"You okay, Bear?" Mae asked as Rip walked out of his and Beth's room.
"Yeah, it's just strange," he muttered as he looked around the main house.
"It's about damn time," Mae smiled at him, "You've always been family, it's only right that you start living like it."
Mae kissed his cheek before returning to her room to grab her bag.
"Let's go, Ryan!" Rip called out to the younger man. Ryan gave Mae a kiss and walked out with Rip.
"You're all becoming so domestic," Charlie teased from the doorway with Evie in her arms. Mae chuckled as she took the baby from Charlie and started rocking her back and forth. The baby smiled and blabbered to her aunt.
"As if you and Gator aren't? Taking him home to meet the family and all," Mae teased back.
"Yeah, I'm not even going to deny it. I never thought I would find someone after Lee and then he was just there and he's just everything. I love him but he understands that a part of me will always still love Lee," Charlie smiled as she watched Mae with Evie.
"I'm happy you're happy Char. Lee would have wanted you to be happy," Mae smiled at the brunette. Her heart still ached at the mention of her brother but she knew that he would always be there for her.
"I know," Charlie agreed, "Do you maybe want to spend some quality time with your niece tonight?"
"Gator taking you out?" Mae asked and Charlie nodded.
"Good, you two deserve some alone adult time. I'll drag Ryan into babysitting with me," Mae grinned as she kissed Evie's forehead. The little baby squealed up at her.
"It will be good practice for you two," Charlie smirked as she watched her best friend blush.
"I'll feed her full of sugar right before you come home," Mae threatened.
"Jokes on you. I'm only coming home tomorrow morning," Charlie smirked back.
"Scandalous," Mae laughed.
"Come one, we've got to get to work," Charlie laughed as she took the baby back into her arms.
xxx
They were able to close the clinic rather early that day, much to everyone's relief. Charlie hurried up the stairs while Mae picked up Evie after her nap and took her for a walk outside. Willow and Archie ran around the pair making Evie giggle as she watched them. Mae smiled as she saw them do tricks or repeat certain things every time they heard Evie laugh.
While Mae was walking with her, she was unaware of John standing on the porch watching them. Every time he looked at the two of them and Tate, he knew why he was fighting so hard to keep the ranch.
Mae realised that she hadn't had a chance to just hold Evie ever since she was taken. She hadn't had a chance to do a lot of things since then.
"I thought I would never get to see you or hold you again, Bunny. I was so scared. Some people are monsters. They take everything they can from a person and when there's nothing left to give, they break you until they find more to take. You'll unfortunately learn this. You'll have to learn what a total mess the world is and how the monsters are hiding all around us in plain sight. I wish I could protect you from all of this but I can't.
I can, however, do a background search of every person you ever bring home. So promise me, your favourite Auntie, that you'll always give me all the information I might need. C'mon Bunny, I need you to blink twice if you promise."
Mae stared down at the baby, begging her to blink twice but Evie just giggled and reached her tiny hand up to play with her aunt's face.
"Don't scare me like that," Mae frowned and the baby giggled even more at Mae's over-exaggerated expression. Mae and Evie continued their little walk, Mae still trying to convince Evie of her words.
"Do you know who always knew what to say? Your Daddy. I know that I say I have a lot of friends and two best friends but I think your Daddy will always be my actual best friend. I think we should go visit him, what about you?"
Evie blew a raspberry in reply and Mae considered that to be a yes. She carried the baby over to their little cemetery. She sat down across from Lee's grave with Evie in her arms. Archie sat down next to her and rested his head on her knee.
"Say hi to your Daddy, Bunny.
She's so beautiful, Lee. She looks just like Charlie but there's no mistake that she's got a hint of Dutton mischief in her eyes and that's all you. I can't begin to explain how much we miss you and need you. She doesn't know it yet but she's going to have this Lee-size hole in her life, just like the rest of us do, and that hole hurts more than anything else life could ever throw at us.
I need you, big brother, I'm not okay. I don't think that I ever will be. He ruined me, all of the pieces I built up again, he tore down. I need you to hold me and tell me everything's going to be okay. I need you to knock on my bedroom door at ten at night with chocolate ice cream and the Hangover trilogy. I need you to challenge me to a race and then laugh at my pouting when you win. I need you to make fun of my pink cowgirl hat but most of all I just need you. We need you and we love you."
Mae had tears falling down her face as she stared at Lee's headstone. She thought she was okay, she really did. Yeah, she did still have nightmares and she did struggle to sleep even with Ryan next to her but she thought she was okay. Everything was going good but sitting here and talking with Lee just brought all of her emotions back up. She couldn't be like this again, too many people rely on her, too many people need her. She couldn't be weak anymore.
"Darlin'," Mae's eyes snapped open. Ryan was standing there with a distressed Willow next to him. She must have gone to get him when Mae started crying.
"Hi," she responded, her voice raspy.
Ryan walked over and sat down next to her, Willow placing her head on his knee, "What's wrong, Darlin'?"
"I don't know. Everything was going so well, I was keeping myself distracted and busy. I was moving on. I just wanted to bring Evie here to visit Lee and then I started talking and I- everything just came back," she replied as she tried to wipe her eyes.
"Darlin' that's normal. It's completely okay to feel like that in your situation. Recovery from something like that is not a one-way road, it's a rollercoaster. You're going to have days where you go forwards and other times you'll go backward. Hell, sometimes you're even going to go sideways and hang upside down. All that matters is that you hang on for the ride," he assured as he wiped at her tears.
"I love you so much," Mae told him as she smiled through her tears.
"I love you too, Darlin'."
Ryan reached over to give her a kiss when the baby reached over and tugged at his jaw before giggling like crazy.
"You babysitting today?" Ryan asked as he smiled down at the little brown-haired girl.
"We are babysitting today," Mae corrected as she handed Evie over to him, "Charlie and Gator are going out for a date."
"So we get to spend time with this little Princess?" Ryan asked as he blew raspberries at the little girl, who blew them back at him.
"Yeah, and you're also coming to dinner tonight. It's Rip's first dinner tonight up at the house and he's feeling a bit weird about moving into the main house. It might make him feel better if someone else from the bunkhouse was also there," Mae told him.
"I remember my first time at dinner. I was so nervous I was sweating through my shirt. I'll definitely be there, anything to help the guy," Ryan shrugged. Mae smiled as she kissed his cheek.
"Well, then we better get going. Charlie's going to say goodbye to her while we eat dinner," Mae informed as she stood up.
xxx
Mae and Ryan walked into the dining room to see Carter, Beth, and Rip already sitting on one side of John. Mae and Ryan taking the other side.
"Hi, sorry we're late we took Evie for a walk," Mae explained as she kissed John's cheek.
"You're right on time, Sweetheart," John assured.
Mae and Ryan started dishing up some of the potatoes, Carter and John some of the steak, and Beth and Rip some of the salad.
"There's fruit in the salad," Rip told her as he stared at it.
"Yeah," Beth replied like it was obvious.
"I-I uh don't want that," Rip shook his head.
"It's good for the prostate. Mae and I have Gator make it for Daddy," Beth explained.
"He has to eat fruit with every meal or I'm switching his coffee with herbal tea," Mae smirked as John shot her a playful glare.
"Yes, it is good for the prostate. Lots of things are good for the prostate. We just don't talk about them at the dinner table," John replied as he dished up some salad.
"Here we go," Mae whispered to Ryan as she saw the look on Beth's face.
"I bet you ten dollars it's going to take ten minutes before she storms out of here," Ryan whispered back.
"Twenty bucks and less than five minutes," Mae replied.
"Deal," Ryan and her shook hands, ignoring the curious looks Rip was sending them.
"You know there's this holistic doctor at the Deerfield club. He specializes in Tantric healing. Now that that is good for the prostate." Beth explains while Mae starts laughing into her wine glass.
"Tantric what's that?" Rip asked as he looked at Mae, the only one with a medical degree.
"Don't encourage her," John cut in before Mae could answer as he shot a pointed look at Beth to change the subject.
"It focuses on the erogenous zones," Beth replied and Ryan choked on a potato between laughter.
"E-what? Erogenous zones?" Rip asked confused
"Uh uh areolas, vulvas, phallas, spinchter."
"Is that Latin?" Carter asked confused.
"Okay, no. I can't take it anymore," Mae stopped the conversation as she struggled to catch her breath from laughing, "That's not what it means. Tantric healers are spiritual healers. The majority focus on meditation, massages, and other soft practices but there are some that resort to those methods but not all. No, Chubby it's not Latin just some scientific words for parts of the human body but it's also not something that should be discussed in front of you or with our dad."
"Oh c'mon he doesn't know what it means and he doesn't have a cellphone or computer to look it up," Beth shrugged as she pointed at Carter before switching to John, "And we're all adults."
"And you've uh done this?" Rip asked, obviously not liking the idea of Beth being with anyone else.
"You're just pouring gas on the fire, Rip. Just dumping it right on the damn fire," John added.
"I love it," Beth told Rip, "but I don't think it's for you. You're wound a little tight. But it is a good idea for you Daddy. And he is good, he made my knees wobble for a fucking week."
"I'm going to have to disagree with you there, Big sis. There are a lot of other stuff that are good that Daddy can try before he has to resort to that," Mae tried to ease the tension as all the men let out noises of surprise at Beth's statement.
"I'm dragging your ass with me next time ago, Little sis. He recommends that you see him monthly but after my first session with him, I was like a month? I'm seeing your ass tomorrow. You'll see, he'll set something loose in you that's been trapped for years," Beth winked and Ryan choked on his wine.
"Please tell me you're not going," he begged.
"Don't worry I don't plan to. Beth, I know all of the legitimate doctors in the state, no one has mentioned him before so I don't really trust him," Mae replied as she shook her head, "And I really don't think it's something Daddy's going to enjoy, especially since it's a man."
"Definitely not," John agreed.
"Are we still talking about the salad?" Carter asked.
"I wish," Ryan replied.
"No, Carter we're well past the salad," John added on.
"Can I have some?" Carter asked as he referred to the salad.
"Have all you want," John passed him the bowl.
"That's good! Start young, keep those pipes clean," Beth praised him.
"This is every meal, Rip," John told him and the guy looked at Ryan panicked.
"You get used to it, kind of," Ryan told him with a shrug.
"This is where she gets her revenge," John told him and Mae winced, he shouldn't have said that.
"Revenge?" Beth laughed menacingly, "How is Mae and I trying to prevent you from getting prostate cancer revenge?"
"Revenge for what?" Carter asked.
"I don't know. I can not figure it out," John replied.
"Why don't you ask her?" Carter asked him, after his own fight with Beth he knew that she appreciated the straightforward questions.
"Why don't you ask me, Daddy? Ask me how me being the only one making conversation at this table is somehow vengeful?"
Ryan smirked at Rip's clearly uncomfortable face and Mae elbowed his side. He was just as uncomfortable the first time, no need to laugh at Rip.
"Beth, you're not going to do this at breakfast, are you? Cause I have to eat my breakfast quick," Rip asked.
"What? Do what? What the fuck am I doing? You know what I'm doing? I'm fucking leaving, that's what I'm doing," Beth threw down her napkin and stormed out of the room.
"Excuse me," Rip got up and went after her.
"Yeah," John got up to throw the salad back into the bowl when Mae stopped him.
"Don't even think about it. I may not agree with Beth's dinner tactics but there's no way that you're getting out of eating that," Mae told him and John huffed as he sat back down.
"All of you," Mae pointed at John, Carter, and Ryan, who nodded at her.
"Well at least it's not just me who's getting this treatment anymore," John grumbled.
"Can I still have some cake after supper?" Carter asked as he pointed to the chocolate cake Gator made.
"Hell you can have some right now," John agreed.
"If he agrees to eat his salad," Mae added.
"I promise I will," he told Mae.
"Okay then you can have some," Mae smiled at the boy.
"You're talking as if I wasn't with you while you ate a pint of ice cream on your own for dinner, numerous times," Ryan chuckled.
John laughed, "Ryan, this is why I'm keeping you around."
"Hey now, this is about all of your health, not mine and at least I like my vegetables and salads. I eat more of this than all of you," Mae replied.
"So can I have my cake with my steak now?" Carter asked after he finished the last bit of salad.
"Yeah, eat your cake with your steak," John told him as he continued to stare at Mae and Ryan who started playfully tormenting each other.
"Oh, and I won the bet!" Ryan exclaimed as he held his hand out, Mae grumpily handing over the ten dollars she had in her pocket.
"Bet?" John asked confused.
"We made a bet on how long it would have taken Beth to run out of here," Mae explained, "I said five minutes, and he said ten."
"Grab your plates and your glasses. If you want a family dinner then we're eating in the other room," Beth walked in and grabbed her and Rip's plates before walking into the living room.
Mae shrugged before grabbing her plate and wine glass and following her sister, "It doesn't help to argue with her." The others soon followed her lead.
While seated at the new "dinner table" Ryan, Rip, Carter, and John started a new conversation about the biggest snakes they've found on the ranch.
"So, what's the biggest one you've ever seen?" Carter asked John.
"Six feet," he replied.
"That's a big snake."
"That's a big damn snake," John agreed as he wiped his mouth, "We were rebuilding the horse stalls."
"It was in the barn?" Carter asked.
"It was in the barn," John confirmed.
"Did you two see it?" Carter asked Rip and Ryan.
"Oh yeah, I saw it," Rip confirmed.
"I wasn't here yet," Ryan replied.
"Rip was about your age and when he saw it, he did exactly what the rest of the other boys did. He ran up the wall like a damn spider and hung from the rafters," John explained and everyone laughed.
"That's true but hey, discretion is the better part of valor and trust me there was a lot of valor up there in those rafters.
"At least he carried Mae up with him because she was ready to go play with it as if it was a pet," John told the table.
"Why the hell would you do that?" Ryan asked as he looked at her shocked.
"It was cute," Mae shrugged, "Besides it just confirmed that even at that age I had bigger balls than all of you big strong men."
"I think you're confusing balls with stupid," Rip replied.
"In a man's case balls and stupid are the exact same thing," Beth quipped and the sisters clinked their glasses together while the men rolled their eyes at them.
"Did you kill it?" Carter asked John.
"Hell no I didn't kill it. Do you know how many mice those things eat? Besides Mae would have screamed bloody murder if I even tried to. I didn't let any of the other boys try to kill it either. I had this old heeler, do you remember him?" John asked Mae, Beth, and Rip who all remembered him.
"Well he was meaner than shit, he was cat-quick. And one day he found that snake, and those two went at it," Mae, Rip, and Beth all laughed as they knew what was coming next while Carter and Ryan stared questioningly at John.
"What happened?" Carter asked.
John reached behind him and opened a drawer before handing Carter a wooden box, "You be careful when you open this."
"Don't!" Rip shouted and tapped Carter on the arm as a joke. It made everyone laugh as they watched the boy jump in fright before he laughed with them.
Carter pulled out the tail of the rattlesnake from the box as John told him, "If you count those rings, you'll figure out how old he was."
Mae, Ryan, and John smiled as they watched Carter stare at the tail in fascination while Beth and Rip had a private conversation. Carter packed the tail away and closed the box. He tried to give the box back to John but the man pushed the box back towards the kid, "No, that's yours, keep that."
Carter stared up in shock, Mae's heart ached for the kid as he still wasn't used to gifts.
"What do you say?" Rip asked the boy.
"Thank you," Carter told John and everyone just smiled as they stared at the interaction.
xxx
Later that night Mae and Ryan had just gotten Evie down for bed and put the baby monitor on in her room.
"You were good with her," Mae smiled at Ryan as they both got comfortable in her bed.
"Oh yeah?" he asked as he smiled down at her.
"Yeah, she really loved the story you read to her," Mae told him.
"Well, who can blame her? The princess and the frog is iconic," Ryan replied with a grin as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
Mae laughed softly at him as she reached over and kissed him on the lips, "We're going to be good at this one day."
"We sure are."
Mae was about to say something else when her phone started ringing, flashing with Kayce's name.
"Kayce? Is everything alright?" Mae asked in worry.
"Everything's perfect," Kayce replied and Mae could hear the excitement in his voice.
"Monica's pregnant," Kayce explained and Mae's face split into a massive grin.
"Oh my gosh! Kayce! I'm so happy for you two and for Tate!" Mae shouted in excitement.
"Thank you. Don't tell Dad or anyone yet, we want to tell them ourselves but you were the first one that knew about Tate so I wanted you to be the first to know about this one as well."
"I appreciate it so much. Thank you, Kayce. I'm going to be an aunt again!" Mae cheered and Ryan couldn't stop the grin on his face as he watched Mae's excitement over the baby.
"Yeah, you are," Kayce replied also smiling at his sister, "I got to get back to Monica. Talk to you later."
"Yeah, talk to you later. I love you, Kayce."
"Love you too, Little sister," Kayce greeted before he hung up the phone.
"I'm going to have another niece or nephew," Mae told Ryan with a big smile on her face.
"And just like Tate and Evie, they will be extremely lucky to have you," Ryan told her while playing with her hair. Mae smiled as she reached up to place another kiss on his lips.
xxx
The next morning Mae woke up after Ryan already had to leave. She didn't have time for breakfast so she jogged down the stairs after getting dressed and getting Evie ready for the day.
"Morning, Daddy," Mae greeted as she walked over to him with Evie in her arms. The little girl was dressed in a red jumper with little pink cowboy hats all over, leggings, and thick brown wool booties that looked like cowboy boots.
"Morning, Sweetheart. Give me my grandaughter," John reached out to take the baby in his arms as Mae handed her over. The old man rocked the baby back and forth and listened as she babbled up at him. She was getting bigger by the day and her little babbles started to sound more and more like words.
"Can you feed her? I'm running a little late and I've got to get to the clinic," Mae explained.
"Yeah, no problem. Are you not going to have breakfast this morning?" John asked.
"No, I have an early meeting this morning," Mae explained.
"You have any lunch plans?" John asked.
"Not yet," Mae replied.
"Meet Rip and I at the diner for lunch. We have a meeting with the sheriff there but we can grab lunch with you afterward," John told her.
"Yeah, sure just text me when you're on your way," Mae told him and he agreed. Mae greeted her dad and niece before speedwalking over to the Jeep. She wanted to talk to some financial advisers about the best investments she could make for the ranch and then take the options to Beth to pick the best ones to boost the ranch's capital.
xxx
It was around lunch time when Mae received the text from her dad that they were in town and on their way to the diner. She quickly changed out of her scrubs and left the clinic.
As Mae drove into the parking lot of the diner, she immediately noticed that it looked like a warzone. Her dad and Rip held a guy at gunpoint who was holding a gun to a waitress' forehead. She also noticed that numerous people had been injured, the worst being the sheriff.
Mae grabbed the medical kit that she kept in her Jeep before jumping out of the car.
"Daddy! Rip! What's going on?!" Mae shouted as she rushed to help the sheriff.
"Just idiots getting taught a lesson. Nobody steals in my town," John told her as Rip shot the assailant in the foot, causing him to drop the girl, and then John shot him in the chest.
Mae focused her attention on stopping the bleeding in the sheriff's chest. John and Rip were focused on the guy that they shot but nobody saw his partner sitting up weakly before another shot rang out and Mae felt a searing pain across her side. Rip and John spun around before quickly shooting the guy in the head and chest.
John and Rip rushed toward Mae but she waved them off, "It's just a graze. Put pressure on the Sheriff's wound!" John followed his daughters' orders to help his friend while Rip walked over to Mae. He ripped his jacket off and used it to put pressure on Mae's wound. It wasn't just a graze but it thankfully wasn't fatal according to Mae Rip felt a little unsure the more blue her face became.
Mae watched as John called the Sheriff's daughter in order for him to say goodbye but he couldn't get the words out before he was dead. She felt her eyes well with tears as she stared at his body. They didn't always agree on everything but Mae knew that he was a good man and this wasn't how he should have died.