Trish Milburn - Her Cowboy Groom

But as she walked out into the showroom filled with stunning white gowns, ethereal veils and all manner of happily ever after, it all suddenly felt like a bigger lie than the ones Michael had told.

She placed her hand against the roiling in her stomach. “I think I will go home.” Needing to get away as fast as she could, she grabbed her purse and raced for her car.

Her phone rang as she crossed the parking lot. When she saw Michael’s name, she ignored the call. He called back almost immediately and again as she was driving home. To keep from tossing her phone out the window, she turned it off and shoved it deep into her purse.

When she pulled into the parking space in front of her condo, she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten there. Her bottom lip quivered, her fragile hold on her emotions threatening to disintegrate. Through some miracle of self-control, she made it inside before the fresh wave of tears would no longer be denied. On wobbly legs, she barely made it to the couch before the silent tears turned into heart-rending sobs.

* * *

LINNEA WOKE SLOWLY to realize she must have cried herself to sleep. The angle of the sun indicated it was sometime after noon. The throbbing in her head and the fact that her eyes were itchy with dried tears told her the horrible events of the morning hadn’t just been a nightmare.

She lay there staring at the dust motes floating in the beam of sunlight coming through the window. Part of her wanted to go back to sleep, but she knew it wouldn’t help her feel any better. It wasn’t going to make the truth go away. She pushed herself to a sitting position and wondered how she was going to break the news to her parents, her sisters, her friends. How did she tell all of them that her fairy tale was nothing but a cruel lie?

Anger welled up inside her, competing for space with the pain gnawing away at her. Why would Michael do this? Had he truly never cared about her? About his wife?

There was nothing she wanted more in that moment than to be done with all the hard conversations. Actually, what she wanted even more was to run away from her life. How could she go back to peddling the dream of wedded bliss when hers had been snatched away in the most awful way possible?

Knowing that breaking the news wasn’t going to get any easier if she waited longer, she dug her phone out of her purse and turned it on. The screen revealed she had a dozen missed calls. She listened to one from Katrina asking if she needed anything, but the ten calls from Michael she deleted without listening to them. Nothing he could say could make her forgive him for breaking her heart and making a complete fool out of her. The other call was from Chloe, her best friend since they’d roomed together in college, the woman who was supposed to be her matron of honor.

“Hey, Lin. Just calling to finalize some details.” In the midst of the call, Chloe suddenly laughed. She sounded as if she’d pulled the phone away from her mouth when she said, “Cut it out.” Next came a distinctively male chuckle, no doubt Chloe’s new husband, Wyatt. Linnea’s heart squeezed at the sound of her friend so happy and in love, even if she was scolding her husband. “Sorry about that,” Chloe continued. “Call me when you get a chance.”

Linnea deleted the message as if it would erase the sounds of marital bliss, as well. She was happy that Chloe had found a good man to love and be loved by, truly she was. At least she hoped Wyatt was everything he claimed to be, not like Michael and his web of lies.

She shook her head, not wanting to let what had happened turn her into someone who was suspicious of every man in the world. After all, she knew deep down there were lots of good guys like her father, like Chloe’s dad.

She scrolled to her parents’ number, but she couldn’t make herself hit the Call button. Her mother had been just as excited about the wedding as Linnea, if not more so. The news that Michael wasn’t who he’d seemed to be would break her mother’s heart, too.

Deciding to wait awhile longer to make that call, she instead forced herself to dial Chloe’s number. Better to test out her ability to share the news on her best friend instead of risking turning into a blubbering mess on the phone with her mother. Her mom would no doubt rush right over to wrap her baby in her arms when Linnea just wanted to be left alone. The last thing she wanted was to look into anyone else’s eyes and see the pity she’d detected in Katrina’s.

Her fingers shook as she hit Chloe’s number, and she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying again.

“Hey,” Chloe answered. “I was beginning to think you were ignoring me.”

Despite her best efforts, a tear broke free and ran down Linnea’s cheek. “No, I... It’s just been a bad day.” She sniffed against a fresh rush of tears.

“Lin, what’s wrong?”

“The wedding’s off,” she said, her voice shaking.

“Off? What happened?” The sound of a closing door came through the phone.

“Michael is...” She stopped to swallow against the large lump clogging her throat as if she’d swallowed a lemon whole. “He’s already married.”

She struggled to share everything that had happened that morning with Chloe. By the time she was finished, hot, salty tears were streaming down her face again, burning trails in her skin like lava flows.

“Lin, I don’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ is not enough.”

Linnea swiped at another tear. “I feel so hollow inside, and I have no idea how I’m going to go back to work and pretend I’m happy. Nobody will buy a wedding gown from someone who is wearing a broken heart on her sleeve.”

“Come here.”

“What?”

“There’s a free bedroom at the ranch now since I moved out, and Dad, Garrett and Owen are away from the house most of the day. No one will bother you there. You won’t have to smile and pretend.”

This was why she loved Chloe so much. She understood her, often better than her own family did. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ve got so much to take care of here. Things to cancel, a business to run.”

“That’s why they make phones and computers and business partners.”

As much as she wanted to run away, she couldn’t. She had responsibilities, and she didn’t want Michael to know how badly he’d hurt her. She had to be strong, no matter how much it hurt.

Banging on the front door startled her.

“Linnea, let me explain,” Michael shouted through the door.

“Thanks for listening, Chloe, but I need to make some more calls.”

“It’s a standing invitation. You are welcome here anytime, for however long you need.”

Fresh tears popped into Linnea’s eyes, these because despite everything she was lucky to have the absolute best friend in the world.

Michael knocked again. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”

The last thing she wanted to do was look into his deceitful eyes and listen to more lies fall from his lips. So she ignored him and went up to her bedroom. For a long time, she feared he was going to live up to his promise that he wouldn’t leave until he talked to her. But after a little more than an hour, she watched as he drove away.

Chloe’s words echoed in her head as she made her way down to the kitchen and looked in her fridge for something to eat. But as she stood staring at the contents of her refrigerator, nothing looked appealing. Even though her body was hungry, she couldn’t imagine anything tasting good. So she closed the door and leaned back against it.

She wandered from room to room as if she might find peace and a release from the pain in one of them. When she found herself in her bedroom again, she sank onto the side of the bed and realized she couldn’t put off telling her family the news any longer. She didn’t want to risk her mom or one of her sisters stopping by the store and finding out something was wrong from Katrina.