Page 77 of Bailey

He let his eyes roam the crowd of amazing men who’d gathered in the bedroom with him, marveling that this room could hold all of the uncles and male cousins in the Young family. Boston came to his side and handed Cash the second half of Lark’s ring. He tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket and grabbed onto Boston and held him tight.

“I love you, brother,” he said.

“I’m getting in on that,” Bryce said, and he joined their hug.

“Me too.” Harry came over and did the same.

Cash laughed, and their four-way huddle broke up, but that only started more hugging when the next person his eyes landed on was Uncle Trace. He’d taken such good care of Cash and his daddy over the years, and Cash fought his emotions as he embraced his strong uncle.

“Love you, son,” Trace said.

“I love you too, Uncle Trace,” Cash managed to choke out.

Uncle Luke came next, and memories of going camping with him and his family flowed through Cash’s mind. He moved on to Gramps, and Cash lost his battle against his tears then.

“You’re a good man, Cash,” Gramps said, and since he spoke so very little, Cash believed everything he said.

He hugged Uncle Tex and Uncle Otis, Uncle Jem, Uncle Morris, Uncle Gabe, and finally stepped into Uncle Mav. He and Aunt Dani had always had their door open for Cash, day or night, and he knew he wasn’t the only one they’d welcomed with open arms.

Finally Daddy growled, “You’re supposed to be at the altar right now, son, and we still haven’t done the prayer.”

Cash cleared his throat and stepped back, took the handkerchief his dad gave him, and started blotting at his face. “I’m ready,” he said. “I’m ready.” He shook his shoulders as if he could wipe away his emotions just as easily, and settled into the circle beside his father on his right and Boston on his left. The men circled up the best they could, which meant they made more of an amoeba shape around the furniture in the room, and Daddy cleared his throat and reached to take off his cowboy hat.

Cash hastened to do the same, and he quickly linked his arm through his daddy’s and pressed his hat to his chest as he bowed his head and tried to find the quiet place inside him where he could hear the Lord. Complete silence filled the room, and Cash let it flow through him too.

He honestly felt the same way he did when he sat in the saddle on a bull, only moments away from the chute opening. There was always this single moment of clarity, where Cash could see the entire eight-second ride in front of him, and the world wasn’t spinning on its axis, and everything just became still.

Then his dad drew a breath and said, “Dear Lord.”

Life rushed forward again, but Cash clung to the sound of his father’s voice, slow and deep and cowboy as it was. “We’re so grateful to be gathered here together as a family.”

Lark had only invited family and extremely close friends to the wedding. She wanted to walk down the aisle and know every person looking at her, so she’d invited her grandparents, parents, and siblings, a couple of friends from work, and that was all.

Cash’s family of aunts and uncles, grandparents, and extended aunts and uncles was a lot larger than hers, but since they’d been engaged for half a year, she’d come to plenty of family birthday parties, dinners, and other functions where she’d met Michelle and Denzel, Leigh and Morris’s extended family, and Uncle Shawn and Aunt Enid, who were Ev’s brother and sister-in-law. And of course, Wade and Cheryl Ingalls, who lived right next door to Uncle Tex and Aunt Abby. They’d all been invited, along with their kids, but Cash hadn’t included the Whittakers or the Hammonds or any other townspeople who knew his parents, grandparents, or aunts and uncles.

They’d been invited to the reception, along with Cash’s former rodeo friends, as over five hundred of those invitations had gone out.

“We’re grateful for the institution of marriage,” Daddy said next. “And how it brings two people together on their journey through life and helps them to grow and change into the kind of people that will put others first and serve Thee.

“We’re grateful to be gathered together here in Coral Canyon, so close to where so many of us boys and uncles have grown up and can remember our roots and the good teachings of our parents.

“We’re grateful for Thy healing power and Thy constant call to repentance and for giving us ears to hear and eyes to see Thy power in our lives.”

Cash sniffled, and he wasn’t the only one. Daddy had strong opinions that he rarely voiced in a large group, and it did Cash’s heart good to hear his father’s inner thoughts. Sometimes it took so much to drag them out of him.

“Bless Cash today, Lord,” Daddy said next, and then he paused for longer than necessary. That meant only one thing, and that Daddy had his own battle with his emotions raging. “And bless him to be a good man, and a good friend, a good cousin, a good brother, and a good husband. Help him and Lark know which steps to take in their lives that will bring them closer to each other, and closer to Thee.

“Bless any in this company who stand in need of something specific, that it will be granted unto them according to Thy will, and bless our good wives and our children to continue to be able to put up with us Coral Canyon cowboys.”

Cash’s emotion settled, and he smiled as Daddy finished with, “In Thy name, Lord, Amen.”

“Amen,” chorused through the room.

Cash wanted to go around and give everyone a hug again, but Daddy took his arm. “You need to be at the altar right now.” Cash stumbled after him, trying to put his hat on his head as he went. “My phone’s been buzzing against my thigh for five minutes.”

Daddy led Cash out the sliding glass door on the side of the master suite and down the steps that led into the backyard. He hustled him up the right side of the crowd and practically pushed him toward the altar near the new back fence in the yard. The pastor stood there already, and Cash watched as Daddy hurried back into the house.

Everyone who’d been in the groom’s suite with him flowed out of the house and simply went to take their places in the audience. No sooner had the last man gone down the steps than the women came. Cash grinned at all of them as frilly violins and flutes played through the speakers that had been set up in the corners of the tent.