Cowboy, Take Me Away

{9. Their First Night}

Did you guys like Beau's POV in the last chapter?! :)

Brianna's POV

Owen and his wife's home is small but quite charming- it felt like a home.

Their oak table sits in the middle of the large room that must take up most of the house. On the left wall is a large stone hearth with a fire in it which currently heats a cast iron pot. A rocking chair rests close to the fire, behind it is a ladder leading to a small loft space. There's a half wall that opens to the right of the house, I can only assume that is Owen and Abigail's room.

"Abigail? Owen?" The door swings open revealing Mrs. Locksley. Her pitch black hair, which has more silver than it did three years ago, is tied in a tight braid.Her blue eyes meet my own first, and her steps falter. "Brianna, sweetheart," She she breathes, sounding like the wind has been knocked out of her. I attempt to smile but I think I end up looking like I've been kicked in the stomach. She seems at a loss for words. Is she shocked? Angry? "I didn't realize you'd be here." I feel frozen as her eye's search me, I notice the moment that her eyes land on the gold band that now decorates my left hand. "How are you here?"

"I-" Struggling to find my words, relief fills me when I see Beau appear in the doorway.

"Ma." Beau mumbles, causing Ava to rapidly spin around. Then, he brings his mother against him as she gasps, pressing her palm against his cheek.

"My sweet boy, you look exhausted. Were you able to sleep at all?"

"I got enough, Ma." He pulls her closer to him, kissing the top of her head.

"I'm so happy you're here." She pulls him against her. "My baby boy."

"Ma, I was here a month ago." He pulls away, glancing at me then back to his mother. "But something has changed." He reaches his hand out for me, and I take it, ignoring the tingles shooting you my arm.

I'm just scared.

"Brianna's agreed to marry me."

Ava gasps lousy, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. As I prepare myself for her anger, my hand tightens on Beau's much larger one, that envelopes it. My eyes momentarily drift to Abigail who looks on with a small smile, which grows when she catches my eyes.

"Oh," my eyes jump back to the wide, blue ones staring directly at me. "Finally my prayers have been answered." Her arms pull me against her, into the first hug I've had in three years. My vision blurs with tears, letting go of Beau's hand so I can Ava back. "I've always known you'd fall for my little Beau," A tearful chuckle erupts from the back of my throat. "Especially since he's always been-"

"Ma," Beau speaks up, loudly. "I think you should let my wife eat, we've had a long week."

Ava pulls back quickly, looking me up and down. I suddenly realize how dirty I am. The brown, paisley dress is filthy, covered in dirt and drenched with sweat. Heat floods my cheeks, I can't imagine what I look like. Self-consciously, my hand comes up to try to brush my hair back into its braid. 

"Yes," Ava pushes me toward the table. "And Abigail," She turns to the red-head that is just handing a tin cup to her husband. "You should sit too, I can't tell that grandchild of mine is exhausting you." I smile, glancing at Abigail's just barely there bump. "And you have to tell Brianna all your secrets for conceiving quickly."

The air is vacuumed from my lungs while Beau suddenly chokes on the coffee that I imagine now fills his lungs.

"Ma!" Owen shouts, sitting down at the table, next to him I realize Beau's father has already sat down. He smiles at me with a small nod while taking his hat from his salt and pepper hair.

"What?" Ava questions with a frown. "Sometimes it take couples years to conceive, it only took you and Abigail-"

Three months - according to when Beau said they married.

"Ava." Beau's father, Quinton, suddenly speaks up, "Let's not overwhelm them just after they've married. Beau is right, it has been a long week for the both of them, let's eat."

Beau gently grips my elbow leading my to the table and helping me to sit on the bench, silently taking the seat next to me. We both thank Owen as he hands us a bowl, full of teaming stew. 

No-one again mentions Beau and I's sudden marriage, and I listen as the whole table falls into the  easy conversation. 

Abigail is quick to tell me how she and Owen met, and it's so much more romantic than the way Beau put it. 

A runaway horse, a twisted ankle, and Owen carrying her to the nearest doctor - it's the love story I'd read about. The one I always wanted.

"Mr. Dawson, who owned the farm Beau bought, and his brother, who owned this farm, came here years ago for the Black Hills gold rush." Owen tells me after, I ask about how he bought his farm. "They found enough to build their families these houses and now that they've died, the families want to go back to Minnesota. These neighboring farms cost us what most people pay for a single farm."

Beau is the first to stand when supper is over.

"Brianna and I are exhausted, we're going to go to bed."

I glance at him with a frown, he's hardly spoken all night. It's then I truly notice the darkness under his eyes, the dullness that's there - he's exhausted. The floor for the past week couldn't have been comfortable.

"The bed is in the loft." Abigail say's looking between Beau and I. "I'm sorry it's so small." 

"It's okay," I tell her. "I'm sure we'll fit."

Again, I glance a Beau's tired face, promising myself that I cannot let him sleep on the floor anymore, we have to talk tonight.

-

The loft has a small hay mattress with enough room for two small people, not two grown adults one of whom is over six foot.There's a single pillow and a small quilt. It's perfect for a single man.

"No, Beau," I whisper when I notice him start to sit on the floor. "No more." Silently, I move to the edge My voice trembles with the next question. "Why haven't you-"

"You cannot get an annulment, should you want one, if we-" In the candlelight, I can see Beau's cheeks redden while my own start to heat, not in embarrassment but anger.

"I won't!" I whisper harshly, even the Owen and Abigail have left for a late night walk. "I was serious when I asked, I was serious when I made my vows, and I'm serious now. I will not ask for for an annulment."

His hands suddenly move, gripping the top of the blanket that covers me in my white nightgown.  "Are you saying that you'd like to consummate this marriage now?" His jaw is clenched, as he asks the question through clenched teeth. "That's what I thought." He immediately lets go of the blanket. "I don't think we should be in the familial way when we're not even used to being married."

I have no response, so we fall into silence, well, almost silence. Beau continually moves in an attempt to make sure no part of our bodies touch. He's right, of course, and I feel so much relief knowing he thinks the same way as me but it's not what I expected at all. I thought a child was what he wanted. He stops moving - freezing to be exact- when I voice my last thought.

"I want a child, multiple even, with the woman I love, and who loves me back." He tells me softly. "So one day maybe, right?" Then he shifts, to be farther from me and I know he's no longer on completely on the bed.

"Beau," I whisper so quietly I'm not sure he hears me until he stops moving, his thigh pressed against my thinly covered one. "If we're ever going to get to that point, we're going to have to be able to sleep in the bed together. It's okay." I want to assure him that I trust him in the small bed with me. It's okay because we're married, and I trust him. Tension seems to melt away from him as he sighs out his exhaustion, and while I can't see his face in dark, I just know his eyes are fluttering closed. "Sleep." His tight, muscular arm presses against my own much smaller one.

"Sleep."

***