22. Bailey-Rose
Today was a do-nothing day where we ordered room service and didn’t bother to get out of bed. Yesterday had been a little bit too much for me on the physical side as I continued to build up my endurance. So, as a pack, we made the executive choice to be as lazy as we were productive yesterday.
We were watching some random, trashy reality show about city people being sent to work on a farm.
Depending on where they were shooting the show, there were different types of farms. Just like a train wreck, it was so bad it was hard to stop watching.
The episode we were currently watching had three guys who were trust fund babies and had never been forced to do manual labor work on a cattle ranch.
It happened to be castrating day, and they were tasked with getting the young bulls through the chute and into the crush.
I lay on my stomach draped over Gareth’s back as I munched on crackers, utterly invested in what was going on. Flinching as one of the young bulls slammed the side of the chute, it knocked one of the prissy boys off the fencing, landing him in the mud.
“Baby girl, I love you, but you’re somehow managing to get more cracker on me than in your mouth,” Gareth commented.
Looking down at my hand, I realized the cracker I was holding was now crumbled into dust from how tight I was fisting my hand. “Oh shit, sorry,” I mumbled as I brushed the crumbs off him onto the plate.
“What has you all stressed out?” Gareth questioned, twisting to lay on his back so he could pull me closer. “The only time I see you waste food is when you're upset or anxious.”
“Is that what it’s really like to live and work on a cattle ranch?” I asked, sweeping a rogue curl out of his face.
He studied me for a moment before answering like he was deciding how best to answer me.
“Most things are true, but like any good TV show, it’s a bit dramatic.
Sure, any time you work with animals, there's a chance for things to go wrong. They have a mind of their own, and if they decide they don’t want to do something, it’s not that easy to change their mind.
However, cattle have a prey mindset, unlike dogs which have a predatory way of thinking. ”
“I don’t see how that has anything to do with safety?” I pointed out.
Gareth chuckled, snuggling me tight to his chest. “Oh, is that what this is really about? You want to know if I’ll be safe when I go back to work?”
“Look, I didn’t really know what was involved in the rancher life, but now I do,” I reasoned.
“Baby girl, for the love of God, please do not take this show as the metric to base your ranching knowledge on,” Gareth pleaded, cupping my face in his hands.
“These men have no idea what they’re doing, and I’ll bet you anything the ranch hands have been instructed not to help those idiots.
The goal here is to show just how dumb these silver-spoon candidates are by putting them in situations they aren’t prepared for.
If they were on our ranch, there’s no way we’d let them do half this shit without someone right beside them. ”
“So you’re telling me this show makes everything look more dangerous than it really is?” I countered.
He started to answer, then paused, changing his mind at the last second. “You know what, instead of answering that for you, why don’t we all go to Watson Ranch, and I’ll show you firsthand what it’s really like to be a rancher?”
I blinked at him for a second, letting that offer sink in. “Seriously?”
“One hundred percent serious, baby girl. What do you say? I don’t make this offer to just anyone,” Gareth teased.
Looking over at the others, I raised a questioning brow. “What about you guys? Any interest in learning to be a rancher?”
“Oh, I’m so down. Unlike our rebel country boy, I look good in a cowboy hat and can rock a mean pair of boots,” Warrick said, pretending to tip his imaginary hat at me.
Yun-Sun shrugged with a smile on his face. “We don’t have anything else planned, so why not?”
“He makes a good point,” Lysse agreed. “If there was ever a time for spontaneous travels, it would be now.”
“Yes, I would very much like to be cowboy,” Vili decided, giving two thumbs-up.
Gareth rolled up into a sitting position, taking me with him so I ended up in his lap. “This will be perfect. My mom’s been bugging me about meeting you guys, and I can introduce her to Bailey-Rose as well.”
“What about your dads or your brothers?” I asked.
“My dads, maybe,” he answered off-handedly.
“Depends on if they feel there are more important things to do in the city. As for my older brothers, they don’t ever come to see my mom.
Once they were bonded and building their own families, they pretty much forgot about her.
It’s sad because she’d love to be a bigger part of her grandkids' lives.”
For some reason, that shocked me. “You’re an uncle?”
“In the literal sense that my one brother had two kids, yeah. Although I’ve only seen them a few times for big family moments. I’m not really in their lives,” Gareth admitted.
“Huh, well then, it sounds like us making a surprise visit to the ranch will be exciting for your mom,” I reasoned. “We might need to do a little shopping, though.”
Yun-Sun held up the tablet he’d been reading on. “We can just order things to be sent ahead. The flight’s gonna be about ten hours, but we’ll be going backward in time so that should work out just perfectly.”
Crawling out of Gareth’s lap, I tossed my arms around Yun, smacking a kiss on his lips. “You’re brilliant, did you know that?”
“I might have heard it a time or two in my life, but somehow, it means more coming from you,” Yun-Sun answered and pulled me in for another kiss. “Now, let’s see what Ranch Depot has for us to buy.”
Gareth groaned, falling back onto the bed. “You don’t have to buy from there, any place that sells jeans and T-shirts is fine.”
“Nope, sorry, pal, but we want this to be a true immersive experience,” Warrick countered. “Did you want me to pick you out a new hat?” The only answer he got was a middle finger which only had us all laughing.
By the time the day was coming to an end, we’d packed, ordered our new clothes, and alerted the pilot we’d be flying out in the morning.
Thankfully, they were merciful to me and scheduled take off at ten, allowing me to sleep until nine, which was good because the guys didn’t let me get to sleep until almost two in the morning.
Gareth spun some story about this being the last night we had not to worry about being heard.
Apparently, they seemed to think I was incapable of being quiet during sex.
Well, Vili and I both know that’s not true.
Watson Ranch was located in Molis, a mountainous state in Preidon and a four-hour flight from Windermere.
Even disembarking from the plane, I knew this place was unlike anywhere I’d been before.
Mountains could be seen on the horizon no matter where you looked.
The sky was a bright blue with picturesque puffy clouds floating overhead.
Even the air seemed cleaner and smelled better, full of a rich pine scent.
Waiting for us outside the plane was a woman with chin-length silver hair that had a slight natural wave to it.
She was dressed in a lovely flowing dress with a bright, bold flower pattern and a rhinestone-covered belt accentuating her waist. The moment she saw Gareth, her face lit up, telling me what I’d suspected—it was his mother.
“Oh, it’s my baby boy come home to visit,” she gushed as she hugged Gareth tightly. “I’ve missed you so much… phone calls just don’t beat getting to see you face to face, sugar.”
“Mom,” Gareth grumbled, but he didn’t even try to refuse her affection.
“Hush, this is what you get for not showing your face for four years,” she scolded, rocking him from side to side in her excitement.
Once she released her hold on Gareth, her attention shifted to us. When her gaze landed on me, her smile only got bigger. “You must be Bailey-Rose. I’m Deanna, but everyone just calls me Dee. I suppose you can call me Mom too, if you like.”
Taking a step forward, I reached out my hand to my mother-in-law. “It’s so nice to meet you, Dee.”
She took one look at my hand, then used it to pull me into a tight hug. “Sorry, darling, but around here, we give each other proper hugs, especially when they’re family.”
It was hard not to like Deanna—she had a warm personality and made you feel at ease.
This only confused me even more as to why Gareth and his brothers didn’t come home to spend time with her.
I grinned as each guy got their own welcoming hug, suffering as the woman seemed determined to crush them with her excitement.
“How on earth do you have suitcases with you? Everything you ordered arrived about an hour ago. What more could you possibly need?” Dee asked, watching the staff unload our luggage.
“Mom, don't smother,” Gareth warned. “We decided to come visit at the last minute and originally packed for a tropical island. Shorts and sandals don’t really work when it comes to ranch life.”
Deanna just took his grouchy behavior in stride and shrugged. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t. It’s not like we expect them to work for their supper. We have hired hands for all that.”
“Actually,” I cut in, shutting Gareth up. “I was hoping to learn what it’s like to live and work on a real ranch. You know, to understand what life was like for him growing up.”
“Really?” Deanna asked, surprised. “Huh… I suppose that would be of interest to someone who hadn’t grown up in the country. What is it that your family does?”
“Oh, ah, my family is in the oil business,” I answered, feeling odd about admitting that for some reason.
Deanna’s eyes went wide. “Well, shiiit, you’re one of those Thatchers? Lord have mercy, how did I not figure that out before now?”
At the surprise of this news, I noticed her slight accent became much thicker, and it made me like her even more.