Burning Love

17

"Haz, wake up baby." I hear Owen's soft voice as he jostled my shoulders.

My eyes slowly open, and I realize that the plane is no longer moving. Owen picks up a still sleeping Dylan, and we follow my parents off the plane.

"Welcome to Big Sky Country." Our Witness Protection coordinator, Sam, announces.

I look around and take it all in. The mountain air and all the space. This feels like a dream. Hell, maybe it is a dream. To my right, I see a house a couple hundred feet away and maybe some cows by the looks of it... Are we on a ranch? Our coordinator leads us to the house and I see a friendly looking couple with two kids standing on the porch.

"The Dabney Ranch will be your home away from home for the time being. Their kids are pretty close to Dylan's age so I'm sure he'll fit in well." Sam says.

We're greeted with warm smiles and the kids automatically cling to each other. Maybe this won't be such a bad thing for Dylan. The husband, takes off his cowboy hat to shake our hands. He introduces himself as Tanner. His wife is Keely and the kids are Sage and Reed, they're twins that are a year older than Dylan.

"You guys are probably starving. Please come in and grab something to eat." Keely offers and gestures for us to come inside.

We walk in and find a kitchen table full of pasta salad, hamburgers, and cupcakes.

"Please make yourselves at home." Tanner said before grabbing some plates from the cabinet.

We take some time to eat and refuel from the trip over. Dylan thinks the cupcakes are the best thing he's ever ate.

"Have you guys hosted anyone before?" I asked and Keely smiled widely.

"We have. It's all confidential on who they are and the situation. We enjoy getting to help out. We're both ex-military so that's kind of how we got hooked up with the government aspect of things but we've always enjoyed helping people." She answered and smiled at her husband.

They're such genuine people. However, i couldn't imagine allowing strangers into your home with no timeline on when they could leave.

"I'm sorry for all the questions. I'm just really overwhelmed right now. How does this all work?" Owen asks them.

"I'm sure this is probably a lot to take in for you guys. We don't mind the questions at all. Basically, you guys just hang out with us for as long as needed. We have several rooms upstairs, each furnished with various clothing in different sizes. Stuff that'll help you blend in to the environment here. Your coordinator doesn't want you to leave the property just in case you'd get noticed this far out. We do have a small cattle operation so if you all want to learn about ranching we'd be more than happy to teach you some things. We even have some horses if y'all wants to learn to ride." Tanner spoke up and filled us in on some things.

"I WANT TO RIDE A HORSE." Dylan exclaimed loudly and we all laughed.

We got acclimated to our new space as the family showed us around the ranch. It's absolutely gorgeous. I watched the sun set from the little balcony that evening.
"Tomorrow is a new day" I whispered to myself.

•••••••••

I woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed. After the events of the last couple of days, it was nice to get a good nights sleep. I hear giggling from outside the bedroom door. The boys are awake. I walk out to see Owen, Dylan, Tanner, and Reed playing Mario cart on the big screen in the living room.

"Did we wake you?" Owen asks while turning his control to the side.

"No, you guys are fine." I answer and watch their competitiveness come out.

"Hazel, once you're all ready for the morning, keely would love to spend some time with you! She's downstairs tidying up the kitchen with Sage." Tanner said and smiled.

"Thank you." I say softly before walking over and placing a kiss on the top of Owen's head.

I jostle Dylan's hair before walking back to the bedroom and raiding the closet. I settle on a pair of wrangler jeans, a white tank top, and a red plaid jacket. I slip on a pair of short boots and damn, I look the part. I head downstairs and find Keely and Sage dancing around in the kitchen.

"Hi Miss Hazel." Sage welcomes as I step in the doorway.

"Good morning, Sage." I greet and smile.

"Do you want to learn about gardening and canning today? I have so much to do and it'd be nice to have an extra adult hand. But only if you want to." Keely offers

"Oh I'd love to!! I've always wanted to learn but I don't know anyone who does." I say excitedly!!

We head out to the garden and it's HUGE!! I start gathering tomatoes, Keely grabs peppers, and Sage gathers the cucumbers. We take our haul inside and begin prepping to can the items we picked. Keely teaches me how to make salsa, pasta sauce, and pickles. We had a blast, and we may have made a huge mess in the kitchen. Keely and I sit down at the table around 10:30am to have a break. We sip on some coffee and get to know each other.

"If you don't mind talking about it, what places you in witness protection?" Keely asked softly.

"I dated this guy as a teenager who was psycho. I ended up having enough dirt on him to testify and get him put away for life. However, he still had one of his men put a hit out on me. I got shot at a bar and then there was word of a prison riot. Now we're here. They wanted us all to stay as safe as possible. I feel bad for putting all of my family in this situation." I answer.

"Oh honey, they'd do it all over again for you. I Can see it in their eyes. That husband of yours, he would walk through fire for you. The love in his eyes is undeniable." She says and smiles.

"Thank you. It hasn't always been easy for Owen and I. We definitely have had our ups and downs. I wouldn't trade anything for the life I have with him and Dylan though. They've been amazing." I confessed.

Maybe Montana won't be so bad for my family.