I see you're reading my story, I've even gotten a few Favorites and Follows, but why aren't you reviewing it? This is the first story that I've ever, ever failed to get reviews. Though I have noticed that quite a few of the later Yellowstone stories aren't being reviewed I'd feel a lot better if someone reviewed it. My feelings are kind of hurt…

"Stay here." It took less than two minutes for her to decide that she needed to ignore what Travis had told her and confront Katie herself. After all, did they know her sister? No, not the way she did. They'd confront her like men, and try to be rational and reasonable when this was a situation where being rational and reasonable was not going to work. What did they know about how Katie was feeling? She remembered what her mother had told her. Men think they are good at reasoning, but when it comes to understanding and feeling they have nothing on women.

The puppy crawled into her crate and Coralee shut the door, Shelly would be falling asleep soon anyway. She looked out the window and could see the lights from the bunkhouse, but it was too far away to spot Rip and Travis. She wished right now she possessed an owl's night vision so she could see in the dark.

She put on a coat and ran across the lawn and let herself into the pasture. With the light coming out of the bunkhouse windows she was able to see Travis and Rip confronting Katie by corral.

She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was the two of them against her sister and that was unfair odds. The three of them were arguing and to her, it seemed that a cooler head should prevail and for right now it was hers.

"Hey, arguing isn't going to help," she called out, and the men turned, surprised to see her standing there. Travis looked bewildered, he'd told her to stay back at the house and that was where he expected her to be. Didn't he know her by now, she thought? Nothing surprised Rip-she could see the ghost of a smile forming beneath his beard. Katie looked relieved.

Ignoring all of them she asked Katie point blank, "What were you doing with that pistol?"

Katie no longer felt cornered by the men so it was easy to answer her sister. "I got it for protection after Bob left, it was just me and I felt scared, it made me feel safer."

Coralee moved closer to her, "Why Katie, why did you feel scared? When it was just you and me we never felt the need to have a firearm to protect us! Remember how Dad wanted to get us a gun to take with us and we turned him down? You don't even like guns, Katie, that's what you've always said. And if you needed it for protection, why did you have it hidden in your suitcase? Mom carried a little twenty-two and she kept it in her purse."

"Well, I was afraid Tate might get hold of it," Katie's arguments were growing weaker.

"First of all, Tate would never get into your stuff. Second, every man on this ranch, young or old knows how to handle a firearm. If Tate found it, he knew enough to make sure the safety was on, and he'd bring it to Kayce. That kid is better behaved for his age than we ever were." She looked at Katie, waiting for the truth to finally come out.

"Yes, okay, there was a brief minute, no longer than that, when I considered taking my life," Katie finally broke down and let the tears out, "My relationship with Ryan had failed, or that's what I thought, I thought Bob and I were a good match. We could go on the road and rodeo together, it seemed perfect, at the time. I didn't know who I was marrying and found out the hard way. Then he took off with everything, leaving me stranded and I felt like I couldn't take it anymore."

"Why didn't you call me, Katie, I would have been there in a heartbeat!" Coralee put her arms around her sister and glared at the men. You guys think you're so smart, she thought, you should have left this to me in the first place.

"I was so embarrassed; I didn't want you to know how badly I screwed up. You and Travis, you're so happy, you're so perfect for each other, you know? That's what I wanted for me and when I realized just how stupid I'd been I couldn't face you. I'd reached the lowest point of my life and realized I'd hit bottom. I bought the pistol and brought it back to the motel, then realized what I'd done and couldn't believe that I'd even considered it. I kept it because I was going to be traveling alone and it scared me. That's all it's been for since, protection, I promise."

"Come on," said Coralee, "let's get you back to the house and put you to bed. You're going to have to let us keep the gun, though, and I want you to call Mom and tell her you're coming back home."

When she finally got Katie to bed, she went to her room and found Travis had poured them a hot bath. She sank into it, feeling the hot water soothe her muscles, but out of nowhere she suddenly started crying.

Travis moved over to her and took her in his arms. "It's okay," he said in a soft voice, "At first, I was mad because you disobeyed me, but then I realized we should have brought you with us. Katie was a very upset little girl and who could blame her? She has a lot on her plate. She needs to go back and stay with your parents and recoup. She'll be fine, you know, Duttons produce strong women."

"Can we stay here a little bit longer, I'm worried about her?" Coralee's blue eyes were full of tears that could make him melt, but what she wanted was out of the question.

"No, baby, we can't, we need to leave in the morning. Call your parents when we get on the road and let them know what happened. They can take it from there."

"I don't want them to know she was considering suicide, that's something she should tell them, not me."

"We'll see. One step at a time, baby, one baby step at a time. Katie needs her family's support, but you're going to have to leave with me. You need to have faith that it will be all right, and then it will."

It was always hard to leave, and knowing Katie was not okay was making it harder. But she told herself, you have a husband and a marriage and that means a lot. You're not responsible for Katie's choices, she is. You have a good life; you made that choice. This isn't easy for you, but you can't fix Katie, that's up to her.

She looked out the window as they pulled out. Part of her wanted to tell Travis to stop the truck, that she couldn't leave while things were like this. But what good would that do? She needed to be free of Katie and her drama.

She took the puppy out of the crate and held her on her lap while Travis drove. Shelly had grown in the short time they'd had her, and a little more of her personality came out every day. Tate, with little effort, had her partially leash trained and whenever they stopped, they'd take her out and let her nose around. She had a friendly personality and would let strangers pet and "ooo" and "aaah" over her.

She'd curl up on the floor of the truck, snoozing, as they drove. It was comforting to have her there, sleeping on Coralee's boots, making soft puppy snores. When she got too restless, they'd walk her at the next stop and then put her in her crate.

To Travis, Coralee seemed distant, staring out the window and not talking for long periods. This could be ideal for both, Travis tended to be quiet when he drove, unless he was in the mood to talk. Coralee had learned to read him, leaving him alone if that seemed what he wanted. She could watch out the window and get lost in her thoughts. He loved the pensive look she would get on her face as she stared out the window, watching the countryside.

But this was different. Maybe it was her body language giving her away. She was far away, and he didn't know if he could reach her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, "Is it Katie?"

She shrugged. "Not really," she replied, "I'm thinking about something Jamie told me, about the ranch."

"What about the ranch?" She had piqued his curiosity, she knew something that he didn't and he wondered what it was.

"Did you know about Dan Jenkins? The one who bought the land adjacent to the ranch? He was going to build a three-hundred-unit condo complex, and Uncle John stopped it." She looked at him.

"Yeah, I remember you told me about that, but it's all over, right?" He looked at her and then turned his attention back to the road.

"Well, there's a group, an investment group or something, that's after our land. Jamie said that they want to build an airport, a ski resort, and residential and commercial buildings. I don't know who these people are or where they come from but Uncle John's not going to be able to get rid of them as easily as he did Dan Jenkins. I don't understand how they can just take our land but they can and, it's called eminent domain. Uncle John will be pretty much helpless if that's what they decide to do."

"Well, yes, sweetheart, they can and it's fucked. Your uncle didn't say anything so I didn't realize what was going on. Maybe that's why he decided to invest in the show horses, maybe he's not going to have enough land to run cattle and he's looking for a different source of income." It made sense now, though Travis and John Dutton needed another source of income.

She pulled out her phone and checked her mail. "Jamie sent me some links I asked for. I need to understand this. Yellowstone is our family's heritage, we've fought to keep the land ever since James Dutton established the ranch. The story goes that they built the house where their daughter, Elsa, died, the one I'm supposed to look like. That's my middle name, you know. Kind of a strange, 'Coralee Elsa'."

"Not so strange," Travis replied, "I've seen her picture, you do look like her."

"I don't want to end up dying young like she did. I want to get old and fat and have a lot of grandchildren running around that I can spoil rotten. You better not die young, you know, and leave me a widow for twenty years. I'd miss you too much."

That touched him. "Well, we better get to work on having kids so you can have those grandkids. And I'm not planning on dying young, If something does happen to me, I want you to promise me that you'll get married again, I mean it. And if you have more kids, it's okay. I want you to live a good life, I don't want you to die alone."

"Don't say things like that, Travis, you scare me. I want to have a long life with you, that's why I married you. But after you're gone I'll probably leave Texas and come back to Montana. This is my home, this is where I was born. We Duttons belong to this land, we had to fight to keep it. We even get buried on the ranch. My dad and Mom are planning to be buried there, Aunt Evelyn is there, and so are my pioneer ancestors."

"You're being morbid, but I understand," Travis smiled at her, "There's a pretty little cemetery not far from my ranch. I've got two burial plots for us so we can rest side by side. They're situated so the rays from the rising sun hit it every morning."

She wanted to take his hand, but it was resting on the steering wheel. Part of her felt guilty, she was leaving the problems of the Yellowstone behind. Travis would never have to fight those battles. So many things were beyond her control, Katie, the Yellowstone, and the prospective land grab was out of her hands. She had to believe that Uncle John, Jamie, and even Beth could carry on the fight and win.

She took out her phone and began to open the links Jamie sent her. None of what she saw was good, and she wished she had gone to law school even though she knew she didn't have the temperament. What she read was scaring her, none of it was good and she wondered if the ranch was doomed, and the Yellowstone she knew and loved would disappear.

I had a dream one night of the Duttons having to leave the Yellowstone. Don't know what point of the story it happened. I have weird dreams sometimes.