Free The Texas Ranger's Secret by DeWanna Pace

bouquet safe from harm, Willow stood apart from everyone to make sure she protected it from others moving about.
    She watched guests carrying platters of food and wedding gifts down the flower-strewn slope that led to the location behind Daisy’s home where the wedding would take place. Daisy had told her that she and Bass had once shared a picnic here that had started them on the path to true love. They wanted to pay honor to her first husband, who had unknowingly brought them together. Knox Trumbo now rested in the family cemetery a roll of prairie beyond them.
    While Daisy and her groom greeted their guests, others visited and chatted, layering the air with anticipation.
    Willow spotted Gage Newcomb talking to the three Viking-sized men surrounding the blacksmith and a woman who must be the smithy’s wife, for he wrapped his arm around her protectively.
    The McMurtrys had grown up in Florida with the Trumbo brothers, so she remembered these three well. Daisy had married Knox, the oldest of the four brothers, and at his urging she’d set up home in Texas. Though the surviving brothers looked tough as rawhide with their tanned skin, sun-streaked hair and broken noses, they had a soft spot in their hearts for her oldest sister and her children. That made them good people to Willow, no matter how rough they appeared.
    Gage wore a different hat today and looked handsome in the Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes he’d apparently bought for the occasion. Of course, he wouldn’t have worn the smoke-stained duster or the hot-ironed holey hat she’d ruined. Later, when they talked, Willow would ask what he’d paid for the replacements and see that she reimbursed him for the expense.
    She raised the bridal bouquet to her nose to ward off the memory of the fire and embarrassment that she still felt for having caused the damage.
    Her attention shifted from Gage to the sweet verbena, the purplish-pink flowers with white centers that obviously meant something special to Daisy and Bass. The verbena graced the bouquet and every table as centerpieces, and they interlaced the arbor built for the couple to stand beneath while taking their vows.
    The choice of location and flowers couldn’t have been more beautiful, in her opinion, as long as the morning insects stayed their distance. She’d been surprised to learn the little white church in town would not be used for the setting, but now that she saw the size of the crowd, she could easily understand the decision to hold the wedding here.
    The stream that meandered from near the homestead through the property to pool into a small lake provided a sun-kissed reflection of the bright Texas morning. Even the crosses and stone marker that stood in the cemetery just beyond the chosen site gave the place a sense of sacredness that honored the proceeding.
    Blue-speckled pots hung from iron triangles over a line of small campfires meant to keep coffee hot and plentiful, while milk chilled in bottles down at the water’s edge for those wanting something cold to drink.
    Tables laden with breakfast foods of all kinds tempted Willow to take a bite or two, but Myrtle and some of the townswomen who’d offered to help serve already had their hands full swatting away the fingers of eager children. Not wanting to present a bad example for Ollie and Thad, Willow elected to mind her manners and concentrate on the one task she’d been assigned.
    This was the first wedding she’d attended where the reception would take place before the wedding rather than after. She stored the images and senses away for writing down later. Her boss and readers would savor the details that added to the Texas experience.
    There were important things to concentrate on this morning, like making sure she got through her part of the ceremony, handing over the bouquet to Daisy. Without mishap.
    Determined to think positive, Willow sucked in a deep breath of morning air.
    Just as she refocused on the people rather than the enticing