Mae, Liam, Charlie and Travis had breakfast together at the diner, it was an emotional start for all of them. The three best friends cried as they embraced each other, not knowing when they will see each other again.
"Let us know what your parents say, even though I know that they'll be ecstatic."
"I will, I wish you could be there with me, like old times."
"You know I would have loved to be there with you."
The two girls hugged each other, trying to engrave the feeling into their minds.
"Would you do me a favour and find my future husband out there?"
The girls broke away laughing at their best friend.
"I'll send him your way if I find him, Lee."
"Good, I'm going to miss you like crazy Char."
"I'm going to miss you too, I'll see you soon."
Mae walked over to Travis as Liam and Charlie hugged their goodbyes.
"I know you will but I need to hear you say it, promise me that you'll look out for them both?"
"I promise," Travis kissed her head.
"I'm going to miss you too, Trav."
"You know I always miss you, Little bit."
The two hugged each other close, Travis kissing her forehead. They both knew that Charlie needed to be away from Montana but that meant being away from the support system of her two best friends. Travis knew that he will have to step up and try to fill that void but it would be almost impossible.
Mae and Liam side hugged each other and waved as they watched Charlie and Travis drive away. They both had tears falling from their eyes, Charlie waved back, her tears also falling.
"Tell me she's going to be okay?"
"She's Charlie fucking Wheatly, she's going to be just fine, you'll see Mae."
"C'mon, we still have work to do."
"Yeah, there's some people coming in to adopt."
"You already had the back-up checks run?"
"Obviously, who do you take me for?"
The two smiled, happy that they'd be able to find some innocent pets their forever homes. Mae had a few instances where someone adopted and in the end the pets were sent back in worse condition than when Mae found them, or they were never even found. She couldn't take it anymore and struck a deal with the local police station, the reservation police and the livestock association. Each time someone tries to adopt, thorough background checks will be run and they need to supply them with proof of residence as well as proof of income. There should be no evidence of animal abuse, negligence or endangerment. They should have a suitable home and a stable income to provide for all the animal's needs. It is an intense process but it also proves that these people who pass, genuinely wish to make an animal's life better.
xxx
John Dutton drove back to the ranch after dropping Kayce off at the school Monica teaches at. He saw Beth and Jamie waiting for him on the steps of the house and knew that something else had to have happened. He already dreaded what was bad enough that it would make these two join forces, and here he thought Monica getting punched in the face, falling head first on the sidewalk would be the worst thing to happen today.
"Can I have one day without a crisis, God, please just one fucking day," He prayed before rolling down his window.
"How bad?"
"Why don't you tell me?"
John ignored Jamie's question and closed his window. He had a feeling he knew what this would be about, he couldn't keep it from them forever. John was also still mad at Beth and needed to have a talk with her about her encounter with the governor. Fuck, he needed a vacation, unfortunately he would have to settle for a quick fix.
"What's up, bud?"
"How busy are you, Carl?"
"Well compared to what?"
Jamie knocked on the window of the truck as Beth glared daggers at their father. They couldn't believe he was speaking on the phone when they obviously had something important to discuss with him.
"Hold on," John muted his phone and rolled down the window, again.
"Can I just have one fucking minute here to myself, please?"
John rolled up the window again without giving his children a chance to speak and unmuted the phone.
"I need a break."
"I can be off by five."
"Alright I'll meet you then."
John sighed, now ready to face the shitstorm awaiting him outside the truck.
"What?"
"Well I would-"
John held his hand up to silence Jamie and pointed at Beth.
"You and I are going to have a conversation."
He then directed his previous question to Jamie again.
"Talk to me about cancer."
John looked down, he knew they were going to find out eventually but he still had hope that he could have kept it hidden forever.
"Okay, what would you like to know?"
"For a start, how long have you had it?"
John could hear the venom dripping from Beth's voice but he knew her too well. She was disguising her worry with anger, her favourite coping mechanism next to alcohol. She really was the kid closest to his personality.
"Well I don't have cancer. I had a tumor in my colon and it was removed. Nice to ah- nice to see you two exhibit some real emotion," John chuckled as he walked away. He sometimes thought he raised two robots.
"This isn't funny. These are not the kind of secrets you can keep."
The two followed John up to the porch, incredulous looks on their faces.
"Yeah, well, it doesn't seem to be much of a secret."
Beth, Jamie and a couple of John's friends and fellow ranch owners found out, all because of the surgeon being a blabbermouth. He knew that he could sue him and end his career but John Dutton wasn't that petty and hateful. It was what separated him from Jamie and Beth.
"That could be it's own problem."
"Well lucky I have you to take care of it."
"Does Mae know?" Beth crossed her arms in front of her chest as she stared up at John. All of them knew that Mae was the favourite and although Beth didn't dislike her for it, like Jamie did, it still would hurt them both if she kept this from them.
"No and neither of you will fucking tell her!"
"She deserves to know," Jamie added as Beth nodded along, finally agreeing on something.
"No, she doesn't! I've seen her happy and smiling again after Lee's death, if she found out it would wreck her. She also said goodbye to Charlie today, which caused her enough tears. I'm not about to destroy one of the last innocent and pure legacies this family has and neither are you. If either of you tell her or even Kayce for that matter, you will regret it. Leave them out of this."
John glared at both of his children to get the message across. He didn't need his youngest children to know. Kayce already had a lot to deal with, with Monica's injury and Mae would turn into a full on mother hen. She'd have Rip and the wranglers constantly checking up and following him and she'd change his diet to some food-guru shit like kale and force him to drink all the different types of hibiscus and chamomile teas. She didn't need the added stress to her already full life. She had Charlie and the clinic to worry about, her father's health doesn't have to be included on the list.
"You come with me," John pointed at Beth. He needed to discuss her absolutely shitty attitude towards the governor today.
***
"Hi, Daddy! You going fishing?"
John smiled as he walked towards his youngest daughter, fishing gear in hand. Mae closed her car door and reached up to kiss her father's cheek.
"Yeah, Carl's on his way. We're going down to the river to relax a bit."
"That's good, Daddy, you definitely need a break after these last few weeks."
"You're one to talk," Mae rolled her eyes at her dad's statement.
"I'm fine, no need to worry."
"I'm always worrying about you, Sweetheart. How's Charlie and how did Travis take the news?"
"Travis is excited, he can't wait to be an uncle and Charlie's nervous about what her parents will say, not that she needs to be. They've stopped for the night and will continue on tomorrow."
"That's good, let me know if she needs anything."
"I will, Daddy, enjoy your trip."
Mae reached up and kissed her father's cheek. He smiled as he left, he already felt better, Mae always had that effect.
***
An hour later, Mae had already eaten dinner and was reading a text from Ryan, complaining about a bet he lost to Colby. She had a huge grin on her face as she replied. She was the only one in the house, her dad was out fishing and she had no idea where Beth and Jamie were. Mae was contemplating going down to the bunkhouse to join them for a round of poker or going up to bed. Gus was laying on top of her, face buried in her neck as he softly snored, Archie and Willow were laying at her feet. She was leaning towards going to bed until her phone rang.
"Kayce?"
"Mae, I-I need you."