Country Love: Country Brides, #2

By Ava Catori

Watching Laura get married would be the most painful thing Tom would ever see. He'd been in love with her for as long as he could remember. When she gets stood up at the altar, Tom hopes to convince her to give him a chance.

There's just one problem, Laura's father doesn't like the one time trouble maker. Can Tom convince Laura's father he's changed, and would make a stand up husband for his daughter? Set in a small Wyoming town, Country Love is a friends-to-lovers story, the second in the Country Brides series. Each story can be read alone, and in any order. Country Brides shares stories of small town love.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ava Catori Books
• Release date: Jul 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781498916646

Book preview

Chapter 1

It was one of the hardest days of Tom’s life, sitting in the pew, about to watch the girl he’s loved since the second grade get married to another man. Laura was a beautiful and elegant bride, and positively radiant. The little church was crowded with friends and family from the community, all gathered to share in her special day.

Standing before everyone, as the wedding was starting – the groom looked back. With sweat on his brow and panic on his face, he turned to Laura. It happened in slow motion, I’m sorry, he said, I can’t do this.

As he turned to run out of the church, Laura’s entire body crumbled. Her face went slack, the shock unbearable, and as her tears fell, her pain was obvious. Her slender shoulders trembled, and before the entire church she dropped to the ground. Balled up and crying, her father reached down to comfort her.

The whispers and gossip rushed through the small church building, wondering what they’d just witnessed. It played out in slow motion. Nobody moved; everybody was transfixed by the scene playing out before them.

Standing, not sure what else to do, Tom got people on their feet and out of the church, wanting Laura to have a little dignity. She didn’t need the entire community to watch her breaking down.

What just happened? Can you believe it? That poor girl, the hushed whispers continued outside, and soon a buzz filled the air, everybody speculating as they headed to their cars to go home. There would be no wedding today.

Tom sat on the hood of his car, not wanting to leave. He’d known Laura all of his life, and knew her family from town. He’d had a few run-ins with her father, the local sheriff, and didn’t remember her mother. She’d passed away when Laura was small. He remembered hearing the news that Laura would be out of class for a few days in the fourth grade. She wasn’t the same when she got back. She went from an outgoing, carefree child, to a girl with inner turmoil.

After what felt like forever, she finally came out of the church with her father, a shattered woman, barely able to walk. Leaning on her dad, he quietly walked her to his car. Tom watched, wanting to run over and hold her, tell her she’d be okay, but all he could do was sit and watch. Now wasn’t the time. Had fate stepped in and given him a chance?

Laura sat in the car, staring straight ahead. Her eyes burned from crying, and she felt numb. Her entire world shifted on its axis, and as her father drove her home Laura realized that life as she knew it was over.

She was supposed to be Mrs. Bentley, but she was still Laura Easton. Replaying the events in her mind, seeing Noah standing beside her, thinking he’d be kissing the bride, and taking her home...and then him wiping his brow, the look on his face, turning around and leaving left her shell-shocked. Noah Bentley abandoned her at the altar, shattering her heart into a million tiny pieces.

Everybody saw, she’d be the laughingstock of the entire town. Burying her head in her hands, the tears started again. Not only had her groom left her standing at the altar, but he did it in grand style in front of the entire community – leaving no question that she wasn’t good enough to be his bride. He’d chosen a life without her.

Laura’s father said nothing. He knew his daughter well; she didn’t want to talk about it. She wanted quiet, to be left alone. There would be time for talking later. He gave her the space she needed, and would be there when she was ready. Clint Easton loved Laura with all of his heart. When they’d lost her mother to illness, it drew them even closer, knowing how much his little girl needed him.

Pulling up at their house, Clint parked the car, but Laura didn’t get out. She simply sat. Are you coming inside, was all he asked.

Eventually, she had no more words.

Clint left her alone, hating to see her in so much pain.

Laura sat in the car for another twenty minutes, before bunching up the tulle on her wedding gown and going inside. In her room, she slipped the dress off, and pulled on jeans and a tank top. Gathering up the dress, she balled it in her arms and then walked outside. Dumping the dress into the bin they used to burn trash, she pushed the satin and lace gown into the steel barrel.

As she lit the dress on fire, she shed the last of her tears. No man is worth the pain she was feeling inside.

Clint watched from the kitchen window, seeing the dress go up in flames, and his daughter in a trance watching. As she turned back to the house, Clint greeted her. Want to talk?

Not yet, Dad, she said, and went to her room, throwing herself on her bed. She didn’t leave that position for hours.

Hearing a light knock on her door, You should eat something, he said, placing a sandwich on her dresser,