Sam looked at her, his smile widening, his eyes brighter than she’d seen them since the stroke. Libby felt completely at sea, in uncharted emotional waters. She had no idea what her father would say. They hadn’t talked about Chance since his stroke. There hadn’t been any reason to. And yet, she wanted his blessing. Needed his blessing to give Chance the answer he wanted. Libby held her breath.
Sam turned his attention back to Chance. “I’m a burden to her, son. I never intended to be, but I know I won’t win this fight to regain my health without her. Do you understand how things may turn out? I may never—”
Chance held up a hand. “She’s been through the litany. Here’s what I know. I know that I would be getting the best, most devoted wife there is. One who is also a wonderful daughter. Someone who would be a spectacular mother when the time is right.” He shrugged, trying to look unconcerned. “And I’ll get one ornery father-in-law. I’ll take that deal. What she doesn’t realize, and what I know, is that you, Sam Brennan, have never lost a fight you wanted to win. And I’m going to be here to help you gain your strength back so you can walk her down the aisle.”
Her father positively beamed. “There’s nothing more I could wish for than to walk her down the aisle—and hand her over to you. If these attacks have made me realize nothing else, it is that I won’t be here forever to take care of her. She’s a strong woman. I’ve come to appreciate that fact. But knowing someone loves her and will take this journey with her would be the greatest gift anyone could give me.” He reached to shake Chance’s hand, and Libby could see his struggle to do it firmly. “You have my blessing.”
Chance rose and walked toward her. Gathering her up in his arms, she felt his strength, his determination, but most importantly, she felt his love. “You’d better give your father a reason to get better, Libby. You’d better say yes.”
Chapter 24
Five months later
“Are you ready, Daddy?”
At the back of the church vestibule, Libby set the festooned walker in front of her father’s wheelchair as the church organist began to play Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major.
“Let’s get her done.” Sam Brennan’s voice was strong and sure as he gripped the walker and, with a little help from Libby, hoisted himself up.
Libby looked for any signs of distress, but all she saw was her father’s broad smile. He’d come so far in the last few months, but he still had a long way to go.
She wrapped her hand around the rail of her father’s walker and watched from the wings as her bridesmaids, Debbie and Madison, two friends from college, began the timed walk down the aisle. No red carpet had been laid because Libby hadn’t wanted her father’s walker to get tangled in it. The pews of the white-steepled church were decked out in blue hydrangeas and fragrant white roses with draping tulle. Through the stained-glass windows, sunlight dappled vibrant colors on the tile floor.
Debbie and Madison had flown in from California and New Jersey, respectively, to be in her wedding, and they had fluttered around Chance at the rehearsal dinner, thrilled to finally meet the man they had heard so much about during midnight dorm-room chats. Peeking down the aisle, Libby caught a glimpse of Lonnie, as best man, and Doug, as groomsman, standing beside Chance on the altar. They both looked fine in their tuxedos, but there was only one man she wanted to see. She strained to glimpse Chance, who looked more handsome than ever in the black tux that expertly fit his broad shoulders and tapered to his slim waist.
She could see the smile plastered on his face all the way from her spot in the vestibule, and a warm glow spread from her heart.
Scanning the pews, she spotted the back of Deidre Cochran’s blonde head in the front row on the groom’s side, handkerchief in hand.
The church was populated with employees of the dealership, her father’s friends, and loyal customers, as well as several of Chance’s rodeo buddies and their dates, and the whole McShane family, Billy looking dapper, for a thirteen-year-old, in his dark suit. Mandy Prescott had come with her mother but no male escort, which made Libby wonder, since Mandy was a beautiful woman, especially in the gorgeous red dress she wore, which set off her brunette hair. She’d been so sorry to hear that Mandy’s grandfather had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer. As Mandy’s father had died many years ago in a car accident, she might be one of a very few female owners of a rodeo stock company soon, albeit under tragic circumstances.
Libby pushed those thoughts out of her head as she looked into her father’s smiling eyes. She didn’t want any reminders today of how close she had been to losing him.
“You okay, baby girl?” her father asked, his voice gruffer than usual.
“More than okay, Daddy.”
“Tell me when.”