Protected by a Hero by Susan Stoker Cristin Harber Cora Seton Lynn Raye Harris Kaylea Cross Katie Reus Tessa Layne

Author:Susan Stoker, Cristin Harber, Cora Seton, Lynn Raye Harris, Kaylea Cross, Katie Reus, Tessa Layne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Military, Romance, Anthology
ISBN: 9781988896182
Publisher: One Acre Press
Published: 2018-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

Three weeks later, Cass stood in the front hall at Two Willows and waited for the musical signal that would send Jo out the door to lead the procession toward the garlanded bower where Brian waited. Holding her wedding on Two Willows’s front lawn felt more right than Cass could say. With the house anchoring the scene, as it had anchored her all her life, and her friends and family celebrating her happiness, her marriage would start off on the right foot.

It would take some time before it was put to rights again, though. She’d started on the interior. Brian was nearly done with the roof. Once he learned she was pregnant, he’d refused to allow her up there to help. She’d graciously accepted his decision, and her fear of heights was still safely her secret. Someday she’d tell him and they’d have a good laugh over it, but for now she’d allow him to think she’d grown excessively agreeable.

She saw reminders of her mother everywhere she looked, from the flowers she held in her hands that came from the gardens her mother had first planted, to her sisters’ faces, happy for her despite the cares and heartaches each of them still struggled with, to her own reflection in the mirror Wye held up for her for one final check. She wore her mother’s wedding gown, which Alice had altered to fit her thinner frame. Her mother’s veil, too. With her hair pinned up and her mother’s pearls around her neck, she looked like Amelia had when she’d posed for her wedding photo.

The only thing missing was her father. She still remembered how gently Brian had told her he wouldn’t be coming. How he’d held her while she cried. She remembered how he’d whispered over and over that he’d never leave. The way that Brian cherished her was already changing the way she felt about the world. Her father might not be here today, nor her mother, but she was still surrounded by family. Friends. A community she was proud to be a part of.

Cass swallowed hard. She was happy. So happy.

The music swelled. Wye and her sisters straightened and got in line.

“Ready?” Jo asked.

Cass’s phone erupted from the side table in a burst of tinny music, and she wondered who on earth could be calling now. Everyone she knew in the world was sitting outside waiting for her.

“Ignore it,” Lena urged her. “We have to go.”

Something made Cass reach for it, though, and when she saw who it was, her heart skipped a beat. “It’s the General.”

Her sisters stared back at her. “Answer it,” Wye said. She grabbed it from Cass’s hand, swiped to accept the call and held it to Cass’s ear.

Cass took it. “H—hello?”

“Cass.”

“Mm-hmm.” Her voice squeaked a little. She swallowed again.

“Wish I could be there. Got tied up. You know how things are.” His voice was gruff and he sounded older. It had been so long since they’d really spoken. Cass clung to the phone.

“I know.” Her heart was pounding in her chest.

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