Pastor's Prize (Culpepper Cowboys Book 15) Read online

  Finally, she’d written the last name next to the role they’d assigned the child. “That’s it. We’re done.”

  He grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. “Are you sure it’s going to be all right to have Corinne choreograph her own dance? She won’t do anything inappropriate, will she?”

  “Absolutely not! There will be a lot of spinning and leaps, but nothing that could even begin to be considered inappropriate.”

  “Okay, then she’s in.” He put all the papers on the couch beside him, before scooting closer to her. “I need to leave soon.”

  “I hate it when you leave.”

  “That’s another reason you should marry me. We won’t have to part at night. You could sleep in my arms.”

  “I would have no complaints about that.” She snuggled close, resting her head on his shoulder. “I told my sister a little about you last night. She wants to meet you.”

  “To make sure I’m good enough for her sister?” he asked, frowning.

  “Nope. She wants to thank the man who taught me to laugh again. Jesse will want to make sure you’re good enough.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “We should fly down and see them then.”

  “Fly to Texas? Are you crazy?”

  “What’s so crazy about it? She can’t come here, and we’re perfectly mobile. Why not?”

  “Do you really think it would be okay to travel together without being married?”

  He shrugged. “As long as we didn’t share a bed, I don’t see why not. We could fly down on Sunday and come back Tuesday.”

  She looked at him for a minute before slowly nodding. Getting Valerie and Jesse’s opinion of him would help her a lot. And she wanted to see Amber, of course. She liked to think of Amber as her sister, because Amber played Valerie’s sister on TV. “If you’re really willing, let’s do it!”

  “See if your sister would mind!”

  Rikki dug her phone from her pocket and checked the time before calling. It was almost ten in Texas, but Valerie should still be up. She called using Facetime, like she always did, preferring to see her sister while she talked to her.

  “Hey, you!” Valerie said when she answered.

  “Hi! When’s your next break in filming?”

  “Next week. Why? Are you coming to see me?” Valerie asked.

  Jesse stuck his head between Valerie and the screen. “Hey, Rikki! Valerie is starting to waddle when she walks. It’s so cute!”

  Rikki giggled softly. “Valerie, this is Ben. I think you guys have met a couple of times.”

  “Hi, Pastor Benjamin. Rikki has said some nice things about you.”

  “She speaks very highly of you as well!” Ben responded.

  Rikki shook her head. “No more mutual admiration society for now. How would it be if Ben and I flew down on Sunday afternoon and came back Tuesday? It would be a short trip, but I really want you two to get to know each other better. I need to clear it with Grace, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem. She’s been urging me to take a few days off.”

  Valerie nodded excitedly. “I’d love that! I feel like it’s been forever since I hugged my little sister.”

  “It’s been less than a month.”

  “So? It still feels like forever. Call Grace, and text me her answer. If it’s yes, I’ll get your plane tickets. I don’t want you to have to spend your hard-earned money just to see me.”

  “So, I can spend yours instead?”

  “I do make a little more than you do.”

  Rikki nodded reluctantly. “All right. I’ll text you in a few.” She tapped her screen to end the call, and immediately called Grace.

  “Hello?”

  “Grace, you know how you’ve been trying to get me to take a couple of days off?”

  “Yeah…”

  “How about Monday and Tuesday? Ben and I are thinking about flying down to see Valerie and Jesse.”

  “Seriously?” Grace asked.

  “Yeah, seriously. Would that be a problem?”

  “Not at all! Go for it. If we get too busy, I can drag one of my sisters in.”

  “I guess that’s the benefit of having five sisters, huh?”

  “There has to be one somewhere!”

  Rikki laughed. “Thanks, Grace. I’ll see you in the morning.” Without pause, she ended the call and quickly texted her sister. All good. We’ll see you Sunday.

  Tickets purchased. I had all the information typed in and just had to push the final button.

  Aren’t you clever?

  Of course, I am. I picked you to be my baby sister.

  You picked me? Was I in a field of babies and you chose the one you wanted?

  Something like that. We’ll pick you up at the airport on Sunday. Love you bunches!

  Love you! Rikki turned to Ben. “It’s all set.”

  “Wow. That was quick.”

  “Are you having second thoughts?”

  He put his index finger under her chin and tilted her face up for his kiss. “How could I have second thoughts? If this will make you feel better about me, then I’m all for it.”

  She heard a ding, and looked down at her phone again. There was an email from Valerie with the flight information. “We fly out at four. Does that work?”

  “Sure. Are they picking us up at the airport, or do we need to rent a car?”

  “She said they’d pick us up. Since they’re not filming next week, it’s easy for them to get away.”

  “Okay, that sounds good. I’m going to email all the mothers of the children about their parts in the pageant. We rehearse on Friday night, go to the tree lighting on Saturday, fly to Texas on Sunday, come back on Tuesday, and rehearsals start on Wednesday. We’re going to be too tired to think.”

  She grinned. “Maybe that will make it easier for me not to picture you in less clothes.”

  “I’d offer to send you a shirtless picture, but it would be inappropriate. My mother always claimed that men running around with no shirts on were too broke to buy them, and she told me if I ever got that broke, I needed to ask her for money.”

  Rikki laughed. “She sounds like an interesting woman. I need to meet her someday.”

  “Someday you will. Probably not this month, though. She’s pretty busy.”

  “What does she do?”

  “She’s a nurse at a hospital in Madison. She and my dad split when I was a kid, and she’s been nursing ever since.”

  “Do you have a lot of brothers and sisters?”

  He shook his head. “Just the one brother. He’s living in Florida now.”

  “So, who spends holidays with her?”

  “She goes to her mom’s. This is our first year to be apart for the holidays, but I can’t get away, and neither can she. We’ll Skype, and it’ll be fine.”

  Rikki realized then that he’d be spending the holiday alone too, and she hated that for him. “Well, whatever happens, we’ll have to spend the holiday together. I’ll be part of the Culpepper craziness, but I’m sure one more wouldn’t hurt anything.”

  He dropped a kiss on her nose. “I think that sounds wonderful.” He stood. “And on that note, it’s time for me to head out. It’s getting late, and I have a counseling session at eight.”

  She didn’t ask when she’d see him again, but she wanted to. Why did her life seem so empty when he wasn’t there? She was getting too involved already. “Sounds good. I’ll see you at rehearsal on Friday night.”

  “I’ll be by for lunch tomorrow. And maybe we can have dinner tomorrow night.”

  “That sounds nice.”

  “I loved your cooking by the way. Sorry I forgot to kiss your feet.”

  She laughed, heading toward the door. She watched him shrug into his coat, and then he walked toward her, pulling her to him. “Goodnight, my love. Sleep well.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and just held him for a moment. “You too.”

  6

  The Christmas tree lighting in the town square was beautiful. Rikk
i was surprised how well she handled the crowd as long as she was close to Ben. She held his gloved hand the whole time, and she felt perfectly safe.

  He left her once to get hot chocolate for both of them, and she found herself growing increasingly nervous until he came back to her and handed her the Styrofoam cup he’d purchased for her. “You were starting to panic, weren’t you?”

  She nodded. “As soon as you left, I started looking around me, trying to figure out which man would put me in his car and drive off. I’m like one of those soldiers with PTSD, and you’re like the dog who calms me.” She hid a smile behind her cup as she took a sip.

  “I don’t know how I feel about being compared to a therapy dog.”

  “At least I’m not comparing you to one of those dogs who runs around with a barrel of whisky tied to his neck!”

  “A Saint Bernard? You cannot be comparing me to a Saint Bernard now! I feel so abused!”

  “Oh, hush. I’ll kiss you all better later!”

  Ben grinned at her. “Don’t say that too loud. It sounded a lot naughtier than I think you meant it.”

  Rikki felt the heat rising in her cheeks. She hadn’t meant anything dirty by her words, but she could see where he’d gotten that. “Be nice. Let’s go see what the vendors are selling.”

  They walked toward the row of vendors selling their Christmas wares. There were booths selling Christmas dolls, tree ornaments, wreaths, and dozens of other Christmas items. It was fun to walk through and see what was there.

  By the time they’d walked the length of the row, Rikki had purchased several different things for her family and friends. She found the perfect ornament for Valerie—a pregnant woman. For her mother, she found an ornament proclaiming that she was a grandmother, and got the same thing for Linda. There were a lot of babies that would soon be coming into her world, and she loved it.

  Finally, after spending several hours walking around the square, talking to the different people they both knew and shopping, Ben said, “I should get you home. We have a big day tomorrow.”

  “I’m probably going to miss service. Grace said she and Marcus would drive us to the airport.”

  “I can’t miss, but if you three would pick me up at the church, I’ll have my suitcase in my car. We’ll take off as soon as the sermon is over.”

  “You can’t miss? Ever?”

  “Well, sometimes I can, but I’m giving my first sermon here tomorrow. Brother Anthony said that the church needs fresh blood, and it might as well be mine.”

  Rikki laughed. “That sounds like Brother Anthony.” She thought for a moment about the time. “I can come. It’ll be tight, but if you can make it, then I can too.”

  “I’d like you to be there for my first sermon here.”

  “That’s all you had to say. Of course, I’ll be there.”

  On the drive back to the Culpepper Ranch, he peppered her with questions about her sister and Jesse. “They seem to be really in love. How long have they known each other?”

  “They met when they auditioned for the show. This is their fifth season, so it’s been close to five years? I think?”

  “And it took them that long to marry? You said he was in love with her from day one.”

  “He was, and I think she was in love with him. She was dating Curtis, though, and he was controlling. He did everything he could to keep them apart.”

  It was the first time she’d said Curtis’s name to him when she hadn’t seemed to be overcome with fear. He’d take that as a win. “And you said she broke it off with him and married Jesse the same day?”

  “Yeah, Jesse talked her into flying to Vegas with him to marry. Mom and I didn’t even know ’til the next day.” She shook her head. “It’s amazing how perfect they are together. I’m glad they finally figured it out.”

  “When did they marry?”

  “In March. She got pregnant almost immediately, which is great. I get to have a little nephew. They had to marry them in the show really quick to cover the pregnancy, but neither of them complained.”

  “And we’re also going to meet others from the show?”

  “Well, I’m not sure, but I think we’ll see Amber and probably Bob. You’ve met Bob, though, right?”

  “Bob Bodefeld? Yeah, I met him and May at church. I like May a lot.”

  “She’s really awesome. Did you know she’s a romance writer?” Rikki asked. She’d been reading May’s novels for a lot longer than she’d known the woman’s real name.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, but she uses a pen name, so you’d never know unless she told you. She lives less than a mile from the set. Hopefully we’ll get to stay with them.”

  “You don’t want to stay with your sister and Jesse?”

  “They live in a trailer on the set. It would be strange.”

  “I can see that.” He pulled into Linda’s driveway and got out of the car, walking around to open her door. “So, I guess I’ll see you at church tomorrow. With your suitcase.”

  “I’m glad you agreed to go with me. I’m excited to see Valerie.” She was even more excited for Valerie and Jesse to get to know him, though. She couldn’t wait.

  He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and waiting until she went inside before turning back to his car. He planned to come home engaged to Rikki, no matter what it took.

  Rikki sat toward the middle of the church for Ben’s sermon the following morning. It was the first time she hadn’t sat in the very back row, ready for a quick escape. It felt odd to be so close to the front, but the first time his eyes met hers during the service, she felt comfortable. There were people on either side of her, but she knew them, and that made it easier.

  Little Corinne sat on her right side, and as soon as the sermon was over, she stood up and did a little spin. She was wearing her tutu and butterfly wings over her pants and blouse, which made Rikki smile. “How does she sleep in her butterfly wings?” she asked Patience.

  Patience shook her head. “I’ve finally got her to where she’ll take them off to take a bath and to sleep. She even wears them to school.”

  “When you marry Pastor Benjamin, I’m going to spin down the aisle with the flowers, okay?” Corinne asked.

  Rikki blinked a couple of times. “What?”

  “When you ask me to be your flower girl, I’m going to spin instead of walking. I have my own flower girl style, and I’ve done it before, so you just need to smile and let me do my thing, okay? This will be my fourth wedding!”

  “I—what?”

  Patience patted Rikki’s arm. “The whole town has been planning your wedding for almost a week. Get used to it. That’s just how Culpepper is.”

  Rikki sighed. “That’s great. My wedding is being planned without me.” She got to her feet and nodded at Ben who was hurrying toward the back of the church. She’d ridden into church with Marcus and Grace, so her suitcase was already in the back of Marcus’s truck.

  She met up with Ben at the back of the church, smiling shyly. “Your sermon was wonderful. I was a little surprised by the topic, but I enjoyed it.”

  “Brother Anthony chose my topic. As a single pastor, I had no desire to preach on abstinence until marriage, but there was no choice. At all.”

  “You seemed a little uncomfortable with the topic, but it was still good.”

  “Yeah. Well, I made it work. Are you ready?”

  She nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Grace walked over and linked her arm through Rikki’s. “Marcus sent me in to get you two. We have to leave now unless you want to miss your flight.”

  “Marcus is being overdramatic,” Rikki said. “We have three hours before our flight. An hour to get to the airport and two hours to wait for our flight. We’ll be fine.”

  Still, they hurried out to the truck and climbed in, buckling immediately. Rikki felt odd to be taking a trip with Ben, but she was excited as well. She couldn’t wait until she could see just how round her sister had gotten. She and Valerie we
re both tiny women, and the last time she’d seen her she’d looked like she’d swallowed a basketball with two full months to go. She should look very interesting by now.

  They got their boarding passes as soon as they got to the airport, and Rikki looked at hers and laughed. “Valerie got us first class. She knew I’d have flown coach.”

  Ben looked at his ticket. “I’ve never flown first. Have you?”

  “Only when I was going somewhere with my sister. I thought she’d put us in coach if she wasn’t with us.”

  Two hours later they were on the plane. He stretched out his legs with a smile. “I’ve never sat on an airplane that had enough room for my long legs.”

  She shrugged. “I fit pretty well into the coach seats, so I don’t mind flying cheap.”

  The stewardess came to get their pre-flight drink orders, and Rikki pulled out her phone to text Valerie and let her know they were on their way. A woman who was walking by stopped and stared at Rikki for a moment. “You look almost exactly like that actress. Valerie Dobson.”

  “I’m her younger sister.” Rikki thought for a moment about correcting the woman and telling her that her sister was Valerie Savoy now, but she didn’t. What difference did it make?

  “Oh, so you’re the one who got kidnapped! That must have been rough.”

  Rikki simply smiled. “It wasn’t a walk in the park.”

  “Well, you tell your sister that we’re all praying for her to have a healthy baby.”

  “I will. Thank you for caring about her so much.”

  “Oh, Lazy Love is the best show on television. We all just love Valerie. I think we were all more excited for their wedding than they were.”

  Rikki turned to Ben as the woman walked away. “I hate when people recognize me as looking like Valerie. I love my sister, but being linked to a kidnapping is not the way I want to be known for the rest of my life.”

  “You could be known as a pastor’s wife, if you’d prefer. I know how to arrange it.”

  “One of these days, you’re going to say something like that, and I’m going to agree, and you’re not going to know how to react.”