Page 67 of Cowboy of Convenience
Grady tipped his head at the mayor before refocusing on Gram-Gram. “What wedding?”
The hard lines of Gram-Gram’s face softened. She passed her clipboard off to Bernard before coming to stand in front of them. “When I saw your mother yesterday—” She paused, clearing her throat before continuing. “I knew she would want to be able to see her only son get married.” Her tone gentled. “And I thought I could help make that happen.” Her eyes went to Evelyn. “Of course you can still have a big, beautiful ceremony at a later date, but I thought…” She met Grady’s gaze. “I thought you might want to do something for her today. Just in case…” Her lips pressed together, sealing off a truth he couldn’t escape.
Grady stared at the mess of decorations stacked on every available surface. “You really went all in with the blue, didn’t you?”
Gram-Gram’s mouth almost seemed to curve. “I assumed someone as rugged as yourself wouldn’t be interested in anything that looked too feminine.” She waved one hand around Evelyn’s house. “And my granddaughter seemed to be partial to the color, so I made an executive decision.”
Evelyn was silent at his side, her skin pale. “Grandma, I need to tell you something.” She pressed one hand to her stomach. “We aren’t—”
Grady pulled her close, stopping her confession in its tracks. “We aren’t going to be able to help you with any of this. Evelyn has a class to teach and then we need to go to the hospital.”
Gram-Gram’s head dipped. “Of course. That’s why I thought I could help.” She backed up. “I can arrange for everything.” She took her clipboard from Bernard. “I assumed you could provide the horses?”
Evelyn’s dark brows lifted. “The horses?” Her voice was weak and a little squeaky.
“It only makes sense that you arrive on horseback since your family owns a ranch.” Gram-Gram had a pen poised above the paper. “What color will they be?”
Evelyn made a strangled sound that had him pulling her toward the hall.
“Whatever color you want, Gram-Gram, just let me know.” He pushed Evelyn into the bedroom before offering Dick a wave. “Mayor.” He closed them into the room before taking a deep breath.
He should have shut this down. Told Gram-Gram it was probably already too late for his mother to attend his wedding in any meaningful way. But he didn’t.
And he wasn’t going to.
Because even if she wasn’t in her right mind, his mom was still here. And that meant there was still a chance she was in there. A chance she could see that he was happy. That she wouldn’t be leaving him here alone.
Evelyn pressed both hands to her head as she dropped to sit on the edge of her terrible mattress. “What are we going to do?”
For him it was a simple answer. One he was surprisingly certain of. And not just because of his mother. “We could get married.”
Evelyn’s dark eyes lifted, slowly coming to meet his. “I’m pretty sure she’s not just planning on having a symbolic ceremony.” She pointed toward the living room. “The actual mayor is out there.”
“I know.” He was unsure about a lot of things right now, but this wasn’t one of them.
Evelyn blinked. “But we haven’t even had sex yet.”
It was a weak argument and it gave him hope. “Technically we have.”
She continued staring at him. “Grady, we would actually be married.”
“I know.” And the more he thought about it, the better it sounded. The righter it felt. “So I guess you need to decide if you’re in the market for a husband.”
“I—” She sat up a little straighter, her eyes moving from side to side before coming back to his. “Are you in the market for a wife?”
He slowly smiled. “Depends.” This was the same game they’d been playing for longer than he even realized. Each of them pretending they didn’t know exactly what they wanted. Acting like they didn’t see what was right in front of them. “She’d have to be willing to sign a prenup that says we only sleep in my bed, because hers sucks.”
Evelyn’s hand pressed against her mouth. “That would be crazy.” She laughed behind the press of her palm. “Right?”
Grady shrugged. “I guess it’s only as crazy as we think it is.” And making Evelyn his wife didn’t seem crazy at all. Imagining her in his life permanently was about as uncrazy of a thing as he could imagine.
“I don’t have a dress.” Evelyn’s hands moved to her cheeks, pushing at the flush of pink blooming on her skin. “We don’t have rings.” She fanned her face. “I don’t even know your middle name.”
“You don’t need a dress unless you want one.” He stroked along the inside of his third finger with the tip of his thumb. “And they sell rings at the jewelry store in town.” He paused, trying to remember her other concern as his mind started to race. “Albert.”
Evelyn stopped flapping her hands. “Your initials are GAH?”
“Guess so.” He itched to move closer to her but didn’t trust himself to get her to work on time if he touched her the way he wanted to. Especially since it was sounding like maybe Evelyn might be considering becoming his wife. “What’s your middle name?”
