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Priscilla told the story of her parents’ wedding, how her cousins Ellie and Rachel got her mama all ready for the event that she, apparently, wasn’t too happy about.
“That’s right,” the senator chimed in. “I ordered her to be ready to meet me at the church.”
Mitch sat up straight. “Wait a minute. Why did it work for you? When I tried to order Priscilla to marry me, she flat out refused.”
Jesse grinned. “Ah, well, we had a reason to make sure that wedding took place.”
“We do, too,” Mitch said. He realized his mistake the minute Priscilla turned beet red and her three brothers and father sat up straight. Why the hell hadn’t he keep his big mouth shut?
“Is that right?” Paul said.
Tori hopped up. “It’s getting late. and Priscilla and I have a wedding to plan.”
“Please stay at my house,” Mitch said, trying desperately to recover from his blunder. “I have three bedrooms.”
“Yes.” Jesse said as he stood. “However, Andrew and my wife will stay here with Priscilla to keep an eye on her, and my sons and I will stay at your house to keep an eye on you.”
The four men stood and pulled on the cuffs of their shirts and straightened their jackets, staring at Mitch the entire time. He wanted to face that mountain lion again. His chances of survival would have been better.
True to their word, the Cochran men never let Mitch out of their sight. Tori and Priscilla were holed up in her house doing whatever it was women did to plan a wedding. The few times he did see Priscilla—surrounded by her family—she positively glowed. Her mama had brought a wedding gown with her that she had managed to find in Guthrie on the very short notice she’d had.
He did finally get to drive one of the automobiles and promised himself a fancy motorcar would be his next big purchase. He’d learned that Jesse had his two vehicles loaded aboard the trains they took from Guthrie to Denver, and then drove the vehicles from Denver to Dogtown. No mail coach for them.
Once they were more relaxed, he found Priscilla’s papa and brothers to be very nice. Easygoing, staunch supporters of family. Only Ben seemed to have an interest in following Jesse’s footsteps into law. Once he finished college, he’d told Mitch, he was headed to law school. Paul was a pharmacist, and Henry was in medical school. They would certainly be excellent role models for Ian, who they’d taken under their wing.
Ian was in his glory with his new grandma and grandpa. And he’d taken over the supervision of Andrew while the ladies were busy. He seemed confused when Mitch explained to him that Andrew would be his uncle. But then he’d found when the Cochrans were around, confusion carried the day.
It was early on his wedding day, and Mitch was more nervous than he’d ever been in his life. Half the town had been invited, Tori passing out invitations up and down the street. Everyone in Dogtown already loved her as much as they loved Priscilla.
His anxiety climbed way up when a newspaper reporter from Denver showed up to cover Senator Cochran’s daughter’s wedding. Never in his life had he been ashamed of his town, and he wasn’t now, just wished the streets weren’t quite so muddy.
Paul, acting as his best man, walked into the parlor at his house. “You sure you want to do this? You know Priscilla can be a pain in the neck at times?”
“Oh, I’m sure.”
“Good. If you weren’t sure, I was going to take you out back and beat the shit out of you.”
“You know, Paul, one day you’ll go through this. I just want you to know I’ll be there to laugh at you and the woman you chose who will also be a pain in the neck at times.”
“Yeah. When I marry, I’m looking for a woman like my cousin Michael’s wife, Heidi. She’s a sweet woman, does what he wants. That’s the kind of wife I’ll marry.”
“Let’s go, men. It’s time to leave for church.” Ben stuck his head in.
“Can I drive?” Mitch asked.
“No.” Paul, Ben, and Henry said at the same time.
As they went out the door, Mitch said, “It’s my wedding day, guys. Come on, let me drive.”
Priscilla studied herself in the full-length mirror her mama managed to get from somewhere. She was still stunned at what Mama had accomplished in little more than a week. She’d put together a wedding the likes of which Priscilla was certain no one in Dogtown had ever seen.
She’d bullied Mrs. Gillis into making a beautiful wedding cake, charmed Pastor Thatcher into allowing them to use the church hall for a wedding reception, and had the café at the end of the street providing chicken, biscuits, and salad for the guests. She’d even put together a three-piece band by cajoling the organist to switch to piano and join two of the town’s fiddle players.
Mama had brought with her a beautiful, white, gathered chiffon dress. Four different kinds of white lace adorned the bodice and sleeves. The lace also layered a white ruffled underskirt. Priscilla put the ring of flowers with the veil that went all the way down to her shoes over her hair. How Papa managed to get flowers in winter was a mystery to her.
A slight knock on her door drew her attention from the mirror. Mama opened the door and stuck her head in. “Papa is here to escort you, honey.” She stepped into the room and covered her mouth with her two hands. “Oh, my. My little girl is all grown up.”
“Oh, Mama, don’t cry. You’ll make me cry and I’ll appear at my wedding with splotches all over my face.”
