Chapter 51

Elle

Elle’s days in the mansion passed in a blur of happiness. She called Kelly every day, but she’d already told her friend that she wasn’t coming back. At least not to live. She’d loved her time in Stone Peak, it had changed her life, but her future was in Socorro Valley with Forrester and the Brotherhood. Even without having the discussion with Forrester, she knew in her heart it was the right life for her.

Between getting to know everyone, helping Faith and Lacey with the babies, spending romantic time with Forrester, and learning the ins and outs of her new environment, she was pretty busy. And every morning when she woke up in that beautiful bed, Forrester’s tender arms wrapped around her, she thanked God for the life she was being given. She loved the house, the pool, the vineyards. She loved the town with it’s pretty main street and ocean views. She loved the clean, clear mountain air.

And most of all, she loved being with Forrester.

One of the things that surprised her most was that Forrester was taking the lead in planning the wedding. He’d told her that it was something he wanted to do for her, and he was making it his business to get Grant and Jackson to show him all the places they’d gone to get the things that made their weddings so perfect. Forrester was adamant that they have the ceremony on the same mountain top that Grant and Lacey had been married on. There was a gazebo up there that he loved. He said he couldn’t imagine getting married anywhere else.

And Elle loved it. She loved that he was so invested in the process. She’d always thought that men just went along with wedding plans, but didn’t play such an active roll. This was perfect. He’d even arranged for her to meet some fancy wedding dress designer in the city and Faith and Lacey had insisted on accompanying her.

On the drive into the city, the women questioned her non-stop.

“So, how did you know Forrester was the one for you?” Lacey asked her.

Elle blushed a little. She was sitting in the passenger seat next to Lacey. Faith had insisted on sitting in the back between the two babies.

“There was just something about him,” Elle said, “something calm.”

Lacey nodded. “Like a pool of deep water,” she said.

“Exactly,” Elle said. “When Forrester came into my life, it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I never knew men could be like that. Deep and passionate and caring. He was the first real man I ever knew.”

Faith was nodding from the back seat. “That’s exactly how it was for me with Jackson,” she said. “Before Jackson came along I was in a really bad place. I was with a monster of a man.”

Lacey nodded in agreement.

Faith continued. “When Jackson came into my life, I had a hard time believing he was for real. I was like, I thought I knew men. I thought I knew what they wanted. I thought I knew how they treated women, and what they wanted from us. And then, in walked Jackson, and I was a real bitch to him.”

Elle and Lacey laughed.

“No kidding,” Faith went on, “I really was.”

“Who was the man you were with?” Elle said.

Lacey and Faith both went very quiet.

“What?” Elle said. “Should I not have asked that?”

“No, of course you should, sweetie,” Faith said. “It’s just, you still need to talk to Jackson, right?”

“About my past?”

“Yes. About Los Lobos.”

Elle went pale. She felt her heart thumping at the name of the gang she’d been sold to. “What’s that got to do with this?” she said.

“Well, it’s pretty crazy, but I was involved with Los Lobos too, Elle.”

“You were?”

Elle’s eyes widened. It was crazy. In all her years, she’d never met anyone who knew the least thing about Los Lobos. They were one of the deadliest criminal gangs in Nevada in their day, but they were all dead now, and they hadn’t let out many secrets. People had heard of them, they knew of them, but they didn’t actually know them.

Now she kept hearing from Forrester and others that she had to talk to Jackson about it.

Faith leaned forward in her seat and put her hand on Elle’s shoulder.

“Look,” Faith said, “I don’t want to get into it now. It’s not something we should talk about on a day as happy as this one. Today is about getting you a dress for your wedding.”

“All right,” Elle said, a little uncertainly.

“I promise you we’ll talk about Los Lobos soon,” Faith said. “For now, I’ll just tell you that I was involved with them too. I was young, I was vulnerable, and they got their claws into me.”

“Oh no,” Elle said.

“It wasn’t nice,” Faith said, “but from what I’ve heard from Forrester, it wasn’t nearly as bad as what you had to go through.”

Elle looked back at Faith and their eyes met. There was so much compassion in Faith’s face that Elle felt reassured. Ordinarily, talking about Los Lobos would have been her worst nightmare, but with Faith she felt safe.

“How did you get away?” Elle said, her voice quiet and serious.

“Jackson got me out.”

Elle nodded. As the car began entering the city of San Francisco, the buildings rising up ahead of them along the freeway, she began to realize something about her past that she’d never imagined. Jackson. Was it Jackson who’d killed Los Lobos? If that was true, she owed Jackson her life.

She reached back and took Faith’s hand.

The rest of the afternoon passed blissfully. The girls put serious things like Los Lobos as far as possible from their minds and made the most of their day in the city. They ate lunch at the flower market and the women showed Elle the types of flowers that Forrester was looking at for the wedding. They wanted to make sure she liked them. She was speechless when she saw them. They were so breathtakingly beautiful that she didn’t know what to think. She cried and had to reapply her makeup.

The highlight was the dress shop though. She hadn’t realized it, but she had an appointment with one of the most famous wedding dress designers in the world. After trying on several fabulous gowns, she settled on a simple, white dress that flattered her figure and accentuated her breasts and curves.

When Lacey and Faith saw her, to Elle’s amazement, they both started to cry.

“Oh sweetie,” Lacey said.

“You look absolutely beautiful,” Faith said.

“Really?” Elle said, almost unable to believe she was having such an impact on two women she’d only just met.

Already, they were like family to her. They were for real. They were the big sisters she’d never had. She took photos and sent them to Kelly back in Stone Peak. She felt a twang of guilt that she wasn’t with Kelly now, and wouldn’t be seeing her friend until the wedding, but that was the way life was. Sometimes, when you moved forward, you had to let go of the people you loved, at least a little bit. She missed Kelly and Grace, but she was so excited to start her new life that she couldn’t stay sad for long.

“Forrester is going to ravish you when he sees you in this,” Faith said.

“Do you really think so?” Elle said.

“Girl, if you weren’t already carrying his baby, he’d make sure he put one inside you on your wedding night. You look like an angel.”