Page 66 of The Honorable Texan
“Well, we already have a little boy.I’d love a daughter next.But we’ll settle for whatever we get,” Josie said warmly, smiling up at her husband, who readily agreed.“I can hardly wait.”
Blake looked down at Violet with a softness in his eyes that made her heart float.“Neither can I,” he said gently.
Violet blushed scarlet and nuzzled her cheek against his chest.
“We’re expecting, too,” Blake told the Brannons with a quiet smile.“It’s going to be a wonderful year.”
“You can say that again,” Marc replied.“Congratulations.”
“You, too.”
Violet closed her eyes as the conversation drifted away.She wondered if she could die of happiness.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Violet was nervouslywaiting in the hall for the organ to sound.Her mother was in the front pew.Half of Jacobsville was seated in the rest of the pews.She noticed that big Cag Hart was acting as best man for her husband-to-be.She had nobody to give her away.But it was something of an archaic custom, she tried to remind herself.She wasn’t being given or sold to any man, regardless of how much she loved him.
She plucked nervously at the waistline of her beautiful white satin gown, hoping the slight swell didn’t show too much.It wouldn’t matter a lot.Most people already knew she was pregnant.She smiled.She and Blake would love their child.She had no more doubts about him, or herself.It would work out.
The organ sounded and she jerked her mind back to the occasion, tightening her grip on her bouquet of baby’s breath, white roses, and lily of the valley.She took a deep breath and stepped out on her right foot, just as a big, gentle hand caught her left hand and tucked it into his elbow.
She looked up, startled, into twinkling green eyes.
“I’m not quite old enough to be your father,” Cy Parks said in a loud whisper, “but Blake said you wouldn’t mind.”
She grinned up at him.“I won’t mind at all, Mr.Parks.Thank you!”
“That’s okay.You can do the same for me one day,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.
She started giggling and only stopped when “The Wedding March” was belted out on the piano.
“Straight faces, now,” Cy murmured.
“You bet!”she agreed.
They walked down the aisle, to where Blake was waiting with his heart in his eyes when he saw Violet in that vision of white lace and satin, the veil delicately covering her pretty face.He thought his heart might burst.
The ceremony was brief, poignant, and unforgettable.Blake lifted the veil to kiss his bride, and Violet’s blue eyes brimmed over with tears as she returned the kiss with pure joy.
They walked out of the church into a soft rain of congratulations, confetti and rice.
“The rice is for fertility,” Libby Collins whispered loudly.
“It worked!”Blake exclaimed in a stage whisper, with wicked eyes.
Violet whacked him with her bouquet and winked at Libby.
They climbed into the waiting limousine and sped away to Blake’s house, to change clothes before the reception.
* * *
“What a goodthing the reception isn’t for another hour,” Blake groaned as he kissed Violet hungrily in the big king-size bed.
“And you think we’ll still make it in time?Optimist!”Violet panted, lifting up to the hard, measured thrust of his body.
He laughed, but the sensations caught him unaware and he arched, groaning with pleasure so deep it felt like pain.
Violet went with him, flying up into the sky like a rocket, exploding in sudden, fierce delight.
