Chapter Thirty

    Waves of pain washed over Elizabeth. She cried out and shook with the intensity, as it felt like her insides were ripping out of her. As the pain subsided slightly she leaned back against Brody's chest as he sat behind her in the bed and he ran his hands up and down her sweaty arms and kissed her hair. 

    "It'll be okay, cowgirl." he whispered. 

    Her jaw tightened as yet another pain began to build in her stomach and back, "That's easy for you to say! All you have to do is sit and watch!" she exclaimed and Susie shushed her patiently and ran a wet cloth across her forehead to cool her skin. 

    "Trust me, Elizabeth, if I could take the pain away, I would. This is killing me right now," Brody growled through clenched teeth as he laid his hands on her belly and felt the tightness as his child prepared to come into the world. 

    "I think it's about time to start pushing, Mrs. Atkinson." Doc Peterson said as he raised the thin sheet covering her and checked the progress.     Brody fought back the urge to kick the doctor right in the head but kept reminding himself that he was only looking at his wife's lower regions to help her give birth. 

    "Doc, I think you can call me Elizabeth. You're seeing more of me then even my husband does..." Elizabeth said as the pain eased again and she fought to catch her breath. 

    Doctor Peterson looked up at her and smiled while Susie blushed dark red and Brody chuckled. Leave it to his Elizabeth to be cracking jokes at a time like this. 

    "When you feel the next pain, Elizabeth, I want you to push." Elizabeth nodded as the doc pulled off his glasses and rolled up his shirt sleeves. Susie and Sally stood ready and waiting with warm towels. 

    Elizabeth gripped Brody's legs and bit her tongue to keep from screaming as the pain started again and she lowered her chin to her chest and pushed for all she was worth....

    Several pushes, a few screams, and two very bad bruises on Brody's thighs later and the sound of a baby crying filled the tiny room. 

    "Congratulations!" Doctor Peterson declared as he handed the baby to Sally and turned a happy gaze to Elizabeth and Brody, "You have a son."     Brody felt his chest swell with pride but before Sally had the baby cleaned up Elizabeth cried out again, "Doc, I'm not done yet!" she exclaimed and the doctor quickly disappeared back under the sheet. 

    Brody was sure he'd never be able to walk again after the havoc Elizabeth's hands had wreaked on his legs as the sounds of a second baby crying filled the air. 

    "Congratulations!" Doctor Peterson exclaimed yet again, handing this baby to Susie. "A pretty little girl." 

    "I told you it was twins!" Sally exclaimed happily. Sally and Susie laid the babies in Elizabeth's waiting arms and then quickly left the room to give them privacy. 

    "I'll be back out in the morning to check on everyone," Doctor Peterson said. "If you have any problems just send someone into town to get me." 

    "What kinds of problems?" Brody asked with just a touch of panic.     Elizabeth turned her head and kissed his stubble covered cheek, "Thank you, doc." she said and the doctor smiled and left the room, closing the door behind him. 

    "Look at what we made," Brody said in awe as he stared down at his dark haired son and daughter both sound asleep in his wife's arms. 

    "We did good," Elizabeth agreed sleepily as she leaned against him.     Brody smiled and kissed her hair, before sliding himself out from behind her and helping her get adjusted on the bed with the babies cradled against her. 

    "Get some sleep beautiful," he urged gently.

    "What are we going to name them?" she asked as she fought to keep her eyelids from closing. 

    "Bryant and Lexi?" he offered. Elizabeth thought for a moment and then smiled as she nodded. 

    "Bryant and Lexi," she agreed. Brody kissed her head one last time and then walked from the room, shutting the door silently behind him. 

    "How is she?" Jacob asked as Brody walked out on the porch and struck his match across his cheek to light his cigarette. 

    "Sleeping." Brody replied and Jacob could see the pride in the smile on Brody's face. 

    "Still lighting your matches the same way, I see," he stated.

     Brody nodded, "Yep." 

    "Before they ran to the garden to get busy with their chores, Susie and Sally informed me that I have a new niece and nephew." 

    "Yep," Brody's smile grew, "I did pretty good considering we were only together a few days before I 'died'." 

    Jacob laughed. The two brothers had gotten closer over the last three months. While they still disagreed on the main philosophies of life, they had found that the friendship they'd had as teenagers was slowly coming back to them. 

    "You ready to be a pa?" Jacob asked as he leaned against the porch banister and looked out over the mountains surrounding them. 

    "Kinda late to back out now, ain't it?" Brody replied as he took a long draw off his cigarette. 

    Jacob nodded, "Yeah, I guess it is." 

    They stood there in silence for several long moments and then finally Brody put his cigarette out on the sole of his boot and sighed, "So, have you decided what you're doing?" 

    "About what?" Jacob replied, running his hand through his short brown hair. 

    "Just as soon as the boss is feeling up to it, we'll be heading back to Texas. Are you coming or not?" 

    Jacob gripped the porch banister and looked deep in thought for a moment and Brody crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot with impatience. He had better things to do then wait on his indecisive brother to make a decision. How long did it take to make a damn decision? The man had had three months! 

    "Brody, we aren't ever going to see eye to eye on most things. We'll always fight, butt heads and argue," Jacob warned. 

    "Yeah, we will," Brody agreed. 

    "Susie and Sally want to come and I just can't see any reason to stay here by myself. No matter what we disagree about, we're brothers and I love you. I love Liz too and those two sleeping babies in there are my niece and nephew. Our family has been separated long enough, so if going to Texas and learning how to work on a ranch is what I have to do to keep up together, then that's what I'll do." 

    Brody nodded, "Glad to hear it," he said simply and then he walked off the porch, only to turn at the last minute and look back at his brother, "I'm sorry I took off back then, Jacob, and even sorrier that it took me so long to come home. I know my money over the years probably didn't help much but trust me when I tell you that you wouldn't have wanted me here. Not with all the hate and rage I had. You're stronger than me. You're like pa. It takes a strong man to simply carry on with his life and hold his family together after something like that happens. You did a  damn good job with the girls." 

    Jacob stood there in shock and before he could say anything in response, Brody turned and walked away toward the barn to get some work done. 

One Month Later

    The stage pulled to a stop in Bakerstown and one by one the family climbed out. Thomas was waiting on the boardwalk for them. 

    "Thomas!" Sallie exclaimed as she handed Bryant back to Elizabeth and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "I missed you!" 

    "It's only been four months." Thomas mumbled as he pried her thin arms from his neck and moved her aside. He turned his attention to Elizabeth and Brody who were each holding a baby, "Well I'll be damned. It was two of them!" 

    "Yes and they are tired and cranky and ready to be home," Brody grumbled. 

    "Just like their pa," Elizabeth added. 

    "Well let's go then. I've got the wagon sitting down there waiting on you and I brought a couple of extra horses for the men, and Elizabeth, to ride." Susie and Sally climbed into the wagon and held the sleeping infants in their laps. 

    Thomas was about to climb up but Brody grabbed him and pulled him to the side as Elizabeth and Jacob mounted their horses, "What about Sheriff Willie? I didn't exactly make friends with him before I left town last time." Brody said, looking around and laying his hand on his gun. He'd be more than happy to kill the man now if he was going to be a threat to his family.    

    "He's gone. Word about what you did to him got around and he threw down his badge and left. I guess he was too embarrassed to stick around." Brody nodded and was about to turn back to go get on a horse when Thomas grabbed his arm, "You should know something else," he said. 

    "What?" 

    "Your reputation got around... Most people actually approve of what you did because they knew what Braxton had done. This town doesn't have a lawman anymore and most folks have been hoping you'd come back and take over that job." 

    "You mean I'd be able to shoot people and it would be perfectly legal?" Brody asked with a grin.

     Thomas laughed, "More or less." 

    Brody let out a long breath and shrugged, "Ya gotta have an election to become Sheriff."

    "They'd elect you, Brody. They want you." 

     Brody shook his head and patted Thomas on the back, "I'll talk to the boss about it." 

    Thomas nodded and Brody turned and mounted his horse while Thomas climbed up between Susie and Sally on the wagon and took the reigns. 

    "What was that about?" Elizabeth asked her husband. 

    "We'll talk later," he promised. 

    The family started out of town and stopped suddenly when a yell rang out behind them, "Brody Atkinson!" Brody turned in the saddle to see Willie standing outside the saloon. The man dirty, unkempt and weaving with drunkenness as he pointed his gun at Brody's family. 

    Brody glared at Thomas, "I thought he was gone?" 

     Thomas shrugged, "He was." 

    "Put that gun away, Willie," Brody warned, turning his horse.

    "You killed my brother! And branded his head before you shot him, you sick bastard!" 

    "Then put the gun down, let my family ride away and then you and I can settle this like men," Brody said calmly. 

    Jacob was scared as he watched that gun of Willie's bounce from each member of the family to another, even the babies. He looked at Brody and Elizabeth to see if they were as scared as he was but Elizabeth was watching Brody and Brody was sitting relaxed as could be on his horse. He looked as if he was just having a nice conversation with an old friend about the weather as he kept his arms draped over his legs and the reigns held loosely in his hands.  

    "Go to hell, Brody! You made a fool of me!" Willie pulled the trigger and a hole appeared in the wagon just below Sally's feet. Thomas fought to keep the horses from bolting as he asked her if she was okay. 

    Brody growled and as Willie squinted and cocked his gun for another shot, Brody pulled his own revolver, quicker than anyone could blink, and placed one quick shot straight through the drunk, ex law man's heart. 

    "You okay, Sally?" he asked as he holstered his gun. 

    "Yeah," she said shakily as she tried to comfort the screaming infant in her arms. 

    "Let's go home," Brody said and without another word about it, he turned and started back down the road. 

***

    "Thomas outdid himself," Elizabeth said as she and Brody lay together in bed late that night. "This house is beautiful." 

    "He actually decorated it pretty nice. Makes me worry a little about the man. No man should know how to match curtains and bedspreads."     Elizabeth smiled and they lie there listening to the silence as their babies slept soundly in their cradles, "Jacob and the girls seemed to like the ranch house," Elizabeth said finally. Brody nodded as he ran his fingers up and down her bare arm. "LeRoy seems like a nice man as well," she added.  

    "He is, I suppose. He kept telling me that killing people was wrong when I was on my trail of vengeance and I just about shot him just cuz I didn't want to hear it." 

    "That's over now, Brody. All the danger is over," she said with relief in her voice. 

    "I need to talk to you about something." 

    "What?' Elizabeth asked warily. She didn't like the way his voice sounded. 

    "That man in town..." 

    "I know who and what Willie was," Elizabeth said with disgust. 

    "It made me see that Thomas was right. This town needs a good lawman. Somebody who will keep people like that from hurting innocent folks." 

    'What does that have to do with us?" Elizabeth asked, hoping that he wasn't about to say what she thought he was about to say. 

    "The town wants me and I'm gonna accept the job as sheriff." 

    "You're what?!" Elizabeth demanded and then she remembered that the babies were sleeping, "You're what?" she repeated more quietly. 

    Brody shifted on the mattress, "I'd make a good one, I think."  

    "I have no doubts that you would make an excellent sheriff, Brody, but your life would be in danger all the time! I can't go through that...." 

    "What do you mean, you can't? The strong, independent, tough as nails, Elizabeth McCready-Atkinson, can do anything that she sets her mind to do." he boasted as he smoothed her hair. "And my life won't be in danger all the time. From what I've heard trouble almost never happens around here." 

    "Brody, if you died..." 

    "I'm not gonna die, Elizabeth. Not for a good sixy years or longer." 

    "But..." 

    "Hush woman," Brody said sternly and her stubborn chin jutted out. "Until you see me actually placed in a grave and dirt being thrown in my face, I don't ever want you to believe that I'm gone again. I done told you once that no amount of bullets would take me away from you." 

    "Same goes for you," Elizabeth snapped. "Don't believe I'm gone until you see me.." 

    "Shut-up," Brody interrupted harshly and then he squeezed her tight and kissed her lips with so much passion and desperation, it stole her breath. He pulled away and shivered, "I don't even want to picture that."    

    "Sheriff Brody Atkinson." Elizabeth mused with a half smile. 

    "You'll support me?" he asked. 

    She shrugged, "I don't have a choice." 

    "Yes you do. I wouldn't take the job if you really didn't want me to. You're the boss, remember?"

     Elizabeth smiled and snuggled closer to him, laying her head against his chest, "As your boss I will support you on one condition." 

    She heard him smile, "What condition is that?" 

    'That you keep your word about the sixty plus years we've got left together." 

    Brody kissed her hair and gripped her tight, "Yes ma'am."

A/N: the next story in this series is 'Breaking Jacob'