Chapter Text
Dismounting their horses, Rip started cooling the animals down while Beth headed into the house. As she did so, she turned off Do Not Disturb on her phone. It only let Carter and Rip’s texts messages and calls to go through. Her phone alerted with texts and calls from Kayce. Six calls and at least two dozen texts. The warm colors spoke to sunrise, which meant her brother was up and he would take her calls.
Dialing the number she waited and eventually her brother picked up. “Thank god you’re safe. I was beginning to think something happened to you.”
“Still alive, just took a romantic ride with Rip, turned on Do Not Disturbed. Now, why the fuck are you blowing up my phone?” She made in the house and was washing her hands to start making breakfast for her two boys.
“Christina, Jamie’s ex-girlfriend, she died in a car crash. We’re next of kin regarding their son, so we need to figure out what to do next. There’s a meeting with her lawyer and Cassidy Reid, she was loyal to Dad so she’d be loyal to us.”
Leaning against the counter Beth spoke firmly, “when is this meeting?”
“Monday at nine, CFS office.”
“I’ll be there but don’t expect anything from me.”
“If he can come, bring Rip. The worker said to bring our spouses, for what I don’t know.”
“I think you forget that my husband doesn’t exist, he can’t come. Also, he can’t be put on any paperwork due to that reason.”
Kayce was quiet for a moment, “I asked Cassidy about it and she said to just bring him.”
The sound of footsteps on the stairs alerted her to her son coming down for breakfast. She had two hungry cowboys to feed. “We’ll be there. I have two hungry cowboys to feed, so I can’t talk anymore.”
She hung up and smiled at her son, he was definitely in the half-awake state. He sat at the table and put his head on his arms. “Coffee?”
“I’m making it right now. How’d you sleep?” Beth started the coffee maker and pulled eggs from the fridge.
“Fine.” His voice was muffled by his arms.
Beth turned on the stove eye after a pan was on it, “we’re going to visit Kayce and Tate tomorrow, I’m sure you two will enjoy riding together.”
That had the teen picking up his head, “can we ride the valley?”
“No, just the East Camp, it’s around five thousand acres. That’s plenty of acreage to ride.”
“Tate said he’s allowed to ride in the valley since he’s half-Broken Rock. As long as he has his Tribal ID, he’s good to ride the valley.”
Beth turned to him despite having cracked eggs in the pan. “You have no Tribal ID, so you don’t have the right to ride the valley. Until Chief Rainwater or Mo tell me you can ride the valley, it’ll be the East Camp and only the East Camp.”
Carter was silent after she destroyed his hope of riding the valley once again. The door to the house alerted her to Rip entering the house. She heard his steps on the stairs, so she knew he was going to get cleaned up before coming down to breakfast.
Eventually, Carter spoke as she was finishing the eggs and moved onto bacon. “I guess riding the East Camp will be fun enough. Can we take Willow instead of Chance, I don’t want him to get injured by a badger hole or wolves or some other way.”
Shortly before his death, John Dutton had requested that Rip and Carter help with the newest arrival on the trailer that had pulled up by the barn. They’d gotten the gelding out and upon asking what he wanted regarding the horse, the once governor had looked straight at Carter and told him what he needed was for the boy to take care of the horse. Just like Tate had been given Lucky, then River after finding Lucky dead during the search for Tate, Carter had been given the horse and had named him Chance, after the second chance he’d been given at the Yellowstone. He adored the horse, taking care of the blue roan and never wanted anything to happen to him, especially after the loss of John Dutton.
“Willow is my horse.”
Carter nodded despite her not see it as she was working on making sure the bacon didn’t burn. “Are you going to ride with us?”
“I’ll possibly ride with Rip, as we usually do.” Eyes turned back to him, “how often do horses get injured?”
“I’ve only known a handful.”
Beth turned back to the stove, “I’ve only know twelve since my girlhood. I doubt anything is going to happen to Chance.”
Despite having learned to cook, and bake a few things, Beth pulled a can of biscuits from the fridge to bake. By the time they were finished, Rip was coming into the kitchen. “Somethin’ smells good.”
“Just the basics, baby.” Beth insisted as she opened the oven to pull out the biscuits.
Carter looked at the man as he pulled plates down for them to use to eat, Rip was at the table waiting on food. The teen put down the plates and headed for cutlery that was in drawer close to where Beth was. “Beth says were going to visit Kayce and Tate at East Camp tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s a little sudden, honey.”
Beth put down plates of eggs, biscuits, and bacon so they could eat family style. It’d been a Dutton tradition to eat family style, one that spilled over into Kayce and Beth’s homes post-Yellowstone. “There’s a reason, I’ll explain later.”
“The boy is old enough to handle anything said at this table, especially after the fruit in salad dinner.”
Carter and Beth sat down at the table in preparation of eating; the cutlery delivered to all three plates. She looked at her husband as they all grabbed food from the central dishes. “Kayce called, Jamie’s ex died in a car crash leaving their son an orphan. The two lawyers are demanding a joint visit since we’re next of kin, so I have to be there. Figured the boys would enjoy a ride while we’re gone. Cassidy Reid said you were cleared to attend despite not existing. The lawyers are demanding we bring our spouses.”
“A ghost of a husband could create issues.”
“Cassidy was once Attorney General. If she says you’re cleared to attend, it means you’re clear to attend.” Beth took a bite of her eggs after explaining.
Rip shook his head, “if you say so.”
“I say so, baby.” She turned to Carter, “two days of clothes and toiletries, everything you need that doesn’t exist at East Camp.”
“Yes ma’am.” He spoke between bites of biscuit.
She looked to her husband, “we’ll need to load up the horses and tack that is necessary for our time there.”
“That’ll be done in the morning.”
Later that night, Rip stood in the bathroom doorway watching the love of his life finish her skincare routine, a new thing that he always found unnecessary but it made her happy so he ignored urge to tell her to stop. After a few minutes, eyes still on the mirror, Beth spoke. “Why are you watching me, baby?”
“Because I’ll never get over how lucky I am that Beth Dutton chose me.”
She turned to him as she finished up, “you’re awful romantic tonight.”
Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her forehead. “I’m romantic only with you.” He was honest.
“Good, I think we’ve established what’ll happen to some bitch who thinks she can take my husband from me.”
“I only have eyes for you, sweetheart.” He was honest, “I may have dated and fucked around but the only one I’ve ever truly wanted was you. Since I was fifteen shoveling shit and saw an angel walk up to me.”
“I’m far from angelic.”
He laughed and pulled her even closer than before. “Ain’t that the truth.” After a minute of sobering, he asked a question. “This meeting, are they gonna decide who the kid goes to?”
“I suspect so, I don’t know family law. Daddy took care of Carter after he became governor, got the adoption rushed, which is how he became a Dutton legally.”
“What happens if Kayce doesn’t want another kid, especially since Monica died, will the kid come with us?”
Beth was silent before she asked a question, “if he does, will you leave?”
“It’ll take hellfire raining down for me to leave you and Carter. If the boy comes here, it’ll be an adjustment that I’ll accept over time like I did with the teenager in the next room.” Rip was honest.
“I just know you said you didn’t want kids running through the house.”
“Things have changed since that day. We own a ranch ourselves instead of me running your father’s. We have a kid, even if he’s eighteen and grown. Another kid will just be an adjustment, especially if he’s younger than Tate was when I worked on his horse.”
Knowing the kid’s age, she spoke. “He’s three, maybe four, I’m unsure.”
“God that’s young, I was thinking he was eight to nine.”
“His name is James, Jamie, after my fucking brother. If he comes with us, I’m going to call him Jimmy, I don’t want a reminder of that fucker and what he’s done to my family.”
Redirecting her thoughts, he spoke of the next day. “Come on, tomorrow is going to be a long day so we need sleep.”