The Bachelor's Bride

Chapter 29- Jack

Five years ago

I readjusted my tie in the mirror, slicking back my hair. After a whole week of exams, I desperately needed a night off.

My friend Nick knocked on the door, poking his head into my room, "Hey buddy, you ready yet?"

"You can't rush perfection." I winked at him in the mirror.

"Come on, all the pretty ladies will be taken by time you're ready to leave. I've had my eye on Beth for a while now." Nick forced me out of my room, giving the door a solid slam behind us as we hurried to the salon just down the block.

The smell of whisky and cigar smoke drifted outed of the old western style swinging doors, inviting us to enter. I could hear the exchanging of coins across the table tops when gamblers lost their bets, and the clinking of beer mugs.

Nick pulled me inside, already looking around for Beth. She was standing on the other side of the room in a tight, black dress, a feather in her waist long blonde hair. She was flirting with another man she had just served a drink too.

"Looks like she's mine tonight." Nick winked at me, sauntering over to her.

I watched as Nick leaned against the counter top, tapping her shoulder. She turned around, looking immediately interested in his presence. I mean, who wouldn't? Nick was the handsomest and richest bachelor in town, and everybody knew it. He had a thick, muscular build and golden blond hair paired with a set of the most captivating blue eyes I had ever seen.

"Wanna drink, honey?" A sultry looking bar maid asked me, her plump red lips looking inviting. She twirled her brown hair in her finger, leaning towards me more to showcase her cleavage.

"Of what?" I teased back suggestively.

"Whatever you like." She drawled out with a thick New Yorker accent and winked at me, making her way up the stairs.

I had had plenty of one night stands in the past, but I hadn't realized this would be my last.

I was a wreck the next day from all the drinking I had done the night before. I had returned to Virginia to spend the weekend with my father. I hadn't been expecting Etta Foster to show up at our house that very night, desperate for a marriage proposal from me.

I hadn't been ready to give up my position as bachelor. I was living the high life, wasting away in saloons and sleeping with pretty girls every night.

"It isn't that terrible to be married." My older brother James had told me that night after Etta left.

I had run into his room in a panic over what I had done after she was gone. I knew I could always go to my brother about anything. Maybe he would help me get out of this jam.

He lifted a bottle poured me another whiskey, "She's Mr. Foster's gal, right?She's a pretty one." James slurred through the heaviness of the alcohol.

"I don't want to marry her." I scowled, leaning back in the creaky chair.

"Then why did you ask her to marry you?" James rolled his eyes in exasperation.

I sighed, looking out of the window. The sky was bright tonight with all of the stars. I sipped my whiskey, "I don't know."

"Well, I think it will do you good anyhow." James slid away his empty cup, placing his hands on his knees, forcing him self to stand. He clapped my shoulder. "You should try and get some rest."

I nodded, heading back to my room. In two days time, I would no longer be a bachelor. I wouldn't get to hang around with my friends at the local saloons and sleep with pretty girls and gamble away my father's money. I would have a family and responsibilities that I had never asked for.

So why had I said yes?

A/N
I surprisingly received a lot of positive feedback about you all wanting a sequel about Jeremiah and Winnie, so I will definitely get started on writing that. I already have some great plot ideas that I'm sure a lot of you are going to hate me for! Please don't come after me as an angry mob. 😂

Also I want to make Thursdays my official posting/publishing a new chapter day, so that you'll know each week when to look for it! Hopefully this will also help me space out my writing and leave time for me to really think out each chapter. Idk, I'm not a very organized person so we will see how long this lasts.

Shout outs for this chapter belong to:
@black_Zaime
@Regina144
@SpinningMyselfDizzy
@emeraldkins
@beiscrazy
@onipepe
@emilysklein

You are all so amazing and I couldn't do this without you!

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As Always
Stay Awesome Possums
Rosanna🌵🌸🌺