Bartender's Beauty (Culpepper Cowboys Book 11) by Kirsten Osbourne, Culpepper Cowboys

Wedding should start in about five minutes.”
    Dallas went to the door and put her ear to it. She could hear people moving around, but there seemed to be way too many for a small wedding.
    There was a knock on the back door, and Felicity hurried to answer it. “Hi, Roy!”
    An older man Dallas had known her whole life stepped into the room. She remembered him coming over when there had been some problems with an outlet when she was a teenager. “Linda sent me in to see if you wanted me to give you away,” he said, looking a bit nervous at the prospect.
    Dallas grinned. “You’re Roy, right? Roy Williams, the electrician?”
    He nodded. “I am. I know we never knew each other super well, but since your dad just died, Linda thought you might appreciate someone to walk with you.”
    Dallas nodded, stepping forward to kiss the older man’s cheek. “I’d be honored.”
    Linda stuck her head into the room. “It’s time. You staying back here, Roy?”
    Roy nodded. “Yeah, I’m going to walk her down the aisle.”
    “All right, everyone else get out here then.”
    Patience, Felicity and Corinne all followed orders, knowing that when Linda spoke, everyone listened. “Are you going to tell us when to walk, Wiggie?” Corinne asked excitedly. She’d taken to calling Linda by her favored grandma name shortly after Patience and Ryan had married.
    Linda nodded, patting the girl on the head. “Go ahead, Patience.”
    Dallas stood in the back, taking deep breaths. “I can’t believe how nervous I am.”
    Roy laughed softly. “You’re supposed to be nervous when you get married. Just don’t go running out the back of the church, because I’d feel the need to chase you, and I don’t want to think about how Austin would react to that.”
    Dallas laughed. “I’ll do my very best.”
    Linda waved her hand at them to start walking, and Dallas clung to the arm of the man beside her. He wasn’t her father, who would have berated her the whole while, but instead he was a man she had good memories of from her childhood.
    Together they slowly walked to the front of the church, her eyes locking with Austin’s almost immediately. She was vaguely aware that every pew in the church was full, and there were people standing at the back. She couldn’t believe Austin had pulled off a Monday morning wedding with that many people on less than twenty-four hours’ notice.
    She didn’t recognize everyone, but there were a lot of people she knew from school. Teachers, other students, and even the principal, who she would soon be working for.
    It seemed like barely a moment and forever all at once until she reached the front and her hand was placed in Austin’s.
    Brother Anthony smiled at her, and then began speaking. “Dearly beloved, we’re once again gathered here for a ridiculously rushed wedding. These two fine young people have known each other for over twenty years, but they still had to plan a whole wedding in less than twenty-four hours. I would sure like to know what’s wrong with the fine people of Culpepper, Wyoming that they all feel the need to drop whatever they’re doing and get married at a moment’s notice. Am I the only person who thinks this is a strange new custom everyone in town seems to have banded together to start? Well, let me tell you something—.”
    Lovie shook her head, clearing her throat. “Save it for a sermon, Tony! Back to the wedding.”
    Dallas bit her lip, sneaking a glance at Austin who looked equally amused. She focused all her attention on Brother Anthony, hoping he’d get on with the ceremony.
    Brother Anthony muttered under his breath for a moment again, and then continued. “As I was saying, we’re gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. Austin? You’ve loved this girl since you were a boy. I remember you coming to me one Sunday after church and asking me if it was legal for you to marry Dallas and live with her under the monkey bars at the school,