CH 45 - #imagining
#imagining
Luke
Song: “Boy” by Lee Brice
Before leaving the ranch house to go back to my cabin, I looked at Beau, still asleep in his bed, and lightly stroked his red hair, then went to the living room and told Bella, Madison’s mom, sister, and brother-in-law goodbye.
Bella and her grandmother both hugged me, and Madison then walked me outside to the front porch.
“I really appreciate you inviting me here. Today has been a good one,” I told her.
She smiled. “Yes, it has been. I’ll text you the photos and videos that I took of you and the kids.”
“I can hardly wait to see them.”
“Would you like to come back over tomorrow at the same time?”
“Yep.”
“It’s a date then. I mean…”
“I know what you meant.”
Madison and I kept looking at each other, then she surprised me by hugging my neck, the front of her body against mine. I slowly embraced her waist, and we held each other for a long moment.
“Thank you for being you, Luke. Thank you for understanding how I chose to handle our relationship and my pregnancy with Beau. But do you forgive me?”
“I do. In all of this that’s happened between you and me, plus losing our dads, I believe there’s a purpose to it. I don’t know what it is yet, but I hope to figure it out one day.”
“Me too.”
“By the way, thank you for being you and giving me a son.”
“We gave him to each other.”
THE NEXT DAY
I was coming down the ranch’s long driveway, heading toward the corral, when I spotted Madison running ahead of me. She heard my truck, looked over her shoulder in my direction, and stepped aside, coming to a stop. When I reached her, I stopped and lowered my passenger side window.
“What are you doing?” Madison asked, walking over to it while glancing at the horse trailer I was pulling.
“I’m working on a surprise for Bella. I drove to Culberson Ranch way before sunrise to pick up Casper so your mini-me could ride him with me today.”
“Oh, she is going to be so excited!”
“If you don’t mind, I’d also like for Beau to ride with me.”
“I wouldn’t mind at all. I will be snapping more photos and taking videos.”
“You’re welcome to ride Casper again too.”
Madison cut her emerald eyes at me, grinning. “Maybe I will.”
“You will. I know you.”
She glanced at my trailer again. “I’m going to see Casper real quick.”
“I’ll meet you back there.”
Watching her pet and listening to her talk to my trusted white horse filled my heart. I got a glimpse of the country girl that I knew was still inside her if she would just let her be.
“I’d better get back to the ranch house and check on the kids.”
That wasn’t the first time she had said “kids” to me as a wife would to her husband.
“Hop in my truck; I’ll take you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yep, it’s on the way to where I’m going,” I said with a wink.
Madison giggled and began walking toward my truck. I quickly caught up with her, opened the passenger side door for her, and took her hand to help her get inside the cab.
“You’re such a gentleman,” she said.
“I was raised to be one.”
“Our son will be too.”
After dropping off Madison, I parked by the corral and unloaded Casper. He was happy to be back at his old home. He whinnied, then, after I led him into the corral, he whinnied again and began trotting around. I just stood back and watched, as happy as he was to be here.
About thirty minutes later, I noticed Bella running in my direction, smiling from cheek to cheek, her red hair flying behind her.
Madison walked toward the corral, wearing a long-sleeved shirt, jeans, and the cowgirl boots I bought for her while carrying Beau.
For a moment, I imagined we were our own family and that this was our ranch, where future generations would also live. Then I pushed the thought away.
Bella ran into my arms, and I picked her up, kissing her cheek. “Good morning, little angel,” I said.
“Hi.” She was giddy.
“I brought Casper back here so you could ride him again.”
“I know, mommy told me.”
We looked at her and Beau as they reached us.
“There’s my boy,” I said, stepping closer to him and kissing the top of his head.
“Can I be your girl?”
I faced Bella again when she asked me that. “If your mommy doesn’t mind.” We both turned to her.
Her eyes were bouncing back and forth between us. “I don’t mind.”
“You’re my girl now, Bella,” I told her.
She smiled all over, wiggling in my arms, then she hugged my neck as I patted her back. While riding her around the corral, Mrs. Livingston, Meredith, and Tanner walked up, clearly happy with what they were seeing Bella do with me. Then it was Beau’s turn to take a ride on Casper.
After I handed Bella to Tanner, Madison gave Beau to me. I set him on my lap, straddling the saddle horn, keeping my left arm wrapped around him and holding the reins with my right hand.
“Let me take your photo real quick,” Madison said, holding up her cellphone. “Got it!”
I began riding Casper around the corral at a very slow pace until I felt Beau was comfortable with what we were doing.
Not even a minute later, he started moving his upper body forward and back as if he wanted to go faster, so I had Casper pick up the pace.
Beau started giggling, making me laugh, and then he moved his upper body again.
“He wants to go faster!” I hollered across the corral at Madison.
“Do it!”
“Here we go, son,” I said to Beau, holding him even tighter.
As Casper galloped, Beau kept giggling. He loved riding a horse. I guessed it was just in him, like it had always been in me. When we got back over to everyone, they were all smiling. After I handed Beau to Madison, she turned to her sister.
“Would you mind watching him for a little while? It’s my turn to ride now.”
Meredith rubbed her hands together. “Let me have that boy.”
I got off Casper and helped Madison get on him, chuckling to myself at remembering when I squeezed her ass cheeks as she swung her right leg over the saddle before.
Once I was seated behind her, straddling Casper bareback, I rode us around the corral, lightly holding onto Madison’s waist and the reins.
“I know what you were laughing about back there,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at me.
“You do?”
“It’s when I got on Casper the last time, and you grabbed my ass.”
“That’s it.”
“We had such a wonderful day then.”
My mind went to the sex that Madison and I had on the blanket after our picnic. “We sure did.”
Right before making a complete circle in the corral, she asked if it would be too much trouble for us to ride in the pasture.
I told her it would be no trouble at all.
Once we’d let her family know our plan, they headed back to the ranch house.
A couple of minutes later, Madison and I began making our way across this land.
It was one big déjà vu for me, along with touching Madison and smelling her hair, which was only inches from my face.
It was simultaneously torturous and glorious.
“There’s our spot,” she said, pointing at it ahead of us.
“Yep.”
“I was so surprised you had a picnic ready for us.”
“I remember.”
“I have to admit that it feels good to be back at the ranch.”
“It does to me too.”
“Do you like Culberson Ranch?”
“I like it fine, but it isn’t home. No other place will be to me.”
Madison looked over her shoulder, keeping her eyes on mine, not saying anything. After a few seconds, she faced forward again. We reached our spot, but I didn’t stop. I rode around it, then led Casper back toward the corral.
On the way, Madison and I were both quiet. I wished I could’ve read her mind, but I was glad she couldn’t read mine because of what I was thinking. I still craved her and wished she were mine again.
As we neared the corral, she asked, “You’re still going to eat lunch and hang out at the ranch house with all of us, aren’t you?”
“If you still want me to.”
“Of course I do.”
“Alright.”
The remainder of the day was like the previous one: enjoyable, with a delicious meal, good conversation around the dining room table, my watching Madison nurse Beau again, and me rocking him to sleep. After I laid him in his baby bed, I tiptoed back over to Madison like before as she grinned at me.
“Come on. Let’s go get glasses of whiskey and sit on the front porch,” she whispered, poking me on my chest.
“What kind do you have?”
“Jack Daniels. It was my dad’s.”
“I have Buffalo Trace at my cabin. Would you like to go there?”
Madison searched my eyes. “Yep.”
And there it was. She’d said my word again.
“Welcome back, country girl.”
She smiled.