Chapter 21

Kaylee let out a frustrated yell and gave the camper door one last pound with her fist. She finally realized Buck wasn't going to move. Dropping her hands to her sides, she turned around to face Ezra.

She had thought she had said everything that needed to be said earlier in the day when she and Ezra had been in the same place, without Buck locking them in. But apparently Buck disagreed. Ezra, too, because he made no move to try to leave.

He stood quietly, watching her. She wished he wouldn't. It was hard enough to think when he was near, let alone when he looked at her with those green eyes.

"What you said earlier," Ezra started.

"No," Kaylee snapped, fighting the childish urge to cover her ears with her hands. "I'm not getting back into that with you." She paced the length of the camper.

"Then maybe you'll allow me to say something," Ezra said.

Kaylee turned and started to pace on a course that brought her back toward Ezra. When she was close enough, he reached out a hand and lightly halted her.

Her skin was singed where his hand rested. She fought the way her lips trembled. The way everything in her wanted to lean in to him. "Don't," she whispered.

Ezra moved a step closer, looking down into her eyes.

"I mean it, Ezra," she said without conviction.

He brushed his hand across her cheek, his thumb coming to rest lightly on her lower lip. She couldn't move, staring up at him.

"I never meant to hurt you," he said. "I need you to know that."

Kaylee didn't know what to make of Ezra speaking plainly, showing his entire hand with the vulnerability in his eyes.

"I won't hurt you again. I promise," he said.

Kaylee couldn't stop herself from reaching her hands up to rest on his chest. She thought it was to push him away, but her hands didn't cooperate and she ended up shifting closer to Ezra. Her breath caught when he lowered his head, brushing his lips against hers.

She sank into the kiss, forgetting everything except being with Ezra. His hands moved to the back of her neck, the warmth sending tingles down her spine. Everything in her reacted to his touch. She shifted so she was even closer to him and he let out a small groan.

"You're making it difficult to remember I'm a gentleman," he said, his breathing ragged.

"I don't care about you being a gentleman, Ezra," she said. She wanted to find the words to tell him what he meant to her, what she was trying so hard to avoid so she wouldn't get him hurt or worse. "I just…I want you because of exactly who you are." She wanted him to want her just because of who she was. Who she really was, but she couldn't get the rest of the words out.

Ezra stared down at her. His adam's apple moved as he swallowed hard. Then he spoke.

"Marry me."

Kaylee's eyes widened. "What?"

"Marry me," Ezra repeated, sounding even more sure this time. "Right now. Marry me and let's be done with this game where we each try to convince the other we don't deserve this. I don't deserve you, Kaylee, I know that. But I want you and I will do everything to make you happy. To take care of you."

Kaylee started to shake her head, but Ezra framed her face between his hands. "I don't care about what you said earlier. That you didn't graduate high school or whatever else you think should stand between us. I just know I want you. I want to show you I can deserve you."

The rodeo had originally been an escape from her problems, a way to avoid being at home and dealing with her mom's addiction. Then she had tried drinking to forget about the past that chased her. Ezra's proposal offered her an escape. A permanent one. But more than that, it meant she would be with him. That he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

"You deserve better than me," she said, feeling obligated to give him a chance to take back his rash words.

"No," he said firmly. He held her face between his hands, not looking away.

She took a breath like she was about to dive headfirst and go under. "Ok."

#

Ezra didn't get rattled easily. And he could talk himself out of, and into, just about any situation. But he hadn't expected to talk Kaylee into marrying him. He hadn't even known he wanted to talk her into marrying him until the words came out, but as soon as they did, he knew they were right.

"Ok."

It wasn't the most poetic proposal, or acceptance, but Ezra didn't care. He didn't even care that it happened in the middle of Buck and JD's camper.

"Ok?" he repeated, unsure he could trust what he was hearing.

"Ok, I'll marry you," she said with certainty.

"You'll marry me." He repeated it as if trying to make certain it was real. He kissed her again, building with all the enthusiasm she brought into his life. Kaylee met him with equal abandon, making up for the last weeks of being at odds.

He dragged himself away, and took a step back, though he kept a hand at Kaylee's back, needing to keep contact with her and know this was really happening.

"Let's go find Mr. Sanchez."

"Josiah?" she asked, her cheeks flushed, lips swollen.

"He may have dropped out of seminary, but he mentioned getting ordained to perform a wedding ceremony for friends in Mexico."

Kaylee looked at him with so much trust, Ezra almost confessed every single one of his shortcomings to her right then and there, just to be sure she knew what she was agreeing to. But then she smiled and reached for his hand, lacing her fingers between his.

Ezra went to the door and pounded loudly. "Mr. Wilmington!" he called. "Open up! We've come to an agreement!"

He heard Kaylee's light laugh behind him. "Some agreement," she whispered, leaning in close to his ear, her breath tickling against his neck.

Ezra redoubled his pounding, needing to get Kaylee out of there before he jumped the gun any more than he already had. "Buck!" he yelled.

The door swung open and Buck stood there, arms folded, eyebrows raised. Vin was reclined back in a front row seat to their exit from the camper.

"Where's Josiah?" Ezra asked as he came down the steps, then reached a hand up to Kaylee while she came out.

"Josiah?" Buck asked. "What's he got to do with anything?"

"Saw him over by the edge of the grounds," Vin offered, open curiosity on his face.

Ezra kept hold of Kaylee's hand and started in the direction Vin had nodded.

"Now, wait a minute!" Buck called after them. "What's goin' on?"

Ezra didn't answer, he didn't slow down.

He wasn't going to slow down until he was sure Kaylee was his life and there was no turning back.

#

Josiah wasn't sure how he had ended up in the Long Branch Town Hall after dark on a Sunday night with Kaylee and Ezra both standing before him in boots and jeans, the town's mayor holding a marriage license, all of them looking at him to perform a spur of the moment wedding ceremony.

It had started with Ezra telling him to meet them, saying the mayor owed him a favor from a poker game. It had ended with him showing up at the small municipal building and Ezra informing him they wanted him to marry them.

Josiah knew Ezra had found a new scheme, maybe one more altruistic than past ones, but a new venture all the same, to throw himself into. And this attempt at winning Kaylee back was driving him just as much as fleecing someone in a con had years before. As for Kaylee, Josiah had known well before the events of the night before that she was impulsive and looking for something to get her away from whatever she was trying to leave behind.

Ezra said his vows, his southern drawl thickening with emotion as he promised to have and to hold Kaylee. Josiah certainly believed Ezra meant every word. Ezra's hands tightened where he held Kaylee's.

Josiah said the vows again, this time Kaylee repeating the traditional words after him. She didn't look like she was having second thoughts, didn't look like she had given this marriage a second thought. Josiah tried to keep the worry out of his voice as he asked Ezra for the ring and Ezra shook his head slightly. No rings. There hadn't been enough forethought for rings. Josiah closed his eyes for a brief moment. Dear Lord, he prayed silently, not able to get much past that.

The idea of being the one to perform the ceremony that would link them together was concerning, to say the least. He wasn't sure he wanted to be the one who linked the flame to the powder keg, but he figured at least he could be the one to be ready with some sort of water to douse the flames. If he was the one to perform the spur of the moment ceremony, maybe it would leave a door open for the two of them to turn to him when things got rocky. As much as he loved both of them, he had no doubt they would find themselves in over their heads soon enough.

Ezra cleared his throat. Josiah brought his thoughts back to the happy couple before him.

"You may now kiss the bride," Josiah said.

The bright smile Kaylee gave him before turning back to Ezra warmed his heart at the same time worry flared again. Whatever Ezra and Kaylee were trying to overshadow from their pasts with this marriage, Josiah knew it wasn't a foundation for a lasting marriage.

Ezra held Kaylee like she was precious and fragile. He looked down at her with an expression Josiah had never seen on the younger man's face before. And it was that look that gave Josiah hope that when their pasts caught up with them, they would be able to make it through together. That look that said Ezra had found someone he would put before himself or anything else without hesitation.

Ezra tenderly kissed his bride and Josiah said a silently prayer the marriage wouldn't implode.

#

Kaylee pressed kisses along Ezra's jaw as he tried to unlock the door to the Long Branch Motel. He finally managed to get the door open and they tumbled into the room, letting the door swing shut behind them.

Kaylee wrapped her arms around Ezra, needing him, needing his touch, after the weeks without him.

"I missed you," she said, her voice breathy, ending in a gasp when Ezra chose to find her neck with his lips, then moved to a sensitive spot behind her ear. Her fingers wrapped up in his shirt and as she fell backwards toward the bed, she dragged him down with her.

"I'm never missing you again," Ezra said between kisses. "I won't lose you again."

Kaylee's mind was starting to grow fuzzy with the feel of his lips on her, his hands roaming, but she heard the words, savored the promise.

Her own hands found the buttons of Ezra's shirt, fumbling with them, pulling at his shirt, needing to get it out of the way. She could feel Ezra's warm hands at the skin of her lower back and shifted under him, trying to get closer to him.

"Ezra," she gasped.

He moved his hands toward the hem of her shirt, then paused, his hands leaving her too suddenly. He braced himself, a hand on either side of her, looking down at her. "You're absolutely certain?" he asked, his voice raw.

She moved her hands from his chest to his face, running her fingertips over the features that had grown so familiar. Ezra closed his eyes at the light touch. Kaylee pulled his head down, meeting his mouth with hers. She had every intention of showing him just how certain she was about him.

#

Vin looked at Ezra's empty trailer. Ezra wasn't answering his phone, Kaylee's was left behind in Buck and JD's camper.

"You sure we should head out?" he asked. No one had seen Ezra or Kaylee since they had gone looking for Josiah the evening before.

"Josiah said he saw them," Chris said again. "Said they were in good spirits."

Vin nodded. He had seen that when Buck had finally released them from the camper. Chris hadn't been thrilled when he heard what Buck had done, but none of them could argue with success. And if they had wanted to get Ezra and Kaylee to make amends, it seemed to have worked.

"They probably found a poker game and Kaylee's cleanin' up," Buck said, a little extra swagger in his step since he had been the one to get a truce declared between the warring parties. "Serves Ezra right."

"Josiah didn't say anything else?" Vin asked. The older man had headed out immediately after he returned last night, without saying much to anyone other than that he'd see them in the next town.

"Just said they were in good spirits and they had worked things out and to leave them be."

Vin frowned at the vague message JD passed on.

"I say we take a truce for as long as it lasts," Buck said. "Last one to Howard City buys dinner."

Reluctantly Vin headed for his truck. The horses were already loaded, everything packed up. He got in his truck and pulled out, trusting Josiah's judgement.

#