Mae had just woken up, ready to go to work, she already fed Archie and Willow. Willow's leg had healed nicely and she's already good as new. Gus preferred to sleep in and get fed by either Gator or Charlie later in the morning.
"Are you sure I shouldn't come in with you?," Charlie asked as she sipped at her herbal tea.
"Charlie, you can pop any day now, I really don't think it's a good idea."
"Good idea or not, today it might just happen," Mae and Charlie turned to see Ryan in the kitchen.
"What's wrong?," Mae could see the worry in his eyes.
"We need you up at pasture nine. Rip called, something happened, we need to see if we can save some of the cattle," Mae and Charlie's eyes widened, that did not sound good.
"I'll grab my go bag," Mae rushed up the stairs to her room.
"I'll go in to the clinic today, at least until she can get back."
"Let Jake take you, please. I don't want my ass skinned by every Dutton for letting you behind a steering wheel," Charlie laughed at Ryan's words but nodded.
Mae came rushing back down and Ryan took her bag from her.
"Will you be able to handle the clinic?," Mae asked staring at her best friend in concern.
"I'll be fine, besides I'm taking Jake with me."
Mae nodded and greeted her before following Ryan to one of the four-wheelers. She wrapped her arms around him before they took off. She saw the rest of the wranglers tacking up their horses to follow.
xxx
"Fuck," Mae whispered as she stared out at the field. One entire herd were struggling to stay alive as they lay on the ground bloated. She knew immediately that it had to have been alfalfa but she couldn't think of how it got onto their land. They burned every trace of alfalfa they found a long time ago, because it bloats and kills cattle.
Once they pulled to a stop, Mae saw Rip, Kayce and Jimmy waiting.
"Okay listen up, I need you all to start walking between them, if you see one breathing we can still save them, just call me," Mae explained.
"Mae, we can't possibly get to all of the-", Mae interrupted Kayce.
"Well we can't just let them go! Do you even know how much they are suffering? We can help them!"
She turned on her heal and started walking between the cattle trying to see how many she can save. When the rest of the wranglers showed up she gave them the exact same order. Mae showed the wranglers how to relieve the cattle of their gas from the first one she found that was still alive. With the help of the wranglers, they managed to save thirty cattle, unfortunately over a hundred still didn't make it.
Mae knew this had to be sabotage, someone was coming after her family and she didn't fucking like it. She knew it couldn't have been Dan Jenkins, the big city boy trying to turn her father's ranch into a housing development, from what Beth said the man had no idea about the cowboy life. He wouldn't know how to poison cattle, except if he hired someone. Maybe it could have been Chief Rainwater but he would rather steel the cattle and take them for his own people, this didn't scream him. If Mae's gut was right, there was another player on the chess board, one they haven't even met yet.
"Jamie!," Mae turned to see her father had arrived, "Get the rest of my livestock agents up here! Everyone take the remaining cattle and get away! Take them four pastures down."
Mae walked up to her dad as the cowboy moved the cattle. They were slow, they needed water and nutrition but this pasture was contaminated. The next ones could be to, they needed to move them as far as possible from the field. Ryan was walking with her, he was an agent after all.
"Ryan, you're not a reserve agent anymore. You find a way to cover this area, I don't want a fucking bird landing in it," John called out as they neared him. Mae squeezed Ryan's hand as he walked away.
"You two," John pointed at Mae and Kayce, "Walk with me."
The three walked up the hill away from the dead cattle.
"Now is not the right time to talk about all the fights I'm in. Right now, the only fight that matters is this one."
"Do you have any idea who did this?," Kayce asked.
"Oh, I know exactly who did this. Now we just got to prove it" John muttered.
"Daddy, maybe there's something we're not seeing," Mae muttered as she chewed her bottom lip.
"Like what, Sweetheart?"
"I just - Wasn't it in the newspaper that Jenkins and Rainwater started working together? They don't need to do this if they're announcing that they're opening a hotel and casino. Why would they do this? Why would they even think of this? Rainwater and Jenkins are both city boys, playing Montana big leagues, they wouldn't even know of alfalfa. Granted, they can google it or hire someone but the timing is just off, it doesn't make sense."
"We have to be sure, Sweetheart," John would have seen the logic in Mae's statement if he wasn't already completely pissed off.
"Thank you for saving the ones you could have," John kissed the side of her head before walking off to talk to Rip. Mae sighed as she stood next to Kayce, they were just waiting for the cops now.
It didn't take long for them to arrive and Mae rolled her eyes in irritation as she saw the sheriff, Don, she still wasn't over how quickly he was willing to throw her family under the bus for that bear accident. He almost sent Rip to jail and that pissed Mae off immensely, especially since he only had his job because her dad helped him. She hated people who were so quick to turn their backs on others, especially since he was only doing it for Jenkins' money.
Mae and Kayce stood slightly back as John and Jamie approached Don.
"So you think this was intentional? There's no tire tracks anywhere, John, the fence is way over there and nobody threw it over. It didn't fall out of the fucking sky," Mae glared at the man as she balled her fists, Kayce grabbed her hand in his own. He knew that look in her eye, hell it had been directed to him a few times.
"That's exactly what it fucking did," John replied, the anger clear in his voice.
"So you're thinking that someone flew a plane over here, to drop clover on your cattle in the middle of the night, John? Think about that," Mae met her dad's eyes as he turned from the Sheriff, needing to take a moment to calm his anger. Kayce did a double take at how similar the father and daughter looked in that moment, their eyes blazing with rage.
"We have," Jamie added smugly as he stepped up to match the Sheriff, "A King Air is designed for skydiving, so it has a side door large enough and it can hold the weight."
"I'm wondering who would do that though. Who would do that?," the Sheriff shrugged as if their idea was absolutely absurd, and it were any other family, it might've been but they were the Dutton's. They had enemies crawling out of every nook and crevasse.
"Your golfing buddy, that's who!," John glared at him. He knew that Jenkins was filling the Sheriff's pocket with cash, more than enough since he has a membership at the country club.
"Alright John, you think that. Now why the fuck am I here? I have no jurisdiction. Cattle is your department. What can I do for you?"
"I have six full time agents, Donny, and four reserves. I don't have the manpower for this investigation, I need your deputies," Don laughed and shook his head in shock.
"John, I can't spare any deputies. They county has more firefighters sleeping tonight than I have on patrol."
"You keep making my point! You want to help? Give me deputies or deputies my men, and not in six weeks. Right now, right here in this field," Kayce and Mae shared a look at their father's request. If this happens then that included Kayce but he already had a bad rap with the police after beating up that drifter, the night he came back to the ranch.
"Which men?"
"Well, him for starters," John pointed back at his two youngest.
"John, he just put that drifter on a soup diet and you want me to licence him to carry a weapon?"
Mae ripped away from Kayce's hold and walked up to her father and the Sheriff: "You mean the one that had a knife to his throat? Do you mean that drifter? Are you going to actually stand here and tell us that, that beating is worse than some of the ones your officers have dolled out? If I remember correctly, Sheriff, how many times have you brought in someone for me to clean up? How many times has my father stood on the podium with you, stood for you? I think that you're forgetting that you wouldn't be where you are today if it wasn't for my dad."
Mae could see that her words were affecting the sheriff and she also saw the proud glint in her father's eyes.
"Maybe you don't know this, Donny," John started," But there's a war going on in this valley and today is the day that you choose sides."
"I'll issue the permit but you've got to understand-", John cut the sheriff off: "He's trained to use it."
"Well that's great, John, but now you've got to train him not to use it. If it comes out of your holster, son, you better have an ironclad reason, understood?"
"Yeah," Kayce responded as Donny walked away.
"If he calls dispatch for support, I expect you to give it to him. Do you hear me, Donny!," John called out as Donny walked away.
"I heard you, John! The whole goddamn valley heard you!"
John turned to his three children: "Come here. W all know who did this. You find the evidence." Jamie nodded as John pointed at him.
"When he does, drag him by the hair back here," John told Kayce before taking Mae's hand and walking away with her. She still didn't support the idea that it was Jenkins but she her father had to be sure, she could be wrong as well.
"Ryan!," John called and he jogged over to the father and daughter duo.
"Yes, Sir?"
"I took you off reserve agent but I'm giving you a chance right now, to tell me that you don't want this extra responsibility. I know you love my daughter, you've proven that, but are you willing to start sacrificing for this family? Be everything she and this ranch will need you to be?"
"Daddy! You can't force this on him! We just officially got together," Mae stared between the two shocked, "Ryan, you really don't have to sign up for anything that you're not comfortable with."
Ryan reached out and took her unoccupied hand in his: "It's not too much. The day I signed up as a wrangler on this ranch, I agreed to protect it. The day I fell in love with you, I swore to protect you and everything that you love, that includes this ranch. What can I do to help, Sir?"
"Go with Kayce, get me the asshole that did this."
Ryan nodded and kissed Mae's cheek before walking off to join Kayce. Mae sighed as she continued walking with her father. It's not that she didn't appreciate or didn't want Ryan to take more responsibility but she didn't want it to be too much, too soon. She didn't want him to leave her because he realised her family was batshit with a never ending list of problems.
"That boy's not going anywhere, Sweetheart. He looks at you like I looked at your mom," John kissed her cheek, knowing why she was worried.
"Really?," Mae asked as she looked up at her father. He nodded.
"I need you to write me a report on the cattle, include all the symptoms, how many you saved and how many didn't make it. We're going to need it to put him behind bars, where he fucking belongs."
"I'll go to the clinic and get started now," Mae nodded, "Daddy, I know you need proof and I might be wrong but just do me a favour and don't put all your eggs in one basket, it still might not be Jenkins."
"I'll keep it in mind."
xxx
Kayce and Ryan were in one of the Yellowstone trucks. Ryan was driving and Kayce was on the phone to Jamie trying to figure out where to stop first.
"There's this skydiving place in Three Forks," Jamie explained as he listed through the documents on the desk.
"Yeah, we're headed there now," Kayce replied.
"And then there's the other two Zilla and Whitefish?"
"Nah, that's too far," Kayce shook his head.
Jamie's eyes widened at the document in his hand before asking Kayce: "Um, you didn't want to mention the trust?"
"The trust who?," Kayce asked confused.
"The trust, the ranch is in a trust," Jamie replied.
"Dad mentioned something about that but as far as I know he still hasn't finished the details," Kayce shrugged.
"Yeah well it looks like he finished because Mae's signature is right here."
"Mae hasn't signed shit," Kayce bit back quickly, he knew Jamie would go off on her and she hasn't done anything. Ryan quickly glanced at him as he heard Mae's name. He didn't like how defensive Kayce got, especially if he was talking about her to Jamie. Ryan didn't trust Jamie, not at all. He's hurt her too much.
"Don't bullshit me, Kayce, I'm looking at her signature right here."
"I'm telling you, Jamie, she didn't do shit. Are you forgetting she just got out of her busiest season on the ranches while Dad was at the hospital? If she was at home she ate, slept and walked around like a zombie because she was mostly jumping between the ranches and the hospital. Hell I even asked Dad if he had talked to her and told her last week and he hadn't and he couldn't have told her or got her to sign it during this week because she ignored Dad and I like the damn black plague until right before dinner yesterday."
"Like she would ever ignore Dad," Jamie grumbled.
"Well she did. You missed a massive fight. You can even call her yourself, Jamie, she didn't sign shit."
Jamie sighed, Mae would have talked to him up front and after listening to Kayce's story, he knew that she didn't have anything to do with this, which leaves Beth: "Alright, call me when you get to Three Forks."
"My fucking family, man," Kayce groaned as he shook his head, "Are you sure you still want to join?"
"For you sister? Always. Besides it beats mine by a long shot," Ryan shrugged.
"If my family is less crazy than yours, then I really don't ever want to meet them," Kayce replied.
"Yeah, you really don't," Ryan grimaced as he thought of his mother, the only family he had left besides the father he never knew.
xxx
The next morning Mae woke up to go to the clinic, Charlie's feet were incredibly swollen and she was tired as hell after yesterday, so the Dutton girl left her to sleep.
"Morning, Jamie, here's the report Daddy wanted," Mae handed him the medical report she wrote up for the cattle. She had her smoothie in her other hand, Archie and Willow at her sides.
"Thank you. Hey, tell me do you know anything about a tru-," before Jamie could finish his sentence they heard a commotion outside. He stood up and looked out of the window but Mae was already running outside.
"Oh fuck, Mae wait!"
"Daddy! Rip!"
Rip had one guy in a chokehold and held a gun to another guy, who her dad had knocked to the ground. Two other wanna-be cowboys stood near her dad in their thousand dollar suits and shiny hats, just from looking at them, she knew they were the bosses.
"Wait! Whoa! Whoa! Everybody calm down. Dad, this is-," the guy in the white cowboy hat interrupted Jamie, "I'm Malcolm Beck."
Mae walked to stand behind her father and he held his arm for her to grab onto, knowing she was giving them the same glare he was. They both noticed the looks the two men were giving her, and they didn't like it. In fact, John wanted to rip their eyeballs out of their sockets.
"This here's my brother, Teal. Look, I apologise for everything that's happened here. Misunderstandings aside, we need to speak. It seems there is a problem that we share."
"My problems are squarely my own," John replied, hoping that they get the message and leave.
"Not this one. May we sit," Malcolm Beck nodded at the main house.
"We can talk under that tree," John pointed to the one with the chairs under it. He didn't want strangers in his home, especially not ones that were continuously giving his baby girl the side-eye.
The brothers walked towards it before turning around: "By the way, Miss, you look awfully familiar, have we met before?"
Mae shook her head: "I just have one of those faces."
As they nodded and turned to walk back to their chairs the Dutton family missed the vicious grins on their faces. They did in fact meet her before, she wouldn't remember because she was passed out in the hospital with a head wound.
"Should we call him and tell him that she's here?," Teal asked his brother.
"Not yet. Lets see how this meeting with her father turns out."
While the brothers walk away John turns to Jamie: "What in the sam hell is that all about?"
"Sorry they called fifteen minutes ago, I didn't know they meant now," Jamie emphasised the last word loud enough for the brothers to hear.
"Sweetheart go to work, I don't want you here with the looks they were giving you," Mae usually would have fought her dad with the independent woman card but she had to admit, she was genuinely freaked out by them.
"Okay, be safe, I love you. All three of you," she hugged all of them goodbye before going to her Jeep Wrangler.
xxx
Mae walked into the main house just in time for dinner but stopped her eyes growing wide as she saw the woman her dad was backing for Attorney General sitting in Jamie's chair and Jamie sitting in her chair next to Beth. She really didn't want to go in that room anymore, maybe she wasn't that hungry, Beth already found a way to make the dinner awkward as hell before it even started.
"Take a seat, Sweetheart," John nodded to Kayce's open chair. Ryan texted her that it was going to be a late one for them and that they wouldn't be back by dinner.
"Hi, I'm Cassidy," she introduced herself as Mae sat down next to her.
"I'm Mae, nice to meet you," the two shook hands.
As John made small talk with Cassidy, Mae could see the knife Beth took under the table, pointing it at Jamie. She stepped on her sister's toes, forcing Beth to look at her.
"Don't," Mae mouthed but Beth just gave a sinister smile before hitting Jamie with the knife.
"Excuse me," Jamie groaned as he walked out of the room.
"Is he okay?," Cassidy asked Beth.
"He has celiac disease. He gets a upset tummy," Beth replied, Mae rolled her eyes and John stared at his oldest daughter, not believing a word coming from her fucking mouth.
"He has what?," John asked.
"I'm going to check on him, excuse me," Mae said as she stood up and walked out of the room.
"I wouldn't if I were you, think of the smell," Mae waved her off and went in search of her big brother.
"Jamie," Mae knocked on the guest bathroom door.
"Not now, Mae. Please not now," she sighed and rested her head against the door.
"If you need me, I'm always here for you," she whispered as she walked out of the house.
She pulled her phone out before calling Ryan.
"Hey, Darlin'."
"Hi, are you home yet?"
"Yeah, I just parked, why?"
"Can you meet me at the tree behind the house?"
"I'll be there in two."
"Thank you, I love you."
"I love you too."
xxx
It was basically two minutes when Ryan showed up and sat down beside her.
"What's going on, Darlin'?"
Mae just shrugged as she rested her head against his chest: "How was your day with Kayce?"
"We didn't find the airplane, so essentially useless," Ryan explained as he ran his hand through her hair. Mae hummed as she let him play with her hair.
"Do you want to talk, Darlin'?"
She shook her head and he nodded and just held her close. She didn't want to talk, she found herself just wanting to be with him more and more.
"Can I sleep with you in the bunkhouse, tonight?"
"Of course you can," Ryan kissed her head.