Author Note: I don't own Yellowstone or any of the characters. I only own the story's plot and a few characters that are my own.
Summary: Rip was sure Mr. Dutton was going to kill him when he and Beth told Mr. Dutton she was pregnant. But he didn't. But his not killing Rip came at a price: Rip wearing the brand and the baby being given up for adoption. Years later two new wranglers bring an unexpected surprise.
Prologue
Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, Bozeman, Paradise Valley, Montana
1999
Rip paced back and forth while he and Beth waited for the results of the pregnancy test. Beth was late. Six weeks later. They'd always been careful, always using condoms. Expect that one time the condom broke.
But Beth was on the pill; she had the morning-after pill. Still, Beth had not been feeling well the last few weeks and was six weeks late. Rip was sure Mr. Dutton was going to kill him when he found out.
Rip never imagined he'd be a daddy at eighteen. Rip kept pacing as they waited for time to be up to check the pregnancy test results.
Rip glanced at his watch; it had been five minutes.
"Beth, baby, what does the test say?" Rip asked nervously about the results of the test.
"I can't, Rip. Please, can you look?"
"We'll look together, baby." Rip held Beth loosely in his arms as he took the pregnancy test from his girlfriend. He prayed it was one line, not two, on the pregnancy test.
Because if it was two, he was a dead man when Mr. Dutton found out. Lee would kill him as well. Lee could be as scary as his old man when his temper was riled.
"Rip, is it one line or two? "Beth asked.
Two pink lines Fuck!. He was a dead man. "It's positive, baby."
"Fuck, my daddy's going to kill us both."
"I know, darling, my mama always said it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Being straight up with your daddy and brothers may be the best course of action. If we're straight up with him. He and Lee may not kill me. Rip quite liked living. Though he may not live to see nineteen, depending on how Mr. Dutton reacted to the news.
That Rip, one of his wranglers, had knocked up his only daughter at sixteen.
"I doubt that. But we'd better tell him together. But do you want to keep the baby or..."
"I want to keep the baby, Beth. However, your daddy will have other ideas. It will be ok, baby. We'll get through this together," Rip promised as he kissed his girlfriend's head.
Rip's legs felt like lead as he and Beth walked up to the Lodge. His heart was pounding in his chest. He may be going to meet his mama and brother in the afterlife after Mr. Dutton and Lee find out that Beth is pregnant and Rip is the one who knocked her up.
"Daddy, are you here? "Beth called as they walked into the Lodge.
"Beth, honey, we're in the living room." Mr. Dutton answered.
Mr. Dutton and Lee sat in the living room in front of the fireplace. Kayce was somewhere around the ranch. Jamie was in Massachusetts still at Harvard attending Law School studying to be a lawyer. He was in his third year of college.
"Beth, Rip." John was a little surprised to see his only daughter and one of his wranglers together holding hands in his house. Beth had something clutched in her hand tightly. A wet stick of some sort. Lord, please don't let it be a fucking pregnancy test.
"What's going on, Beth? Why's Rip with you?" Lee questioned in full Big Brother mood, his arms crossed across his chest.
"Daddy Rip and I ...we have something to tell you. But please promise me you won't kill Rip when you hear what we have to say."
"I can't make that promise, Beth. What's going on?" Lee questioned.
"Rip and I, we... love each other. We didn't mean for this to happen; it just did. We were careful, just not careful enough." Beth handed the pregnancy test to her father.
Two Pink Lines. Beth was pregnant. Rip was the father.
"YOU KNOCKED MY BABY SISTER UP, WHEELER!"Lee yelled, taking a step towards Rip in anger. Rip braced himself for the blow from Lee, but none came.
"Lee, how about we talk about this with clear heads?" Mr. Dutton was surprisingly calm about the news of Rip knocking up his sixteen-year-old only daughter. Lee was fuming and wanted to tear Rip limb from limb or cut his balls off.
"Rip, Beth, why don't you take a seat and we can talk about this like rational adults?" Lee glared at Rip as Rip and Beth took a seat.
"Beth, you are sixteen and are still at school. You can't have a baby at your age."
"You and Mama weren't much older than me when you had Lee," Beth argued.
"No, we weren't, but your mama and I were both finished with school and married when Lee was born. Beth, you are still sixteen and still in school. You are smart and could have a future; go to college. You can't do that with a baby.
Once the baby's born, it will be put up for adoption. You're not off the hook ever, Rip. You and I will speak later, Rip."
It was later that night that Rip was branded. Rip would rather the pain of being branded than be taken to the Train Station by Mr. Dutton, Lee, or even Lloyd.
"Knocking up the boss's daughter is not really smart, Rip. Count yourself lucky he didn't kill you or castrate you." Lloyd murmured to him as he threw a tin of Burn Balm.
"The pain of her love is worth it, Lloyd," Rip answered.
Lloyd briefly thought of the woman he foolishly let go so many years ago. The one who got away. "To be young and in love," Lloyd murmured to himself.
At four months they found out Beth was having twins. Rip never felt such a strong surge of love as when he heard his baby's heartbeat for the first time. Rip was surprised when Mr. Dutton told him he was coming to the ultrasound.
By this time gossip had already spread through the Valley and Bozamen that Beth had been knocked up by one of her father's wranglers.
The babies would be here in a matter of months. It still stung they had to give them up for adoption. Maybe one day they would come looking for Beth and Rip.
Rip had been given a room in the Lodge. John could hardly have the father of his first grandchildren sleeping out in the bunkhouse or the barn. Even if they were being put up for adoption.
Rip often snuck into Beth's room. Being careful not to be discovered by Mr. Dutton or Lee. Lee, who was still pissed at Rip for knocking Beth up. Kayce was well, Kayce; he was just a kid.
Jamie was less than thrilled when he heard the news when he came back from college on a short break.
"We need to think of names. A list for boys and girls."
"If it's a girl. Annie for my mama." Rip offered.
"I always liked the name Alexander. Or maybe an Alexandra if it's a girl. My great-grandmother's name was Alexandra."
"Alex for short. Maybe William or Jacob for a boy. William was my mama's daddy's name, and Jacob for my brother." Rip added a few more names to the list.
"How about for a boy? Alexander Jacob William Wheeler, or Alexander William Jacob Wheeler."
"Even one would work. What about a few names for a girl? My grandmother's name was Abigail. Maybe for a girl, we could name her Annie Evelyn Wheeler after your mama and my mama. What do you think, baby?" Rip asked.
"We need a second-choice name for both. The first choice if one of the babies is a boy is Alexander Jacob Wheeler; the second choice could be William Spencer Wheeler. Spencer was my great-granddaddy's name. For a girl, Abigail Wheeler"
"What about Abigail Montana Wheeler?" Rip offered.
"They are all nice names, baby," Beth tiredly said before yawning.
Bozeman Memorial Hospital, Bozeman, Paradise Valley, Montana
January 2000
10th of January, Beth went into labor. The twins were in a hurry; it seemed that day. They just made it in time to get Beth to the hospital, or the twins would have been born in the back of her daddy's truck in the parking lot of Bozeman Memorial Hospital.
They rushed Beth up to the Maternity Ward into one of the Birth Suites before their first baby was born. Beth damn near broke both Rip and John's hands as the first baby was born.
"I can see the head. Just a few more pushes, Beth, and they will be here."
Just a few seconds later, a baby cried. "Congratulations! It's a boy. The second baby's coming and coming fast."
Just three minutes later their second child was born. "It's a girl," the doctor proudly proclaimed.
They had a son and a daughter. Alex and Annie.
"The lady from the adoption agency will be here in half an hour," John said as he got off the phone. Putting his grandson and granddaughter up for adoption was the best thing for both Beth and the family.
John was doing the right thing, wasn't he?
"Have you two picked out names for these two?"
"Alexander Jacob and Annie Evelyn Wheeler," Rip answered.
The nurse wrote the names down on the paperwork. They had so little time with their babies.
"Mr. Dutton I'm Katherine Simpson; we spoke on the phone. We've come to take babies. Do they have names?"
"Alexander Jacob and Annie Evelyn Wheeler," John answered.
"They will be well cared for. We already have a couple keen to adopt them. You're doing the right thing. They will have a good life with their new parents."
Rip held Beth as Alexander and Annie were taken away to be given to their new adoptive parents. "They'll come back to us one day, baby," Rip whispered as Beth cried into his shoulder.