Breaking the Rules (1st in Breaking Series)

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-Two

"So where are we going?" Thomas asked at dawn the next morning as the two of them sat beside the small campfire and munched on the jerked beef he'd brought along in his saddlebag.

Elizabeth laid her hand over her stomach and shrugged as she stared sadly into the fire, "I don't know."

"Well you can't go back to the ranch that's for sure."

"Is my pa really dead?" she asked softly.

"I'm afraid so Miss Mcr... Mrs. Atkinson," he replied awkwardly.

"Elizabeth. Call me Elizabeth. If there was one thing Brody made me realize, it was that I was a bit of a bitch."

"No ma'am." Thomas argued. "You just had to show everyone that you were the boss."

Elizabeth gave him a small half smile, "Thanks for being nice."

She picked up a stick and poked at the fire while trying to think of where she could possibly go. According to Grant, the entire world, other than Grant, Thomas and Rene, thought that Elizabeth McCready-Atkinson was dead, "I don't have anywhere to go, Thomas. I don't have any family left."

Thomas thought for a moment and then shifted positions and leaned back against the tree behind him, "What about Brody's family? If y'all was married then they're your family now too."

Elizabeth hadn't thought of that before and at first she felt a sliver of hope but then shook her head, "I have no proof that I was Brody's wife. The preacher gave us the signed paper but Brody had it and when they..... When they shot him, I...." Her voice broke slightly and she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. The only man who had ever seen her cry was Brody and she didn't like looking weak.

"You saw him get killed?" Thomas demanded with shock. He hadn't realized that she had witnessed the murder and suddenly her broken spirit made perfect sense. Who wouldn't be broken after seeing the person they loved be gunned down?

Elizabeth felt tears sting her eyes and blinked them back, only to find that when she closed her eyes she saw that bullet tearing into Brody's broad chest. She heard him yelling desperately at her to run. She saw him throwing himself in front of Petey to keep the second bullet, that was meant for her, from finding its mark.

"It was horrible," she choked out and her chin began to quiver with the effort she was using to hold back her tears. "They shot him three times, and still he tried to fight them. Then they kicked him, they kicked him while he was helpless. What kind of monsters do that?!"

"The bad kind," Thomas offered.

"He died for me, Thomas," Elizabeth needed to get all of this out. She needed to let out her tears and her pain. She needed to share her sorrow with someone else.

Thomas was startled by her sudden tears. Elizabeth had always been icy, proud and hard. This sudden feminine show of emotion had him feeling as uncomfortable and awkward as a cowboy caught naked at the rodeo.

"He wanted me to run," Elizabeth whispered as she swiped desperately at her cheeks to dry them, only to have them become drenched again by the new tears. "He was gonna use his body to shield me and fight them men off long enough for me to get away. But I couldn't run.. I wanted to save him! It's my fault he's dead... He died because he was with me..." Elizabeth broke down into heart wrenching sobs that shook her whole body and Thomas knew he had to do something to comfort her. So he did the only thing that any man could do when a woman was overcome with tears.