Page 25 of The Texas Cowboy's Proposal

“Well, there is something you can do for me tomorrow evening. I think Lacy would enjoy coming to the party at the art gallery. She loves art, and it will be something different for her to experience. And I hope you might talk Jaxson into coming along as well.”

“I think I’m beginning to see how your mind might be working. I know Lacy would really like to come, but we didn’t come prepared for a fancy evening out.”

“There are a couple of great shops not far from the hotel. I can pick her up in the morning, and we can find something in one of them. And the concierge in your hotel can help out you and Jaxson. You might as well see what you’ll have to be dragged to alongside me a couple times a year. The Burkitts have responsibilities off the ranch also. You’ll have to grin and bear it, I am afraid.”

“I would like to say I have a previous engagement, but I don’t. And there is truth in what you just said. One has to learn to take the good with the bad. As long as it can be mostly good, it might be bearable.”

“I’ll try not to take that too personally. And I do thank you for agreeing to be my plus-three.”

“You can thank me later, but I do need to get moving. Lacy has a roll of tickets stuffed in her pocket, and you might ease up on the junk food. And do me a favor in return.”

“I thought I already had but go on.”

“Don’t let her come home with a goldfish.” He gave her a wink and then stepped over to give his daughter a hug and a reminder about manners. Sammi Jo joined Lacy at the game table, but her gaze had a hard time not following a certain tall figure until he was well out of sight.

Why did she suddenly wish the goldfish bowl would turn into a crystal ball and tell her just how the future would play out with the three of them over the next few years? But then, maybe it was better to not know.One day at a time.She had whispered those words often enough in her lifetime. They would just have to wait and see.

Chapter Eleven

“This is somuch fun! It’s like Cinderella going to a fancy ball. Just like in the movies.” Lacy hadn’t come down from the clouds since they had arrived at the art gallery. Beaudry doubted his daughter’s eyes could grow any larger in her face as she took in the ladies in their bling-covered evening dresses and men in tuxes, gleaming chandeliers overhead, long linen-skirted tables with silver trays laden with food—mostly items she had never heard of before—and waiters offering champagne at every turn, only it was sparkling ginger ale in Lacy’s case.

But it had been the rooms with walls displaying paintings and drawings and pedestals with bronze statues that had held her attention. Watching from his quiet corner across the room, he felt a tug that was beginning to feel like a permanent fixture inside him as the pair, Sammi Jo, with Lacy close beside her, made their way through the rooms. Sammi Jo always made certain to introduce Lacy to each person she spoke with, always included his daughter, and made her feel even more special.

The transformation from cocoon to butterfly had happened before his eyes. He had been stunned when he had arrived at the hotel to join Sammi Jo and her sister, and Lacy had emerged from a bedroom dressed in a floor-length, dark-blue dress, a sparkly sash around her waist tied in a big bow at the back, and a frothy-looking material over the full skirt that Lacy modeled for him several times. Her hair had been gathered up in a long braid that circled around the top of her head, and little jeweled butterfly pins held it in place. She showed off her shiny silver slippers to him as well. “Just like a real princess,” he had pronounced, and she had beamed with happiness.

He had looked over at the woman who had orchestrated the transformation and was speechless once again. Samantha Josephine Burkitt was in attendance tonight. He had no idea how to handle that change.

Gone were the usual denim jeans, work shirt, and boots. The long, black gown fitted her figure with a slight flare from the hips downward to the floor. There was a swath of white, silky material that framed the neckline that reached to each shoulder, and then the material fell from the shoulders down her back in a train effect that moved as if she walked on a cloud through the rooms. Her hair was almost the same as Lacy’s, in an intricate braiding. He knew that the drop earrings and the single teardrop necklace were the real deal, as a jeweler was just departing the suite when he had arrived. Laurel had chosen rubies for herself and he had been informed diamonds were Lacy’s choice for Sammi Jo. The difference in their lives—and the insanity of a rich old lady’s will. His fingers tightened around the stem of his glass.

“You look like you ate something that didn’t agree with you,” came the comment from Laurel as she appeared at his side, her eyes showing concern. “All okay with you?”

“Don’t mind me. I guess I’m still feeling the jolt from the realization that my daughter is fast leaving the little girl in her behind.”

They both watched as Lacy shook hands with an elderly gentleman across the room, who turned out to be a congressman and was definitely being charmed by his little girl.

“Poor dad. I hate to tell you, but I’m pretty sure it will only get worse for you. Especially when those young boys start lining up at your gate.”

“A gate that will be shut and locked with me standing shotgun until she’s thirty.”

Laurel laughed and shook her head. “You have so much to learn and endure. But Lacy is a very bright young lady, and she loves you and respects you. You’ll gain a few gray hairs or maybe lose it all, but it will be worth it.” She took a sip from her champagne glass and let a moment of silence pass. “So what’s the rest of the worry you haven’t shared? This isn’t the first time this evening I’ve seen you withdraw and that look shield something much deeper from others. Does my sister have need to worry about you not going along with Grandmother’s plan?”

“Is there ever a moment that isn’t overshadowed by that ridiculous will?”

“Afraid not. It’s a heck of a huge shadow. What bothers you the most about it? I can promise you that my sister does have manners, can cook, doesn’t spit, bathes daily. Is it her?”

“I appreciate the levity. But I do have to consider Lacy, both now and over the next three years, and what might happen at the end of the terms. I also know that marriage is tough, even in the most normal circumstances. And there is nothing normal about any of this. The differences in our lives are glaring to anyone. I’m too old a dog to learn new tricks such as which fork to use on the fancy table setting, how to tie a bow tie, how to satisfy a woman who can go out and buy anything her heart desires anytime she wants. There are four vehicles in her garage right now and a Gulf Stream jet in the other garage. If she wants to fly to Italy for a genuine plate of spaghetti, she could. There are a couple of eligible billionaires here tonight that I have watched try to get her to meet for drinks later. Exactly how do I measure up to all of that? Any ideas?”

“Do you want to measure up?” Laurel was nothing if not blunt. “Do you know anything about my sister at all? If you truly did, you would know that she used to check a cheat sheet on table place settings that she had our cook make for her. She would study it before each dinner, like cramming for a major exam, so as not to displease Grandmother. You can buy bow ties that are clip on. My sister hates spaghetti. And billionaires have tried their best before and they always drink alone.

“If you care for her, if you end up falling for her, you’ll know what she truly needs, and it doesn’t involve money. It involves something a lot tougher to give, and that is your whole heart because she deserves to have that. Someone she doesn’t have to continually strive to please and impress. You’ll need to care enough to know when she might need her hand held, even though she will never ask for it. She loves sitting in a field of bluebonnets more than getting dozens of red roses from the florist. She’s not as thick-skinned as she likes to think. But she won’t let anyone know when she’s hurting. There are a lot of things you’ll want to figure out about her if you think you are worthy of the true Sammi Jo. But then isn’t that half the adventure of a real marriage? It first begins with love. If you can’t give her that, then be prepared to move on in thirty-six months.” She gave him a wink and left him to sort through all she had said.

*

“Thankfully, this willsoon be over. We will say a final thank-you to all who came, and then we can go back to the hotel and the gowns and jewels go away for what I hope will be another year or so. I just want to get out of these shoes as the first thing.” Sammi Jo had found him just outside the tall glass doors on the edge of the patio. He could still see most of the room, but he could also look up and see a few stars and feel the breeze on his face.

“I saw you and my sister having a conversation earlier. Was it intense or just party chat?”

“A gentleman never discloses what a lady tells him. And to put it plainer than that, I plead the Fifth.”

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