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“No. It’s the truth. And I’m engaged to the man I shot.”
“You know, pointing a gun at someone and telling them that they have to marry you is not exactly what I had in my mind when I talked about a marriage of convenience.”
“That’s not exactly how it happened, and to be perfectly honest, I never even considered that. Although, I can’t say I wouldn’t have gotten desperate enough to actually try it, but it’s not necessary now, since like I said, I’m engaged.”
She couldn’t believe it. She was engaged.
And to James. She barely knew the man before that day.
At the very least, she would have thought she would have gotten engaged to one of the farmers she saw regularly.
Mr. Sparrow, for instance. He was a good bit older than she was, but his wife divorced him years ago and had gone back east.
She hadn’t even considered Mr. Sparrow when she’d been thinking about potential husbands, but he would have made a good one.
He probably would have appreciated having a vet as a wife too, because it would save him a lot of money on the vet bills.
“All right. You’re going to have to tell me the story.”
So, Mabel launched into exactly what happened, down to the fact that she had to bandage James’s foot, make him promise to stay off it, and then left him.
“I would never have called you if I would have known all of that was going on.”
“I’m glad you did. I would have hated for you to have been out late tonight, when I could easily run out here and do this.”
“But you’re getting married!” Lark exclaimed. “Congratulations! When did you say the day was?”
“I didn’t. We haven’t even gotten to talk about that.”
“Wow. That’s crazy. I guess, when I’d had the idea in my head of a marriage of convenience, I’d kinda thought that was going to be a hold your nose and do it kind of thing, but James is quite a catch.”
“I know. Isn’t he?” Mabel said, and maybe her words sounded just a little dreamy. She’d been running that over in her head for a while. James. He was handsome and successful and funny and kind and considerate. And he was willing to marry her.
Not that she was the most terrible person in the world, but she just didn’t expect it. Didn’t think that someone who was so personable and socially adept would be interested in someone like her who was happier sitting in a corner. And he knew that since he’d been to enough business meetings with her dad to know that was her preference.
She wasn’t a teenager anymore, but she still had a tendency to navigate to corners and to make herself invisible.
“It sounds to me like maybe you want to plan for a very short engagement. If the girls’ grandmother has an offer on her house, you probably have a month, two tops.”
“I don’t know what he’s thinking. I guess I’m okay getting married just as soon as we need to. I mean, it’s not really going to make a difference, is it?”
“No. I guess it probably won’t. It’s going to be an interesting situation though. A new husband, three new children, and a new house you’re living in. Are you still going to live with Carol?”
“I don’t know!” Mabel said, pulling the last suture tight, looking at her handiwork, and deciding it looked pretty good.
She wouldn’t win any awards for her artistry, but she was pretty sure this cow was going to make it.
“I guess we have a lot of things to talk about. And I’ll have a captive audience, since I shot him and he can’t go anywhere. He’s probably afraid if he does, I’ll shoot him again.” She couldn’t even believe she was laughing about accidentally shooting someone.
Again she thought that’s probably why she should just stay away from firearms, but she knew that James was correct. She shouldn’t avoid things she was afraid of, or not good at, but rather get closer to them, understand them, master them, so that they didn’t master her.
That just seemed to be a reasonable thing.
As Lark finished up, and she filled out a bill for Mr. Sparrow and handed it to him, with his promise of payment in the mail next week, they left together, laughing and talking.
Normally, up until a month ago, they would have gone home together, taking care of the girls that were staying at Lark’s. But now, with Mabel having moved, they parted at their respective vehicles, with Lark leaving to go home and Mabel leaving to...meet her fiancé.
She was engaged. Unbelievable.
