THE OUTLAW BRIDE
Page 20
"There is no baby," Elliot said softly, his head lowering. "That's for the record, folks. She's not pregnant after all, and I want to marry her anyway."
"She most certainly is pregnant," Chelsea said softly, her eyes on Esmeralda's, almost daring her to deny it. When Esmeralda said nothing, Chelsea went on, even as Elliot's eyes widened, and he searched her face. "We've never seen Elliot as happy as he's been since you came to us, you know."
"That's right," Jessi said. "I'm closer to him than anyone. And I'll admit, I was jealous as hell of you at first. But … but I love him. I want him happy. If you leave him, Esmeralda, it's gonna break his heart. And you love him. I know you do. It's plain as day." Jessi shook her head. "I just don't see what the problem is."
Esmeralda lifted her gaze, and she looked at the Brands all around her. "I guess … I have always believed that nothing is more important than family. And I thought I was not welcome in this one. I blame myself for that, not you."
There was a murmuring beyond the three women. Adam, Ben, Wes, Lash Monroe and Garrett leaned close to each other. Meanwhile, Taylor and Kirsten crowded closer, to stand beside the other three women. Taylor said, "I know I want you in this family. I mean, I study the past for a living. There's so much you can teach me. So much I want to talk to you about." Then she smiled and rubbed her own belly. "And our babies … they're going to be born so close to each other. They'll be best friends. Maybe … maybe their mothers will be, too."
Esmeralda could hardly speak. Kirsten reached out to take her hand. "Penny and I have discussed this, you know. And we both feel the same way. I owe Elliot a lot … he helped me through the hardest time of my life not too long ago. And I think you're the best thing that's ever happened to him."
Someone cleared his throat, and when Esmeralda looked up it was to see the Brand men gently moving their wives and sister aside as they crowded closer. Cars came and went behind Esmeralda. Other people passed, looking at the crowd of Brands oddly. None of them paid any mind. The women cleared a path, and soon the men all stood right in front of Esmeralda. Garrett gripped Elliot's arm and moved him front and center. And then Garrett said, "I heard you say that to marry a man is to marry his family," he told her. "So…" And then, at his nod, he and the other four men dropped to one knee. Those who were wearing hats swept them off, and together they all droned, "Esmeralda, will you marry us?"
"Say yes!" a voice yelled from a distance, and when she looked up, Esmeralda saw Penny Brand at her hospital-room window, a nurse at her side, smiling. She cradled her newborn in her arms.
Tears streaming down both cheeks now, Esmeralda looked up and directly into Elliot's eyes. "I cannot believe all this…"
"Is it true?" he asked her. "What Chelsea said, I mean. There really is a baby?"
"Sí," she said. "It is true. I … I didn't think you would let me leave if you knew."
"Hell, señorita, I wasn't plannin' to let you go either way." He slid his hat off, held it in his hands. "And at this point, I don't think the rest of them are going to, either." Tossing his hat aside, he took the little box out of his pocket once again, opened it and took the ring out. His brothers had all inexplicably started to hum some silly tune. "So, what do you say? Will you marry me?" Elliot asked.
Sniffling, dashing her tears, vaguely aware that passersby and traffic were now stopping to observe, and that doctors, nurses and patients were peering through every window, she nodded. "Sí, Elliot Brand. I will marry you!"
A full-volume Texas whoop went up from the surrounding Brands. Hats flew into the air. Hugs were exchanged. Horns blasted, and pedestrians applauded.
Elliot clasped her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. Then he got to his feet and swept her into his arms for the kiss she knew she would remember for the rest of her life.
Far away, an old oak tree stood with a recently acquired scar scuffing up its beautiful bark. At its feet were skid marks, bare earth showing through the green grass, left there by a distracted driver a little over a week ago, just before his pickup truck crashed into the tree's massive trunk. A few yards beyond the tree was a crystalline stream, and in the stream, resting upon a flat stone on the bottom, lay a crystal pendant cut in the shape of a skull. As the sun hit the pendant, it winked and gleamed beneath the water.
It had been resting in this very spot for several days now, but suddenly a shift of the current set it free. The water lifted the small stone pendant up, into its chill embrace, and the crystal skull tumbled and bobbed as it was swept away, downstream, toward the Gulf of Mexico.
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