Sacred Burial Grounds (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 2)) (58 page)

He made the choice
to give it one day, and if it didn’t pan out, he would move north and maybe look for new hunting land. Tonight, he would set his snares and prepare for the next twenty four hours of stalking his winter’s food supply. Already, he could picture the fresh jerky and freezer packed full of meat and it gave him comfort.

He sat back in the brush he usually
used as his vantage point, and just practiced being patient. Something would cross his path if he just waited long enough.

                      
     *     *     *

Elizabeth couldn’t help but smile.

She was surrounded by the three sweetest men she had ever met in her entire life. That she was sure was a genetic trait. First was Timothy, so happy to see his grandson was doing so well in his life. He was amazed by the size of his home
, and his only comment was that they needed to fill it with plenty of Blackhawk warriors.

Next was her brother-in-law, Callen. He laughed just like her husband and had the same infectious grin. When he was in the kitchen with his broth
er, they were both free spirits and weren’t inhibited at all.

Last
ly, was her husband. If she could stare at him for the rest of her life, she’d do it. His eyes sparkled and his hair was down. This time he did it himself, instead of her having to always pull it free. Just the happiness in his voice made her want to weep. He had his family back, and he had a big piece of his heart back with it.

No matter what, she’d remember this night and hold it close to her heart. They teased her and told her she held the magic to make the Blackhawk men fall in love with her, but they had the same magic.

She was crazy in love with all three of them
.

Elizabeth started to sniffle and all three men looked
over at her nervously.

“Baby, are you okay?” he asked, dropping the spoon he was using to stir his sauce. Immediately
, he was at her side.

“I’m just very happy,” she said, wiping her tears.

Ethan liked control. The truth was that no matter what he said or did, he just wasn’t meant to have control over pregnancy hormones.

Elizabeth moved away from him and hugged Timothy. “I love you,” she said
, kissing him and hugging him tight. It just felt like something she needed to say to him, right then and right now.

“I love you too,
sweetheart.” He patted her on the back and smiled at his grandson, nodding. She was emotional, and it was expected, but he was still touched by her words.

It had been a long time since he heard those words from a woman in their family.

Elizabeth pushed one of his braids off his shoulder and patted his cheek.

Next
, she crossed to her brother-in-law and hugged him. “I love you too, Callen,” she whispered into his ear. When he lifted her off the ground in a big bear hug, she felt calm. “I’m glad you’re in our lives and our child’s life. You’re going to be a terrific uncle.”

Already the bond with the man was unbreakable.

Whitefox didn’t know where it was coming from, but it warmed his heart. “I love you too, Elizabeth.” He kissed her on the cheek, and grinned like a fool.

Yeah,
she owned a part of his heart and always would.

Elizabeth crossed to her husband and he opened his arms for her, and she went into them hugging him too. “I’m stupid, crazy in love with you,” she
said, holding onto his body. “I will love you for the rest of my life, Ethan.”

Blackhawk was touched, the way she easily hugged each member of his family, accepting the
m into her life and loving them. It made his heart skip a beat. She was his everything. “I love you too, baby,” he spoke, looking down into her eyes, and saw such warmth that he felt peace.

Elizabeth went up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

“Hey, I didn’t get one of those,” quipped Whitefox, and he ducked when his brother threw a kitchen towel at him.

“Okay, I feel better now,” said Elizabeth. “Damn baby hormones.”

All three men suspected that it was more than just that, but they let it go, allowing her a moment of weakness.

Blackhawk changed the subject, “So Callen, I have a question for you,”
he began, as he went back to stirring the pasta sauce that he had made. It was just about ready to eat.

Elizabeth knew where he was going
with the conversation. She got the duplicate email on her smartphone from their boss.

“Yeah?” he took a sip of the wine and waited for his brother to ask.

“Elizabeth and I have to hire quite a few more people to staff FBI West. Specifically a special agent tasked to be Liaison to the Native American community. We were wondering if you’d be interested in the position.”

He was pretty sure he heard him wrong.
“Huh?”

“It would be right out of FBI West with us. You
’d have to travel to any situations where a liaison was needed to mediate, delegate, or work with reservation police. It would be the west coast, and southern states.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You’d be the first of the team on the scene to assess and keep the Natives from getting restless,” added Blackhawk.

Elizabeth finished making the salad. “Hours suck, work is painfully monotonous
, and your bosses are almost impossible to work for. So, that should make it easier to decide,” she laughed. “This screams ‘no brainer’ to me.”

Timothy drank some wine and considered what they were asking of his other grandson. “I think you should do it, my boy.”

It was everything he had been thinking about. He had wanted a life more like his brother’s and less like his own since he saw what he could have. He wanted that happiness, and he hoped one day to find a woman that would love him like Elizabeth loved his brother. “What’s the catch?”

“Have a college degree?”

“Yes, criminal justice.”

“Then you have to qualify, that’s about it.”

Whitefox looked at his brother, and he had no emotion on his face.

“Think about it,
and get back to me when you decide. For the record, not taking it doesn’t mean you aren’t still my brother and welcome here any time. There isn’t any pressure. I just figured since I happen to like working with you, and you’re comfortable in the community the job suited you.”

“Not taking it means you’re probably smarter than both of us,” Elizabeth teased.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, incredibly touched that his brother was offering it to him and trusting him with something so important. Both men knew what he was proposing was a rare opportunity out of the Rez life that was holding him down.

“Dinner’s ready,” Blackhawk said, draining the pasta, and adding his sauce to it. “Elizabeth, you’re on salad and
Callen on garlic bread. Carry it all into the dining room. Granddad, you get the wine and water for Lyzee.”

As they all sat, Ethan at one end of
the table, his wife beside him. He was able to look down the table at his grandfather and brother, and he felt profoundly grateful.

“My boy if I may-
a blessing for the home and the meal?” asked his grandfather, standing and looking over to his granddaughter.

“Please do,” she encouraged him.

The man began walking around the table and speaking in a language that none of them understood. He paused at his eldest grandson and placed his hands on his shoulders, speaking more of the beautiful language before moving onto his other grandson. He mimicked the actions, but spoke different words. When he’d finished, he went to his granddaughter and placed one hand on the top of her head. The other gently over the child she was growing inside of her, and chanted a rhythmic set of words. When he moved away from her and returned to his own seat, he was satisfied. Not only had he blessed the three, he offered protection for each one of them and his growing great-grandchild. Now he could rest a bit easier, as the spirits would provide protection for his family.

“It was beautiful
, Granddad, thank you,” said Elizabeth.

He nodded, pleased that she allowed it in her home.

“Shall we eat?” asked Ethan, as he began serving his family food and feeling peace that they could all be here together.

“We should have
Thanksgiving here,” Elizabeth said, smiling at her husband. “I can dress up like the pilgrim.”  Her husband started laughing, and then before she knew it all three of them were joining him. “What? You don’t think I’d look good as the pilgrim?”

“Elizabeth, you are a joy,” said Timothy Blackhawk. “I think a pregnant pil
grim would just make it perfect. Let’s call it Elizabeth’s Turkey Day Bash.”

She grinned. “Works for me.”

“Don’t encourage her, Granddad. Once you get her started she’s hard to contain,” warned Blackhawk, leaning down and kissing his wife. “Eventually she may run out of Native comments.”

“Oh, don’t worry
, Ethan. I have a million of them ready to go. When I’m up first in the morning and making coffee I think up new ones for the day,” she wiggled her eyebrows at her husband. “Then I make it a game and try to use as many as possible through the day.”

Timothy laughed some more, he was greatly entertained by the woman his grandson married. She brought levity to the seriousness of the men in their family.

“Okay, so I have a question, Granddad,” she asked, as she ate the salad her husband had pushed towards her. “This wedding we’re planning, do I need someone to give me away?”

Timothy sat back and sipped some of his wine. “Yes, you will need a male to escort you down the aisle, much like in a secular wedding. Although, it is perfectly acceptable for you to make the walk yourself if that is your wish.”

Elizabeth thought about it. He father was dead, her brother a killer and in a facility. That didn’t leave her any family, and then she realized how wrong she was about that. She looked over at Whitefox. “Callen, will you walk me down the aisle at the wedding?” she asked.

He wasn’t sure what to say,
but Elizabeth had run him right over, and he couldn’t help but love her. As far as he was concerned, he’d do everything to protect her. His brother was a very lucky man. “I would love to walk you down the aisle, Lyzee.”

“Thank you and I promise to behave,” she winked, and laughed when he winked back.

“At least one of us will be on our best behavior then, because I get to kiss the bride when I give her away.” When his brother almost choked on his wine, he snickered. “It’s going to be a really big wet lip kiss.”

“Are you two done winking at each other?” Ethan
asked grinning. It made him calm to see his family unified after years of being fractured and in pieces.

His brother winked
one last time. “I am now.”

“Callen, let me warn you
right now. When they say ‘kiss the bride’, they don’t mean making out with her at the altar. That’s my job.”

“Yeah, well when I get nervous I get confused,” he
said, wiggling his eyebrows at Elizabeth. “Really confused.”

She offered him a fist bump.

Timothy started laughing at his boys. “How big of an affair are we doing?” he asked his grandson and noticed he looked at his wife.

“This is all up to her. When we got married, it was by a judge at ten o’clock at night. I want her to have the wedding that she always wanted.”

Elizabeth grinned wickedly. “Awww, he must love me, he just gave me control of something in our life.”

“I don’t believe I said anything about control of anything. I said you could decide how big we
take it. I’m generally better at handling details, like say the dress.”

Elizabeth was drawing the line. “Hell no! You
’re control freaking my pregnancy and uterus. I get some control, Cowboy!”

He started laughing knowing that was going to be her reply.

“I want control of one thing and that’s the dress. You can have the rest. I don’t care about the cake as long as it’s not boring vanilla, and I don’t care about music and decorations. The dress is all mine.”

“So
, I get control of everything, but the dress?”

“Yes.”

Ethan thought about it. “Deal, and now we have witnesses,” he said, shaking her hand.

Timothy sat forward and spoke, “The family color is turquoise, Elizabeth. Ethan will be wearing that color, and so will his brother as he walks you down the aisle. Plan your dress accordingly.”

“I’m not a Blackhawk,” added Whitefox, “I don’t know what my family color is.” There was ache in his voice.

“The Whitefox family color is red, Callen,” answered his grandfather, wishing he could heal the hurt.

Ethan made up his mind. “You’re my brother, and you're as much a Blackhawk as I am, and you’ll be wearing blue with me as you stand by our sides.”

Elizabeth agreed completely.