Happy Is The Bride Read Free Page A

to think of it, she hadn't said a word about love. No matter, she must love him or she wouldn't have asked him to marry her.
    Mason wiped his brow with his bandana. "All I have to do is tolerate the endless details Mrs. Pendleton in sists on and make it through today. Come nightfall, Beth'll be my wife, and we can live out here without anyone interfering."
    Mason didn't know what, but since he'd an nounced his engagement, something had bothered Rowdy. Now the lanky older man mumbled something under his breath.
    "What was that?" Mason leaned forward to hear.
    Rowdy stopped and leaned on his pitchfork. "Sorry, boss, I didn't mean you to hear that."
    "Not sure I heard right. Say it again."
    Rowdy took a deep breath before he spoke. "You know folks say she's jinxed?"
    Yeah, Mason knew and he hated it, but he counted to ten and reined in his anger. Losing his temper
    sev enteen years ago had landed him in the fight that resulted in his smashed leg. Since then, he'd tried to control his fury and succeeded—except in one area. Hearing things against Beth always riled him. He'd done his share of brawling in vain attempts to silence the talk. Folks loved to gossip, and evidently that in cluded his hired hand.
    Mason vowed nothing would spoil his wedding day, so he counted to ten a second time and went back to forking. "Don't believe that superstitious nonsense. Good or bad, each of us makes his own luck."
    He tossed another forkful of straw, and his knee gave way. Standing on the edge of the loft, he grabbed for the roof support as he lost his balance. His hand barely missed the post, and he flew off the edge.
    ***
    "Boss? Boss? You okay?"
    Mason opened his eyes and wiped the moisture from his face. "Did you throw water on me?"
    "Didn't know what else to do." Rowdy leaned over him. "Hit your head on the side of the wagon. Knocked yourself plumb out. Good thing you landed on the straw."
    "So you drenched me?" Mason sat up and held his shirt from his body. Hot as it was, the cooling effect of the water wasn't bad.
    "Couldn't wake you up. Scared me something awful, so I fetched the water bucket and doused you. Then you come to."
    "Thanks." Mason struggled up, conscious of an aching head and soaked clothes.
    Rowdy leveled a knowing look at Mason. "See, I told you. The jinx done started."
    "There's no jinx! I fell because this damned leg gave way. It's done that for seventeen years."
    Mason explored the lump high on his forehead. What a damn fool thing to happen on his wedding day. Maybe he could comb his hair differently to hide the lump and the bruise sure to follow.
    "Gee, boss, I don't know." Rowdy stared up at the loft and back to the wagon. "You ain't never fell outta the loft before. I think it's 'cause of the jinx."
    'Told you there is no jinx! Get in the wagon." Mason hadn't meant to snap at Rowdy, but—with or without counting to ten—that kind of talk about Beth heated his temper. "This is enough straw. Let's get on over to the chapel."
    ****
    Beth paused with a fern stem in her hand and scanned the small sanctuary. Though she would have preferred using the larger church in town, she ad mitted a fondness for this little chapel near the Medina River. The white frame building stood at the edge of a small clearing by a steep slope. Six steps led up to the small porch at the front, but the rear of the building suspended into space and rested on high rock pillars.
    On the hillside nearby was the small cemetery where some of Beth's kin were buried. Her mother's father had died twenty years ago of a stroke; his wife had died ten years later in the same influenza epi demic that had taken Rachel's mother and younger brother. Rachel's father had been thrown from a horse and struck his head against a stone five years ago. Beth knew there were plots marked off for her own parents when their time came, but she hoped that wouldn't be for many decades.
    Beth's mother and father had wed in this chapel al most thirty years ago, and Mrs.