Finally Home to Yellowstone: Yellowstone Ranch Series

17

He helped me tie up the man and had Ryan and Lloyd guard him. They looked awful too.

Luckily no one made it to the house yet.

Rip walked me onto the porch.

"Are you okay?" He held my face with both hands. Inspecting every part of my face.

I stepped back and brushed his hands away. "Seriously, I'm fine. This is nothing new for me." I sighed. "Now what the hell happened out there?"

He clenched his jaw and just stared at me. I couldn't tell if he was pissed or upset or worried. Or maybe just trying to process everything. I did just shoot a man in his house. He cleared his throat,"Uh Jimmy saw y'all take off and he tried to follow. They realized you were on to them and they started in on us."

I opened my mouth to talk but couldn't find any words. "You need to be checked out. That head wound looks bad." Was all I could say.

He nodded slowly. "Come on." And he started to walk down to the barn. I followed.

"I think one guy got away. He said my father stole something from him and that's what their looking for." I said as we walked down the hill. I saw cop cars and ambulances around the barn. It was a strange sight to see.

"Make sure you tell the sheriff." Rip patted my back.

"Since when do we actually follow protocol and not just say we did?" I chuckled.

"Since Kasey became Livestock Commissioner." He grumbled.

We made it to the barn and I forced Rip to see a paramedic.

Then I saw Kasey. He walked over to me and hugged me.

"It was a clean shot. They're not even gonna investigate it." He mumbled under his breath to me. I nodded. Good. That was the last thing I needed.

I let the medics look at me. No stitches or anything needed. Just lots of bruises and bangs.

"I ain't going to a fucking hospital." I heard Rip argue behind me.

I thanked the medic and jogged towards him and the paramedic he was with.

"What's going on?" I rested my hand on Rips shoulder and pushed him gently to sit back down onto the ambulance. He did so.

"He wants me to go to the fucking hospital-" Rip started in.

"Why, what's wrong?" I asked the paramedic.

He sighed,"With this deep of a head wound, he needs blazing and a CT to check for concussions or hemorrhaging."

I looked down at Rip then back at the paramedic. "Look, he's not gonna go. And if he does have a concussion, it's not the first brain damage he's suffered from. If there's a hemorrhage he'll die before y'all get there. We've a shit ton of yarrow powder that works better than any blazing. Can you use that?" I asked.

The medic sighed again,"It's really not sanitary-"

I giggled a little and blinked up at the medic,"Trust me, this place is cleaner than any hospital. Come on, he's going to refuse treatment no matter what. Just make it quick and easy."

The medic smiled and rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. Where's the powder?"

I walked over to the cabinets and grabbed a bottle of wonder dust and handed it to the medic.

"Better thank your wife, buddy." The medic chuckled.

My face turned red.

"Not my fucking wife." Rip grumbled.

"Sorry, girlfriend." The medic sprayed a little of the powder on his wound then brushed it off. The bleeding stopped almost immediately.

"Nope, just a pain in the ass."

I chuckled.

"Ah okay, apologizes." The medic finished cleaning up his wound and butterfly bandaged it together after gluing it. When he was finished he looked up at me just flirty eyes. "So you're single? That's good to know."

I giggled.

Rip stood up immediately and pointed away from us. "Get the fuck outta here if you don't wanna end up in the coroners van too."

The medic clumsily gathered his things and stumbled off.

"Necessary?" I asked.

Rip looked down at me. I was relieved for us all to be alive and standing. I wasn't happy but I wasn't mad. I was okay. We had three live people that I knew of to investigate and that was a start. But he was pissed.

"Definitely necessary. He was looking at you like-"

"Like I'm pretty?" I cut him off. He blinked blankly. I caught him off guard. "Because even if you don't see it, I am. And it got you out of going to the hospital and saved you thousands of dollars in medical bills and from being anyway from the ranch tonight." I rolled my eyes and started walking over to everyone else.

They all looked rough. I still didn't know what happened out there. And it was the last thing I wanted to talk about. I was just glad they're all alive.

Jimmy was sitting in a milk crate, letting the medic I had clean his hands.

"You doing okay?" I asked quietly. He looked up at me with worrisome eyes. He was still in shock. It was the look Jake gave me on his first mission out.

"It was- they were...there was a lot of blood." He whispered.

I squeezed his shoulder,"It's okay. It's over now. It's done." He nodded. "We'll talk when you feel like talking." I rubbed his back for a moment then walked over to Ryan and Colby.

"I should've went with you." Colby blurted out.

I shook my head,"No. You needed to protect the house. That's where they were headed next."

"Mary."

I turned to see my dad walking into the barn. Nearly jogging.

"Dad." I walked towards him. Surprisingly he grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me. I didn't care how mad I was for him kicking me out. All I wanted was my dad. I hugged him back tightly. "I'm okay, dad." I whispered.

He let you go and grabbed my face. He inspected it. "Good, good. If you need time to heal-"

"Really, I'm fine." I insisted and brushed his hands away just like I did Rip earlier.

"Okay." He cleared his throat. "Okay. Well I'm gonna talk to Kasey about what happened." He took a couple steps then stopped. "Mary, if you need to stay at the house for a while, I- it's fine." He said it all very quietly and somberly.

I nodded. "I'm happy where I'm at, Dad. But thanks." He huffed again and walked on to Kasey. "Wait-" He turned to look at me. A thousand questions ran through my head. Who the fuck are these guys? Who the fuck was THAT guy? What do they want from us? This isn't just about the airport. There's no way. But I didn't ask anything. "I love you." Is what came out.

"I love you too, kid."

Then he went along his way.