Wade - Meant to be mine: Porter Family Series, Book 2

Five and a Half Years Ago

W ill you marry me?

Celia glanced up at Ty and found him gazing down at her. His gorgeous blue eyes regarded her as if she were the most desirable woman on the planet.

What did you just say to me? She had to speak louder than usual to be heard above the happy din of the Las Vegas casino.

Do you want to marry me?

Ty Porter, thats not funny.

Who said I was kidding?

Me. Im saying it. Their romance had only begun four days ago. Granted, theyd been the four best days of Celias life. Because of him, shed spent her daylight hours in a haze of bliss. Shed spent her nights thinking about him, staring up at her hotel room ceiling with eyes as round as Ping-Pong balls, too excited to sleep.

Your turn, miss. One of the dealers at the craps table pushed two dice toward Celia with his slim stick, bent at a ninety-degree angle at the end.

Feeling lucky? Ty asked.

Yes. Ty liked her her! which made her the luckiest girl in Vegas. Their good fortune during the past two hours at the craps table hardly compared.

Celia picked up the dice and gave them a shake. The group of players gathered around the table focused their attention on her. Some called out encouragement.

If you roll a seven, Ty said, I vote we get married.

Youre incorrigible.

If you roll a seven, sweet one, Ill take it as a sign. Well get hitched tonight, and youll be stuck with me for life. He placed all his chips on the pass line.

Ty!

Ive just proposed to this little lady here, he announced to the table. If she rolls a seven, were going to make it official.

The players hooted and hollered.

Hes just joking, Celia informed them.

Their excitement drowned out her rationality. Several players raised glasses. Others added additional chips to their bets. All heartily approved of Tys plan. Apparently the decision to hang a lifetime commitment on the roll of two dice made perfect sense to sloshed tourists in Vegas.

Celia tossed the dice. They flew to the opposite end of the oblong table, bounced off the bumper, and skittered to a stop. A 3 and a 4.

Seven.

The table broke into an uproar.

Celia stood amid the clamor. The sight of the dice, an unmistakable three and an unmistakable four, branded into her brain.

The dealers reached forward to dole out chips to all the players.

You just doubled my money, Ty drawled. Thank you kindly, Mrs. Porter.

Im not Mrs. Porter. Teasing tinged her voice. She didnt want to be too hard on him, not when the notion of his wanting to marry her was so outrageously flattering.

Determined to wait until after the ceremony? He tipped the dealer and requested a tray so he could pack up his chips. You coming?

Definitely. She didnt want to tell him this, at the risk of seeming pathetic, but shed follow him anywhere. They said their good-byes and headed toward the cashier.

Looks like theyre eager to start in on the wedding night! one of the players called after them.

A chorus of guffaws.

Heres to the honeymoon!

Congratulations on your marriage!

They actually thinkCelia turned and waved to their well-wisherswere going to get married.

Thats cause we are.

Once theyd cashed in their chips, they made their way to the taxi line outside the front entrance. Cool December air scented with car exhaust enveloped them. Ty held Celias jacket for her while she shrugged into it, then wrapped his arms around her for extra warmth. He stood behind her, his front to her back, as they shuffled forward in line.

Celia checked her watch. One thirty. Any other city would have been dark and shuttered at this hour. Here, lights blazed, slot machines jangled, and people clogged the sidewalks. An older couple in sweats and fanny packs stood in front of them. A group of twenty-year-olds dressed like Kardashians stood behind them.

Celia had never felt more distanced from her regular life. Nor a greater sense of surrealism. Nor happier, thanks to him.

Ty Porter, the high school crush shed never outgrown.

During childhood and adolescence, her fathers job had relocated their family to a new city every few years. She could remember how furious shed been at the age of fourteen when shed been forced to move, yet again, the summer before her ninth-grade year. Theyd settled in Plano, Texas. The address of their unimaginative house in their dull subdivision had dictated that shed attend Plano East Senior High.

Celia had decided to hate it. Shed managed to stay that course until the moment when Ty Porter had taken the seat next to her in Introduction to Ceramics.

She could recall exactly how hed looked that day: a tall, well-built sophomore with golden-brown hair and dancing blue eyes. His appearance had been good enough. But then hed gazed at her as if he really saw her. Hed cracked jokes under his breath. Hed asked her advice on his coil pot.

Within two weeks, every hope and dream shed ever had about the opposite sex had coalesced into a devoted and long-lasting infatuation with him.

You cold? He tightened his arms around her.

Not a bit.

He rested his chin on the top of her head. They inched forward.

Tyd been incredibly sweet to her during their high school years. Hed always gone out of his way to flirt with her and to make an unpretty teenager feel very pretty indeed. Despite her prayers, though, their friendship had never led to anything more serious than Mrs . Celia Porter doodled through her spiral-bound notebooks. Oh, hed dated plenty. But hed always chosen beautiful, outgoing girls his age or older. Girls Celia had envied with every drop of teenaged emotion shed possessed.

After his graduation, Ty had enlisted in the Marines and moved away. Celia had slunk around in a cloud of despair over him that whole summer.

A year later she herself had graduated and moved to Oregon for college. Two and a half years ago shed completed her degree and taken a job as a restaurant sous chef.

All told, she hadnt seen Ty for seven and a half years. But when her high school friend Lacey had called and informed her that Ty would be competing in bull riding in the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, his name had hit her like a lightning bolt. The passage of time and distance had not squelched her affection for Ty Porter.