Page 17 of Bernadette
“You’re right, Daddy.” Morgan nodded and slowed her pace like they had practiced. She realized Wyatt was just as impatient to join with her as she had been with him, when they were still ten feet away and he stepped forward to take her hand. Stan smirked and shook his head as he continued to the front. Finally, they were together, and the two of them had eyes only for each other. When it came for the vows, Wyatt didn’t take Morgan’s hands in his, no he went one step further and reached up to take each side of her face in his hands. He then leaned down so his forehead almost touched hers, and said plain as day in his deep, rumbly voice.
“Morgan Stuart, I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you, the day you woke in the hospital. Though you didn’t know your name, where you were from, or anything about yourself, I still fell head over heels in love with you. We both know how much of an ass I was during your first stay here, and I promise you before God, our family, friends, and this here preacher man, I will make it up to you every day for the rest of my life. We both know why we picked this date for our wedding. It’s the date you woke up and I fell in love for the first time in my life.” He smiled at her as he wiped her tears with his thumbs and kissed the tip of her nose. “I promise to be the best man I can for you, now and eighty years from now. Not only for you, but for any children we will have, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren.” He smiled at her again, then grinned. “Your turn.”
Morgan snorted a laugh as she lifted her hands and placed them on him the same way he had done with her. “Wyatt Erwin, I fell in love with you that same day. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was you. During that time, you were my rock, my anchor, my guide through the troubled waters I was navigating. I promise to continue to let you know when you are out of line, and/or wrong.” She had to pause when the audience burst out laughing, and the preacher coughed discreetly in his hand. With a sappy smile, she looked at Wyatt to continue, and grinned at the mirth she saw in his expression. With a wink, she continued, “I love you, Wyatt, and can’t wait to see what the next eighty years will bring us.”
Before anyone could do or say anything, they kissed, and the preacher again cleared his throat. When Morgan and Wyatt didn’t break apart, he laughed. “Well, I guess this is the part where I tell you to kiss the bride.” The audience laughed, hooted, and hollered when Wyatt proceeded to do just that. It was a long time before they came up for air. When they did, they still only had eyes for each other, as they laid their foreheads together and stared into the other’s eyes. It was when Lucas shoved her wedding bouquet between them that they broke apart. As soon as they did, the preacher released a sigh and called out! “Ladies and Gentlemen! Let me introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt Erwin!” Everyone watched as the couple strode hand in hand down the aisle toward the back of the house where the reception was to be. Later, they, along with the wedding party, would go out for a hayride to get the pictures that they wanted, giving Morgan’s family and the farm hands time to get changed if they wanted to, and get over to where the reception was being held. The wedding party had two and a half hours to get back before it began.
Bernie sat down hard, and winced when her brace pinched, and she had to adjust it. “Whew, that was intense,” she said to no one in particular, but it was Chuck who answered.
“Yeah, it was.”
Something in his voice caused Bernie to give him a strange look, then she sat back with a heavy sigh. “Are you in love with Morgan Stuart? Now Erwin?”
“Not anymore,” Chuck said as he sat back down next to her and watched as the others started filing out of their seats to head to the back to wish the newly married couple well. “I was,” Chuck admitted, then held up his hand to stop her questions. “For all of about ten minutes years ago. I’ve known her for her entire life. At one point, I think she was fifteen or sixteen, I asked her out. She turned me down, telling me I was too much like a brother to her.”
“You’re her brother?”
“Not biblically,” Chuck sighed, then took Bernie’s hand in his. For the life of him, he didn’t want this woman thinking he was pining for a married woman. “I met the J’s in kindergarten, they sort of adopted me. I won’t get into it now, but my home life wasn’t very pleasant growing up. My mom always worked, but once I met the J’s it seemed like my life was looking up.” He shrugged, and didn’t seem apologetic. “Morg’s five years younger than us, so when I first met her, she was only a few months old. From that first day I started hanging around the J’s, I’ve been with them through everything.”
“Don’t forget that we were there for you, too, Chuck,” came a voice from above and Bernie looked at the man standing beside Ava Hanson.
“Justin Stuart, Ma’am. The oldest of the J’s, and the entire Stuart clan.”
Bernie sat forward and shook his hand, and gave him a nod. “Will we be working a lot with you guys?”
“Sometimes,” Justin admitted. “If you’re referring to the ladies at Boswell, we do what they tell us. We aren’t former military, nor do we interrupt them when they go out on a mission. We only ask that they let us know when they’re going, and if they need our help in any way. Other than that, we have our own jobs.”
“What do you do?” Bernie asked as she looked at Chuck.
“Justin is a construction engineer. John and Josh own Stuart Construction, I’m the boss supervisor for the company. The A’s all have different jobs as well. Alfie is into leather work, you’ll have to talk to him about it, I’m still confused as to what he does. Alan is into woodwork, you’ll see his handiwork over at the compound, and finally, Alex is a ranch hand here on the Flying E.”
“This ranch really is where Wyatt and Morgan live?”
“Yes, Wyatt inherited it when his parents died. He was seventeen at the time, Dillon, his brother, he was the best man, was deployed at the time of their deaths.”
“He’s former military?”
“Twenty years in the Marines,” Chuck said, then scowled when all the women shouted“HooRah.”With smiles on their faces, they all made their way to the back of the seating area, and Bernie liked the fact that Chuck stayed by her side and didn’t try to push her or anything because of her use of a cane.
“Is that permanent?” Chuck asked as they waited in line to wish the happy couple well.
“Yes and no,” Bernie sighed as she looked around and then leaned in closer to him. She waved him down, then whispered for him only, “We can talk about it later.”
“Okay,” Chuck said, then straightened to his full height. He noticed the line ahead of him move, and with his hand on the small of her back, he made sure he was there to catch her if her cane caused her to stumble in the grassy yard.
CHAPTER8
“Congratulations,”Chuck said as he stepped up to Morgan and engulfed her in a hug. This was the first time he’d ever done so, and he was happy that he didn’t have any feelings for her other than brotherly. His crush with her was finally over, something Morgan had told him numerous times in the past. He stepped to the side and held out his hand to Wyatt, but they both turned as Morgan let out the most girly scream either of them had heard, and turned in time to see the bride engulf the woman behind Chuck.
“Who’s that?” Wyatt whispered his question to Chuck.
Chuck shrugged, then whispered back, “Someone named Bernie.”
“Great,” Wyatt grinned, then slapped Chuck on the back. “Bernadette Cromwell, apparently, she was in charge of all the EWMs while in the military, and something happened to cause her to retire.”
“I know her,” Dillon said from Wyatt’s other side, and looked at the women stepping back from receiving a hug from Morgan. “Yep, that’s her.” He looked her up and down, and winced when he saw the cane and knee brace. Chuck continued through the line and waited for Bernie to join him. He took it upon himself to make sure she had everything she needed that day. Once she took over for the Boswell Group and moved into the compound, that would be a different story, but for today, he would be her protector. He watched as she shook hands with Dillon, and listened to their conversation.
“I know you,” Bernie said to the other man, and nodded in his direction. “Let me guess, the man of honor and the man to walk the mother of the bride up the aisle are your sons? The ones you talked about all the time when we were on that mission way back when?”
