Chapter 18

18

"Nope," Maisy stated again, this time more emphatically. "I'm not getting married today, and that's all there is to it."

It was already bad enough that she was here with Tanner at his family's ranch and imposing on him while she recovered from her gunshot wound. She'd been working up a way to tell him today that he needed to go back to the mountains and leave her to recuperate on her own.

It was past time for them to go their separate ways. But she hadn't exactly been sure how to say that since it was his family's house and she was the guest there.

Pa sidled toward her, dragging Tanner along with him. He nodded at the reverend. "Come on over here, Reverend."

Reverend Livingston was quickly flipping through his prayer book, glancing from Glenn to her pa and back as if he was afraid he might get shot if he didn't cooperate fast enough. And now he shuffled closer to her as Pa positioned Tanner beside her.

Tanner had lifted his chin to keep the blade of the knife from puncturing his skin, but it was already nicked and bleeding.

"Go ahead, Reverend," Pa said loudly before clearing his throat and speaking in a normal tone. "And thank you kindly for your services."

The reverend stood in front of her and Tanner, and as he flattened the open page of the prayer book, he glanced at Tanner, then grimaced at the new trail of blood on his chin. "Is the knife necessary, Mr. Merritt?"

Cleveland glowered at Tanner. "I won't be moving my knife until this fella does the right thing for my baby girl and gives her his name."

"You're being a little—a lot—extreme." Maisy leaned more heavily against the door frame, her legs weaker than she'd expected for the first time being out of bed in over a week.

Tanner reached out a hand, but before he could lend her support, Pa jerked his arm behind his back. "You better not touch her again until she's your wife."

"That's enough!" She had to put an end to her pa's shenanigans. "You can't do this, Pa. You can't make me and Tanner get married."

He jutted his chin, his dark eyes filled with stubbornness. "Watch me."

She jutted her chin too. "Just as soon as I'm healed up, I'm going to go to Minnesota and live with Ma's family, her sister."

Pa shook his head curtly. "She's dead."

Maisy's heart dropped. "You're just saying that because you don't want me to go."

"She passed away shortly after your ma did, and her one son who wrote to me said he was heading to California."

Something in Pa's tone told her he was telling the truth.

She couldn't keep her shoulders from drooping right along with her heart. So much for leaving and starting a normal life someplace new. What would she do now? Where could she go?

Pa narrowed his eyes and locked gazes with her. "Best thing is for you to get married."

She didn't look away. She'd never let him intimidate her before, and she wouldn't start now.

The room around them grew quiet.

A gravity settled over her pa's expression. "I mean it, Maisy. Much as I like Tanner, I'll kill him before I let him walk away from you."

Was he really serious? An anxious tremor pulsed through her stomach. He couldn't really be thinking about killing Tanner, could he?

"Could I talk to Maisy privately?" Tanner held his chin high to keep the blade from going too deep.

"Nope. Ain't lettin' you plot with her how to put an end to the marriage before it has a chance to begin."

If they went through with the ceremony to appease Pa, could they get an annulment later and go their separate ways?

Tanner gulped, his Adam's apple sliding up and down prominently. "I wasn't planning to plot how to end it. Just wanted to reassure her."

"That so?" Pa's brows shot up. "Then go right ahead here in front of us all."

Maisy finally met Tanner's gaze to find him silently communicating with her that everything would be all right.

"Go on." Pa gave Tanner a slight shove.

She sighed. Pa was overbearing at times, and this was one of those times.

"Listen, Maisy." Tanner's voice was filled with a strange earnestness. "We don't need to have it all figured out. So long as we care about each other, we can make it work, can't we?"

Could they? Hadn't that been the problem all along with them? Yep, they cared about each other. Even if Tanner hadn't reciprocated telling her he loved her that night at the cabin, she knew he still cared and had proven it over the past week by saving her. But they both wanted different things from life and couldn't reconcile those differences. How would marriage make it any easier? Wouldn't it only make the issues worse?

Maybe if she stalled, everyone would go away. Or at the very least, she could come up with a better plan now that she couldn't travel to Minnesota.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" she finally asked, directing her question at Pa.

Pa shook his head, then glanced at Glenn, who was waiting inside the open door with two of Maverick's ranch hands. Glenn gave him a nod, as though to encourage him to continue.

Pa drew in a breath. "It's like this, girlie. Me and Glenn have been considering moving on up to Wyoming before winter settles in, since the hunting is better there this year. But we didn't think we could with the womenfolk and a new babe."

That news didn't surprise her. Pa had been talking about moving for a while now.

Before she could say anything, he continued. "When we got back a few days ago and heard Nelly and the baby were gone, we reckoned we still might have the chance of moving if we acted right away."

Her heartbeat pattered nearly to a halt.

"If we get you married quick-like, then we don't have to worry about dragging you along and having you slow us down."

So, that was it. The real reason Pa wanted her to marry Tanner. Because he wanted to be rid of her and have the freedom he needed to go wherever and do whatever he wanted.

A shaft of pain pricked at her already sore heart. Sure, Pa cared about her reputation and her well-being. And he was mad about Tanner staying at the cabin. But more than that, he cared about his own life and being his own man. Just as he always had.

She was a nuisance to him, a burden, an inconvenience. And he wanted to leave her again. This time for good.

Well, let him. "Fine." She grabbed Tanner's arm. "Let's get married."

With the knife still pressed to his chin, Tanner slid an arm around her waist and braced her up, not seeming to care that with each movement he was bleeding more. "Are you sure?" he asked softly. "We don't have to—"

"I want to." Want wasn't the right word. But marriage was the quickest and easiest way to give her pa his freedom. In fact, if she didn't marry Tanner, her pa would just foist her off onto some other fellow in the area since he was so confounded determined to be rid of her. And if she had to get married, it might as well be to Tanner.

She could feel Tanner watching her, trying to figure out why she'd changed her mind so quickly. But she wasn't in the mood to explain anything. The sooner she and Tanner were married, the sooner Pa and Glenn could move on and she wouldn't have to hold them back anymore. Then maybe she'd never have to see either one ever again.

She grabbed her pa's hand and pinched it hard to make him stop hurting Tanner. All the while, she refused to meet his gaze, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing the apology sure to be in his eyes.

He held the knife against Tanner another moment before finally lowering and sheathing it. With the knife gone, she suddenly felt weak and alone and helpless.

Tanner stepped closer to her, bracing her up even more. And even though she wanted to push him away and stand up on her own two feet, she let herself lean against him. She didn't want to need Tanner, didn't want to rely on him, didn't want to trust him. But in the moment, she knew she couldn't stand on her own two feet and make it by herself. He was all she had, and without him, she'd surely fall.

"Go ahead, Reverend," she said before Pa could order the kindly man around any further.

Within minutes, Reverend Livingston was leading them through their vows and Tanner was slipping a ring on her finger—one that had belonged first to her ma and then to Nelly and now would be hers. She didn't want to think about how she was marrying a mountain man too, even though she'd never wanted to.

The reverend read the final lines of the wedding ceremony: "For as much as Tanner and Maisy have consented together in holy wedlock and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth each to the other and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a ring and by joining of hands, I pronounce that they be man and wife together. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

She blinked back tears. She wasn't sure what the tears meant, but she did know they weren't from happiness.

At the reverend's last word, she released Tanner. She could feel his intense gaze upon her, just as she had during the whole ceremony, seeming to ask her if she was okay.

She didn't want to answer his question. All she wanted to do was escape.

Before anyone could talk to her, she turned into the bedroom and closed the door, blocking out everyone.

She leaned back against the door and pressed a hand to her chest, which ached more than her shoulder. Even though she tried to hold back the tears, they came anyway, coursing down her cheeks.

"Maisy?" Pa called from the other side of the door.

She didn't answer.

"I'm leaving." He waited for a long moment, as though expecting her to reply. But she didn't want to say goodbye, because maybe then his leaving her behind wouldn't feel so final.

"Take care of yourself, girlie." His words were soft and only made the tears fall faster.

His footsteps thudded away, and his boisterous voice rang out as he called his goodbyes to everyone else.

She didn't move from the door until she was sure he was outside the house. Only then did she cross to the bed, climb under the covers, and bury her face into the pillow, letting her tears flow unchecked.

When the door opened a minute later, she guessed Tanner was checking on her. She grew motionless, not ready to face him yet and hoping he'd assume she was asleep.

She wasn't mad at him anymore or annoyed or even irritated. Nope, he'd been more than kind to her throughout the whole ordeal. In fact, he'd been kind to her from the beginning by coming to the cabin, rescuing her, and staying to help her.

She'd been the one to make a mess of things with their relationship. And now she was totally at fault for their current predicament—a forced and unwanted marriage.

As much as she cared about Tanner Oakley, she knew she couldn't stay married to him. She had to give him his freedom. Because if she didn't, sooner or later he'd end up leaving her too. Maybe she'd have to figure out a way to leave him first.