A/N My apologies for my delay. Holiday time can do that to you. I do not own SOA, just Angie, and the other not show characters. I hope you enjoy and please review.
Chapter 4
It had been a long few days. Angie had arranged for Carol at the farm to be in charge. She had contacted Peter at MT Technologies and had him digging in to what the police knew. Jax had Juice doing some looking too. She checked in with Steve at Maroney Mining, told him she might be out of touch for a while. He assured her it would be fine, and if he needed her, she told him to contact Peter. When he asked where she was going, she told him, the ranch. Finally, Angie had spent quite a bit of time talking with Taggert at the ranch. She had arranged for her and Jax to stay at the house, and the boys were going to stay at her brother's old hunting cabin. Taggert would take care of getting it ready.
Angie, Nita and Abel were going to fly out. The flight landed in Colorado Springs and then they would drive the 2 hours out to the ranch. Happy, Jax, Juice and Ope were going to ride out. Clay, Chibs, and Bobby were going to stay back and oversee Samcro business for Jax and Ope in Charming while they were gone. The boys were going to stop in Durango and meet with the Charter there. For now they weren't going to bring any of their members out to the ranch, but if needed, they wanted them to know they might need some assistance and talk about the plan they had in mind.
The boys had pulled out from the club Sunday afternoon. Angie, Abel and Nita would be flying out Tuesday morning. The boys would arrive Wednesday afternoon. Angie had been in a whirlwind making sure everything was ready. On her way to the airport she swung by Clay and Gemma's.
"Hey little man," Clay said as they came in the back door. Abel ran over to Clay and gave him a big hug. Angie stepped in and kissed Clay on the cheek. "Hello darling. You all ready?"
"Yes, just thought we would stop by for some goodbyes." Angie said.
Gemma stepped over to Angie and gave her a hug. "You sure you don't want me to come with you? I could help with Abel."
"Thanks, but we will be fine. Besides, Clay may need you here. We will be fine." Angie said hugging her back.
"Well you could always leave Abel here with us." Gemma said, winking at Angie.
"Nice try Grandma." Angie said winking back. "Abel tell Grandma and Grandpa goodbye."
Abel gave them both big hugs, and then they hugged Angie tight. As she pulled out of their drive she thought about how far their relationship had come in the last 18 months. They had become so important in her life and she treasured them deeply. Maybe they should be leaving Abel with them, but she just couldn't imagine going to the ranch without her whole family, Jax and Abel. Putting that thought out of her mind she turned onto the highway and headed for the Airport in San Francisco.
As they turned off the road and went through the gates of Maroney Ranch, Angie could feel her heart starting to pound in her chest. It was late Tuesday afternoon. She had called Jax as they pulled out of the Springs headed for the Ranch. Just as she made her way up the road she got a text. 'Thinking of you, call me when you get Abel settled at the Ranch'. Reading it her heart slowed, he knew where she was. He always seemed to know just what she needed.
When they pulled up to the main house, Angie just sat in the car and stared at it for a few moments. It had been a long time since she had been here. She was a bit overwhelmed by the memories that were flooding her mind, good ones and bad ones. She unbuckled her seat belt and turned and looked at Abel in the back seat. "Do you want to see where Mommy grew up?"
Abel smiled at her and said, "Can I see your horse?" The comment made Angie smile and she shook her head yes. She got out of the car and so did Nita. Opening the back door Angie freed Abel from his car seat.
"Sure I will show you my horse. But listen to me. You do not go down to the barn without an adult, do you hear me?" Angie said firmly.
"Yes ma'am." Abel answered.
Looking up Angie saw a familiar face coming out of the house. A smile came across her face as the barrel shaped man approached the car and took her into a strong embrace. "Angie it has been too long." Taggert squeezed her tight. Letting go he held her away from him and looked her over. "Seems California has been good to you. And I don't have to guess who this little one is." Sticking out his hand to shake Abel's hand, "Hello son, my name is Taggert, what is yours?"
"My name is Abel Teller," Abel said taking his hand and shaking it. Angie and Taggert smiled at the little man as he shook hands.
"Taggert, this is Nita, Abel's nanny." Angie said. Taggert tipped his hat toward Nita and she waved back.
"Here don't you worry about the bags, I will get some of the guys to bring them in. I have gotten the house all ready for you. When will the others be arriving?" Taggert said.
Angie took Abel's hand and they all headed toward the house. "Tomorrow afternoon. Jax will be staying here at the house with me but the others will be staying up at the hunting cabin. Everything ready up there?"
"Just like you asked." Taggert said. "Dinner is ready for y'all and then I figured we could sit down and talk."
"Sounds good," Angie said as they walked inside the house.
Angie woke early the next morning. She made her way down to the kitchen and made herself a pot of coffee. Some things never change on the ranch. Even though there weren't any Maroneys living at the ranch anymore, the main house kitchen was still the hub of the ranch. Meals for the hands at the ranch were still prepared in the kitchen so there was a plethora of food to be found. Pricilla, the cook, had made cinnamon rolls the night before for breakfast this morning. Angie cut one from the pan and sat down with one and her cup of coffee.
Angie heard the back door open and looked up to see who was coming in. Who she saw was a tall brunette woman about 7 years younger than herself. Angie knew this must be Maggie Townsend, the ranch veterinarian Taggert had hired a year ago. "Good morning," Angie said to the woman as she took off her jacket and hung it on the peg by the door.
The woman turned around to look at Angie, "Morning Ms. Maroney. I heard you arrived yesterday. I am Maggie. We haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet." Maggie headed toward the coffee pot and poured herself a cup.
"Please call me Angie, and it's a pleasure to meet you Maggie, I have heard a lot about you. Can I get you something to eat, I was about to start making breakfast, but these cinnamon rolls are fantastic." Angie said.
"I know, I stole one last night about 3 am after we got done pulling that calf," Maggie said.
"Everything go ok with that?" Angie asked.
"Pretty much, calf is down in the barn. Gonna need to bottle feed it for a few days till the mama if back on her feet. But it looks like they are both gonna make it." Maggie said.
"Good to hear. So how about some breakfast?" Angie said as she stood up from the table.
"You don't need to do that Angie, Pricilla will be here soon." Maggie said.
"Maggie I have been cooking breakfast in this kitchen since I was 10 years old, besides I own the place. Now what do you want to eat?" Angie said, a smile on her face.
"Well in that case, how about some scrambled eggs and bacon if you got some." Maggie said as she smiled back.
90 minutes later the kitchen was starting to empty out from the ranch hands as they headed out to chore and start their day. Taggert leaned on the counter and watched Angie and Pricilla as they cleaned up the mess from feeding 25 men a hearty breakfast. "Seems like old times." Taggert commented.
"Kind of did," Angie replied. Pricilla told Angie she would finish the cleanup and Angie spent the rest of the morning showing Abel and Nita around the main area of the ranch near the house. She showed Abel a horse, and let him sit on one. Angie had slipped away for about an hour and had caught up on some email and made a few phone calls to the various Maroney businesses just to check in.
In the early afternoon, Angie had saddled up one of the horses and had ridden out to look at the ranch. It had been 18 months since she had stepped foot on this land and she felt she just needed to ride it, to see it as it was meant to be seen, on a horse. She had been riding for a couple hours when she topped a hill and came upon the burned ruins of the feed mill. Angie pulled on the reins of the horse and simply stopped and sat there. She stared at the site for a long time, remembering. She remembered the phone call from Taggert telling her to get out to the ranch, there had been an accident. Her dad had wanted her to go with them that day but she had insisted she needed to take care of the problem at the bank.
When she had gotten to the feed mill site, they were just removing the first of the 4 bodies. She remembered it so vividly. They weren't all that burned, not like she thought they would have been. The explosion had blown them clear of where most of the fire was, they had been killed by the blast, not the fire. She remembered being angry, not sad, not crying, but raging angry.
Angie was brought back from her thoughts by the sound of another horse approaching. Turning to see who it was, she smiled at the animal's rider. Sitting on the horse was Jax. "I forgot how good you look riding a horse," she said as he rode up beside her.
"Not exactly my preferred mode of transportation, but Taggert was pretty sure you were up here and this was the best way to get here." Jax said. "You ok?"
"Yeah, no. Just thinking. How was your trip?" She asked.
"Long. But it is good to see you." He placed his hand on her leg. She placed her hand on top of his and squeezed it.
"It's good to see you sweetheart. Have you seen Abel yet?" Angie asked.
"He was trying to ride a sheep when I left the main house. Something about mutton busting?" Jax said.
Angie smiled. "It is a little kid's rodeo event. It's when the little kids ride the sheep. It is like bull riding for little kids."
"Ah, well the ranch hands say he has real potential. All I saw was him falling off a lot." Jax said.
"And the rest of the guys?" Angie asked.
"Pricilla was feeding them a good meal. They are going to head up to the cabin in the morning. Taggert didn't think they would find it in the dark.
"He's probably right." Angie said.
"You ready to go back, Angel?" Jax asked.
"Yeah I am. I just needed to come out here. Needed to remind myself what we are fighting for." Angie said.
"You ready to start this?" Jax asked.
"No, Jax. I am ready to end this." Angie said. She squeezed his hand. "Come on, let's get back. I'll race you."