Page 22 of A Soft Kiss in Summer
“No, we don’t.The only way to make Edwin go away for good is to give him what he wants.”
Rose raised an eyebrow at them both.“So, you’re going to do it, then?”
When Josiah nodded, she did as well.
“All right then.”Rose turned to everyone, looking at them and smiled.“I guess we’re having a wedding!”
He was getting married.
To Violet Campbell.
It didn’t take the women from town more than twenty minutes to get everything arranged.A few of them had whisked Violet off while the others started making everyone pull the chairs most of them brought with them toward the big willow tree by the banks of the creek, lining them up with a wide aisle in the middle.
He’d waited by the creek bank, keeping an eye on Edwin.The man was furious.His face was redder than normal and the look he was giving him made him wonder if the gunfight the man had mentioned would happen after all.
It was obvious by the shock on his face when Rose said they were getting married that Edwin thought Violet would admit the proposal was fake and—what, he didn’t know—marry him instead?Edwin may have brought Reverend Peele to push Violet into a decision but now that the man had a bible in hand and was standing at the base of that willow tree with him, he could see the regret of bringing the old man with him on Edwin’s face.
The ladies who’d rushed off with Violet all came back, smiles gracing their faces.Rose walked down the makeshift aisle moments before Violet appeared.
He’d heard the phrase, time stood still, more than once in his life but hadn’t thought anything of it.He knew it couldn’t literally happen, but as he looked at Violet, he could have sworn time did indeed stop.
She was still dressed as she had been, but someone had woven small white and yellow flowers into a small ring and placed it on her head while smaller flowers were sitting in the curls of her long hair.She held a bouquet of wildflowers in her hand and as he watched, he noticed they were shaking.She was nervous.Why she was, he didn’t know.The ceremony was just for show.
He kept reminding himself of that as someone picked up a fiddle and started playing a soft rendition of a song before Violet started down that aisle.Their gazes locked, and he realized as she neared him that he was holding his breath.
She never looked away when she stopped beside him and one look at her beautiful face was enough to make him temporarily lose his mind, a voice in the back of his head whispering for him to consummate the marriage at the first opportunity and keep her.
Reverend Peele opened the bible and started reading from the pages and he was in a daze as he repeated vows to love, honor, and cherish her, and something in his chest pinched tight as she stared up at him and did the same.By the time it was all said and done, his heart was pounding.
“You may now kiss your bride.”
The words were like a punch to his gut.He glanced at the reverend, saw his smiling face, and looked back at Violet when the man nodded his head at her.
She was staring up at him, a hint of fear in her eyes.He glanced at her lips and nearly groaned when she licked them.His heart was still pounding as someone yelled, “Well, kiss her already!”
Her cheeks bloomed pink a moment before she lifted her chin.“Just do it and get it over with,” she whispered.
He nodded, then lowered his head.The moment their lips touched, that pinch in his chest nearly took his breath.He inhaled, taking her scent into his lungs and he wasn’t sure why he did it, but he brushed his tongue against her bottom lip.
Her soft gasp made him do it again, and the moment he slipped inside for a small taste of her sweet mouth, his brain stopped working.
Loud shouts and hoops and hollers were enough to bring him back to his senses, and he broke the barely there kiss and lifted his head.Violet was staring at him with a look on her face he’d never seen.Something in her eyes told him she’d not been unaffected by that tiny kiss anymore than he was.
He pulled away before he did something crazy—like grab her and kiss her all proper like.The shouts of those watching were enough to make him step back.They had an audience and the things popping into his head weren’t appropriate at the moment.
Violet was the first to look away.She smiled at those still clapping for them and he felt like such a fraud it was hard to look them in the eye.
Edwin was watching them both with an unreadable look on his face.He wasn’t happy by any means, but he couldn't say the man looked furious either.If he had to guess, he’d say he looked—skeptical.
Probably because he knows this entire thing is a farce.
There were congratulations shouted from everyone and when he was dragged away by a group of men and handed a jar of moonshine, they all gave a toast in his honor.That uneasy feeling only grew.
He caught Violet’s eye across the clearing.She looked to be having the same thoughts as the women in town all smiled happily at her, chattering away about what he had no idea, but the forced smile on Violet’s face let him know she was as uncomfortable as he was.That was something, at least.
She was married.
To Josiah Lincoln.
