Page 66 of Wrangling a Wild Texan

“Hear! Hear!” all the men chorused.

Reid had barely taken a sip when Sophie walked in. She looked stunning in her pale yellow maid-of-honor dress with her makeup applied perfectly. She also looked way too grown up. Reid couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness. A few months ago, he couldn’t wait for her to grow up. Now, just the thought of her leaving for college made him want to bawl like a baby.

“Y’all about ready to head down to the barn?” she asked as she looked around at the men.

Everyone took another guzzle of their beers before they set them back in the cooler and filed out. Reid held out his arm for Sophie.

“You look beautiful, Soph.”

She beamed. “Thank you, Uncle Reid. Just wait until you see Sunny.”

Sophie wasn’t exaggerating. When Reid saw Sunny standing in the doorway of the Holidays’ barn, his heart felt like it took flight. She looked like an angel in her simple white dress with her golden-red hair surrounding her shoulders in soft waves.

She even had a set of wings.

Jimmy Buffett was perched on her shoulder. In the last couple months, the parrot had become extremely attached to Sunny. He spent most of his time sitting on her shoulder . . . and cussing up a storm. Although today he seemed to be on his best behavior. Or maybe the mini bow tie around his neck was just too tight. Whatever the reason, he merely nodded his head when Hank Holiday handed Sunny off to Reid.

The love in her warm brown eyes made all Reid’s nerves vanish.

He didn’t know how he’d gotten so lucky, but he wasn’t going to question his luck. He was just going to hold on to it with both hands. As soon as Sunny gave her bouquet and Jimmy Buffet to Sophie, he took her hands in his and held firmly.

Sunny squeezed back and smiled a smile that was as real as the love he had in his heart for this woman. “You ready to get hitched to me for life?”

He grinned. “Baby, I was born ready.”

“Bullshit!” Jimmy Buffett squawked.

Epilogue

The harvest moon was the biggest Fiona had ever seen in her life.

It hung in the night sky like a huge golden coin, illuminating Cooper Springs and the naked nymphs who frolicked in the shimmering water. Although not all of the nymphs were frolicking. Fiona and Mimi had left the frolicking to Darla, Sunny, Sophie, and the Holiday sisters while they floated in the shallows and watched.

In the last year, the Secret Sisterhood had grown from seven to eleven. The meetings were held the second Thursday night of every month in the Holiday barn hayloft. Due to the men worrying about pregnant wives and old women falling down the ladder, last Christmas, the men had surprised the sisters with a completely redecorated loft with railed stairs, new lighting, a plush rug, comfortable sofas and chairs . . . and a mini wine fridge filled with Hallie’s homemade beer and Mimi’s elderberry wine.

Which explained why all the sisters—except for Sophie who only got to drink Mountain Dew—were a wee bit tipsy now.

“Watch this!” Hallie yelled as she grabbed on to the rope Jace and Decker had tied to a low-hanging limb on Fourth of July.Since Casey had promptly broken his arm while testing the rope to make sure it was secure, Fiona couldn’t help yelling out a warning . . . at the exact same time as Mimi.

“No flips, Hal!”

Mimi and Fiona looked at each other and smiled. It wasn’t the first time they had spoken the exact same thing at the exact same time. No doubt due to all the time they’d spent together in the last year.

They had always been friends who enjoyed each other’s company when they saw each other at parties, book club, town council meetings, or church gatherings. But since finding out they were half-sisters, they had become more than just friends.

They had become inseparable.

If Mimi wasn’t at Fiona’s house, Fiona was at the Holiday Ranch. They had a lot of time to make up for . . . and not nearly enough time left to do it. Which was why Fiona was considering Mimi’s offer to come live at the Holiday Ranch. She had always wanted a big family and now it looked like she had one.

She was Aunt Fifi. A title she pretended not to like, but secretly loved.

Since finding her family, she’d even considered retiring. But after taking a week off to help Mimi with her gardening, she vetoed the idea. She was a woman who enjoyed going to an office and being in charge. She figured she’d run her own businesses for as long as the good Lord let her. When she couldn’t anymore, she planned to sell out and donate the money to charity.

She glanced out at the springs.

The Holidays didn’t need money.

Their cups already runneth over.

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