In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

"No, make that five of us who are going into town," Giselle said. "I intend to visit some old friends to see what kind of information I can pick up about Hennessey and Lutz. Furthermore, Alec you should take Henry with you to watch your back when you search Hennessey's house."

"None of us should go anywhere alone," Iris objected.

"That's settled," her grandmother responded. "Bethany and I will go visiting some old friends."

Love Comes Softly

SINCE IT WAS CONSIDERED bad luck for Carlos to see her on their wedding day, Iris stayed in her room the next morning while everyone else cleaned up after the fire.

Patrice, her head dairymaid peeked around the door at her. "Oh, you do look beautiful," she said.

Iris laughed. "Thank you, but this is just the underdress. Come in and tell me how things are going with the clean-up."

"We did fine in the dairy, although I must say it was a real relief to get those dead outlaws out of the cheese room! Even Tim had to admit wrapping their bodies in the used cheesecloth cut down on the smell. They made good shrouds too."

"Did they get the graves dug?"

"Mrs. Giselle had the graves dug in Outlaws Corner of the cemetery. The preacher did a fine funeral, even though those murdering outlaws didn't deserve it."

"Is George behaving?" Iris asked, referring to her pet Billy goat who considered himself king of her milk goats."

Patrice grinned, "Well he's still pretty full of himself after his adventure across the river."

Bethany came in carrying a tray with two plates. "I brought you lunch, and I thought I would eat up here with you."

She set the tray down on the dresser and picked up a sheet to drape over her sister. "Here this should protect that beautiful dress while you eat."

"I'm not hungry," Iris confessed.

"That's nerves," Patrice told her. "You need to eat something, anyway."

"Yes," agreed Bethany. "You don't want to have an empty stomach when you and Carlos drink champagne on your wedding night."

"We gave you brandy, and you said it was awful," protested Iris.

"Yes, but Alec brought up the champagne with him. It was much better."

Patrice left the two sisters, closing the door softly behind her. It was a shame that Jeanne couldn't be here as well, she thought.

After pushing her food around on her plate enough to satisfy her sister, Iris stood in front of the mirror in her room as Lisette and Bethany helped her into her wedding dress.

Iris and Carlos were married on the patio. The heavy scent of Giselle's blooming flowers filled the air. In deference to Mike's wheeled chair, he waited at the Altar with Carlos and Preacher Mayer. The afternoon sun cast glittering sparkles on Iris' white-blond hair. The wide brimmed, flower covered hat she wore instead of a veil shielded her face from Carlos, but she could easily see his expression as she walked toward him. She hoped she was correctly interpreting the combination of tenderness and lust she read there as love.

For Iris, the small private wedding attended only by close family and friends was perfect. She detested the limelight and intense focus that had been on Bethany and Alec when they married. She knew there had been reasons for it; by the public display the St. Vyr's had declared to the world around them that the St. Vyr family was still strong enough to defend itself and that Bethany was off limits as a lever to be used against her loved ones. In Bethany's place Iris would still have detested the public spectacle.

It had been decided during the prior night's midnight conference that Iris and Carlos would spend their wedding night at the St. Vyr's suite in River Crossings Hotel. Alec, Bethany, Henry and Giselle would ride into town as well, but later in the day so attention would not be drawn to the fact that only Mike and the hands would be left to mind the ranch.

Iris smiled when Bethany and Giselle slipped into her hotel room as she was removing the traveling outfit she had worn from the ranch. They brought up an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne and two long stemmed glasses.

"It tastes better than the brandy they gave me, and it will be just as effective to help you relax," Bethany explained, setting the bucket on the dresser.

"I'm not afraid of Carlos," Iris said mildly.

"I wasn't afraid of Alec either," Bethany replied, "But this is going to be the first time you and Carlos will be naked in front of each other. At least I assume it will be."

Iris' pale skin flushed with embarrassment. "Do you have to talk like that?"

"Why not?" Bethany inquired.

"Girls," Giselle intervened. "Bethany lay out Iris's nightgown, the blue one. Iris turn around so I can undo these buttons."

The blue nightgown had been designed to complement the wedding trousseau; the silky material clung like a second skin, barely covering Iris' full breasts and it was slit up the sides to her hips. Underneath it, she was naked. Iris blushed red again when she looked at herself in the mirror.

Bethany had popped the cork on the champagne and poured Iris a glass. "Here," she advised, "take a good sip, it will help you relax." She didn't bother asking Iris if she knew how a man and woman made love; Giselle had made sure all her granddaughters were acquainted with the facts of life.

Both women kissed Iris goodnight and slipped out the door just as Carlos was coming up.

"Goodnight," Giselle told him.

"You better treat her right," Bethany warned him as they left.

They had no need to warn him to treat Iris gently. She was his dream girl, a fragile woman to be cared for tenderly and adored. He had no intention of repeating his performance in the hallway after they had come up from the revue, or his behavior after the fight at Bethany and Alec's reception. Frowning a little, Carlos shut the door and turned to look