No bears or cougars made an appearance. Halfway through the ceremony, however, a certain bull named T-bone showed up to witness the marriage. Wary of so many strangers, he stopped a respectful distance away and only mooed once to let his master know he’d found him. Upon the bull’s broad shoulders sat a plump calico cat who chose that moment to have a bath.
After the ceremony Mary Coulter smiled sweetly up at her husband and handed him a neatly folded pair of his jockey shorts. Harv laughed, eyed them speculatively, and asked, “Did you think to bring any salt and pepper? I like my crow well-seasoned.”
Mary smiled and put her arm around his waist. Zeke, the musician in the Coulter family, struck up a slow, lilting melody on his fiddle. Bethany’s parents watched as her new husband lifted her from her wheelchair to sweep her around the sun-dappled clearing in a waltz that was all the more heartbreakingly beautiful because the bride’s feet never touched the ground.
“I was wrong about him,” Harv admitted. “I can see the love shining in that young man’s eyes every time he looks at her.”
“And in hers every time she looks at him,” Mary whispered. “If it’s any consolation, I was wrong as well. Did you see how she looked, riding in today? That girl was born to ride, and because of me, she was denied the pleasure for far too long. I feel so badly about that.”
Harv gave her a loving jostle. “We love her, and we were terrified she might get hurt again if we let her ride. She understood that.”
“There’s such a thing as loving too much,” Mary whispered. “I’m glad Ryan came into her life and had the wisdom to see what we couldn’t. It’s better to let her take risks and enjoy life than to be safe and unhappy.”
“Maybe so,” Harv whispered. “Just look at how she glows.”
Bethany was indeed looking at her husband with love shining in her eyes. Ryan saw it as he turned with her in his arms. She leaned her head back and smiled, putting him in mind of the look on her face when he made love to her.
God, how he adored her. So much that he couldn’t begin to express it.
Ryan stopped dancing long enough to tell her in the only way he knew, with a long, deep kiss that probably made the guests wonder if their welcome had run out. He didn’t care. Since he and his bride intended to stay at the lake for a week to celebrate their honeymoon, he didn’t want anyone to hang around for too long after the ceremony.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“That I’m the luckiest man alive.”
“Oh, Ryan, I love you so.”
Ryan knew she meant it with all her heart. He also knew she couldn’t possibly love him as much as he loved her.
He began dancing again. Great swirling steps with his world in his arms, so happy that he wasn’t entirely sure if his own feet were touching the ground.
Flying … together. In that moment, gazing into Bethany’s pansy-blue eyes, Ryan knew the magic would always be there between them, a beautiful, special something that would never die. Some great love stories didn’t end happily because there was no ending. They just went on and on, into eternity.
It would be that way for them, a great love story that never ended.
If you loved PHANTOM WALTZ,
don’t miss …
SWEET NOTHINGS,
another breathtaking contemporary romance
by Catherine Anderson
Coming in January 2002
Catherine Anderson, Phantom Waltz
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