“Sweetheart, you’re going to make yourself ill,” a voice rasped in my ear, as a big hand rubbed up and down my back, trying to calm me down.
Another voice joined it, asking over my head, “Are these sad tears or happy tears?”
“They’re h..h… happy ones,” I croaked, the sobs making it difficult to get the words out. “I wanted this for him so badly, and now he has it all,” I wailed, pushing my face back into the lumpy chest.
Just as I was starting to calm down, I was passed into a different set of arms, my brother’s. “You got snot on the po-po, Rosie,” Ellis croaked, the words only just audible through the pips and squeaks that made up his normal voice, making me laugh. Just so he didn’t feel left out, I picked up a handful of his t-shirt and wiped my nose. It was a sibling thing – we could do that shit.
When he glared at me, I shrugged, “What you gonna do? Yell at me?”
A voice saying, “Congratulations, Auntie,” beside me, almost had the tears coming back, but I managed to grow a set of vagina balls, and popped them in the sacks to cry later.
Letting go of my brother, I threw my arms around Jose. “Congratulations, maw maw. I’m so freaking happy for you guys.”
Pulling back so that I could look at her, I saw something I hadn’t seen on her face before now – bliss and peace. She had bliss before because of her beautiful daughter, but now she had peace, like everything she could ever dream of was coming true.
“Yeah, we’re pretty happy about it, too,” she agreed, looking over at Ellis. “In fact, your brother was so happy, he screamed it to the world and messed up his voice. So, now I have great news to celebrate, and I don’t have to listen to him bitching at me about what I can and can’t do. This is the best day of my life,” she crowed. Looking over my shoulder, she went to say something to Raoul and Garrett, and then glanced quickly at me. What followed was the world’s most comical double take as she stared at something on my forehead. “Well, I’ve heard about branding someone, and seeing as how he’s a pussy when it comes to tattoos I knew it would be you who’d be getting branded,” she said, aiming the last part at me. “But that’s a new one.”
Looking at the others to see if they knew what she was talking about, I saw how confused they all looked until they saw my face. Ellis growled and then glared at Raoul, Raoul looked oddly pleased with himself, and Garrett burst out laughing again.
“What is it?” I asked, rubbing my face. I wasn’t wearing makeup today, so I couldn’t have cried it off, but what if I’d gotten pen or something on me?
Pulling out her phone, Jose snapped a photo and then turned the screen to show me. “There you go, you’ve been branded by the deputy himself.”
And sure enough, I had the word ‘Deputy’ on my forehead from where I’d pressed my face into his chest when I was crying. Apparently, the sharp object that had been cutting into me had been his badge. This also meant that my semi-secret was out, and Ellis knew what was going on between us.
Thankfully, we were interrupted by some others joining us and passing on their congratulations to them both, so he was distracted from it. That was until Tabby and DB walked up, caught sight of it and both burst out laughing. And then, the turkey flapped its wings and screeched words that no one understood – not even Tom Townsend, who actually had a pet turkey. Taking Liv from Garrett – whom I assume she’d been passed to during my crying jag – I held her out to her daddy, instantly calming him down.
“I love you,” I whispered over her head. “But if you mess this up for me, I’ll cut your balls off and beat you with them,” I warned, giving him the sweet smile I always used when we were kids.
With a sigh, he pulled me into his side with his free arm, doing his best to squeeze the air out of my lungs as he did it. I think he said, “I love you, Rosie,” but it was hard to tell given the state his voice was in.
Looking back over at where Raoul was now talking to DB, Tabby, and a couple of the Townsends, I smiled. I had no idea what the future held with this man - I didn’t even know what we were to each other - but I was happy. The last week had been heavy, worrying about Tana, worrying about Chad, dealing with the fact I’d been punched in the face by Big Foot, and everything in between. There was something about baby news that gave life a fresh slate, and I was kind of hoping this was it.