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“Why didn’t you say something to me? Daddy has never liked him, so that wasn’t a surprise.”
The corner of her mouth turned up. “No, he never has. We didn’t say anything because you needed to figure it out on your own. If your father or I had questioned you, the only thing it would have done is push you toward marrying him to prove us wrong.”
“I value your and Daddy’s thoughts.”
She regarded me for a moment. “Be honest with me, Chloe. Does this have anything to do with Rip?”
My chest squeezed a bit. “A little, but it has more to do with leaving. Giving up my dreams for a life I know I won’t be happy in…”
“Do you love Easton? You must’ve, sweetheart, if you said yes.”
“How about I get out of this dress, and we finish this conversation later? It’s Alyssa’s day, really. I don’t want to steal any more of her thunder.”
Placing her hand on the side of my face, she gave me a warm smile. “I love you and we’ll figure this out together, I promise.”
I hugged her tightly. “I love you, too, Momma. So much.”
The fourth dress Alyssa tried on was the dress. She cried the moment she looked at herself. It was perfect in every single way. I placed my chin on her shoulder as we gazed at the dress in the mirror.
“It’s like it was made for you, Alyssa.”
“Do you think Mike will like it?”
Smiling, I replied, “He’s not going to be able to breathe when he sees you in this.”
Her eyes met mine. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. If I…”
I shook my head. “Don’t. I needed it. Thank you.”
“It was just, well, I didn’t want you to make the biggest mistake of your life, and I knew you were about to.”
“Deep down I did, too. Do me a favor. Please don’t tell Mike. I want to tell Rip myself and I don’t want him hear it from someone else. It’s about time we finally came clean with each other.”
She faced me. “You’re going to tell him you’re still in love with him?”
I looked down and then back at her. “I’m not sure what I’m going to say. And I don’t know what he will say. Knowing he didn’t finish school because of me… I’m angry with him right now more than anything. And confused. If he still loves me, why didn’t he tell me?”
With a half shrug, she said, “Pride and fear of being hurt are powerful emotions.”
Exhaling, I nodded.
“Now that we found my dress, let’s look for your maid of honor dress.”
“Sounds like a plan!”
It didn’t take Alyssa long to pick from the three dresses I tried on. Of course, Mary and my mother loved all three. I had my personal favorite, and as luck would have it, Alyssa picked that one. It was a curve-hugging sequined gown with thin straps. Alyssa wasn’t having any other bridesmaids. Just a maid of honor, and Mike had Rip as his best man.
“Lord, you look hot in that, Chloe,” Alyssa said, fanning herself.
“The nice thing about this dress is you could easily have it altered and made into cocktail length,” the sales lady added.
“And they told me it would take weeks to find a dress. We found two in one day!” Alyssa exclaimed.
“Let me get out of this and then we need to eat. I’m starving.”
“We’re going to grab something at a drive-thru, girls, because I need to get back. Your father and I have a dinner tonight,” my mother called out as she headed to the front, most likely to pay for the dress. After arguing with her about it, she told me to keep my money. I learned long ago not to argue when my mother wanted to do something.
Once we were back at the ranch, Mom pulled me into the study and had me sit down.
“Let’s finish that conversation, shall we?”
I blew out a breath and dropped my head onto the sofa.
“Yes, I loved him. I don’t think I was ever in love with him, though.”
“Not like you are with Rip?”
I jerked my head upright. My mouth opened but nothing would come out. I couldn’t even formulate a reply to that because I knew, deep in my heart, that she was right.
“Chloe Parker, you have been in love with Rip Myers since kindergarten. The only problem is, when you grew up, you stopped declaring that love.”
I buried my face in my hands and let out a frustrated groan. “When Easton asked me to marry him, my first instinct was to say no. The only thing I could think of were memories of Rip. All the times he came so close to telling me how he felt, or the way he had to stop himself when I knew he wanted to kiss me. Then the memory telling him how I felt popped up. I think a part of me thought by saying yes to Easton, I would finally give up the dream of Rip. Move on with my life rather than sitting in a holding pattern for something that would never happen.”
