Page 18 of Sweet Beginnings (Honeysuckle, Texas #1)

Preston pulled up to the ranch house and threw the car into park.

Last night, after Sarah had fallen asleep, even though he was still wide awake, he slipped under the covers and turned off the television.

After an hour of flipping back and forth and punching his pillow, he finally gave up and turned the television back on.

He had no idea when he fell asleep, but he woke up with a warm, soft woman tucked into his side and resisted the urge to kiss her awake.

Instead, he slid out of bed and took a long, cool shower.

For the last hour of the drive, he’d quietly repeated to himself that this whole crazy idea wasn’t a mistake.

Too bad he didn’t believe it, but here they were. “Are you ready?”

Closing her eyes a moment, Sarah nodded and looked over at him. “Do you think they’ll believe us?”

“We have the license to prove it. My concern is they’re going to kill us for not including them long before the bank ever hands over the money.”

“Yeah.” She blew out a deep sigh. “Guess I’m as ready as I can be.”

“Wait here a second.” He hurried around the front of the vehicle and opened her door. Leaning in, he couldn’t help himself and gave her a brief kiss on the lips. “For luck. And in case anyone’s watching.”

Before Sarah had fully descended, tail wagging, Brady came rushing up to them. “Hi there, handsome.” Sarah leaned over to scratch the dog’s ears. “You sure know how to make a girl feel welcome.”

The dog leaned back on his haunches and Preston would have wagered the ranch that the animal had smiled at her. Did German Shepherds smile? Ever?

As she straightened, the front door opened and his mother appeared in the doorway.

She’d come a long way from the bloody and bruised woman of just a couple of weeks ago, but the sadness in her eyes still grabbed him by the throat.

Day after day she’d thrown out impossible ideas of how to save the ranch.

Of course, none would make a dent in the debt.

This was why he and Sarah had to fool his mother, it was the only way to help her. The only way. Not a mistake.

Carefully holding Sarah’s hand, he gave a gentle squeeze and with his free hand waved at his mother. Her gaze immediately dropped to their clasped hands as they crossed the gravel drive and stepped onto the porch. “Hi, Mom.”

Alice Sweet smiled at her son. “How’d the trip go?”

“Very well.” Even though there was no reason, he could feel heat taking over his face. Stepping forward, he kissed his mom on the cheek and then quickly retreating to Sarah’s side, took hold of her hand again.

The sparkle that had been missing from his mother’s eyes seemed to be flickering faintly. “It’s nice to see you again, Sarah Sue.”

Now or never . He sucked in a deep breath. “As of last night, that would be Mrs. Sarah Sue Sweet.”

His mother’s eyes rounded, exposing a swath of white around dark blue eyes that resembled his. Her gaze darted from him to Sarah Sue and back. “You wouldn’t tease an old lady, would you?”

“You are not old.” He rolled his eyes and then, realizing his mother was anxiously waiting, he shook his head and grabbing hold of Sarah’s wrist, held up her left hand.

Before he could react, his mother flung herself at Sarah Sue, her arms folding around his new bride’s petite frame. “I knew it. Deep down I’ve always known it.” Still strangling Sarah Sue, his mom grinned like the Cheshire cat. “I just wasn’t so sure y’all would ever figure it out.”

Caught in a tight bear hug, Sarah glanced over her mother-in-law’s shoulder and flashed a stiff smile at Preston. This was not the reaction he’d expected. Not that he was sure what he actually expected, but total delight and acceptance was not anywhere on the list, never mind at the top.

“Y’all going to come inside or are you planning on growing roots out there?” In a pair of mud splattered jeans and a button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up, his sister Rachel stood grinning from the front porch.

His mom sprang back and rubbing her hands together, spun about to Preston and pulled him into a tight squeeze, and up on her tippy toes, whispered, “I’m so very happy for you.”

Shaking off his confusion, he held on to his mother. “I love you, Mom.”

“If someone doesn’t hurry up and get in here,” Carson now stood beside their sister, “I’m going to fix lunch.”

“Oh no.” His mom stepped back. “I’m going to fix every favorite thing for you, and you’re going to tell me every single detail of the wedding.” She turned to Sarah. “Of course, we’ll have your dad over to celebrate.” A deep frown suddenly made itself at home above his mom’s brow. “Does he know?”

Sarah Sue shook her head. “We came here first. Dad won’t be home for a few hours and I wanted to tell him in person.”

“Of course you do.” His mom looped her arm with Sarah Sue and began walking toward the house with Brady dancing around them.

Preston couldn’t say who was happier over the news, his mother or Brady. Maybe the world really had turned on its head.

“We’ll have a nice lunch, and you can tell me all about the wedding.” She craned her neck to look at Preston following beside them. “I’ll forgive you for not inviting me, but,” she looked up at her other two children, “anyone else pull a stunt like this and I’ll tan your hides.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rachel and Carson echoed.

On the porch, his mom finally released her hold on Sarah Sue and still grinning wider than he’d ever seen, she hurried into the house.

As he passed his sister, she shrugged at him while Carson mouthed, “That went better than I expected.”

Exactly the same thing Preston had been thinking. Remembering he had a part to play, he quickly took hold of Sarah’s hand and together they followed his siblings into the house.

Standing at the sink, hugging a bowl against her midriff and stirring the ingredients together, his mom shook her head before waving a cream slathered spoon.

“What I don’t understand is why elope? Why couldn’t we have had a regular wedding?

” Suddenly, Alice Sweet’s eyes rounded wider than before. “Unless….”

“No.” Preston knew exactly where her mind had gone. He suspected a lot of folks in town would think the same thing. “Sarah is not pregnant.”

To his surprise, that made his mom sigh before the smile returned. “As much as I would love having a little one to love on, I’m glad to hear y’all simply came to your senses.”

That much he still wasn’t sure about.

An entire year of this just might kill her. Despite Alice Sweet’s insistence that she didn’t need help, Sarah Sue pushed to her feet and turned to Preston. “Would you like something to drink?”

“I can get it.”

“No.” She smiled. “I’m up.”

“Is it too early for a beer?” he teased.

Instinctively, she leaned over and kissed his temple. “I’m sure it’s five o’clock somewhere.” When she turned toward the fridge, she spotted Alice grinning at them. With every step, all she could think was a whole year .

“So,” Alice poured the mixture into a pie tin, “what now?”

“Now?” Preston fiddled with a napkin on the table.

“Is there going to be a honeymoon? Where are you going to live? How long do I have to wait to be a grandmother?”

“Mom.” Preston sounded like a mortified teen. “No time for a real honeymoon. There’s too much work to be done here.”

“We can manage without you for a little while.”

“You might, but my office won’t take kindly to my disappearing on them.”

Sarah knew Preston hadn’t told his mother that his bosses weren’t overjoyed with his new schedule.

Taking time off for a pretend honeymoon was out of the question.

One interesting twist to the awkward honeymoon night had been the conversation between movies.

Something about sharing a bed and a bag of popcorn made sharing fears and dreams easier.

Though she’d refrained from mentioning just how scared she was that walking away a year from now was not going to be as easy as she’d expected.

“Okay,” his mom nodded, “no honeymoon.” She slid the pie tins into the oven and closed the door. “Did you find an apartment?”

Preston glanced at Sarah. “Uh, not exactly.”

Returning to the countertop where his mother appeared to be making every dessert that Preston had ever loved, Alice Sweet leaned against the counter. “What exactly?”

“Until we find someplace else,” he reached over and grabbed Sarah’s hand again, “which may be a while, we thought Sarah would move into my old room with me.”

“Are you nuts?” His mother pushed away from the sink, shaking her head. “That room looks the same as it did when you were in college. I mean, I love all your trophies, but that’s no place to bring home a bride.”

He shrugged. “It will do.”

“No, it won’t.” Alice turned toward the sink and pulled another bowl out of the cupboard. “You’ll take my room for now. I’ll talk to Clint, see what we can do to arrange for something more suitable.”

“Mom.” Again, Preston practically whined.

Her hand up, palm out, Alice Sweet shot her son a glare that Sarah Sue hadn’t seen since they were all little kids. “No argument. As soon as we’re done eating, we’ll start moving everything around.”

Preston went to open his mouth and Sarah simply squeezed his hand.

His gaze immediately swiveled in her direction and she very softly shook her head.

While Sarah was not Alice Sweet’s daughter, she was smart enough to recognize that ‘because Mom said so,’ tone and knew that arguing now would only make things worse.

Peppered with questions from her new mother-in-law about the proposal, the wedding, and everything imaginable about their courtship, with the help of Carson and Rachel, Sarah Sue and Preston pretty much gave one of the best performances of their lives.

They smiled at each other, occasionally touched hands between bites of their grilled cheese lunch with Alice’s deep-fried potato chips, and every so often, Sarah Sue found herself almost believing everything was real about this charade.

“All right.” Preston’s mom stood from the kitchen table, a dish in each hand.

“Clean up in here can wait. Time to get your new room ready.” Alice paused at her son’s side and running the back of her hand down his cheek, smiled at him.

“I know you two will be as happy as your dad and I were, maybe happier.” With a sweet smile, she sashayed up the stairs.

“I don’t want to kick her out of her room.” Preston faced Sarah. “It doesn’t seem right.”

“I know how you feel, but it’s what she wants.

” Sarah felt just as awful about moving into Alice’s room as Preston did, but she didn’t know what else to do.

“Overall, I’m pretty stunned at how well she’s taking all this.

I really thought she was going to read us the riot act.

If switching rooms makes her even happier, then what’s the harm? ”

His eyes momentarily squeezed shut, Preston blinked and blew out a sigh. “I hate this.”

In her mind, Sarah understood he meant lying to his mother, but her gut clenched nonetheless at the idea that being with her could be so distasteful.

“Hey.” His finger under her chin, he lifted her face and leveled his gaze with hers. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I just didn’t realize lying to my mother would be this hard.”

There was no point mentioning she felt the same about her father, or how much she worried about his reaction to the news. “I know.”

The intensity in his gaze had Sarah’s pulse kicking up a notch. Even though there was no one standing around watching, for just a second, she thought he was going to lean in and kiss her. She almost closed her eyes in anticipation when she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“You two going to stay in the kitchen all day?” Alice Sweet stood in the doorway grinning.

“Coming, Mom.” Smiling back at his mother, Preston took hold of Sarah Sue’s hand and leaned against her. “Looks like we’re getting a bigger room.”

We . Somehow, she was pretty sure the Taj Mahal wouldn’t be big enough for her heart to hide for the next three hundred and sixty-four nights.