Mae woke up the next morning curled up against Ryan. Her head rested on his bare chest as it raised with his breathing.
"Morning, Darlin'," Ryan whispered as he greeted her.
"Morning," she smiled as she looked up to see him smiling down at her.
"You look happy this morning," Ryan noted as he saw her smile.
"I am, I'm very happy to be here with you," Mae reached up and kissed his lips.
"I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else," Ryan grinned as he started placing kisses along her neck.
"So no barrel racer on your horizons, huh?," Mae teased as she let him continue his loving attack on her neck.
"Nope," kiss, "just," kiss, "you," kiss.
"And I wouldn't want it any other way," Ryan grinned as he kissed her again.
"So Monica asked me something yesterday and it got me thinking," Mae started and Ryan pulled away to look at her, "So obviously what I'm about to ask is not now but in the future and that's even if you would want, I mean I definitely do but you've never-"
"Darlin' you're rambling."
"Yeah I'm sorry, okay so she asked me if I ever thought of kids and I was wondering if you have ever thought about it?"
Ryan looked at the woman that was still laying on his chest but looking anywhere except at him. He smiled softly as he took his hand and held onto her chin to make her look at him.
"Like you said, in the future, I would like to have a couple of kids but I would love to marry you and to have kids with you."
"Really?," she smiled.
"Definitely, you're it for me Darlin'."
"You're it for me too, Cowboy, that's why I need to tell you something."
"Go on," Ryan urged as he brushed some of her hair back.
"If we're going to work then I believe in a hundred percent honesty and communication from both sides, and I hope you do too?"
"My grandparents taught me that communication is key to a healthy relationship so yes I agree."
"Well, you know that um that company that's trying to build the ski resort?," Ryan nodded, "Well they are kind of here because of my ex and he's here too."
Ryan tensed, his arms tightened around Mae before he asked: "The ex that almost killed you? That ex?"
"Yeah," Mae whispered and Ryan released her as he sat up and rubbed his face.
"I don't want you to go anywhere alone. I've already almost lost you twice now and I can't lose you. The stories you've told me, tells me enough, he's a fucking psycho. I don't know what he'd do to you if he got you alone so promise me that you'll always have someone with you, even if I have to drive you to work and back myself," while talking Ryan grabbed her hands in his.
"I'll promise to try and stick around people but I can't promise never to be alone, you know I can't control that. I will however also promise to keep my phone on me and charged."
Ryan sighed, he knew that he couldn't keep her locked up on this ranch and he knew that he couldn't guarantee her safety off of it. This whole situation didn't sit right with him.
"I don't like this," Ryan told her as he shook his head, "Why now? Why all these years later?"
"I don't know," she replied," And I hate it. I thought I left him in the past, I really did but now he's back and he's trying to take away my happiness again."
"I won't let him, your brothers, your sister and your dad won't let him."
"I really hope you're right," Mae replied but even she could hear the doubt in her voice. She was scared, Ryan could see that clear as day.
"You're scared and after what he did to you, it's understandable but he won't get away with it, I promise you that. Have you told your dad or your brothers?"
"No only Beth knows, I told her that I would tell all of you. I wanted to tell my dad and Kayce last night but they're both so happy. They enjoy being up here and away from all the drama and I couldn't bring myself to tell them because they've been so worried about me lately and I just wanted them to be happy," Mae ranted.
"You have to tell them," Ryan urged.
"I will, I promise," Mae agreed and Ryan nodded as he kissed her.
"Lovebirds! Breakfast is ready! Get your asses out here," Colby called as he knocked on the tent.
"Fuck off!," Ryan called back before going back to kissing Mae and ignoring his best friend.
"We really should go before my dad or Kayce decides to come and get us," Mae laughed out, Ryan grumbled as he reached for his shirt.
"Are you sleeping here again tonight?," Mae asked.
"Depends on what Rip says."
xxx
Beth found out that Roarke's company, Market Equities, was making a play to steal the Yellowstone out from underneath the Dutton family and to build an airport on it so she raced to the stream where she knew that fucker would be fishing.
"I'd be easy to assassinate," he called to her as she walked down the hill towards him.
"Don't temp me," Beth bit back. First this fucker hurt her sister and now he wanted their land, he was pushing all her buttons the wrong way.
"I'm not trespassing," he stated.
"Well it's not our land," Beth replied.
"Well it's not the first time you've done that."
"You know I ran out of things to do for the first time when I was twenty," Beth remarked.
"That paints quite a picture."
"Yup, feel free to beat off to it later. Oh who am I kidding, you only do that in front of the mirror after you've beaten your girlfriend half to death," Beth spat out
"So I see you talked to our precious Mae."
"Where the fuck are you putting that airport?," Beth wanted to kick his balls back into his stomach for just mentioning her but she needed answers first.
"I told you I'm not in charge-"
"Bullshit! I drive this road every single day, you're never here and now you're here every day while your attorney is sitting with the governor deciding which properties to pin down."
Roarke took off his glasses and smirked at her: "You know paying a state's official for information is a felony."
"Yeah, but you never done it?"
"It's about all you can do to make money," he moved to sit down on a boulder," So have you. Broken companies, ruined families, ended careers and now you're standing there in front of me looking at me with those big mad eyes because somebody is doing it to you. All we're going to do is make your old man one of the richest men in Montana. Oh the tragedy."
"That's not what he wants and if you even cared enough to listen to Mae when she wasted her time on you, you would have known that. He wants the land."
"You know the trick to never losing your land, find land no one else wants, it's the only way-"
"I'm going to stop you right there," Beth interrupted him.
"How? Are you going to move another river bed," he teased rereferring to that night that Lee passed away and Rip changed the river's flow, "We'll just move it back. None of us wants to spend a year in the court house but we will. We can afford it, how about you Beth? Can your family afford it? Can you afford to fight the army we'll be marching in there? Make us a proposal. Make it very fair to your family, we'd prefer to avoid a fight but we're not scared of one either and while you're at it, why don't you add your sister in on it? I want her, she's mine, she's always been, Beth."
"You've hurt my sister enough, leave her, my family and our land the fuck alone. She's finally with a man that treats her like the queen she fucking is and he's a million times more of a man than you'll ever be. You won't get near her or my family's land, that's a fucking promise," Beth glared one last time before leaving.
"We'll see about that," Roarke smirked as he watched her go.
xxx
Mae had one of her very few self care days and just got out of the bathtub when her father knocked on her door.
"Sweetheart, I'm taking the bunkhouse to the rodeo tonight in Livingston. Do you want to join?"
"Yes! I'm just going to get dressed!," Mae was excited, she hasn't been to a rodeo in quite some time.
After getting ready, she met everyone downstairs and left for the rodeo.
"Where's Colby?," Mae asked Ryan as she sat in the back of her father's truck with him.
"He's watching the cattle with the new ranch hand, Teeter, tonight."
"Teeter? Let me guess a Texan?," Mae asked.
"Yeah, she's got a fucking mouth on her," John answered.
"I keep forgetting that you spent a couple of years in Texas," Ryan chuckled.
"Yeah, I bet she's going to out cowboy all of you, no offence."
"Hey!," Ryan protested while John laughed.
"Sorry, Texans are just built different."
"Ain't that the fucking truth," John muttered.
xxx
Mae and Ryan sat on one side of her dad, Rip and Beth on the next. Kayce, Monica and Tate were next to Ryan. Ryan had his arm wrapped around Mae and she was cuddled up in his side while Rip couldn't even hold Beth's hand. Mae smirked, knowing he was hesitant because he was sitting next to John.
"I guess everyone thinks I'm the dumbest man in the valley. You can hold her damn hand, Rip," Mae laughed at Rip's face after her father said that.
"Thank you, Daddy," Beth grinned as she took Rip's hand in her own.
"As if something could happen on the ranch that I don't know about," John muttered to Mae, who chuckled at him.
"It's almost Jimmy's turn, right?," Mae asked Ryan.
"Yeah, it's an important one for the kid. He just has to keep his head on straight."
"And you've watched him before, he's good?," Mae asked.
"Yeah, it's about the kids' only talent," Ryan replied and Mae smacked his side.
"You're an asshole."
"Yes, but I'm your asshole, Darlin'."
Mae scrunched up her nose at his words and he sighed: "Yeah, it sounded better in my head."
"Nice try though," she laughed.
Everyone watched as the governor showed up and came to sit between John and Rip.
"Hey, buddy, you hungry?," Kayce asked Tate, who nodded.
"Lets go get a corndog."
"Bring me one, please!," Mae called.
"You've got legs!," Kayce replied.
Mae smirked at her brother before turning to John: "Daddy, Kayce's refusing to bring me food even after I asked nicely."
"Kayce bring your sister something to eat," Kayce couldn't believe that she pulled that card and rolled his eyes as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Just when you think that they're grown up," John grumbled to the governor, "So, uh, can we just enjoy the evening and talk about the problem tomorrow? The one good thing about problems is that they'll still be around tomorrow."
"You wanna walk me through the plan of that dirty grin?," Mae almost started gagging and forced Ryan to move over so that she didn't have to listen to her dad flirt with the governor.
"You don't want to listen to that?," Ryan teased.
"No thank you, now watch it's starting!"
The Yellowstone family sat and watched cowboy after cowboy get bucked off of horses.
"I'm going to go get some drinks for us. You want anything specific?," Ryan asked.
"Surprise me," Mae smiled. While Ryan, Rip and Beth left to get drinks, Mae made small talk with the governor and her dad.
"Jimmy's next," Rip told them when they returned.
They all watched and Mae could immediately tell that something was off with him.
"He's not focussed!," as Mae told Ryan, they all watched as Jimmy was bucked off of the horse and he wasn't waking up.