"Are you sure this is what you want?"
Mary looked around and caught Tessa's worried expression. "Of course. Why do you ask?"
"Maybe because you don't look very happy," Tessa Alexander answered bluntly.
Mary turned back to the mirror. "What gives you that idea? I think the dress is splendid. Mrs. Russo has outdone herself." She fingered the white lace and satin folds of her wedding dress, twisting this way and that, viewing the gown from different angles. "It's turned out very well. I'm pleased with my choice."
Tessa took a deep breath. At times Mary reacted just like her older brother, David, hiding her feelings with meaningless conversation. But in the four months since she had married Mary's brother, Tessa had learned to get straight to the heart of David's concerns, and she was equally confident she could do the same with Mary. "We're not questioning your taste in clothes," she said. "We're questioning your choice of a husband."
"We?"
"Yes."
Mary whirled around at the sound of another voice answering and came face to face with Faith. "You too?"
Faith nodded. She had come west as Reese Jordan's bride nearly four years ago and now made her home with Reese and the girls—Faith's eight-year-old sister Joy. and their three-year-old daughter, Hope—on the Trail T Ranch. Although the ranch was technically owned by the Jordans, Reese's father had followed Cherokee tradition and welcomed his wife's family onto his land and the Trail T had become home to all the members of the Jordan-Alexander clan.
Tessa Roarke had joined the family just four months ago when she married David Alexander, and Faith and Tessa had become the sisters Mary had never had-—her dearest friends, staunchest supporters, and closest allies… until now.
Faith spoke up first. "I'm sorry, Mary, we don't mean to hurt you, but somebody had to come out and say what we've all been thinking." She watched as Mary gave Tessa an accusatory glance. "There's no call for you to be upset with Tessa. She speaks for all of us. We love you."
"I see," Mary replied dryly. "You question my judgment because you love me."
"Yes," Faith answered. "Because we're worried about you."
"Are you?" Mary arched an eyebrow and turned to Tessa.
Tessa recognized the gesture. She'd seen David raise his eyebrow that way at witnesses in the courtroom when he doubted their sincerity. "You know we are. Why shouldn't we be worried? This is all so sudden. How long have you known Pelham Cosgrove III?"
"Long enough."
"How long?" Tessa demanded. "Two weeks? Three?"
"Longer than you knew David before you married him," Mary countered.
"Our situation was different," Tessa protested.
Mary arched her eyebrow once again. "Was it?"
"You know it was," Tessa answered gently. "David and I married because we loved each other." She met Mary's brown-eyed gaze, refusing to be intimidated. "I don't think you can say the same about you and Mr. Cosgrove."
"Stop right there," Mary warned as a rush of tears brimmed in her eyes, threatening to overflow. She looked to Faith for support.
"Tell us you love him," Faith whispered.
Mary looked at Faith and Tessa and saw the concern in Faith's solemn gray eyes and Tessa's bright green ones, and the identical worry lines wrinkling their foreheads. "You two are the sisters I never had. Why can't you trust me? Why can't you and David," Mary glanced at Tessa, then focused her attention on Faith, "and you and Reese just wish me well?"
"We do, Mary." Faith was merciless. "That's the problem. We do wish you well. We want you to be loved and to be happy."
"I am."
"Then reassure us," Tessa probbed. "Tell us you love the man you're going to marry. Tell us he loves you."
Mary bit her lip as the tears she had been struggling to hold in check suddenly began to roll down her cheeks. "I can't."
Tessa stepped closer, put her arms around her, and hugged her tightly. "Then help us, Mary. Please. Help us to understand why you are so determined to tie yourself to a man you don't love."
Faith produced a delicate lace-edged handkerchief from the pocket of her housedress and reached up to wipe away Mary's tears. "It's all right," Faith said, patting Mary on the shoulder as she choked back another sob. "Take your time."