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San Francisco – July 14, 1951
Carol Faxon took another drink of the cool water. Thankfully, the shot of penicillin the doctor had given her for her sinus infection seemed to be working. She could breathe more clearly, but her ears were still stopped up.
“Another dance, baby?” Jack Wilde sure knew how to have fun. Wearing his Army uniform, he looked a lot like Gary Cooper.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure my feet can take another dance, fellows.”
His brothers, Tom and Will, looked disappointed.
Tom, who reminded her of Tyrone Power, said, “Doll, it’s only midnight. Rest up a couple of songs, and then I’ll spin you around the dance floor. What do you say?”
As if on cue, the band fired up another song that made hearing the brothers even harder. Will put his arm around her shoulders. He could’ve almost passed for Cary Grant’s twin.
Tom said something again, but she wasn’t quite sure what with her ears in their current condition and the music and crowd being so rowdy and loud. Trying to concentrate was becoming a challenge tonight. She’d awoken this morning with her sinuses giving her fits. Knowing this was her last night with the three sexy brothers, she took the only open appointment her doctor had left in the middle of the afternoon. She hadn’t told the guys about it. Three weeks ago, she’d been a little under the weather, and they had made her go to bed and fed her chicken soup until she thought she would never be able to eat it again. She wasn’t about to ruin this evening with a silly infection.
“Well, let me go first then, Carol.” Jack got down on one knee. He took her hand in his. “My brothers and I may have only known you a short time, but you have captured our hearts.”
“You have mine, too.” She took a deep breath, hoping the medicine inside her would unstop her ears and fast. Jack said more, but she had missed it. She thought about asking him to repeat himself, but decided not to. One, it might tip him off that she wasn’t feeling well. Two, she didn’t want to spoil the moment. Finally, she wanted to appear strong and capable in front of these amazing men.
He paused, waiting for her to answer. What had he asked her? To marry him, no doubt. But could she be sure? She was shivering like a schoolgirl. This was no way a woman with a degree in biology from Stanford should be acting. This is nineteen fifty-one and I’m a modern woman.
She’d worked hard to finish college. Saying yes to a proposal would mean leaving all that behind. In truth, having a career had always been secondary in her heart, though she’d never admitted that to anyone. What she really had dreamed of for her whole life was having a husband and children. Her own family had always been distant and cold, so opposite these warm and loving cowboys.
“So, what do you say, baby? Will you marry us?”
She grinned at the irony that her stopped-up ears had twisted his words into an impossible dream, her impossible dream. She wouldn’t have to choose. She’d fallen for all three brothers, but knew she could only have one. Tom’s adventurous spirit, Will’s sense of humor, and Jack’s protective nature made the perfect combination to ensnare her utterly. How had this happened? Didn’t women’s hearts only go for one man? What’s wrong with me that I let this happen?
Jack was on his knees in front of her, asking her to marry him, not us.
Stanford was behind her, and she was ready to choose a new path.
“I will,” she answered, feeling nervous and excited about what was to come.
Each of the brothers kissed her. Of course, Tom’s and Will’s kisses must’ve been congratulatory in nature, nothing more. But they’d seemed a bit too intimate to her. She chalked it up to fatigue.
The rest of the evening was a haze. Each of the brothers took her out on the dance floor, one after another, over and over, until the crowd thinned and the band put up their instruments.
The last thing she remembered was the three hunky cowboys at her door, promising to be back early to pick her up and take her to their new home, her new home, in Wilde, Nevada. Just before her exhaustion pushed her into unconsciousness, she thought about what tomorrow would bring. She would be Mrs. Jack Wilde, which thrilled her. But God help me, I love all three of them.
* * * *
Wilde, Nevada – July 15, 1951
Carol shivered, not from cold but from the gravity of the life-changing moment that was happening to her.
“Do you, Carol, take these men to be your husbands of heart, to love…”
Had she heard the justice of the peace correctly? These men? The trip from San Francisco had been long, but she’d slept almost the entire way. Thankfully, her sinuses and ears had cleared before the three Wilde brothers had shown up at her place to get her. So why was her hearing off? Must’ve been impacted by her nerves.
“…in sickness and in health, so long as you all shall live?”
