•Tombstone• Brothers Under The Sun

Chapter 54

𝓓𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴

Church bells rang through the air, it bounced off the mountains and came back to the place where it started. The later afternoon air brought chills and a feeling of being lost.

Ellanora hadn't felt lost in over many months. She felt like she had a place in life. She was among the men of Tombstone, fighting for what she believed in. They were her brothers. They were her home.

She found friends in Emily, and her husband Kurt. Under some very extreme circumstances, she had become friends with them and found a home within their farm.

She was at home with Doc Holliday. He was everything to her. Now he was gone.

Ellanora stood over the grave of Doc and looked at the proper gravestone that marked his grave. Ellanora was pleased by the fact that he was the first person she loved that got a proper place to be out to rest. But a part of her longed for him to come back and kiss her again.

Her eyes slowly blinked down at the grave. The wind blew through the valley, as the other graves stood against time. Their names and people just like Doc. Visited by loved ones so they're not forgotten.

Virgil and Wyatt stood behind Elle as she looked down at the freshly cut dirt from Doc's burial.

"You didn't tell me you two had married." Wyatt said.

Elle smiled and nodded, "When Turkey Creek and Texas Jack left, that night before, he had proposed."

Wyatt laughed, "and you two never told me."

Elle turned to him and smiled, "We wanted it for us. We planned on coming to California but," she turned back to his grave, "he got sick so suddenly."

Virgil stood up next to the young women and looked down at the grave as well. "I knew you two would end up together."

Elle looked up to Virgil as he smiled at her, "You seem to know everything." She joked.

"Don't tell him that," Wyatt stood on the other side of Virgil, "It'll go to his head." Wyatt joked back.

Elle laughed at the two brothers and gazed back to the grave.

"He told me, before he passed." Elle started, "He wanted me to make something of myself. Wanted me to stop running and don't look back."

"Well, what are you going to do?" Virgil asked.

Elle looked up at the oldest Earp brother, smiling and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure."

"There's a position available in Colton." Virgil stated, Elle turned to him, "You could be deputy."

Elle looked to the horizon in front of them. Doc was placed up on a hill that overlooked the city where the hospital was. She wanted to take him back to his home of Griffin Georgia, but it was too far.

"Hm" Elle hummed a response.

"You know," Wyatt said breaking the silence, "he loved you very much." Elle turned to her friend, "He told me back in Tombstone, how his charm didn't seem to rub off on you. That you were worth trying to crack open."

Elle smiled at Wyatt, "He always told me he didn't believe in love." Elle said.

Wyatt shook his head. "He told me the same. But he told me, that when he met you, that love was real."

"Who knew Doc could be so warm hearted." Virgil joked.

Wyatt and Elle exchanged a smile at Virgil's word. "Before he died, he said the last time he was in love was when he was a teenager. He was in love with his first cousin. She joined a convent over the affair and he swore to never love again." Wyatt ran his hand over his moustache. "He met Kate and well she was just a distraction in some ways. He cared for her, but she didn't return the affection in the right ways."

Wyatt looked Elle straight in the eyes, "Doc believed in you. He always will."

Elle chocked back her tears. She was too tired to cry. She had cried all through the night, surprisingly she wasn't dehydrated at this point. But she just looked at Wyatt, a soft expression of understanding painted her face.

She had lost what she loved there in Colorado. She had enough heartbreak to last a lifetime, but she was still strong. That's who she was.

Elle pulled out the pistol from her hip. It was Doc's white pearled gun. She looked at it and saw his initials engraved on the side of the gun. Rubbing her thumb over it she sighed and swallowed her fears for the future.

In her hand, was a hat. Doc's hat. She placed the pistol back on her hip and looked at the hat. She smoothed it out with her hand and placed it on her head.

Looking out over the horizon, she didn't feel alone anymore. Yes, she had lost the man she loved, but she felt heavy with the love she held for him. Fiddling with the ring on her finger, she turned to the two Earp brothers and patted them on the shoulder.

"Let's go home." She said to them.

The two men smiled to each other and then back to the girl who walked between them. They passed other grave sights with flowers and little trinkets of memories. The names and dates not forgotten by lose who hurried them.

Once at the gate of the cemetery, Ellanora stopped. Turning back to the hill, she saw the sun setting behind the grave that held the name of her husband. It's shadow cast itself out on the path.

The air was warm and a breeze of belonging filled Elle's body. Birds chirped in the nearby trees as the sounds of the town seemed to fade away from the world. Elle only heard the wind in the trees, her own heartbeat, the birds. She only heard what was around her.

Holding her head up high, she took one last look at the memorial for her love. She took it in for as long as she could before turning away and walking down the busy street with the two Earp brothers.

She walked away from the cemetery, and never looked back.