The Preacher's Bride (Brides of Simpson Creek) by Laurie Kingery Page B

vows. His hands hadn’t shaken, despite his nervousness. He’d managed not to drop the ring, even though Jack Collier’s hands trembled when he’d handed it to him. He’d spoken about the wedding feast at Cana at which Jesus performed his first miracle, and had kept his sermon eloquent but to the point.
    He looked over the heads of the new couple and the congregation to where his father sat in his wheelchair, and was gratified to see the old man beaming proudly at him, as if to say, “Well done.”
    Then the attendees rose to their feet as the new husband and wife began their march back up the aisle as the music swelled again.
    Next to his father, he spotted Louisa, his father’s nurse for the day, and then his gaze landed on Faith, sitting on Louisa’s other side, heart-stoppingly lovely in a dress the color of bluebonnets, and he looked no further.
    He could have sworn she’d been looking at him until a second before his eyes had found her, but it was just as well that she no longer did. This way, he could feast on the sight of her as she watched the new husband and wife pass by.
    Did she have any idea how pretty she was? His pulse quickened at the thought of spending time with her at the wedding reception. Now that it seemed clear his father was on the mend, Gil planned to make it clear to her and anyone who cared to notice that he was interested in her. Faith—what a perfect name for a future preacher’s wife!
    * * *
    “Did you notice how Reverend Gil was looking at you just a moment ago?” Faith’s mother remarked as they waited to congratulate the bridal couple. “I believe he’s sweet on you, dear.”
    “Oh, I’m sure you’re imagining things, Mama,” Faith told her mother, hoping no one had heard her. Sometimes Lydia Bennett’s voice carried more than she meant it to, for she was slightly hard of hearing and didn’t realize how loudly she spoke.
    “Time will tell,” her father said. “About time our young preacher found a wife and settled down. I don’t reckon he could do any better than our daughter.”
    It was rare to hear her father express approval of her, yet his words made Faith wince inwardly. Just about anyone would be better for him than me.
    Once in the social hall where the wedding reception was to be held, her parents drifted toward other older couples they were friends with and Faith joined a cluster of Spinsters’ Club ladies.
    “How are you doing out on the ranch with your husband off on that cattle drive? I’m sure you must miss him dreadfully,” Faith said to Milly Brookfield, whose baby son, Nicholas, was being handed from lady to lady, much to his delight and theirs. Clearly he’d inherited much of his British father’s charm.
    “I miss him every minute of the day,” Milly admitted. “But I’m doing all right. Little Nick keeps me busy.”
    “I’ve begged her to come stay with us while Nick’s gone, but she got all of our father’s stubbornness,” her sister, Sarah, said. “I even suggested renting the Spencers’ house because it’s still standing empty just down the street, if she thinks it’d be too crowded at our house.”
    “Nonsense,” Milly retorted. “What kind of ranch wife would I be if I stayed in town the whole time my husband’s away? Besides, I’ll have Jack and Caroline as my neighbors, as soon as they get back from their wedding trip,” she said, nodding toward the bridal couple, who were speaking to old Reverend Chadwick and Mrs. Detwiler nearby.
    “Milly, I just can’t rest easy about your being out there so far away with only the cowhands who stayed behind, as loyal as they are,” Sarah said. “Why, anything could happen.”
    “By ‘anything,’ I know you mean Comanches, sister,” Milly said, “but they’re not likely to come raiding because there’s only a handful of cows with young calves left on the ranch, and only half a dozen horses. And I don’t think outlaws will be a problem, either—they’ve steered clear of