said.

Hope.

Meredith closed her eyes and tried to picture a new life. Would it be like her friend who married the Marine? Living all around the world. She didn’t want to romanticize the idea, but the thought of living in a small, quaint European town had become a fantasy she struggled not to cling to. How could any reality compare to that?

She felt and found her phone on the top of the table and slid it toward her. It took three tries, but she finally dialed the number correctly.

When Sabrina answered on the second ring, Meredith said, “Please help me, Sabrina.”

“Of course, honey. Tell me what you need.” Sabrina’s voicehad an immediate calming effect on Meredith. Perhaps it was because it reminded her of her mother’s or because there was a quiet confidence, a streak of strength that Sabrina embodied that told Meredith she was doing the right thing.

“I need a new life. I want a new life. Help me.” Meredith was pleased to hear the quiver in her voice fade as she spoke.

“Are you certain? I can help you get a new life, but I can’t help you go back to this one if you chicken out. You have to commit to what I'm offering.”

No one would fault her for fibbing. “I’m beyond certain. I even know how I’m going to get away from the house.” Meredith shut her eyes, rested her forehead on the edge of the bed, and filled Sabrina in on the ruse she’d have to undergo to get away. “Can you make this happen in two days?”

5

Standing outside her father’s home office, Meredith reviewed the plan for what had to be the millionth time. With each run through, a deeper calmness would wash over her. She had no doubt she was taking the correct course. For the first time in years, she was alive with excitement, and dare she think…hope?

Meredith slipped the oversize sunglasses onto her nose and pushed them into place. Her hair, pulled back into a tight ponytail, was intended to show off the paleness of her completion, which she purposefully left devoid of makeup.

She stepped into the doorway and cleared her throat. Experience had taught her that unless she demanded his attention, he would not grant it.

“Yes?” He didn’t bother to look up from his newspaper, the front page of the business section exposed.

“I’ll be gone for a few days, Father.” She didn’t lift the large, leather overnight bag that had been her mother’s to emphasize her point. Instead, she stood quietly and waited.

He looked at her over the edge of his paper. “What is this?”

“I have an appointment for a sleep study. I called Dr. Goodman, and he referred me. It’s time to get to the bottom of these headaches, and this is where we start.” Her biggest gamble would be if her father called Dr. Goodman to confirm, but she was banking on his trust for the old family friend to supersede his trust for her. “I called him after the other night and expressed how, errr, disruptive these headaches are. This is what he suggested.”

He slapped the paper closed on the desk. “And I’m just hearing about it now?”

Meredith’s stomach churned with anxiety. “I didn’t want to mention it yesterday because I was uncertain if I would get into the sleep study. He called late yesterday, while you were out, and confirmed. You came in so late I was unable to tell you until now.” She knew she had to play this carefully, keep a blank poker face. “You can call him if you’d like.” She straightened, locking her knees to keep them from shaking.

Please, please, please don’t callshe prayed.

His gaze searched her up and down, his eyes lingering on her face. “You don’t look well.” Following a sigh, he said, “If Dr. Goodman says this is needed, then by all means. You’ll be home when?”

“In a few days. Maybe sooner if the study goes well.”

“There’s an auction coming up. Another charity for horses or refugee animals or some other nonsense, but some of the potential candidates for the governor’s position will be there. I need you to be in top form that night. Keep your ears open. There’s talk that one favored by the media really has an agenda not conducive to my business. You’ll need to ferret that out. I hear his wife is a chatty box if she has enough drinks.”

“I’ll need a new gown,” she said to keep with her typical response to his request.

“Of course.” He picked the paper up from the desk, his attention back on the news. She was forgotten.

She took one last look around. This memory would be the only keepsake she would have of him. In her bag, tucked between her undergarments, was her favorite picture with her mother. Meredith wanted to take the entire photo album, but she feared it would be noticed since it was kept in the study on the shelf next to the TV. Meredith had also taken the pearl necklace and earring set her mother and grandmother had worn on their wedding days. Not because she wanted to carry on with the tradition. Marrying an utter stranger was surely not what her mother had envisioned when she showed Meredith the pearls all the years ago, but because her mother had said they were good luck and had made of point of wearing them on significant days, such as Meredith’s birth. If she were going to gamble away the only life she knew, she was going to need all the luck she could get her hands on. It was anyone's guess as to what she would be walking into?

That thought alone gave her pause, and she stared a moment longer at her father, thinking perhaps she should say something kind for him to remember her by. But before she could think of anything to say, he gave her something to remember him by.

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