Willows and Oaks

1.2

Montana
Yellowstone /Dutton Ranch

There was an emptiness in Beth Dutton as she stood on her father's front porch smoking and watching the sunrise. The ranch never settled well with her growing up, with no love in her heart for the land that craves so much misery from her. Startled out of her thoughts she turned to see her older brother, Jaime stepping onto the porch drinking his coffee staring at her car in the driveway with a confused look.

"Well, if it isn't bachelor number two up at the crack of 9:30 and dressed to seize the day."

Jaime slowly turned to stare at the woman in front of him, " Yeah. It's Saturday."

"No weekends on a ranch. You know that."

Crinkling his nose in judgment Jaime adds, "Nice to see you're still smoking."

Letting out a sarcastic chuckle, "Well, women in this family don't live much past 40 anyway, so I might as well enjoy my time."

"What are you doing here?"

"Same thing I always do. " pushing the bud of her cigarette into the ashtray, "Fixing something you couldn't."

Jaime's brows furrowed then lip pulls into a smirk, " You missed breakfast."

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"He's not here." Rip comes to a halt in his boss's house and looks down the hallway to see the mother of his child standing there with a glass of liquor in her hand. "You look nervous, Rip. Like a stray dog who can't enjoy being in the house 'cause he's so worried about the broom."

"You're up early. "

"I don't sleep. "

"Yeah, well, they say spiders don't, so.."

Beth leans her head against the doorframe, "Oh?" Then undoes the ties of her satin robe revealing a large portion of her body.

" What are you doing? " Rip looks at her head to toe then his eyes jump back up to her face.

"Adjusting my web."

Rip suddenly gets where this is going and stands up straight averting his eyes from her soon-to-be naked body.

"You know, life's not that complicated, Rip. You either walk on down the hall... Or fսck me."

Rip looks back at the one woman he has never been able to say no to his entire life and then grabs her hand leading her back to her bedroom. 

Where moans and the dresser banging against the wall could be heard throughout the house.....

As they are both getting dressed, Rip turns to Beth pulling her close

" There's a music festival in Livingston this weekend. Do you want to go with me? I'll pay for a ticket for Addy to come with us and we could have a good time."  Rip nervously rambles on hoping she would agree for once. Beth snorts and jerks her body away from him, " You ruin it every time. We are not playing house. "She pulls her shirt over her head and opens the bedroom door but stops before making her way down the hall to turn to him,
" That's funny. I always remember your dіck as being bigger. I guess that's just the nostalgic in me."

Rip watches her walk away then turns to the mirror on the dresser starting at himself and then gets dressed.

••••••••••••••••••••••
Pulling up to the Dutton ranch and staring at the sign at the entrance Kaycee hits the brakes to ponder over the consequences that may come out of trying to help his father have a relationship with his grandson, "What's the matter, Dad?

Looking down at Tate in the passenger seat of his truck and offering a small smile, "Nothing, buddy. Just hope I don't regret this." And proceeds down the driveway.

Tate the young boy he is, sits up hanging out the window gazing in awe at the cowboys and cattle he sees while the truck passes by. They get out and approach his grandpa next to a bunch of men on horseback.

Leaning down and smiling at Tate, John Dutton asks, "You know how to ride a horse?

"Course I do. I'm Indian. "

" Yeah, maybe so. But you're a cowboy today. " John places the small boy on the back of a horse and turns to Kaycee, "Thank you for this. "

The ranch hand Lee walks up to Kaycee teasing him about his long hair being feminine. Jaime walks up and embraces his brother with a small hug, "Hey, cowboy." Kaycee looks up to see his older sister walking up to him with a smile.

"Last time I saw you, that was high and tight. "
"How's Mr. Daniel? " Beth shakes her head smiling.
"Good for you."
"Yeah, you're the only one who shares that opinion. "
"That's 'cause I'm the only one who got to know him," Kaycee adds which causes Beth to laugh about her past lover.

What are you doing here? Kaycee questions with raised eyebrows. "Closure, I guess. You? "
"Penance. "
"Not sure you'll find that here. Penance you earn. Closure you find. Look somewhere else, and you might."Beth says shaking her head. They look at each other smiling softly at their first time seeing each other in a long time.

"Kaycee let's go!" Jaime yells across the field. "Grab a horse !"

" Any chance you'd join us?" Kaycee pleads, " " Where's little Addy girl? bet she will want to come,"

Beth's lips turn into a frown,
" Not so little anymore, she's uh back in Utah, don't want her to come here exposed to all this bullshit." Kaycee cocks his head," damn time flies," he stares at his sister "You can't hide her away forever Beth."

Beth looks at him and tenses up, " I know Kaycee , trust me I know. Have fun on your little boys' day out." She adds as they depart.

Stopping at the porch, Beth watches from distance John and Tate interacting making her wonder if she robbed Addy or saved her from a childhood on the Dutton Ranch.

Authors Notes:

Hey Guys,

Thank You for reading the few parts of this fic that are already up, I am working on my writing style ( eventually this week I will go back and correct some errors in the first chapter, won't change the plot but just make it smoother) I am hoping you guys go into this with an open mind because this book is going to follow the plot of the show almost exactly.