Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
BEAU
“ L ast half dozen, Pierce!” Jake calls from across the barn just as I get the square straw bale situated.
We’ve spent the morning in the second of the large barns Monroe Ranch uses to overwinter the larger Hereford herd, organizing the delivery from yesterday from one of the farms south of Creek Falls.
I take the momentary break to wipe my forehead and readjust my hat, lowering the bill until the high noon sun cutting through the large open doors doesn’t burn quite so much.
Then I stretch my arms above my head, loosening my back.
Watching Ethan have Naomi last month has been so heartwarming, but I cannot wait until he’s back from his paternity leave and I can go back to being just a ranch hand.
The planning and organizing and keeping all the different calendars straight?
It makes my head ache. I’d much rather be in a fencing truck prepping a pasture deep in the mountains or moving bales like today than sorting through when those deliveries are coming or which days Jake will be gone and I need to adjust what projects are reasonable.
Alphas love being in charge, and I’m happy to leave them to it.
Especially Ethan. He’s damn good at running this ranch.
It’s been a few years since Ethan had to hire anyone new—not since Triston left.
We all love working here, and Ethan makes it worth it.
Not just our pay, though it’s better than most ranches this size in the state, but also how he approaches every need and event.
He’s methodical, confident, and compassionate, a combination that’s surprisingly difficult to find.
“Yo, Pierce!” Kyle’s voice cuts across the space. “We taking lunch after this?”
I roll back my shoulders and nod once. It’s a bit early, but we’ve been out here since seven working to get these straw bales put away.
“Lunch already? Seriously, Kyle?” Ethan’s voice is full of humor. “I’m only gone for a month, and you’re trying to get Beau to adjust the workday?”
“He already has, man!” Kyle shrugs and grabs one of the final bales, using his thighs to take some of the weight as he crosses the barn toward me. “He has us out earlier than you!”
“Besides,” Paul says, grinning as he grabs a broom from the storage room, “you’re the one that had a kid right in the middle of calving season!”
“Damn right I did. Learned it from you,” Ethan jokes, his voice warm.
Paul scoffs. “Early March is a whole lot different than early April, and you know it.”
Ethan laughs. “At least I didn’t wait until we were trying to get fencing done like Beau.”
“Don’t remind me,” Jake laughs, shaking his head. “Twelve months in the year, and all three of you picked the worst for having babies. Feels like a set up, honestly.”
Ethan just laughs, and I roll my eyes.
It’s not like Emily and I were trying to get pregnant.
We’d gone to lengths to make sure our summer of fun didn’t end up with a baby in the mix.
Not that it mattered in the end. And Ethan mentioned Brielle getting pregnant was a surprise, too—though that wasn’t something they’d told anyone else.
A perk of being really close friends of an Alpha whose natural personality is pretty damn reserved is getting to know the inner workings of their mind.
I’m not going to complain about the trust, that’s for damn sure.
A few of the cows that have very newly calved are hanging out inside rather than the pasture attached to the large buildings. Another week or two, and they’ll be out on the larger swathes of land in their summer grazing areas. One looks up as I chuckle, her ear flicking.
After a minute, Ethan slowly walks into the large, mostly empty barn. A few moments later, a second person joins him. The sun backlights them until all I can see is a general build—tall and lean with boots and a cowboy hat rather than the ball caps we’ve opted for today.
“You should be glad to see me,” Ethan says. “I’m bringing the help I promised for fencing and getting the herds out on the summer pastures.”
“No shit?” Kyle drops the bale and arranges it against the far wall, Jake quickly doing the same. They cross the barn, catching up with me, as Sean sets the broom against a fence rail and joins us, too. The last four bales of straw lay forgotten a few feet away.
“You don’t even need to train him,” Ethan says with a chuckle.
It’s then that the pair gets deep enough into the barn to counteract the sun’s backlight and their details slowly converge.
Ethan’s dark hair worn longer than he has in years, his beard less groomed than typical.
He’s wearing a plain black tee and light wash jeans.
Most of his tattoos are on display, the sleeves of the shirt ending just above mid-bicep.
The majority of my attention is for the man beside him, though.
Soft brown hair curling gently toward his ears and neck.
Bright blue-green eyes that are more haunted than the last time I’d seen them.
His chin is narrow, his cheekbones sharp enough to cut glass.
His build is more lean than before if that’s even possible, and he holds himself like a rabbit among wolves.
And when he looks at me, it feels like I’ve taken a hoof to the fucking chest. All the optimistic hope he’d carried those four years he worked here is… gone.
“Triston!” Kyle brushes past me, pulling Triston into a one-armed hug and clapping his hand on his shoulder. “Good to see you! Congratulations, man. That was a fantastic ride.”
Paul laughs. “What’re you doing slumming here with us? Don’t you have a big important photoshoot of some kind?”
“Missed home.” Triston shrugs. It feels like an evasion. Ethan frowns, but before he can say anything, Triston continues, “I’ll be here for the next few weeks.”
Jake nudges Ethan’s side with his elbow. “Well, guess I’ll forgive you for having that baby last month then. Triston’s a damn pro when it comes to handling the calves for branding.”
It’s only then I manage to move my feet and join everyone else.
I offer a smile as I near and lift my chin in greeting.
Triston mirrors the action, his own movements brittle.
Ethan’s mint surrounds us in a flood. Paul raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment on it.
It’s not like the four of us can pick up on the subtle changes in scents the way Alphas and Omegas can.
We’re all Betas, and so we’re immune to all of those biological markers and drives that set the others apart.
Ethan could be angry or worried or trying to soothe someone, and I’d never know the difference.
Hell, he could be minutes away from dropping into a rut due to an Omega’s heat.
Based on his body language, though, I’d bet he’s picking up on some of Triston’s obvious lack of confidence.
“Good to see you,” I say.
You have a daughter .
I keep those words behind my lips even as they’re clawing to get out.
A daughter that looks just like you before you lost that light in your eyes.
Fuck, I have to warn Emily.
EMILY
“Has anyone seen the Scotch tape?” I lift up the stack of paper decorations I’m still sorting into piles. “I swear it was right here a minute ago.”
We’ve been working for the last few hours to decorate the main lobby of Misty Mountain ahead of the first reservations arriving in the next couple days.
The staff are working through the other buildings and processes, making sure everything is ready for our unofficial first day.
We’ve set aside decorating the main building for the family, something that we started last year due to me being less than a week from having Penny and absolutely miserable.
Some women are like Brielle and Faedra when they’re pregnant: glowing, resplendent beauty, practically no sickness at all.
Olivia and I drew the short straws in those aspects, I guess.
Melissa reaches across the table, pulling the missing dispenser from literally nowhere, I swear.
“Here,” she says softly, setting it in front of me, all of her focus on the complicated tutorial she’s following in an attempt to get the 3D paper animal models to turn out this time.
It’s the third time she’s ordered the kits.
Nothing sets Melissa’s heels in the ground more than telling her she’s not going to be able to figure it out—Misty Mountain is proof of that—so I haven’t said a word about her wanting the bears and other wildlife as counter and table decorations for the communal rooms in Misty Mountain.
Her hair is pulled back, a few curls falling around her face, and the line is deep between her eyes.
“Thanks,” I say, making sure my voice is soft.
Melissa’s stiff shoulders soften just a fraction, and that ache under my skin to rip apart whatever is making her uneasy lessens until it’s no longer driving me to distraction.
“Mama,” Penny says, tapping my arm as she stops at my side.
Her hair is nearly as dark as mine with the curl Beau guessed she’d have from her dad. Her eyes are just like his, too, the pale blue-green of a clear mountain lake. My stomach doesn’t clench most days when I see them anymore. Thank goodness.
I hadn’t given Ethan enough credit for Camden being so similar looking to Kayla and Brandon both.
Not that I’ll ever admit it to his face.
He’d never let me live it down. But having the small reminders of Triston look up at me with trust and love everyday?
It’s harder than seeing the news stories of him.
“Mama.” Penny’s taps get harder.
“What, love bug?” I grasp her hand to keep her from smacking me again.
She points to where Brielle’s carefully cradling Naomi on her lap, readjusting the swaddle blanket now that she’s no longer nursing.
Without a word, I ease my daughter on my lap, adjusting both of her pigtails while she’s distracted looking at her cousin.
When she reaches for Naomi, I block her, waiting for Brielle to give the go ahead. Instead, Brielle carefully freezes.
“She’s sleeping,” I say, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her against me to give Brielle more room. “We need to let her sleep. Do you want another paper for your crayons? Or would you like one of your quilt books?”
Penny sighs and slides off my lap, grabbing her crayons and crossing to where the small basket of toys sits unobtrusively beside the reception desk. She dumps the crayons unceremoniously into the bin and then walks back over to me.
No crayons then.
Without another word, she crawls into my lap, resting her head against my chest and kicking her feet between my legs. After a minute, she starts singing-babbling, the melody mostly a song from one of the few shows Beau and I let her watch while making dinner in the evenings.
The bit of tension bleeding from both Brielle and Melissa fades even more.
I blow out a heavy breath and then start assembling the first of the paper garlands, adjusting each of the flowers until I’m content with the way each paper petal lays, taping them along the back to hold them in place.
Penny slowly relaxes against me, her babbles trailing off as her breathing lengthens.
Olivia shakes her head. “I can’t believe she can still just drop off like that. Jonas never stops moving.”
As if on cue, there’s a shriek across the large room followed almost immediately by a balloon popping.