Another side of Heartland

Chapter 61

-Caleb-

I woke up before the alarm went off, looking down at Mallory I smiled. I wiggled my way out of bed gently and took a shower, getting dressed for the day I walked back in the loft to find Mallory awake and scrolling on her phone. "Good morning Mrs. Odell" Mallory beamed at me and got out of bed stretching. I walked over and placed my hand on her stomach and kissed her cheek. "Go get ready, I'm going to go check with Badger" Mallory nodded and headed for the small bathroom in the loft. I trudged down the stairs in just a long sleeve shirt, it was a little chilly but not too bad. I found Badger in the feed room mixing up buckets. "How's it going?" Badger turned around to face me 'it's good, my body was use to getting up I guess so here I am' I nodded and went over everything with him again and then I went to the tack room double checking that we had gotten everything Amy and Ty had asked for. I grabbed a few extra things that I noticed, if they don't want them I can just bring them back. Mallory came walking down the driveway with her backpack and overnight bag in hand and loaded them into the backseat of the truck. "Ready?" Mallory nodded and we walked back in the barn to talk to Badger. 'Okay there's leftovers in the house fridge along with sandwich stuff or anything else. The farm card is in the drawer by the fridge just in case there is an emergency. I washed the sheets and moved the rest of my stuff into the loft so your welcome to stay in the house instead of going back and forth' Mallory finished telling Badger all of the important things and we finished up and bid him goodbye. Once we got in the truck I pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road. We listened to music and talked and laughed along the way.

-Mallory-

We arrived at the fairgrounds and parked. I stood up stretching my back and shivered. I reached into the back and realized I forgot a jacket. I looked over at Caleb and he chuckled tossing me his spare jacket. "I knew we would forget something" I pulled his jacket on and snuggled into it. Caleb walked around the truck and put his arm around me and we headed towards the barns. As soon as we stepped into the barn I heard Jacks voice. We turned to see Jack visiting with some people and we headed towards him, when Jack saw us he excused himself and gave me a hug and shook Caleb's hand. We told him how Badger was doing and how things were going around Heartland and about Dragon. Finally once all of that stuff was out of the way Caleb took a deep breath but before he could say anything Jack cleared his throat. "So uh I have something important to run by you guys." 'Yes of course' Jack was wringing his hands together. "I'm contemplating helping Lisa out with her business, and that would require me to be gone a lot more.. even more than I have been the last few months." Caleb started to speak but Jack cut him off once again. "But that will require a lot more help from you guys and Badger of course but he doesn't want to leave. He's happy where he is." Caleb opened his mouth to reply but Jack just kept talking. "Amy has this opportunity and Lou and Peter are so busy so a lot of the guest campers fall on us as well. it feels wrong for us all to be gone but it's just all working out this way" 'Jack' I finally spoke up causing Caleb and Jack to turn their attention towards me. 'Heartland and your family has been my second home for as long as I can remember, I would love nothing more than to be there to help you guys out with all of your amazing opportunities. Caleb and I would be honored to stay and manage Heartland for as long as necessary.' Jack turned to look at Caleb and Caleb nodded backing me up. 'Caleb can manage the barn and I can manage the guests and rentals, I have some friends that would be great help' Jack looked at me with a look that I couldn't quite place and then he reached out and hugged me. When we separated, I stepped back and looked up at Jack. 'Just one more thing..' I held up my hand and showed Jack 'you'll have to call me by my new last name' Jack looked between Caleb and I breaking out in a grin and he hugged me again and then Caleb. We started walking to where Amy and everyone else was and Caleb was telling Jack about buying the land from Tim and having a house built and all of our plans. When we finally reached the stalls where Amy and Chase's horses were, they were all standing around having a breakfast bowl. I walked up to Amy to give her a hug but the smell of her breakfast bowl immediately made me nauseous and excuse myself around the corner. Caleb continued occupying everyone. Only Amy, Ty and Caleb noticing I dashed around the corner. I was leaning against the stall next to a trash can when Ty appeared, food free thank goodness. "You okay?" I took a few deep breaths and nodded my head. "The smell of bacon that bad?" I smiled small and shrugged. Caleb popped around the corner about that time. 'Doing okay?' I nodded. "I knew it was too good to be true" a look of understanding crossed Caleb's face and Ty looked completely lost. Caleb stepped closer and put his arm around me. 'Should we tell him?' Caleb jerked his head towards Ty who looked like he was trying to do algebra in his head.
I nodded and let Caleb do the honors. 'I'm going to be a dad!' It took about ten seconds for the information to register with Ty and when it finally did he wrapped both of us in a hug. We all walked back around the corner, Caleb and Ty both grinning like idiots. I shook my head and apologized to everyone for my rude behavior. I looked at Caleb who looked like he was about to bust at the seams. "Just tell them" Caleb was bouncing in his feet like a little kid. 'Mallory is having a baby!' There was a chorus of "congratulations" and "how excitings" Jack hugged me again and whispered how proud of me that he was. After all of the excitement and catching up. It was time for Amy and Chase to start getting ready and the rest of us walked to his viewing box. Caleb and Jack left to go get us some food so it was just Lisa, Soraya and I sitting there. 'Soo, are you and Caleb going to get married Soraya asked? I was so shocked that I couldn't speak and then I started laughing. Lisa and Soraya we're both looking at me like I was crazy when Caleb walked back in with the drinks. Caleb stopped in the doorway and was looking between me and the other ladies. Caleb gestured to me and looked at Soraya 'I just asked if she thought you guys would get married' Caleb chuckled and nodded "Ah" Caleb walked over and handed me a cup of sprite and I tried to get myself under control.

-Caleb-

I passed Lisa and Soraya their drinks and looked back at Mallory who had stopped giggling and was just grinning now. 'So I'm pretty sure that the crazy lady's hormones are getting out of control.. but the reason that she was laughing is that it seems in the excitement about the baby we might have forgot to mention that we did in fact get married.' I held out my hand showing them my ring and  Mallory showed them hers. "I'm sorry, I have no idea why that was so funny" Lisa and Soraya paid no attention and were gushing about the ring and everything else. I just shook my head and headed back to help Jack carry the food.