Love Under the Western Skies

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ

ꜱᴛᴇᴠᴇ

➵➵➵➵➵➵➵❂➵➵➵➵➵➵➵

I'm sitting in the middle seat of a plane, heading to California.

One hand rests on the baby carrier in the window seat, Rhett was sound asleep his pacifier moving with each deep breath he took, and in the aisle seat sat Madison, her headphones in, hood drawn up but her head resting on my shoulder, sleeping as well. Our flight was an early one, connecting in Salt Lake City to meet up with Nathan Turner and Madison's best friend Rae, they seem to be attached at the hip.

Our dynamic has shifted since I gave her that necklace earlier in the week. She was no longer cold to me, she still lit a fire under my ass when I needed it but she also came downstairs to watch a movie with me, or she woke up just a little earlier to get Rhett so I could sleep in. In return, I would go out for breakfast every morning, grab a bagel or whatever Natasha and Bucky wanted to hand me with her coffee, we formed a routine.

I learned her mother had an affair with her father, resulting in her, only nine months after her mother gave birth to Tommy, five years later her mother was gone, galivanting the world with some rodeo announcer, at eight, she turned over her rights, and now Madison hardly ever spoke to her.

She learned that I lost my parents only five years ago, I never settled down because my high school girlfriend cheated on me, and then tried to come back as soon as I turned twenty-one and turned pro. The night I told her was the first night she let me cuddle her on the couch, her head securely on my shoulder while a blanket sat over our laps. We both promised each other that we were just friends because we both had a lot riding on our jobs with each other. We were both lying to each other, we just had to wait until she was done with her assignment to me.

Ever since that first night, I hadn't even considered calling Sharon, I wanted to spend time with Madison, and her alone.

Bucky and Natasha were currently driving Wilma out to California for me, I was needed a day in advance for interviews, and sometimes I forgot I was still doing PR cleanup, but no less it was going to be nice to have my best friends in the stands for my first rodeo back, it made the task less daunting.

The plane started descending, my hand tightly on Rhett's car seat to make sure he didn't move and the other resting on Madison's thigh, her eyes started to blink open as soon as we hit the ground, looking up at me with the purest smile I had ever seen. "How is he?" She questioned, moving slightly so she could see Rhett, his eyes still shut tightly and I felt my heart flutter, I couldn't help it, seeing Madison interact with Rhett was one of my favorite things to see.

"He was perfect," I moved my hand from her thigh so I could still hold the car seat, running a thumb over his chubby cheeks, his pacifier moving quicker when he felt my skin on his. "Slept the whole time."

"Let's hope we can tire him out before our connecting flight," Madison smiled, subconsciously touching the necklace I gave her, I noticed she did that a lot, touched the letters to remind herself that it was still on her neck, and one day I hoped to see my initial and Rhett's joining it, so she could permanently be ours.

I started unbuckling Rhett when the plane came to a stop, Madison reaching for him as soon as he was out of the car seat. Once I knew that he was secure in her arms, I threw her backpack that held his bottles in the seat, sending a silent prayer that he wouldn't erupt into screams as soon as he realized what time it was. Traveling with a kid was harder than anyone made it out to be, there were extra bags and things to worry about. Did I bring enough formula? Did I bring the diapers? Clean clothes? The list seemed to go on.