Breaking the Rules (1st in Breaking Series)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"I'll do it, pa. I'll marry Grant." Elizabeth said, her voice strong and clear as she stood ram rod straight and squared her shoulders.

Ernest looked at her with shock from where he sat at his desk, "You will?" Elizabeth nodded, while keeping her neck so stiff he worried it might snap, "Thank God you saw reason!" he exclaimed as he stood and came around the desk. "Grant should be here in a few hours, he'll be so happy."

"The man hasn't even asked me yet."

"I told him not to ask you until I got you to agree because I knew you'd tell him no," Ernest smiled happily. "I'm so pleased!"

He tried to hug her but she stepped out of his reach and shook her head, "At least one of us is happy. I'm just doing this so I can have my ranch." She turned on her heel and walked downstairs to the kitchen where Anita had eggs, bacon, bread, fresh fruit and coffee waiting.

"Sit down and eat, sweetie," Anita said gently. "You look as if you didn't get much sleep."

Elizabeth shook her head and frowned, "I didn't get any sleep. I just laid awake and thought of what it would be like to be married to Grant.... Let's just say I was too afraid of nightmares to close my eyes." She thought of the way his lips had been cold and wet when he'd kissed her knuckles. Would they feel the same way against her lips? She shivered at the thought. Anita poured her a cup of coffee and Elizabeth saw the way the old woman's hands were shaking, "Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked as she took the cup of coffee.

Anita nodded and wrapped her hands in her apron to still them, "Of course. I just don't like knowing that you and your pa are fighting is all," she replied.

Elizabeth shrugged and after taking a drink of coffee said, "We're not fighting anymore. He won." She grabbed a few strips of bacon in her hand and headed for the door.

"Elizabeth," Anita called and Elizabeth turned to look at her. "Braxton said to get started on the far east pasture today if you can. He had Wendell and Kent out there yesterday but they didn't get much done." Elizabeth nodded, "Okay." She knew that Brody and Thomas could handle the south pasture just fine and quite frankly she was in no mood to deal with Brody today. Not after what he had said yesterday evening.

"And Elizabeth...."

"What?" she asked, wondering why the old woman was acting so strangely.

"I love you, sweetie."

"I love you too, Anita," she replied. She sat her half filled coffee cup on the counter and went out the back door. She munched on the bacon as she walked to the river.

She crouched down beside the gently flowing water and stared into its peaceful depths. Why couldn't life be like this river? Peaceful and tranquil. If it was, she would still have her mother, her father would not be dying, she would not be being forced to marry a man she didn't love and the ranch would be hers with or without her name on a marriage certificate.

Elizabeth let out an irritated growl and picked up a large rock, throwing it with all her might down into the water. She smiled at the waves and ripples that formed and splashed against the banks, turning the peaceful water into raging chaos for a few moments. The river would never get the droplets of its water back that had splashed on the bank. It was forever changed. Forever a bit less than it was. That was real life. One moment things were perfect and the very next they fell apart and you never got back to what you were before.

"If you're trying to skip rocks, you're going about it the wrong way." Elizabeth turned to see Brody standing behind her with that typical confident, wide-legged stance and his thumbs in his belt loops. She squinted up at his face, which was impossible to see clearly because of the sunlight behind his head and the shadow his hat created.