Mason (Mail-Order Brides For Christmas)

Why hadn’t Joy mentioned how piercing his green eyes are? And wow, his hands are ginormous!

“Everything has been arranged. We’ll say the vows in a room just over there. I have a prenuptial agreement stating that we take from the marriage only what we brought into it in the event of a divorce. The marriage has to be consummated and last long enough for the land purchase to go through.”

I stopped listening after he mentioned the prenuptial agreement, but by the time I decided it was a reasonable request since we don’t know each other yet, he was finished saying the rest of whatever he was saying.

He’s gruff and says it all matter-of-factly. He’s pointing to a room off to the side instead of looking at me. He’s nervous… or he doesn’t want to do this. Are they forcing him to marry me? As soon as the thought pops into my head, I can’t get it out. I can’t marry someone that is being forced to do it. Does he not want to marry me?

I follow him, wheeling my first suitcase along behind me. I’m surprised the wedding is happening so soon, but Joy did mention that Mason was in a time crunch for some reason. The room I follow him into has two people inside. It surprises me so much I nearly trip over my own feet.

“What’s wrong?” Mason asks me, gripping on to my waist to steady me.

“Isn’t your family coming?” I ask. I know he has five brothers, and I have to be honest, seeing Joy right now may help me a little bit. I need to see a friendly face. I had hoped my soon-to-be husband would offer me some kind of kindness or friendliness, but he looks as if he doesn’t even want to look at me.

“My brothers are tying knots of their own, so they couldn’t be here,” he tells me by way of explanation of why none of his family is here. He hands me the contract with a pen and then leaves to go speak to the other two men in the room.

I skim the contract and sign it as I hear Mason asking where the second witness is. I can see that he’s stressed out. I want to help, but I don’t know a single soul in Montana. Then I remember Serge.

“I can call my friend Serge. I met him on the airplane, and he might still be close,” I offer to the three men standing across the room. Anxious now, I set the flowers on the nearest table and wrap my arms around myself.

The two strangers seemed to be taking in my offer, but Mason seems angry at my words. He starts to say something but bites off his words when the second and final witness walks through the door. “Sorry I’m late.”

Mason doesn’t reply, just looks at his watch and then at me almost angrily. I begin to think that maybe he has a bad temper. I’m beginning to have second thoughts, but before I can voice them, the minister wants to begin the marriage ceremony.

I start to walk toward Mason but stop mid-stride. “Mason, can we talk for just a minute?” The way everything is being rushed, I know I have to at least have a conversation with him before I do this. I knew it was going to be rushed. I knew I was going to be married today. But I had expected at least a conversation first and not one where he’s looking at me crossly.

He leaves the other three men to talk and comes toward me, looking at me expectantly. The anger is still there, but at closer look I can’t help but wonder if I’m mistaking the anger for something else.

“What do you want to talk about?” he asks grudgingly.

I can’t help it. I laugh loudly. The other men look over at us, surprised before they go back to talking and ignoring us. “Oh, I don’t know. I thought we could at least talk a little before we did this,” I tell him, pointing toward the front of the room where we are to be married.

He shifts his weight to the other foot. “Okay.” He seems unsure. “You start.”

Never one to just hold things back, I ask him straightforward, “Do you want to marry me?”

My stomach seems to plummet when instead of answering me, he asks me the same question. “Do you want to marry me?”

I answer him honestly, “Well, I thought I did.”

I start, but I don’t get to finish. “Until what? You met pretty boy on the airplane or until you got a good look at me?” he says, pointing to the side of his face.

Then it dawns on me. He’s jealous. The man I’m to marry, the man I just met, is jealous. And how can he even think I would want Serge? My God, Mason is more man than I’ve ever known.