Wild Girl (Wild Men Texas #3) - Melissa Belle Page 0,64
leads him back to the front row.
I catch Skip’s eye, and he winks at me.
I smile back at him.
Now that the whole Gigi situation is out of the way, the reverend turns serious. I pull at my bonnet one last time, swearing to myself I can handle the itchiness for the next thirty minutes.
Logan’s gaze goes to my hand on the strings of the bonnet. And Reverend Sands has just started the service when Logan interrupts him.
“Sorry, but I need a minute with my fiancée.”
The gasps through the chapel are deafening.
“Is he going to back out?” Mrs. Rattles screeches. “Again?”
“Is he having cold feet?” someone else shouts.
Logan puts his arm firmly around me and turns us until our backs are to the crowd.
“Here’s the thing, baby,” he says in a low voice. “I’m not Darcy, and you’re not Elizabeth.”
“But you’re my real-life Mr. Darcy.” I squeeze his arm. “This is better than the romantic stories I read about my whole life.”
He takes my hand and kisses it. “And you outdo any fantasy I’ve ever had, hands down. But our love story is no fairy tale. It’s flawed, and the road’s been bumpy, and it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s real. Like us.”
Holy Jane Austen.
He’s freaking right.
For the first time since I put on my dress today, I completely relax.
I look up until my gaze meets his. “So even if you are my Mr. Darcy symbolically, you’re not Mr. Darcy. And I’m not Ms. Bennet. You’re my Logan Wild, and I’m your Macey Henwood.”
“Exactly. So can we ditch the hat and bonnet?” he asks me. “I’ll wear it if you really want me to. But you look like you’re about to rip yours off your head, and I don’t think we need them. I think they’re holding us back.”
I’m already untying the irritating knot of the strap under my chin. In less than five seconds, the bonnet’s in my hand, and I turn and toss it into the crowd.
People scream, my mother loudest of all, when the bonnet drops right into her lap.
“Macey, no! You finally met your Mr. Darcy,” she shouts. “Don’t throw it all away! You need the bonnet and hat on your heads, or else you and Logan can’t be the soul mates!”
Logan’s cowboy hat sails through the air right after. It lands at Skip’s feet.
Skip laughs. “I think these two might be the only ones who know what they’re doing. They’re writing their own love story, not following somebody else’s. Wasn’t that the real point behind Jane Austen’s novels?”
Mama glares at him as the whole room says in unison, “Skip, shut up.”
I wink at Skip as Logan and I turn back to Reverend Sands.
“We’re all set,” Logan says to him. “Please continue.”
Reverend Sands hustles along quite nicely, and before I know it, Logan and I are exchanging our rings.
I smile up at Logan as I slide the bull ring onto his finger and am surprised at the wetness on his cheeks.
“It looks good,” I say to him softly.
“Perfect,” he says.
Reverend Sands pronounces us husband and wife, and he cheers along with everyone else when Logan picks me up off the ground and kisses me silly.
Mama cries, and Mrs. Rattles complains loudly about her terrible luck in losing her daughter’s July fourth wedding date to a man who stole her day and then switched brides.
We face the crowd as Reverend Sands says, “Best wishes to the newlyweds!”
A loud meow follows, and Mr. Bingley comes out of his hiding place and brushes past my legs. I pick him up in one hand and keep my other hand tight in Logan’s.
But before we can take even one step down the aisle, Logan’s father calls out, “Bull!! He broke free! Holy cripes—we’ve got to get him!”
He jumps out of his seat and runs down the aisle ahead of us.
“Somebody help him!” Daddy yells. “That’s his bull on the loose!”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
My father points out the window at the bull running on the wrong side of the fenced field by The Cowherd.
Blake, Logan, and his three brothers are down the aisle faster than I can blink.
Mr. Bingley sails out of my arms and heads for the safety of his bed as the entire place goes into a frenzy and everyone storms the front door.
The photographers and reporters are the first out after the Wild boys, and Skip starts shouting. “We need a photo! Bull breaks free from his pen! Awesome headline!”
I walk outside with Ginny, and we stand on the porch