and touched his lips to Libby’s temple while Cord passed the mic to Preacher. He’d walked to the altar without a crutch or a cane, which was a huge accomplishment for him. “When Mister got the phone call that he’d be roping in the professional rodeo, he threw the phone right up into the air and yelled yeehaw! at the top of his lungs.” He grinned at Mister, who actually had a little water in his eyes. “The phone broke, and Mother made him pay to replace it. Mister breaks a lot of things, Libby, so fair warning if you don’t know that about him.”
She cocked her hip in mock disbelief, like that alone would be enough for her to call off the wedding.
“He’s also extremely careful with the things he cares about.” Preacher gave his brother a warm smile and pressed his fist over his heart. “He’s come to help me every day since I re-injured myself, and I’m no picnic to be around most of the time. He knows what that’s like too, as he had some pretty rough times where he was so unhappy with himself and his life.” He nodded and handed the mic to Bishop.
He cleared his throat, and he couldn’t seem to look at Mister. “But one thing about Mister is that he’s willing to change. Once he knows what it is he needs to do, he puts his head down, he closes his mouth, and he gets the job done. He’s just older than me, and I’ve always been trying to keep up with him.”
“Not true, brother,” Mister murmured, but Bishop kept going.
“He’s been a great example of hard work as I watched him go to school all day, then rodeo practice all night, then do his ranch chores, his homework, and his household chores. Mother and Dad never let him off the hook for any of it, and he never complained.”
“I’m sure I did,” Mister whispered.
Bishop pressed his fist to his chest and practically threw the mic to Ace, another cousin. Ace took his place at the top of the altar and smiled at Libby, then Mister. “Preach said Mister is very careful with what he cares about, and that’s true. I’ve watched him pamper his mother and mine for years. I watched him leave Shiloh Ridge every day for the past eight months to drive over to Golden Hour to help Libby when she hurt her ankle, and then to get the Country Christmas up and going. He brought in his friends for the show. He made sure they were happy, healthy, and housed. He didn’t do that for himself; he did it for Libby, because he cares about her and loves her. I’ve seen him come to my aid.”
Ace cleared his throat, and Libby choked up at all these tough cowboys and their emotions. “Once, he showed up with this gluten-free bag of pretzels, and boy, let me tell you, they were so disgusting.” He chuckled, and Mister did too. “But we sat on my back deck, and we ate them. Every single one. He didn’t say anything. He just sat with me, and sometimes that’s all a man needs—a good friend and a good cousin like Mister to sit with them so they don’t feel all alone.”
Ace turned to pass the mic to his brother, Ward, then he twisted back with his fist over his heart. Mister reached up and touched his too, the moment tender and real.
Ward cleared his throat and said, “When Mister and Judge weren’t gettin’ along, he’d come stay at Bull House with me. I was always glad to have him, storms and all, because I understand the wind that blows in his soul sometimes. I have to say that I haven’t seen it inside him in a good, long while. He learned how to cleanse himself when he went to Oklahoma. I missed him terribly, but I had the reassurance from the Lord that He was remaking and remolding Mister into the kind of man he needed to be, so he could be standing here with a good woman like Libby.”
He lowered the mic and leaned right over the altar. “I love you two,” he said out loud, and Libby reached up to pat him on the shoulder. He pressed his fist to Mister’s chest, and handed off the mic to Zona.
She was joined by Etta and Ida, and the three of them made a little rainbow around the mic. Libby loved them so