Page 12 of The Cowboy Takes A Bride

“I’d love a tea.” Meredith looked around and tried to relax. For a brief moment, she could pretend she was staying with a friend. Had her life gone differently, it might be exactly what she’d be doing. But Sabrina’s all-business attitude, though not unfriendly or abrasive, clearly showcased that sooner rather than later Meredith would be legally bound to a stranger, and all because her father turned into a crazy person after her mother’s death.

“You want sweet or unsweet? Have a seat, hon. Get comfy. Kick off your shoes. You have a lot to do. Help yourself to whatever.” Sabrina handed her the laptop. The screen was a pretty sky blue and white banner with the words HOPE across it.

“Sweet, please.” Meredith sunk into an overstuffed butter-yellow chenille chaise lounge and pulled the laptop close.

“Click on the word HOPE. It will start the questionnaire that has two hundred questions. Answer the best you can. Go with your gut. You can mark any of the questions you are uncertain about with a star, and then you can go back later and answer. There is no right or wrong. It’s about you and what you want and how you see your life. It usually takes an hour or so. Dr. Williamswill be here shortly, and when you’re done, you will meet with him. He’ll pass you along to Dr. Fleming, she’s our sex therapist, and by the time you are done with them, I should be done with my book club.” Sabrina delivered the information as she moved around the room, opening blinds and making Meredith a drink. She placed a large glass of iced tea along with a plate of assorted mini sandwiches and petit fours on the table. “There’s more in the kitchen and other stuff if this doesn’t suit. OK?”

Meredith nodded.

“I’ll leave you to it. Should you have a question, you can call me on that phone.” She pointed to the old-school rotary phone sitting on the desk. “Dial one, and it will ring to where I am.”

Again, Meredith nodded.

“If you want to back out, now is the time.”

“I don’t want to back out.” But even to Meredith, her voice sounded small. “Honest,” she said with more conviction. "But what if I don't like him or find him attractive?”

Sabrina shook her head. “If I showed you a picture, you would make a lot of conclusions based on that one image. You begin this with preconceived ideas. I like to keep those to a minimum. That's why I don't show pictures.” Sabrina tapped the computer. “Once we go through with this, we will fly to your new home, and you’ll be married right away.”

Meredith swallowed. “I know. I have to stay at least a year or pay the fees.” Which were more than Meredith had saved when planning her great escape. The amount was staggering.

“I take this very seriously. You are looking for a new life, and so are these men. They are just as lonely. Of course, they would never admit that.” Sabrina chuckled. “Their circumstances make matching and finding a wife the ‘typical way’ more difficult, or they would’ve been successful in that endeavor. They trust me to be diligent and careful in my selection, just as you are trusting me to keep you safe.”

“I take it seriously as well. I always thought I’d marry once. Maybe that was a young girl’s fantasy born from too many movies about princesses and dreams coming true, but when I look at how my life is now, the only thing I see changing is me getting older. Or my father trying to pawn me off on someone that would make a good business match for him. Like Lyle Brady.”

Sabrina cringed.

As Meredith shook her head, a lone tear escaped. “I’m more willing to take a chance on finding happiness with a stranger than I am with my father. How sad is that?”

Sabrina handed her a tissue and then squeezed her shoulder. “I know this is a giant leap of faith for you, Meredith, but let me show you something.” She gestured to the walls. “Look at these pictures. These were all clients of mine. They found the love and happiness they were seeking. I know the folks posed for photos, but before I matched them, they were alone. Some were scared the life they were living was all they were going to get. Now they have this.” She did a broad sweep of the wall. "You can have this."

Could she really? Meredith wasn't sure. It was hard imagining how this could be hers. Yes, she'd once wanted what these people had—a loving family. Meredith stared at one picture in particular. It was a family of four. The husband had a child on his shoulders, and the wife stood behind a second, older child and next to her husband. The camera caught them during an exchange, and the look passing between them, forever captured, was full of love and…familiarity. She could never have this. Not with her situation the way it was. She didn't see how it could happen. Sadness squeezed her heart and left her breathless.

“I’ll let you get to it then,” Sabrina said. The clicking of her heels faded away into the background as Meredith continued tostare and wonder about the couple, their story, and what brought them together.

She knew she couldn't ask for everything—freedom, a life, and a family, but what she could ask for was being happy with what she got. To not ache for more. She made a silent prayer, and if her mother was listening asked, “Please, I only want my own life. I promise to be happy with that.”

7

Sabrina’s statement about getting a lot done in a short time was no joke. It had been Meredith’s fault the process had stretched into the late hours of the night. Once she got to talking to the spiritual advisor, it had opened a floodgate of pent-up emotions and fears. Following a well needed cathartic cry, Meredith had ended the night with a glass of wine and some laughs with Sabrina.

She knew the sex therapist was part of the process but, mercy, some of the questions were embarrassing. Confessing she was a virgin had been the worst, and talking with a complete stranger, albeit a nice motherly sort of stranger, about the stages of romance and how to claim a satisfying experience for both parties had nearly done Meredith in.

Hence the wine.

And the laughter.

She’d fallen into bed with the sudden awareness that, for all the stress the day brought, not a single headache or hint of one was had. No doubt, she was in a better headspace. Talking out her fears helped release some of the pent-up angstshe was carrying. It made that out-of-control feeling dissipate, and in its place came a more focused grasp of her purpose. Talking about sex, however, made her freak the hell out. How naive she'd been to not even think about having sex with this man. Surely he wouldn't expect sex right away

The following morning, the evaluation process behind her, she held the freshly toasted slice of wheat bread with melted butter and promptly lost her appetite.

“We leave this evening.” Sabrina said in her singsong, sugared voice as she cut a grapefruit in half. “Tomorrow is the big day. Did you want to pick up a dress before we go?”

“So soon?” Meredith slid the bread back on the plate. Intellectually, she had expected the quick turnaround, emotionally she wasn't ready.

Sabrina smiled softly and slid into the chair across from her. “I know this is scary, but I want to get you out of town as soon as we can. I worry we overlooked something, and your father will find you.”

Meredith shook her head. “He won’t start looking until tomorrow. Earliest.”

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