"Breathe Coralee," said the nurse, and she showed her what she needed to do.

The contractions stopped for a moment, and she was able to breathe. "This is supposed to be a premature delivery, why is it hurting?" The pains were worse than she imagined.

Travis stood on the other side of the bed, "Take it easy, sweetheart," he said, "You just got started, we have a ways to go. Remember, you're going to deliver a small baby."

The technician came in and did another ultrasound. The nurse took it and looked, and a serious look came over her pretty face. "Hmm," she said.

"What does 'hmm' mean?" demanded Coralee, "That 'hmm' doesn't sound good.

"Well, she's not in the position she needs to be. Sometimes they change position during labor, if not, we'll see if we can turn her, it shouldn't be too hard." Annabelle looked at her and gave her a bright, nurse's smile and Coralee suspected that she might be in trouble.

It took five hours, plus thirty minutes of pushing, much shorter than many women experienced, but to her it seemed to drag on. The time between contractions grew shorter as the pain grew worse. Travis was there holding her hand and at last she pushed out their daughter and Lucy Mara Wheatley came into the world.

The doctor had Travis cut the cord, but Coralee wasn't allowed to hold her until they checked her out. Her heart and lungs were strong and though small she could breathe on her own. It looks good, the doctor told her, when she weighs five pounds you can take her home.

Coralee was almost afraid to hold her, she seemed so tiny, but she scrunched up her little red face as she started crying. Her lungs were certainly strong.

"See if she'll take the breast," urged the nurse and Coralee was surprised when the tiny creature latched onto her nipple and started sucking. After a while she fell asleep, her mouth still on Coralee's nipple.

Annabelle pulled her gently away, "Pump your breast milk and leave the bottles here. If you keep pumping you'll be able to continue nursing. You can nurse her when you visit her. Ether way, I think this little mite is going to do just fine."

Coralee watched as the nurse disappeared with the baby. She put her arms around Travis and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Well, she made it, I wasn't so sure for a while, but she's healthy."

"She's beautiful, like her mother," said Travis.

"She not beautiful, she's all red and crinkly. I didn't know that newborns looked that way. Maybe she's going to be blond, she has some light-colored fuzz on her head."

"She'll be blond, just like you, or maybe she'll have dark hair like me. Either way, she's healthy and she's ours," replied Travis.

Coralee stayed in the hospital three days, and each day she nursed her daughter. The baby was thriving, maybe because she would have anyway, or maybe because they wanted her to. Her red color went away, and though she was tiny, she was perfect.

Coralee left the hospital reluctantly, she wanted to stay with her daughter. She'd pumped her breasts dry and left the milk in the NICU. Travis insisted that she spend one day at home, but she was determined to keep going to the hospital until they released her daughter and sent her home.

Travis needed to go back on the road again, he would not be gone long, he promised her. When the baby was released from the hospital they would go back to Texas.

The idea of going back to Texas was more appealing than the reality. Her parents had visited her in the hospital, and now she could count on at least one family member being in the NICU every day. There was a parade of Duttons that came to see the baby and she was tired of them.

Beth, too, was hard to deal with. She had grown more impossible by the day. The looks, the catty remarks were wearing on her nerves. She had said nothing when Monica had her baby, but when the two of them were alone, Coralee was not spared her venom.

It was impossible to leave the lodge while the baby was in the NICU. Equally impossible was the thought of a journey in the truck that would take two days. She was sore, she was tired, and her emotions were all over the place. She had not expected having to deal with a premature birth and was unprepared.

Gemma came and stayed for a few days. Beth stayed out of her way. Gemma would go to the hospital with Coralee so she could nurse her baby and spend time with her. Gemma was there like a bulldog, intimidating and protective of her offspring.

One day she saw a familiar figure in a grey suit, standing outside the NICU and looking at the mothers and the babies in their incubators. He turned around a smiled at Coralee and she ran to him and threw her arms around him.

"Jamie!" she cried, "I'm so glad to see you. I wanted to go to Helena but I'm just not up to the trip. Coming here is bad enough but it's the only way I can spend time with my baby. Come on, come in, let me introduce you to your little cousin."

She was smaller than Jamie expected, but then he didn't know what to expect. Coralee explained to him how she was gaining weight and filling out. She was almost too healthy for the incubator, but that kept her in it as a precaution. Instead of nursing, she bottle-fed her, and was surprised and pleased when Jamie asked if he could hold her.

"How's Beth behaving?" he asked, and Coralee shook her head.

"She's not, she keeps her mouth shut when Uncle John or Rip are around but tries to let me have it if we're alone. I can hold my own with her, I'd just rather not. I'm not as stressed as I was, but Travis is taking off again, and I can't go with him. I'm too sore and I need to be near our baby. The doctor says her weight gain is right on target, her heart is good, she's breathing well so we'll be able to take her home soon. I don't think either Travis or I are ready to deal with traveling with an infant. There's the changing, and the feeding, and the bathing. He wants to do it in one trip, but we can't." She sighed, gustily, "This is changing our lives forever."

"Babies do that," said Jamie, "But they make your life better, too, they make you better. You can't be selfish anymore, you have someone whose needs are more important than yours. Kayce grew up a lot after Tate was born. He's changed and it was for the better."

"Well, I know that Travis is in love with Lucy. When he comes to the NICU it's almost a battle to get him to give her to me so I can nurse her. He loves to feed her, he talks to her and sings to her, I almost don't recognize my husband, you know? I know he wants another; he's hoping we'll have a boy, but I don't know if I'm up to it. I had morning sickness so bad I wanted someone to shoot me and put me out of my misery. I told him we'll wait a few years and then maybe try again. After having five brothers and sisters I don't mind if I have an only child, but Travis does."

"Make sure whatever happens is what you want, you were pretty sick for a while. Don't let him bully you into it, okay." Jamie kissed her cheek, "I've got to go, but please, call me and let me know what's going on."

Travis came to the hospital. The first thing he did was pick up the baby and hold her. "I wish she was ready to go, I'd like to take her home." He gently kissed the top of the baby's head.

"I think she'll be ready to go before I will. I had no idea I'd be so sore. I want my life back, I want my body back, I want to not hurt." She was on the verge of tears.

"Hey, shh, it'll be all right. It hasn't even been a month. When I finish my business, I'll come to the Yellowstone to get you. The baby will be home by then, you'll feel a little better and it'll only be a two-day drive. We won't do it all at once, we'll stop whenever you need to, we don't have to be in a hurry."

"Wow, are you sure you're my husband? I think I'm ready to go back to Texas, Mom has been around with advice and I could use a little less of it. Beth is being her usual bitchy self, and I'm afraid I might get dragged back into the Dutton family drama. I never realized how nice it was to be away until I got back here. It was never supposed to be like this, I was supposed to have our baby in Texas, and I didn't foresee the ranch would be invaded." She was rushing her words and Travis tried to soothe her.

"Calm down, Coralee, it's okay. You're okay, things didn't go as planned but the baby is fine, you're getting better, and we'll be able to go home soon. I just worry that they don't have any leads as to who was responsible."

He handed the baby to Coralee so she could nurse her. At the moment he felt very in love with his wife and daughter. He imagined a life in Texas where he taught Lucy to ride her pony then cheered her on as she competed in her first barrel race.

Though each did not realize it, John and Jamie Dutton were concerned about the raid on the ranch. Both were disturbed that the perpetrators had not been identified.

That night Coralee walked by her uncle's study and could hear Beth arguing with him. She shrank back into the shadows so Beth couldn't see her, then held still as she listened to Beth go on her tirade.

"Jamie did it, Daddy, you know he did. He set it up himself. He's been conspiring against you for a long time. He wants to get his hands on the ranch and sell it, then keep the money for himself. You can't trust him, Daddy, you know you can't."

John Dutton muttered something that didn't suit Beth. Coralee couldn't hear it but she watched Beth, obviously displeased, flounce out of the room.

She stepped into his study, startling him. "Don't listen to her, Uncle John, Beth has been trying to turn you against Jamie for years. If she's against him, she wants you against him, too. Beth bears a grudge against Jamie, she has for years. She blames him for a mistake he made. He was trying to help but he went about it the wrong way. She's almost forty, it's time she let it go. He could beg her for forgiveness, but it wouldn't make any difference. I think she'd already decided to hate him before it happened, it just gave her an excuse."

"Do you mean when he took her to the clinic and they performed the hysterectomy? Yes, I know about that, Coralee. Do you blame her for being angry?" John asked.

"I blame her for not letting it go. No one made her get pregnant, no one made her have sex without protection. And she could have called Planned Parenthood and made an appointment for an abortion. I don't know why Jamie did what he did, but Uncle he was barely more than a kid himself. The law says that we're adults at eighteen, but our brains still haven't matured. Maybe he thought he was protecting the family reputation, we're Duttons after all. She needs to let up on him, and own her part."

"Do I hear Gemma Dutton speaking?" John teased, "You sound like your mother sometimes. I was hoping that after Evelyn's death she would take Beth under her wing, but Beth would have none of it."

"Beth doesn't like us, Uncle, she thinks we're out to steal the ranch and there is no logic that can persuade her otherwise. I can give back what she dishes out, I just prefer not to. And though you haven't asked I'm going to volunteer this. Someone wants the ranch, they're willing to do anything to get it, and that includes committing murder. You and Dad always told us stories about people trying to take the ranch from us. I don't think things have changed, do you?"

"No honey, things haven't changed, they've just changed tactics is all." She tip-toed away, leaving him deep in thought.