Give My Love to Rose(1st in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Thirty-Three

           

Chapter Thirty-Three

    Jeremiah was up with the dawn the next morning after a sleepless night in the rickety rocking chair on the porch of Rose's ramshackle cabin. Jeremiah jabbed his fingertips into his temples and rubbed hard as if hoping he could stop his mind from thinking. 

    He had failed his little brother. 

    No matter how many times the duo had stolen from one another, hurt one another, cursed each other's souls to the fiery pits of hell—Jeremiah loved his brother with all his heart. Marston might have been the larger of the brother's but Jeremiah had been older and it had been his duty to see his brother stayed safe... 

    Now Marston was going to hang. 

    Jeremiah gripped the arms of the rocking chair until splinters pierced his skin. He had wanted to leave last night, to go to Marston, but Duke had forced him to stay here, reminding him that Marston would want his wife and children looked after and kept safe. 

    Did Jeremiah want an instant family? Hell no. But he owed it to Marston to at least get them to the Dakotas and settled into their new home and so that's what he was going to do. 

    Jeremiah stood slowly and stretched his stiff and aching back as he looked out over the dew covered grass and misty woods. Part of Jeremiah wanted to stay right here and face Vincent down whenever the man showed up. But facing down Vincent, his brother and whatever men they had with them would do nothing other than possibly get Rose and the children hurt or killed and that was something that would bring Marston out of his grave and looking to bring Jeremiah back to hell with him. 

    What Jeremiah hated the most about this whole mess was that Marston was going to go down with a rope around his neck and a bag over his head. Marston deserved an outlaws death. He deserved to die standing toe to toe with the law and his gun blazing. He deserved to have his heart cease beating as he fell to the ground in a pool of blood that wasn't only his. 

    Marston didn't deserve to go down as a broken necked spectacle. Then again, maybe his neck wouldn't break and he would slowly choke to death as his body twitched, his tongue swelled and his face turned blue....

    The horribly detailed scene in Jeremiah's head was cut short when Rose burst from the cabin. She ran to the outhouse and slammed the door as she disappeared inside. Jeremiah heard her losing her stomach inside and wondered what he was supposed to do. He wasn't any damn good at taking care of someone. 

    Marston would have probably gone to her and held her hair back but that wasn't Jeremiah's way so he simply stood on the porch and shifted his feet as he waited for her to come out. It took nearly ten minutes and her face was a nice shade of green. 

    Rose wiped the sleeve of her worn dress across her mouth and attempted to smooth her messy red curls which were contrasting sharply against her pallor. 

    "You gonna make it?" Jeremiah quipped. 

    Rose's head snapped up and the glare her blue eyes fixed him with had him backpeddling. "I mean.. uh... are you okay?" 

    She nodded but instead of softening her gaze simply turned sad. "I'll be fine." 

    It was Jeremiah's turn to nod as he headed toward the door. "Good. Come in and cook us some breakfast and then we'll get everything packed up and head out." 

    Rose stomped bare foot across the damp grass and shoved past Jeremiah as she strode into the cabin. She felt like death warmed over but that wasn't stopping Jeremiah from barking out orders. He still expected her to cook and pack!