Chapter Thirty-Three

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes as she dropped to her knees beside her unconscious husband. "He keeps doing this today and it's your fault, pa."

Marston frowned as he held up his hands. "What the devil did I do?"

"You're big and you're scary and he's convinced that you're going to kill him for getting me with child."

"Well that's damn near the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life. I didn't kill the boy for doing what he did with you under my own damn roof so why would I kill him for doing it under his own?" Marston demanded.

Kaitlyn patted Pete's cheeks and his eyes fluttered open. "Dammit, did I do it again?" he demanded, leaping back to his feet and helping Kaitlyn to hers.

"Yes, you did," Kaitlyn replied sharply.

When Marston stood up, Pete swallowed hard. "So I'm gonna be a granddad huh?"

Pete could only manage to nod. Marston stared hard at him for several long moments and Kaitlyn could feel her bones nearly being crushed in the grip Pete had on her hand. Then Marston smiled and wrapped Pete in a bone crushing hug. He patted his back hard enough to loosen a lung. "That's damned great!"

The kitchen erupted with congratulations. Rose hugged her daughter. "This is wonderful."

"Two pregnant women in the family at once." Jeremiah shook his head. "There must be something in the water. Delilah, you better watch what you drink."

"Question," Duke stated. "Who helps the doctor have a baby?"

"I'm a midwife, or at least I was for a time," Carol admitted quietly. "I brought a few babies into this world before deciding it was too painful."

Her cheeks colored and she stared down at her hands. Duke wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple. "I would give you a house full of youngins if I could. That'll always be my biggest regret." His voice was low and only for her. Carol nodded and leaned into him.

"Kaitlyn has a baby in her belly now too?" Lucy asked.

Rose nodded. "That's right, sweetie."

"Will everybody still have time for me?"

Marston grinned as he reached across the table and tousled her dark curls. "Of course we will, nugget. And you'll have the important job of helping teach the new babies right from wrong."

"And how to wrap your pa around their finger like you did," Jeremiah added.

Lucy smiled brightly. "That's easy! I can teach them that."

Rose smiled at the sight of her family together and joyous... all that was missing was Langley. She wished he was here and happy.

As if speaking of him made him appear, Langley stepped into the kitchen with a young woman at his side. The woman's buckskin pants and boots were trail worn. Her gray blouse and brown vest had also seen better days. She had wild hair streaked with gold and a gun on her hips. Her violet eyes were scanning the room as she rubbed at the cleft in her chin with one hand and gripped Langley's hand with the other.

Rose's eyes narrowed. "Who is that?"

"Everyone," Langley began, his chest swelling with pride. "This is Jessie."

The kitchen remained silent as Rose crossed her arms over her chest. "Really?" she hissed.

"Yes," Langley replied. He sent a warning gaze toward his mother. "And I want to let you all know that she's agreed to marry me."

Kaitlyn smiled far too brightly. "That's great! Isn't that great, mama? Everyone?"

"Yeah, that's great," Rose stated, her voice flat.

"Well let me guess, you all will want to live here too?" Marston asked, giving Rose a moment to settle down. "Why the hell not? We run the most welcoming halfway house, soup kitchen this side of the Mississippi." He stood and went to Rose and wrapped an arm around her tense shoulders before holding out a hand to Jessie.

"Nice to meet you again. I believe we met once when you were about this tall." He indicated his hip. "Your pa and I knew each other fairly well."

"Yes I remember," Jessie replied, recalling that her father's jaw had popped for a solid month after the punch Marston had delivered to it. Marston wasn't as frightening as she remembered. He was big and rough around the edges but Jessie had been around that kind of man for her entire life.... What she was scared damn near to death of was the soft-bodied red-head currently eying her with murder in her blue eyes and looking ready to pounce. From what Langley had said about his mama she was all softness and light...... but she was sure looking at Jessie as if she wanted to do nothing more than rip her head clean off her shoulders.

"Well come on and eat with us," Marston urged, frowning at his wife. "It's a good thing you came back to Langley. We wouldn't have been able to put up with his moping ass for much longer."

Jessie saw Langley's ears turn red as he led her to the table and everyone resumed their meal.

Delilah studied Marston. "Am I right in guessing that that was one of those instances when the word backside simply wouldn't have gotten your point across?"

Marston grinned. "You guess correctly."

Jessie felt awkward as hell as she sat at the table and attempted to eat the meal with the family. Family meals were something she'd never been part of. Most of this family seemed warm and welcoming and it helped that she knew Jeremiah—but the daggers being thrown her way by Langley's mother had her tense and on edge.

Rose stared at Jessie as if she were the enemy and, honestly, Jessie couldn't blame her. Jessie was the woman who had broken her son's heart and now suddenly she was sitting in her kitchen with no explanations. Jessie assumed protectiveness was a trait every good mother possessed and Rose seemed to have it in spades.

When the meal was finished, Marston stood. "Well it's time for me to head to work. You coming back to the shop today?" he asked Langley.

"Yeah. I need to finish up what I was working on and take Jessie back to Kaitlyn's house. She's staying there until we find someone to marry us."

Langley stood and Jessie followed suit. Delilah smiled at them. "I can perform the ceremony."

"That'd be great." Langley took Jessie hand and grinned. "Guess that means you gotta get to planning a wedding."

Jessie shook her head. "I'm not much on fancy dresses and flowers. Not much into ceremonies either. All I need is you."

Langley kissed her head and a snort from Rose followed by the sound of a plate crashing into the sink had them separating quickly. It didn't take long for the tension in the kitchen to clear it out and just as Langley was leading Jessie out as well, Rose turned. "Langley, can I speak with you a moment?"

Langley sighed and thought about saying no. The looks he received from Marston and Jessie had him changing his mind. "Alight mama." Marston and Jessie left the room, leaving them alone. "What is it?" Langley asked.

Rose threw down the small towel in her hand. "That woman has broken your heart more than once and now she comes back and you're going to marry her? Just like that?"

"Yes, mama. I'm going to marry her just like that."

Rose sent a gaze up to the ceiling before returning her eyes to her son. "Why would you that? The very least you should do is take your time and move slow with such an unstable woman."

Langley took her hands in his and shook his head. "Mama, I love and respect you very much. You are an amazingly strong woman and a great mother. This is my decision. Jessie loves me and I love her. I don't want to waste time waiting."

"But it's not waste," Rose insisted.

Langley smiled. "Did you wait with pa? No, you didn't. You gave him your whole heart right from the start and you didn't worry about what might happen. You and pa showed me how great love can be if we focus on forgiveness and happiness instead of anger, worries and doubts. Could Jessie break my heart all over again? Yes, she could. Would it kill me if I lost her? It would come pretty darn close. But that's a chance I'm willing to take. She's worth it." He squeezed his mama's hands. "And I'm really hoping my mother will support me."

"Your pa is right," Rose whispered thickly. "You talk too much." She hugged him tight and buried her face in his chest. "How did you get so wise?"

"I had a good teacher," he replied, kissing her hair. "I know you don't trust Jessie but I do. She's had a hard life. She's kind of like pa and duke in a lot of ways only she slimmer and she has breasts."

Rose laughed and pulled away, swatting his arm sharply. "I don't need to hear about those," she scolded. Her expression softened. "Okay. If you want my support, you have it. I love you, Langley. You're my son and I'll stand behind you in whatever you do."

"Thank you, mama," he replied before flashing her the best puppy dog grin he could muster. It had always worked wonders as a child.

Rose rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"For you to talk to Jessie. You need to let her know that you don't want her dead."

"Why in the world would I have to tell her that?" Rose demanded. "I don't want the woman dead and she shouldn't think I do."

"Really?" Langley frowned. "Because it seemed as if you were wishing you'd had time to poison her eggs at breakfast."

Rose blushed. "The thought had never crossed my mind."

"Will you talk to her?"

"Yes." Rose sighed. "I'll talk to her."

Langley and Rose stepped out of the house to find Jessie using her whip to knock icicles from the eaves of the barn. "You're damn good with that thing," Marston admitted.

Jeremiah had a pitch fork in his hand as he leaned against the barn door. "Have you actually used that on men before?"

"I didn't get it for horses," Jessie assured him. "Sometimes men get ideas about how they can treat a lady and this trusty friend of mine has a way of changing their mind."

Rose's voice was haunted. "Whips have a way of changing anyone's mind."

Jessie quickly tossed the weapon to Langley. "Yes, ma'am."

Rose beckoned with her hand. "Can you come inside with me a moment? I want to speak with you but it's too cold out here."

Jessie threw a panicked glance toward Langley but he nodded. She swallowed hard. "Sure."

She followed Rose into the house and the woman led her to the kitchen where she stood in front of the heat from the cook stove. "I'm sure you're a smart enough woman to know why I have reservations about you being with my son."

Jessie nodded. "Yeah, I understand. I hurt him real bad but I want you to know that I hurt myself just as bad. I won't make that mistake again."

"Are you sure about that? Because you hurt him more than once," Rose reminded her gently.

Jessie shoved her hands in her pockets. "I'm sure. You raised a good man. He's funny, kind, caring, forgiving, strong and protective. I love him. He tends to talk a bit too much but I reckon I don't mind too much since I usually like hearing what he has to say."

Rose studied her a moment before stepping forward and wrapping her in a warm hug. Jessie was stiff against her and her chest tightened with emotion. She had never had this kind of hug before. Was this what a motherly hug felt like? If it was then Jessie wanted more of them.

"Welcome to the family," Rose said as she pulled away.

"Thank you." Jessie cleared her throat. "I've never been part of a real family before."

"Most of us here hadn't been part of a real family before this one formed. It's a nice place to be. We fight, yell and some of us tend to curse a bit too much. Not a day goes by when there's not some form of violence between Jeremiah and Marston. Each of us has more than a few skeletons in our closets. But we love one another and we have each other's backs. We'll have yours too."

"Thank you, Rose," Jessie offered sincerely.

Rose shook her head. "No, Jessie, thank you. Thank you for making my son smile again."

***

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," Delilah announced with a smile.

Langley gazed down at his beautiful wife and wasted no time before doing just that. The family clapped as they stood on the boardwalk in the middle of town.

Jessie had refused to have a real wedding and insisted she only wanted a small ceremony. Langley had grudgingly agreed but he had wanted to surprise her and so he and the family had ambushed her only two days after she'd come back into his life.

In true Jessie fashion, she'd been both furious and overjoyed all at the same time. Now here they were, a newly married couple. Her in her buckskin pants and a black blouse and him, with dirt and gun oil smeared across his face and clothes.

"I love you, Langley. Thank you for this," Jessie said, glancing around at the smiling faces of her new family.

"You deserve to be in the spotlight and since you refused a wedding I figured this was the next best thing," Langley admitted. "We're gonna make this work, Jessie, because love is for people like us."

"Yes it is," she agreed and Langley kissed her nose.

"You two better be careful. There's something in the water around here and you're liable to end up parents," Jeremiah warned.

Langley laughed. "I'm gonna work real hard at it," he said with a wink as he wrapped his arm around Jessie who flushed bright red.

Marston grumbled and shook his head. "I'm just glad Pete stopped fainting every damn time he sees me." He chuckled. "I sure never figured the man for a coward."

"I ain't a coward," Pete countered. "I just am real attached to my teeth and I figured you'd knock a few loose."

"I took a damn bullet for you, Pete. Why would you think I'd kill you now?"

"I thought you tripped and fell into that bullet," Jeremiah reminded him.

Marston glared. "Do I need to punch you again?"

Jeremiah took a step back. "Nope. Sure don't."

"You ready to get away from this brain addled family and spend a few days locked up in a hotel with your husband?" Langley whispered, leading Jessie a few feet away from the bickering brother's.

"Days?" she asked, feeling herself tremble at the thought.

"Days."

Jessie couldn't wait to have him to herself and feel him inside her again. They hadn't made love since she'd returned to town. "Well let's get going then, outlaw," she urged as he led her across the street.

Langley took her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. "I'm not an outlaw," he countered as he pulled away, breathing faster. "I'm a gunsmith."