Page 11 of Big, Bad, Mountain Man

The wedding venue is more rugged than I guessed my mother would enjoy. It’s a lakeview wedding overlooking the white-capped mountains. Each row is settled with gray chairs and bouquets in mason jars. There’s an arch with feathers and pink flowers at the front of the aisle. That must have been my mother’s idea. She’s marrying a man she met from Rugged Mountain while visiting the ice cream shop. This place seems to be a meat market of single men. Go figure. Someone should put an ad in the paper. I’m sure women would come from all over to meet a good country boy.

‘Looking for big, rough men with giant dicks? How about Rugged Mountain?’I laugh to myself at the imagery of the article.

I don’t know if they all have big dicks, but holy matrimony I’ve never seen a dick as big as Wilder’s. I thought about it all night long. I’m not sure how I’ll ever fit him in. Though, maybe that’ll never happen. I suppose that depends on how today goes.

My sister notices us right away. She’s wearing a cute pink dress with purple pumps. I don’t see Hawk, but the girls are with her, already in their cute little flower girl dresses. They run toward me, nearly knocking me over.

“Mommy! I missed you so much. But we went fishing and Bryn and I caught a huge,” she glances back at her aunt, “what’s it called again?”

“A bass.” My sister grins.

“We caught basses. Both of us! Big ones!” Her eyes are wide as she stretches out her arms to show me the very exaggerated size of a fish they caught. It couldn’t have been that large. If it was, I’d never step foot in the river again.

“That’s great, baby. I’m glad you two had fun!”

Alyssa turns toward Wilder and stretches her gaze upward. In a robotic voice she says, “Who is this big man?”

“This is Wilder.” I smile. “He’s my…” I struggle with what to call him. I’d bet they’re too young to know what a date means, but a date also implies I’ve moved on. What if they aren’t ready for me to move on? I don’t want them to resent me for anything.

Wilder leans forward, reaching his giant hand out toward them one at a time. “I’m your mother’s friend. It’s nice to meet you both.”

Friend.I sigh a breath of relief and thank him once the girls have diverted their attention to the butterflies swarming in the nearby field. They have short attention spans and I’m okay with that.

“Have you seen Mom yet?” My sister rolls her eyes as though she has, and it wasn’t fun.

“No. I take it you have?”

“Only for a second, but she was going crazy about a missing veil. She didn’t have time to notice much else.”

I draw in a deep breath as my sister re-diverts her gaze to Wilder.

“I’m the sister. Good to meet one of Bree’sfriends.”

“Sorry!” I wrinkle up my nose. “I’ve been on overdrive today. Tucker called this morning and suddenly wanted to talk about the girls, and this thing with Mom not knowing about the divorce is freaking me out.”

“Well, I think maybe you’re in the clear with Mom. She’ll be too focused on herself today to notice anything else.”

I let go of a heavy breath and nod as she rejoins Hawk and the girls in the field. She’s going to make a great mom, much better than I’ve been.

Wilder turns toward me. “You didn’t mention Tucker’s call earlier. How did he leave things?”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t want to burden you with more of my drama. I told him to stop calling. If he doesn’t want a relationship with the girls, he doesn’t get to know the details. He signed away his rights months ago.”

“Sounds like he regrets it.”

“He can regret it all he wants, but he isn’t allowed to wander in and out of their lives. That’s got to be more damaging, right?”

Wilder sighs. “No clue. I can talk to a counselor for you. I know the woman in town who runs an agency.”

There he goes again, saying the right things. He didn’t add to my mental load. He offered to take care of something for me. It’s something he doesn’t have to do, something that doesn’t even concern him. How has this man not been snatched up yet? The list of positives just keeps growing.

I resist the urge to look a gift horse in the mouth. “I’d appreciate that. Thank you.” Holding hands, we walk toward our seats at the front of the aisle. The girls are still in the field, and I think they’ll stay there until they cue the music.

“Where was your first wedding?” Wilder looks toward me in the late afternoon sun. Even dressed to the nines, he still looks rugged. A big, burly man in a suit. The dichotomy couldn’t be more appealing.

I raise my brows and huff out a heavy breath. “In a church. A big one with hundreds of our closest friends.” I laugh. “But I’ve fantasized about getting married in a forest with cut logs as chairs and the canopy so thick, the sun barely filters through. The air would be alive with the scent of pine and moss, and there’d be birds singing in the background. What about you? You ever think about a wedding?”

He shakes his head and grins. “Can’t say I have. I’ve thought about marriage, and what that looks like, but never the party beforehand.”

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