Short and simple because I promised I would upload tonight. I'm sorry, this isn't what I planned on uploading, but what I originally planned wasn't going to get done tonight so I hurried up and finished this one because I wanted to give you guys something. I know it's not great, I promise the next chapter will be better and have more time put into it. Believe it or not I've been working on just finishing this for a few hours. It's 2:00 in the morning and I am completely exhausted. I'm sorry for any errors, i didnt reread the end so there are probably typos, I'll go through and fix them tomorrow. I just wanted to upload something tonight as promised.
Again, sorry for the wait. I suck at this whole 'writer' thing. I'm on summer break though so hopefully I'll get a lot more writing time! :)
Feel free to review, or dont, thats okay too. Although, they really encourage me to write more... ;)
Enjoy this baby chapter.
"Before you even start this car, we're goin through the checklist again." I said, pulling the checklist I made out of my pocket. He groaned and leaned forward, putting his forehead on the steering wheel. "Shut up and pay extra attention." he sighed and sat up straight.
"Hurry up, Reba. We gotta go."
"Cheyenne?" He looked in the back and nodded once.
"Check."
"Dixie?" He looked in the back and nodded again.
"Check."
"Blue and Red bag?"
"Check and Check."
"Both suit cases?"
"Check."
"Playpen?"
"Check
"Cheyennes bag?"
"Check."
"Dixies food?"
"… Check." I raised an eyebrow and stared at him. "I remember putting it in the trunk, its there, Reba. Keep going."
"Snacks for the ride?"
"Check."
"Alright, sounds like we're ready. And if we forgot one thing, Brock, so help me god, I will-"
"Would you chill out and put your seat belt on? Geesh…" I glared at him.
"If we forget anything you're walkin your tanned behind back here to get it."
"Reba… we have everything. May I please start the car and pull out of this damn driveway now?"
"I suppose." he let out a sigh of relief when we were finally going. He drove the first three hours, I drove the last three, then we finally pulled into the driveway. I saw mama look out the window excitedly, then 30 seconds later she was out here with us, wrapped up in daddy's jacket. "That looks a little big on ya, mama."
"It was the first thing I could grab." She replied, then pulled me into a tight hug. Not her usual long hug though, but I knew why. She opened the back door and covered her mouth with her hands when she saw Cheyenne. "So big…" She whispered. I saw her tear up a little and I patted her back. "I wish I would've visited more. A grandma shouldn't miss out on this much of her grandbaby's life."
"It's okay, mama." She took Cheyenne out of her carseat and wrapped her blanket around her. I took the pacifier out of her mouth and she reached for it. I shook my head and pointed at mama. "Say hi to grandma." Cheyenne looked at her then shook her head and reached for me.
"She's spoiled." Brock said, taking a few bags into the house.
"She is not." I argued. Mama laughed and kissed Cheyennes cheek.
"Mamamama." I shook my head. "MOM." My mom laughed again.
"She gets an attitude." I said.
"She looks like her dad."
"She's starting to get some of me."
"A little… but more of her dad." I frowned.
"Don't worry, baby, she's got your temper, obviously." I rolled my eyes.
"Great."
"Yeah, great." Brock said as he was walking back out to grab more bags.
"Wheres daddy?" I asked my mom. She sighed then after a few moments she finally looked at me.
"He's with Dolly."
"Doin what?"
"Walkin with her."
"Why does she need someone to walk with her?"
"She ain't doin too good, darlin'. She needs exercise somehow and that's the only thing she can do and she's barely even doin that. Daddy goes and walks with her a little bit everyday but she gets weaker and weaker."
"Why? She was just so healthy and happy last time."
"It's been a while, honey. She's old, I'm sorry."
"Why didn't you tell me she was doin this bad?"
"I didn't want to upset you…"
"Well, I'm upset." Cheyenne reached for me and I grabbed her out of mamas arms. "Where are they?"
"Behind the barn."
"When's the last time she's been on the trail?"
"Months."
"I'm gonna go see her." Cheyenne rested her head on my shoulder as I walked in the barn only to see Daddy walking towards it to put her away. She was walking very slow and didn't even pay any attention to me as they walked by. I followed them and watched as she slowly laid down. I clenched my teeth and swallowed the lump in my throat when I saw how much she had aged and how much pain she looked like she was in.
"Hey, Carrot Top."
"Hey, daddy." I didn't take my eyes off of my horse.
"She's hangin in there, don't worry." I nodded and set Cheyenne down, gave daddy a quick hug, then went and sat next to Dolly, petting down her snout. "She's walkin already?!" I looked up and saw daddys big, surprised eyes on Cheyenne. I smiled sadly and nodded.
"Shes gettin pretty good at it." He shook his head and picked her up. I waited for her to start crying, but she didn't. I let out a sigh of relief when she started pulling at his annual 'huntin beard' that he grew every winter. He gave her raspberries on her neck and she threw her head back in laughter. I grinned and stood up, then daddy wrapped his free arm around my shoulders, kissed my head and we walked back down to the house.
"Mmm… Chicken." Daddy said as we walked through the door.
"Good timin, it's done." Mama said, bringing food to the table. I sat at the table and set Cheyenne in my lap. "Your brother should be here soon. I don't think Chass is gonna make it though, she's got family that just got into town for the weddin, too."
"Have you talked to Steve or Nancy? They shoulda gotten here before us! I swear they said they were leavin when I talked to them and that was almost two hours before we left." I said and mama shook her head.
"I haven't talked to them." Mama said, looking worried. I shook my head and brushed it off.
"Don't worry yet, if they don't get here within a couple hours, then we'll worry. For now lets just have a nice dinner, okay?" I asked, smiling. She sighed and nodded. Daddy came back down stairs from getting cleaned up and Brock came down behind him. "Where were you?" I asked my husband.
"Settin up the playpen." He said, taking a seat next to me. Daddy sat at the end of the table and watched mama put the last dish in the center, then sit on the opposite end.
"So, Brock. How's work goin?" Mama asked.
"It's going okay," He said, nodding. "it gets better monthly. And I have a few root canals comin in." He said, grinning excitedly. Mama looked at him, clueless. "They're expensive… we're gonna get a good chunk of money for them." Mama nodded slowly.
"Well, that's good..." I tried holding back my smirk at mamas boredom.
"You wanna go huntin', son?" Daddy asked and I nearly fell to the floor with laughter. Brock turned to glare at me.
"Somethin funny?" Brock asked me. I nodded, still laughing lightly.
"You cant shoot!" he looked offended at first, then settled into a smirk.
"Oh, okay." He replied.
"Unless you've never told me in the six years that we've been together that you can." He shrugged.
"You never asked."
"You've been huntin?"
"Well, no… but I can shoot a gun." I smirked.
"It's a start. Can you shoot a bow?" He scrunched his face.
"Reba, nobody uses bows when you can use a gun."
"I use a bow! Well, I use both, but I love my bow!"
"Wanna go out there tomorrow?" Daddy asked and I nodded.
"Good way to spend the first half of my birthday. Can he use your bow tomorrow? I wanna teach him." Daddy nodded. I heard a truck pull up and saw headlights. We all stared at the door waiting for my brother to come in and when he did his face lit up. I smiled and stood with Cheyenne still in my arms.
"Hey there, cutie!" My brother said, clearly to Cheyenne.
"Hey!" I responded and he laughed. I kissed his cheek and gave him a one armed hug, then he snatched Cheyenne out of my arms.
"I was talkin to this one." He said, tickling her belly. She gave him a dirty look and pushed his hand away, then reached for me. "Who apparently still doesn't like me very much."
"She doesn't like anyone. Still." Brock said from the table. I turned and glared at him and he shrugged.
"So she's a grump… takes after her mama, I see." Roy said.
"Ha. Ha." I replied, sarcastically.
"Okay, everyone shut up and come eat." Roy handed Cheyenne back to me and sat down across from me. We all joined hands for the prayer daddy gave, then we dug in. I shared my food with Cheyenne who didn't seem to have a very big appetite tonight, instead she sat back and watched all the unfamiliar people around her. As soon as everybody got done eating we heard a car pull up. Mama jumped from her seat, looked out the window and once again threw on Daddys jacket to go out and greet Steve and Nancy, followed by daddy, Roy, then me, Brock and Cheyenne. Mama squeezed all three of them, then rubbed Nancys big tummy, Daddy greeted them then Roy did too. Nancy waddled into the house and I took Trevor's hand.
"Aunt Reba?" Trevor whispered when we entered the house.
"Hm?"
"Who are they?" I laughed and pointed at Roy.
"That's my brother, Roy, he's very good friends with your dad. You don't remember him?" He shook his head, then I pointed at mama. "That's my mama, Helen and that," I pointed at daddy "is my daddy, JV."
"JV…?" He asked, not very convinced that that was his name? I smirked and nodded.
"Yep."
"Hm… do they have any toys here?" I tried thinking of something fun for an almost four year old to do.
"You can…" I tried thinking back to what I did when I was a kid, then realized how different our childhoods are. "Well, I don't really know, darlin'. Mama, what's there for Trevor to do? He's bored."
"He can suck it up and visit his family." Steve said. I raised my eyebrows and looked down at Trevor who looked disappointed.
"Sorry, buddy." I said and he sighed and climbed up on the couch, then crossed his arms, pouting. We spent the rest of the night playing card games, telling stories and laughing, a lot. I noticed Nancy started yawning a lot and looked over to see Trevor passed out on the couch. Cheyenne had already been in bed for about two hours by that time, I didn't even realize it was passed 11:00.
"I think we're gonna get goin', Steves aunt probably locked us out by now." Nancy said, chuckling. Everyone said their goodbyes and Steve carried Trevor out to the car. Mama didn't even clean up the dinner mess, she left the dishes sitting in the sink and went to bed. I hadn't seen her do that in ages, but her and daddy were both very tired so they went to bed as soon as Steve and Nancy left. I looked at the dishes in the sink and asked Brock if he would rinse and dry if I washed, he sighed but agreed.
"Y'know, I really love your family." Brock said as he dried a dish off. I looked at him and smiled.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. They're a lot different from my family…"
"Well, they love you too."
"Good. Guess that means I get to stick around a while then, huh?"
"No, honey, that means you have to stick around. Or you wont be loved anymore."
"Well, then I guess I have nothin to worry about." He said, leaning over to kiss my cheek.
"I would certainly hope not…"