Page 56 of The Way to a Cowboy's Heart

By the timethe ceremony was to begin, Emily had the reception food all in hand and Nevers had mostly pulled himself together. Liam rescued her from the kitchen, leaving Tara and Nevers to handle the rest as they waited for the minister to arrive.

There were nearly forty people there, almost everyone they knew, mutual friends of the Kowalskis, and Liam looked around the room as he held Emily’s hand. Will and Izzy sat beside them, and Gus and Cami had just arrived. The Canaday family were all here and the Lassens. Sage and her husband from the Chocolate Shop were here as were Trey and Holly Reyes. Several other couples that his parents and the Kowalskis had known for years filled out the other seats alongside the Kowalskis’ kids.

The piped-in music began and Liam wondered if the minister was late. He was nowhere to be found. Instead, Gerald Kowalski walked up the aisle to the front, situating himself where the minister should have been instead of off to the side to wait for his wife. He wore a big smile on his face, and one by one, he met the eyes of the Hardesty kids. His wife, Sue, walked up the aisle next, carrying a small bouquet of flowers and she took her place to the left of Gerald and turned back to the open barn doors.

Confused, Liam, Shay, Will, and Cami just looked at each other as if nothing made sense anymore, and they were about to have their first actual disaster of a wedding. But through the barn door, came Ray and their mom. Sarah was dressed in a short, cream-colored gown of lace and she was carrying a larger bouquet. Ray was beaming, wearing a tux and had never looked better.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Will murmured to Liam. “It’stheirwedding?”

Liam could only laugh. Of course, this was how they’d do it. No fuss, no muss, a surprise wedding after everything they’d been through. It was… perfect.

As they reached Gerald and Sue, who could hardly contain their excitement, Sarah handed Sue her bouquet and took Ray’s hands in hers.

Gerald cleared his throat. “I bet you’re all wondering right about now”—the crowd laughed out loud—“what the heck I’m doing standing up here instead of down there, and who is going to marry these two today? Well, the answer to both questions is it’s me. I’m the minister. It’s me.”

Laughter and applause that this had caught the whole audience off guard broke out.

Gerald waved the audience down. “I went on the interwebs, you see and got myself a legal ordination to marry folks. And while renewing my vows to my darling Sue might come someday soon, we thought these two right here are the ones in need of a ceremony today. And I’m proud to do it. So here we go. We are gathered here today in this big ol’ round barn to marry up this man and this woman who have loved each other for more years than there are rafter spokes on this barn roof. And I think it’s about time. Don’t you?”

Everyone applauded the surprise, and Will could only laugh and shake his head as Liam exchanged looks with his mother who was clearly thrilled they’d pulled this off. Gerald did the usual build up to the vows with his own country flair, talking about their long friendship and the struggle they’d had this past year, but it was when his mom began to speak that it really hit home for Liam.

“My darling Ray,” she began. “What a journey this has been. If I could go back in time and take away all those years we missed together, I would. But then those years forged us both like steel, forcing us to get stronger so that when we finally found each other again, nothing could tear us apart. You, dear, are the love of my life. I’ve known that… it feels like forever. It just took what it took for us to find one another and walk through what we had to, to reach one another. And I’m not letting you go. I will fight whatever comes our way to keep you. In sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, till death us do part. You are my partner in this life and probably in the next. Here’s hoping.”

Beside him Emily was pushing a tissue beneath her eyes.

Ray’s turn was next. “My beautiful Sarah, I guess we should have compared notes, because you basically said the vows I wrote for you.” He crumpled the paper in his hand and took her hands in his. “But here’s my truth. All those years without you only made me know how much I needed you, wanted you. Loved you. And nothing will ever break that bond for me now. Not even cancer could. You’ve brought us, me and Cooper, into your beautiful family and made us a part of it. What a blessing. We finally both have our lives back, fully and completely. You gave me a reason to fight for my life. You will always be my reason. I love you, Sarah. Forever and always. Till death us do part.”

Gerald closed his bible. “Then with the authority granted to me by the Universal Life Church, I now pronounce you, at last, husband and wife.”

Ray took her in his arms then and kissed her, tipped her backward and kissed her some more. The audience went wild.

There was nothing but happiness on Sarah’s face as they walked down the aisle together, reaching out for her children’s hands as she passed them. Liam had tears in his eyes, as well, and Cami was already bawling.

It was a good surprise. The best surprise. And Liam turned to look at Emily and saw tears streaming down her face. She quickly swiped them away and smiled at him. She waved him off, embarrassed by her tears. “And I hardly know them,” she said.

“They pulled off the surprise of the year.” He looked around the room at all of their friends and family on their feet applauding them as they made their way down the aisle together. “How did that get by us? Were we the only ones who didn’t know what was happening?” he asked Cami.

“Nobody knew. I think only Sue and Gerald were in on it.”

“She told me nothing,” Shay said, leaning over toward him. “They were totally conniving.”

“In a good way,” Will said.

Izzy was watching Lolly for Tara who’d been called into Mr. Nevers’ kitchen to help. On Izzy’s hip, Lolly seemed to take the whole thing in stride as usual.

Sarah was tickled and happy as she worked her way down the aisle, shaking hands alongside her new husband. Their new stepfather.

Liam turned back to Emily. He loved looking at her. At the way her hair fell on her shoulders and the way her eyes sparkled, even when she wasn’t crying. And he suddenly couldn’t imagine not having her here. Or being an ocean apart from her. It wasn’t just the romantic rush of what his mother had just done with Ray. It was more than that. Maybe this desperate feeling in his gut that said,don’t lose her. If you do, you’ll regret it every day of your life.

Sarah and Ray had wasted half their lives with quiet lies standing between them—even though Liam knew Ray had lied to protect her. And all of them. Now they had to make up time. But there really wasn’t any making it up. It was gone. They’d lost that time and would never get it back.

He didn’t want to lose it with Emily.

“I’d better run back to help Chef Nevers,” she said. “Since the wedding cake was a disaster, I whipped up the fastest thing I could, wedding cookies. But I’d better go oversee what’s happening back there. Make sure Chef isn’t under the desk again.”

“You’re our hero, you know that, right?”

She dragged a finger down the front of his chest. “I believe heroine is the proper term, but actually, I’m neither. I’m just a girl, standing in front of an oven, hoping the cookies don’t burn.”

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