A Match Made in Texas (30 page)

“Hey, man,” Ryker said. “What can I do you for?”

“I’m calling to tell you that I won’t be needing your services anymore, Ryker.”

Ryker laughed. “So I guess the snooty broad crumbled once she got the news that you were onto her affair.”

Dusty bristled. “Her name is Heather—Mrs. Hicks to you. And she didn’t crumble, Ryker, because I’m not planning on using the information against her.”

“What? But I thought you wanted your kid back.”

“I do,” Dusty said. “Just not at the expense of her mother.”

Chapter Thirty-one

“O
H, MY GOD,”
S
TARLET SAID.
“I look beautiful.”

In the mirror over Miss Hattie’s bathroom vanity, Bri looked at Starlet’s awed reflection and smiled. “My thoughts exactly.”

“I mean I don’t even look like the same person.” Starlet turned her head first one way and then the other, trying to see the waterfall of dark curls that cascaded from her crown down her neck. “I had no idea you were so good with hair.” She leaned closer to the mirror and batted her eyelashes. “And makeup. Did you go to beauty school?”

Bri took out a hairpin and readjusted it. “As a matter of fact, I’m starting beauty school in just a few weeks.”

“Really?” Starlet swiveled on the vanity bench, causing the glittery gold material of her dress to strain against her overflowing bosom. The gown Billy and Shirlene had bought her as a going-away gift fit to perfection, making her look twenty pounds thinner. And with her hair swept away from her beautiful features and makeup on, she didn’t resemble the awkward young woman Bri had first met. Now she looked like a superstar.

A superstar with a very kind heart.

“So that means we’re both starting new careers!” She flung her arms around Bri, pressing her head against the bodice of Bri’s evening gown. “Maybe you could come to Nashville after you finish, and we could be roomies.”

Bri hadn’t given much thought to where she would live after she finished beauty school in Austin. All she knew was that it was high time she left the family farm. An image of a small adobe house flashed into her mind, but she refused to let it stay for more than a heart-piercing second before she pushed it away.

“Why not,” she said as she hugged Starlet back. “Maybe I could be your hairstylist when you make it big.” She smoothed out a curl. “But for now, we have a party to attend.” Once the words were out, she could’ve kicked herself. Starlet had spent the entire day in Bramble running errands for the hens and had no idea of the surprise that awaited her.

Thankfully, she didn’t read anything into Bri’s words.

“I’m so glad you came back for my good-bye dinner, Bri. I love the hens, but it’s nice to have someone my own age to hang out with.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it.” Bri helped Starlet to her feet.

“Look.” Starlet pointed to the mirror. “We look like sisters.”

It was a bit of an exaggeration. Especially when Starlet dwarfed Bri by a good foot. Still, their dark hair and curvy bodies were similar. And right now, Bri needed all the sisterly love she could get.

She linked her arm through Starlet’s. “We are sisters. Sister hens. Now let’s go celebrate our new career paths. I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a night to remember.”

Starlet giggled as they walked through Miss Hattie’s bedroom. “Me too. Minnie got Josephine to cater so Baby wouldn’t have to cook, and we’re having chicken fried steak with gravy and mashed potatoes. And for dessert we’re having peach cobbler and banana MoonPies because Minnie knows how much I love them.”

Bri smiled. Banana MoonPies weren’t the only things Starlet was going to love.

As planned, the hens were waiting at the bottom of the grand staircase. Baby in a white gown that made her look even more like Marilyn Monroe. Sunshine in a simple floral gown that made her look like a sixties’ flower child. And Minnie in a bright red gown that almost matched her sky-high wig. Even Olive had dressed for the occasion in a black sleeveless dress that seemed to highlight her tattoos.

They all looked about ready to bust from the secret they’d been keeping. And Bri couldn’t help getting pulled into their excitement.

“You two look as pretty as a west Texas sunset,” Olive said when Bri and Starlet reached the bottom of the stairs. Compliments and hugs were circulated before Minnie broke it up.

“Enough of this cluckin’. It’s time to celebrate… hen style,” she said as she turned her wheelchair. Instead of heading for the dining room, she stopped at the double doors of the grand ballroom. But before she pushed the doors open, she turned to Starlet. Her eyes were filled with pride and tears as she spoke. “You came here as a young girl afraid of your own shadow, and now you’ll leave as a woman who is more than ready to follow her dreams. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you, Starlet. Tonight, we aren’t just celebrating your success with music, we’re celebrating your womanhood and henness.”

She pushed the doors open, and even Bri sucked in her breath.

The ballroom was no longer a cavernous room with only a piano and a few musical instruments. It had been transformed into a ballroom fit for a prom queen. Satin had been draped from one sparkling chandelier to another like a trail of lavender clouds. And on the other side of the high windows, the cottonwood tree had been adorned with string upon string of glittering lights that gave the illusion of looking out on a star-filled sky.

Bri’s sisters-in-law stood just inside the doorway: Shirlene, Elizabeth, and Jenna Jay. They were all dressed in formals and smiling brightly, although tears glistened in their eyes as they spoke in unison.

“Welcome to the Henhouse Prom, Starlet.”

Before Starlet could even utter a word of amazement, a handsome young man in a tuxedo materialized. His gaze zeroed straight in on Starlet, and he walked over and held out an arm just as the string quartet started a heart-melting waltz.

“Would you do me the honor of a dance, Miss Starlet?”

Starlet’s mouth dropped open. She turned to Bri, who couldn’t help the tears that flooded her eyes.

“I think the proper response in a situation like this is ‘yes,’ ” Bri said.

Starlet turned back to the man and nodded, and within seconds, she was being swept around the floor.

Olive sighed. “Just like Cinderellie.” She rubbed her hands together. “Now, bring on the grub.” She headed for the long buffet table that ran along one wall, and the rest of the women followed behind her, excitedly talking about how successful the surprise had been. Only Bri and Minnie remained in the doorway.

Bri watched Starlet dance for a few minutes before looking down at Minnie. “So if Starlet is Cinderella, I guess that makes you her fairy godmother.”

Minnie shook her head. “I’m just an old woman.”

“So I’ve heard. An old woman who makes dreams come true. I’d say that qualifies you as a fairy godmother.”

Minnie accepted a glass of champagne from one of the several servers who moved around the ballroom with silver trays. “And what about your dream, Brianne? Did it get fulfilled?”

Bri accepted a fluted glass. “What dream would that be, Miss Minnie?”

“With all those brothers, it isn’t hard to figure out.” She downed the champagne in one gulp. “They’ve pampered, spoiled you, and put you up on a pedestal so high you can hardly see the ground.”

“And what does that have to do with my dream?”

“Just about everything. Princesses in towers only have one dream.” Minnie glanced over at her. “To be rescued.”

Bri shook her head. “I don’t need a man to rescue me.”

“Now who said anything about a man? Sometimes, it just takes the princess trying the door. And from what Beau said, I figure you already found out that it wasn’t locked. Now all you need to do is climb down from the tower and grab hold of your dream.”

Like Minnie, Bri drained her glass of champagne. “And what if my dream has already ridden off into the sunset without me?”

Minnie smiled. “Fortunately, you have an entire lifetime of sunsets. Don’t let today’s sour you on tomorrow’s.” She handed her empty glass to a passing server and rolled into the ballroom. “Come on, Brianne, let’s not keep these young men waiting.”

Men?

Bri followed behind her, then stopped suddenly when she saw the cluster of tuxedoed men. She turned to Minnie. “I thought this was a hen-only party.”

Minnie cackled. “It is. But it wouldn’t be much of a hen party without men—preferably young, good-lookin’, single men.” She lifted her hand, and a burly guy separated from the group and hurried over. He didn’t hesitate to lift her out of the wheelchair. From over his shoulder, Minnie winked as he carried her out to the dance floor and swirled her around.

“She’s something else, isn’t she?”

Bri turned to see Beckett standing behind her. Unlike the other men, his tuxedo wasn’t rented and fit to perfection.

“Obviously, if she got you to attend.” She reached out and adjusted his bow tie, something she had done numerous times before. But this time, she didn’t hurry through the process. This time, she drew it out, terrified that it might be the last time she ever did it.

Beckett reached up and covered her hands with his. When she lifted her gaze, his familiar eyes were filled with concern. “It’s going to be okay, Bri. You aren’t going to get rid of me that easily.”

Her hands grasped his for only a brief second before she turned the conversation to a less emotional subject. “So what are you doing here? I thought you hated the Henhouse.”

He shrugged. “It’s grown on me. Besides, I couldn’t help being a little curious about a hen party.” He glanced around. “It’s not quite what I expected.”

“You were thinking naked women?”

He turned to her in horror. “Not hardly. Not when most of the hens are either married or four times my age.”

“Starlet’s not.” Bri nodded at the dance floor.

“Are you becoming a matchmaker, little sister?”

“No. I just think it would be nice if you asked her to dance.”

He waved a hand at the men. “She has all these other guys to dance with.”

“Guys who Minnie paid for. It would make her night if a man who wasn’t getting paid made the effort.”

He took her empty glass and handed it to a server. “How about if I just spend my last Saturday night as a civilian dancing with my little sister?”

And unable to speak around the tears, Bri nodded and allowed him to sweep her out to the dance floor.

The married hens left well before ten o’clock. Being pregnant, Jenna Jay wasn’t much into dancing. Elizabeth was nursing and needed to get home to baby Brice. And Billy had called Shirlene saying Jesse hadn’t come home after his shift at the gas station, and he needed her to watch the kids so he could go hunt him down. Bri might’ve been concerned if Jesse hadn’t forgotten his curfew before. The teenager was a handful—much like his father.

Once the married hens were gone, the party got a little rowdier. Minnie dismissed the string quartet, and one of the men hooked his iPod up to the sound system. Tux jackets and bow ties were removed and high heels kicked off as hens and young men boogied to Katy Perry and Bruno Mars. Surprisingly, the older hens had no trouble keeping up. Sunshine and Baby seemed to have twice the energy as Bri. And Minnie hadn’t left the floor once. Although her fast dancing consisted of nothing more than disco hand rolls as the rest of the crowd gyrated around her wheelchair. But none of the hens compared to Starlet, who danced like she sang, with a smooth sultriness that had the men vying for her attention. Attention that left her looking flushed and happy.

Or maybe that was the champagne.

The only one who wasn’t dancing was Beckett. He stood off to the side and watched while he sipped on a glass of Minnie’s brandy. For Starlet, Bri kept up her fun-loving farce for as long as she could. But when a Miranda Lambert song came on, she couldn’t hold her depression at bay for a moment longer and slipped out the side door that led to the secret passages. It was a relief to step into Miss Hattie’s closet, and she didn’t waste a second unzipping her gown and letting it fall to the floor.

It was hard staying in Miss Hattie’s room. It brought back too many memories of the time she spent there with Dusty. And not just the lovemaking, but also the time they spent together afterward. The long hours of whispered conversation and sweet caresses that finally lulled her into a dreamless sleep.

“Minnie thought you might like some company.”

Bri turned to find a young man standing in the doorway. The same young man who had asked her to dance more than a few times that night. A practiced smile tipped up his lips as he unbuttoned his white tuxedo shirt and slipped it off his shoulders.

“Nice bed,” he said as he moved closer, his gaze wandering up and down her body. “And really nice underwear.”

Until then, Bri hadn’t even realized that she was standing there in nothing but a strapless bra and panties. She went to grab the duvet, but he stepped between her and the bed.

“You want to take off the rest of my clothes? Or do you prefer a little Magic Mike?”

Bri almost laughed at the thought of him doing a Magic Mike striptease. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. “I didn’t particularly care for the movie. Besides, I don’t think a striptease is what you were hired for.”