Chapter 15

CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

C odi Hudson had done this walk with Dragon a hundred times. Fine, maybe not that many, but it felt like it. Now that the moment was here, with at least a hundred people lining both sides of the wide aisle, her legs trembled around the horse.

Surely he’d bolt.

But Dragon remained perfectly steady, waiting for her to give him the signal to move. The faces surrounding her, staring at her, faded into a blur. All she could see was Bryce—her dashing, handsome cowboy—down by the gazebo.

She grinned with all the wattage of the stars, moon, and sun combined, and she’d seen his mouth move a few moments ago. No doubt saying something to God, the way he usually did.

The aisle in front of her waited, with everyone in the wedding party out of the way and standing next to their chairs.

“Codi,” Trace whispered, and she looked over to Bryce’s uncle. He didn’t look away from the crowd, and his fingers moved effortlessly over the strings of the guitar in his hand. Harry stood on her other side, matching him in skill and tone, and everything about this ranch and this family enveloped her.

“We’re waitin’ on you,” Harry whispered now. “Are you going?”

In that moment, she realized she’d heard the same refrain three times. They really were waiting for her, and her eyes flew back to Bryce. He still wore that same smile, and Codi lifted her heels slightly to get Dragon to move.

The equine did exactly that, plodding along as smoothly as horses ever did. She bobbed with the movement, her dress making small swishing sounds she wondered if anyone else could hear.

Her eyes caught on Kassie and Reggie, and her heart grew two more sizes. Kassie had helped her so much with this wedding, and she could see herself on this ranch for a long time to come. Not only as Bryce’s wife, but as Kassie’s best friend.

The blue and silver ribbons waved in the Wyoming wind, and Codi smiled to go with it. Everything had come together beautifully, and her only regret was that her mama couldn’t be here.

She glanced down the aisle, where she found her father stepping out from his spot in the front row. He’d be sitting with her brothers and their wives, as well as Tex and Abby and their younger children.

He’d hold the horse for her so she could get into position, her version of her daddy walking her down the aisle and giving her away on her wedding day. He wore such a huge smile, and that made Codi’s eyes fill with tears.

Nothing much made her dad show any emotion at all, so that smile meant something.

Her gaze skipped over the guests, cataloguing them at the same time. Bryce’s aunts and uncles, all of their children. People he’d sold horses to. Some of her long-time dog grooming clients. People she didn’t know, who had to be friends of the Young family. In all honesty, they probably could’ve invited the entire town of Coral Canyon.

Then she saw someone she hadn’t anticipated seeing today: Bryce’s mother.

Corrie wore the softest smile Codi had seen on a woman’s face, and before she could acknowledge the woman, a tear slipped out of her right eye. She brushed at it quickly, breaking their contact and looking up to Bryce.

He wasn’t looking at his mom, and Codi wondered if he knew she’d come. They’d invited her, but she’d said she didn’t know if she could make it. They’d never heard for certain one way or another.

But there she stood, and Dragon continued on, so Codi’s gaze bounced to someone else. Bryce’s grandmother, who actually waved at Codi. She decided she could wave back, and that got the little girls to do the same thing.

The next thing she knew, Codi was waving like a Disney princess in a parade, and she lost the battle against her tears when she saw Abby and Tex, both of them fighting their emotions mightily.

Tex would lose against his, Codi knew that. The man stood tall and tough, dark and handsome, but he had a heart made of golden marshmallows, and he’d told Codi a bunch of times how much he loved her.

Abby had been her saving grace in everything, stepping in to be Codi’s helper, friend, confidante, and wedding planner. Codi loved her so much, and while neither of them were all that great at saying the things they felt out loud, she knew Abby knew how much she was loved.

“Ready, sweet pea?”

Codi looked down at her daddy as he reached for the reins. She passed them to him, wanting to slide down into his arms and hug him tight. It had taken her and Kassie fifteen minutes to get her dress positioned just-so, with her cowgirl boots poking out, and her seat in the saddle secure. She’d never get back on Dragon once she got down.

“Yes, Daddy.” She leaned down and kissed her daddy on the cheek while he did the same to her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He guided Dragon into a turn so that she could go by Bryce and into her spot for the ceremony, pausing in the precise spot she needed to be in to look her groom right in the eyes.

“I’ve imagined this a thousand times,” he said. “And you’re more beautiful than any of those.” He leaned toward her, and since Codi wanted to kiss him as much as possible for the rest of her life, she touched her mouth to his .

“Hey,” one of his uncles yelled. “The kissing comes after.”

It sounded dangerously like Blaze, who put on a good front of being dark and dangerous, but who loved his family with a well deeper than any of the Youngs.

Codi and Bryce smiled simultaneously, which broke their kiss. Her daddy got Dragon where he needed to be, and Codi used her boot to back him up another step. Then his flank sat right against Violet’s, and Codi could almost feel Bryce at her shoulder.

The heat of his body, the gentle pulse of his breath, the pure joy radiating from him and spilling out over everyone there.

Codi smiled at her brothers and sisters-in-law as the pastor climbed the stairs to the gazebo. Georgia and Dani had been on flower duty, and they’d managed to weave a bloom through every opening of the gazebo and hang bouquets of them from the tent poles as well.

The pastor opened his Bible, his gaze moving over the assembled guests before resting on Codi and Bryce. He wore such a welcoming smile, and the guitars silenced and the guests settled back into their seats in only a few seconds.

“We gather here today not only to witness the union of Bryce and Codi but to celebrate their journey together. This isn’t just a joining of two people but of two hearts, bound by a love as enduring as these great mountains around us.”

Codi glanced over to the Tetons in the distance, a place she and Bryce had hiked through and camped in a couple of times. Hopefully many more times , she thought as the sun painted glorious golds and yellows throughout the sky.

The heavenly glow cast over the gathering as the pastor read from his Bible about how a man should cleave unto his wife, and Codi’s pulse began to pounce through her body. Dragon shifted his hooves, but he didn’t move.

Bryce’s hand slid along her lower back and around her hip, and that calmed so much inside her. She glanced at him, and he looked at her, everything turning rock-solid and steady inside her.

He was her anchor, the one person she could absolutely be herself with and he’d still want her and love her. There was nothing to be nervous about now. She’d made it down the aisle with all those eyes on her, and if Dragon could do this, so could she.

“Bryce and Codi have chosen to share their vows not on the solid ground but mounted on their horses, side by side, as equals, ready to embark on life’s great adventures together.” That was the pastor’s cue for Codi to start her vows, which she’d labored over for too long.

Finally, it was time to just say them. She inched Dragon around so she could see Bryce better, and that put a large percentage of the crowd behind her. Even better, in her opinion.

His eyes shone—positively shone—as he gazed at her, that gorgeous smile on his face.

“Bryce,” she said in the loudest voice she could. And she commanded horses—naughty horses—for a living, and she could get any dog to hold still while she bathed it and cut its hair. She could proclaim her love for Bryce in a voice that all could hear.

“You are my rock, my safe place when life is stormy and sad, and my very best friend in the whole world.” She smiled at him as his eyes turned to glass. He was far better at saying how he felt, but Codi didn’t do it nearly as often.

She showed her feelings by doing things. Serving others. Showing up when they needed her. Making dinner for Bryce when he’d been out on the ranch, struggling against wind and snow and darkness.

“You are so easy to love,” she said, her own smile filling her whole face and sliding down deep into her soul. “And I’m so lucky that I showed up right when you were ready to be with me. I know God did that, and I know He’s been with us every step of the way for the past year.”

“One hundred percent He has,” Bryce said, because he never hesitated to acknowledge the Lord in his life.

Codi squeezed his hands, wondering if he’d noticed her fingernails and how they had little gems glinting up near the cuticles. If he didn’t now, he would. Bryce noticed everything about her.

“You are my greatest adventure, and I hope we can honor this ranch, lay in the pumpkin patch and watch the clouds, and host as many Spooky Halloween Walks as possible, for the nieces and nephews and for our own kids.”

He chuckled and added, “I want that so badly.”

“Then let me finish.” She grinned at him as he mimed zipping his lips.

“Bryce, baby, I vow to support you, to challenge you if I have to, to keep Lucky and Penta clean, to work with all your demon horses if you’ll let me keep them, and to always, always love you, through all our days, no matter where our trails may lead us.”

Bryce leaned toward her and whispered, “You can have as many horses as you want, my sunshine.” He kissed her sweetly, but Codi didn’t want to get teased again, so she only let him for a moment.

“It’s your turn, cowboy.”

He straightened and cleared his throat. “Codi, from the moment I met you— seven years ago now—I knew you were someone special. I may not have been ready then, but you’re absolutely right when you say God orchestrated your return to Coral Canyon, to Lucky, and to me.”

Her chest shook now, and she suddenly understood how hard it was to listen to someone else talk about his perspective on something she thought she understood. A shared experience, but not the same person experiencing it.

“You’ve become not just my forever love, but my partner, my best friend, and the person I trust the most.” He glanced past her, his smile widening. “Sorry, Kassie.”

The crowd behind her twittered, and Codi glanced over to his parents and her family, all sitting in the same row. Her dad had his hands clasped in his lap, but his face shone with happiness. Tex wiped his eyes, and Abby leaned into his shoulder as if holding him up while she simultaneously used him to keep herself upright.

“I promise to ride by your side, through storms and sunshine, always striving to be the man you believe I can be.” His voice stayed strong yet filled with that tender emotion she’d heard before, and Codi faced him again.

“I love you,” he said. “I don’t know how else to say it, but I promise to say it every day for the rest of our lives. I love you, I love you, and I love you.”

She couldn’t stop smiling, because those words from the man she herself loved carried a massive amount of weight. They both faced the pastor, who closed his Bible and gave them a moment to settle in their saddles.

Then he said, “Codi Louise Hudson, do you pledge and promise yourself to Bryce Stephen Young, to be his legally and lawfully wedded wife, to love, honor, and cherish, for as long as you both shall live?”

“Yes,” she called out. “I do.”

The pastor nodded. “Bryce Stephen Young, do you pledge and promise yourself to Codi Louise Hudson, to be her legally and lawfully wedded husband, to love, honor, and cherish, for as long as you both shall live?”

“One hundred percent,” he practically yelled, and that only made Codi start to laugh. He’d already said it during this ceremony, but something about his joviality and the strength of his voice tickled her.

“By the power vested in me by the state of Wyoming, I pronounce you, Codi Louise Hudson, and you, Bryce Stephen Young, husband and wife.”

Codi’s shoulders shook and shook with silent laughter, and she turned to Bryce full of giggles and joy.

“You’re laughing,” he said, his grin as big as the Tetons surrounding them .

“You….” She gasped for air, because she couldn’t talk too much. “Yelled one hundred percent…at our…wedding.”

He started to laugh too, and then he pulled her closer and kissed her while she kept on laughing. Dragon didn’t like where he stood, and he shifted, taking Codi with him. Thankfully, her father was there, steadying him, and he gave the reins to Codi so she and Bryce could have their horseback ride into the sunset now that they were man and wife.

Around her, people cheered and applauded, and if she listened closely, she could pick out specific voices. But Bryce took her hand, expertly turned his horse, and led them away from the gazebo, away from the altar, away from the crowd.

Everything faded until it was only him and her, with sunshine, fresh air, and those glorious mountains jutting up from the ground.

He didn’t take them far, only down the lane to a copse of trees that would hide them for a proper kiss. Bryce would help her out of the saddle so she didn’t have to embarrass herself in front of everyone they knew and loved, and then they’d go back for dinner and dancing.

She knew the moment no one could see her, as a weight lifted from her shoulders. The world seemed to stand still around them, the only sounds the gentle rustling of new leaves and the distant laughter and chatter of their guests.

Codi met Bryce’s eyes, her laughter finally subsiding all the way. “You’re my favorite person in the whole world.”

He slid from the saddle as he said, “I don’t know why You blessed me with this woman, Lord, but I sure am thankful.” He reached up to help her, and Codi finally let herself slip to the ground—right into her husband’s arms.

Bryce reached out, brushing a stray lock of hair from Codi’s face. “Alone at last,” he murmured, his eyes reflecting all the glory of the sunset.

“Yeah,” Codi replied, her voice soft, filled with wonder that her reality included Bryce Young. “It’s really just us now, isn’t it?”

“It’s always been just us, baby. Everything else is just…scenery.” Bryce pulled her close, enveloping her in his arms, and beaming love down on her. “I’m going to kiss you properly now.”

She had no complaints about that, and not a laugh appeared as she kissed her husband back. She could honestly stand there and do that for a good, long while, but she couldn’t. They couldn’t.

Codi pulled back slightly, looking up into Bryce’s eyes. “We should probably head back soon. They’ll be wondering where we’ve escaped to.”

“Trust me, Abby and every single aunt knows exactly where we are.”

She laughed lightly with him, and then she turned to gather Dragon’s reins. “Come on, you. You did so great, and you get the best grass tonight during the dancing.”

Bryce took Violet, and together, they left the safety of the trees and faced the celebration going on without them. Yes, Abby was looking this way, and Bryce took Codi’s hand as they started walking back to their own party.

“Your mom came,” she said .

“Yeah,” he said. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to her beforehand, so.”

“So we’ll hug everyone, including her, and then you’ll dance with me under the stars.” She grinned over to him, and he gave the gesture right back to her.

“Yes, I will, baby.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t say ‘one hundred percent,’” she teased.

He simply took it with a laugh, and Codi really did silently thank God that He’d led her back to Coral Canyon, to herself, and to Bryce Young and the entire Young family.