"Up early? A new experience for you, isn't it?" Beth's comment made you roll your eyes. Luckily you had your back to her, otherwise the early morning might have turned out even worse. Even a simple eye roll ended in disaster with Beth at the moment. You didn't know what her problem with you was lately, but in the last few days, scathing comments have been piling up, even causing friction between you and John. You weren't friends, far from it, but over the months you've been with her father, it seemed like things had settled down. Not that Beth accepted you, but at least she seemed to tolerate you. And that was enough for you, after all, the Dutton ranch had become your home and you've been spending more time here than at your own apartment in town lately. You even came to enjoy the family meals, although most of the time it involved a good deal of madness.
"Good morning to you too, Beth." You just couldn't resist the cheekiness in your tone. But it was the most polite thing you could think of. It was far too early to start any of your arguments and you haven't even finished your cup of coffee, let alone started the breakfast that awaited you at the dining table. However, you hoped that the dining table full of family members would lift her spirits. Although that had never affected Beth's mood before. But one could hope, right?
You hadn't understood the concept of love until you met John Dutton. Love at first sight, once in a lifetime love, these were all foreign concepts to you until the man you've been with for almost a year had walked into your life and turned it upside down.
And it could all have been so easy. But with his children, most of the time it felt like an uphill battle that just couldn't be won. You hit it off with Jamie right away. And Jamie's little boy, whom you affectionately called JJ for short, was balm for your soul when the Dutton household of madness seemed to swallow you. You didn't know the full story of Jamie and why he was often made the black sheep of the family. But he loved his family and was loyal to them, you were sure of that. After all, it was still inconceivable to you that he had killed his birth father after Randall had attacked the Duttons. Somehow you doubted that it had all been an act of pure self-defense.
When you first entered the Dutton household almost a year ago, you felt like you were walking into a brick wall. The dinner had been one of a kind. While Jamie had greeted you warmly and openly, both Kayce and Beth had seemed distant. In Beth's case, even hostile. You knew the rough history of his family. Who didn't know about the famous Dutton family in Montana?! But you didn't think that the loss of his wife, the loss of their mother, would still be an open, bleeding wound a quarter of a century later. You had never imagined that a well-intentioned act could be met with so much resistance. You weren't interested in replacing their mother, you just cared about John. It was as simple as that. But you also understood that an offer of help, just for the sake of it, would be viewed with suspicion after what they have been through with Randall's attack.
You took pride in being a doctor, doing what was right, and you had learned long ago to control your impulses, to have patience and to choose your words carefully. But Kayce, and especially Beth, had tried to bring you down with a few well-chosen insults. You had been hoping that John would come to your rescue, but either he had seen it as some kind of test of how you got along with his grown children, who behaved like little toddlers you might add, or he had just enjoyed watching you bite your tongue and see how long it would take for you to either explode or run off. And you certainly wouldn't have done him that favor. It wasn't until many, many dinners later that you realized that this seemed to be more or less the modus operandi at the Duttons' dining table. But it had certainly been a special kind of welcome at the Dutton ranch and you couldn't imagine what would happen to others who didn't come to the ranch with good intentions. Though you weren't sure if their fate wasn't better than sharing the dining table with the Duttons - every single day.
