Honey - Rip Wheeler

Chapter Two

As expected, Isabella couldn't sleep the entire night. She was restless waiting on Rip.
Rip. That name made her heart flutter in ways it hasn't before she left for college. She remembered the last time she saw him, it was a dark, rainy day. Her brothers had all piled her belongings in the bed of her truck and she was sitting on the porch watching the rain come off the side of the house.
She heard the horse snort before she saw it, and turned where Rip was standing, rain drops dripping off his black cowboy hat, with a single rose, one probably picked from her rose garden, and tears in his eyes.
"Don't go, Bells." He begged. She hadn't seen him all week, and he had just resurfaced.
"I have to, Rip. This is for me. You should support me, not be trying to convince me to stay." She explained. He scoffed and she wrapped the red blanket around her tighter and walked into the rain in front of him.
"You don't need some fancy school, Bells. I can provide for you." He begged her to stay. It was selfish and he knew it, but didn't care. He loved more than anything in the world and he would do anything to keep her.
"But I do need it, Rip. You just don't understand. What am I if I stay on this ranch?" She asked. He looked at her and then took her hand.
"My wife. My best friend." He said seriously making her laugh.
"You're seriously asking me to marry you? When did you decide this? Before or after you fucked my sister?" Isabella couldn't help it. It was a scar that would never heal.
"Now that's cheap, Bells. I have done that since I've been with you." He rolled his eyes and she sighed sadly and pulled off her belt to grab the only thing she had for a promise ring and hand it to him, a belt buckle she'd won in a rodeo when she was fifteen.
"It's not a ring, but this is my promise to you, Rip Wheeler. I will come back here." She said softly and handed him the bronze metal.
He smiled and took a ring out of his pocket, placing it on her ring finger, and then kissed her hand.
"I'm sorry about Beth. I know you walked in on us and it's a hard image to forget, but I would never do that to you. She means nothing to me. I love you, Bells." He kissed her forehead and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck.
"I love you, too, Rip."

Now, after all these years, she was staring face to face with the man she'd promised she'd return to.
She looked down at the ring and then opened the door to the truck and let her tears fall.
She knew Rip and Kayce never got along and knew he'd bring along Ryan.
"It's alright, Darlin. I got you." He wrapped her in his arms and nodded at Ryan who got into her truck.
"You wanna crash here for the night? Or go home?" Rip asked once her cries grew silent.
"Can we j-just go home?" She looked up at him now. He looked the same as used to.
A scruffy beard, a little more weight, but she loved it, and the same cowboy hat.
"I missed you." Rip whispered half hoping she would hear and the other half hoping she didn't.
The truck ride was quiet, but Rip glanced at Isabella the entire ride home. He never stopped caring for her, and still carried that belt buckle around in his inside jacket pocket no matter how heavy it became.
Her light snores kept it from being too quiet. Rip could relax now that she was in his truck on the way back to one of the safest places in Montana, or used to be.
"Darlin, we're here." Rip shook her slightly and Isabella's face turned to look at him and smiled softly.
"Home." She whispered.
She stepped out of the truck and was met with the arms of a familiar blonde, Beth. Beth loved her younger sister more than anyone on the ranch.
"I'm so glad you're here, Bell. Come on, daddy will explain everything." She said and wound an arm around Isabella's shoulders and led her inside the main house.
It all looked the same, down to the elk skull over the fireplace. Even the knickknacks hadn't been moved.
John Dutton sat on the couch in the living room awaiting his youngest daughter's arrival.
With her hair the same color as Evelyn's, she looked exactly like her.
"Daddy." Isabella launched herself in his arms and he chuckled, having to catch himself.

THIS IS GOING TO BE FINISHED WHEN I GET OUT OF WRITERS BLOCK FOR THIS STORY.