Yellowstone: Love and Cowboys

Scottsdale: Part 1

Dinner would normally have been at seven, but Jamie and Beth had not yet shown. John Dutton was about to call everyone to the table anyway when they heard the front door slam shut and the sound of Jamie and Beth arguing.

Before Travis could stop her, Coralee ran to the front hall to see what was going on. Beth had taken hold of Jamie's ear and was twisting it, screaming at him like a fishwife. It was obvious to anyone who would look that Jamie was restraining himself but all the old resentment she felt towards Beth started to boil over and she grabbed a handful of her blond hair and yanked it—hard—to pull her away from Jamie.

"What the hell is going on here?" Rip didn't need to raise his voice, he chose tone and words instead. Beth had reached out an arm and was going to scratch Coralee's face, but he grabbed her, while Travis grabbed Coralee and pulled her out of Beth's reach.

She realized she had embarrassed Jamie and she told him, "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have done that," but she wasn't sorry for pulling Beth's hair, she even had a few strands sticking to her hand.

Jamie patted her cheek and smiled. He knew how long the bad blood had existed between her and Beth and he understood. "Just don't do it again, okay? I can fight my own battles."

"Upstairs," Travis told her, "Now!" He pushed her up the stairs and into their bedroom, then turned and locked the door.

"What were you thinking? How old are you, five? You know better than to get into fights, don't you?"

"It was Beth's fault, it's always Beth's fault," she countered, "Beth was hurting him, she always goes too far. He's too much of a gentleman to fight back but I'm not."

"You could have hurt her, or you could have gotten hurt. You're too old for this, Coralee. Now get yourself straightened up so we can go downstairs for dinner."

She wondered if Beth had gotten a dressing down from Rip. He didn't put up with Beth's nonsense and he was one of the two people that Beth respected, the other being her father. She certainly didn't look like she had as she sat down at the dining room table, but she avoided looking at Coralee. So, Rip had said something.

After dinner the men gathered in the sitting room next to the fire, drinking generous portions of whisky. Part of her wanted to join them, but she hadn't liked the way Travis had spoken to her. She didn't need a lecture about Beth, she had had to deal with Beth for most of her life. Beth had always been the older cousin, treating her and her sister like they were meaningless nonentities. It was only when she'd gotten older, taller, stronger, and smarter that she'd lost her fear of her.

She went upstairs and took a shower. There was an old robe of hers still in the closet and put it on before drying her hair. She hoped that Travis wasn't feeling amorous because she certainly wasn't. She didn't like being talked to like she was a child, there had been bad blood between Beth and her since they were young, and what had happened before dinner was just an extension of that.

She looked up to see Travis standing in the doorway, swaying gently on his feet. She had seen him drink before, but she'd never seen him drink that much. He came in and locked the door behind him, not saying anything but staring at her.

"You disappointed me, Coralee," his voice sounded a little thick but not bad. "I can't believe you did that, what were you thinking?" He took a step towards her and she was hoping that he would stumble but no such luck.

"Get away from me," she said, "You've had too much to drink. I don't know what you have on your mind but forget it."

"No, I've had just enough to drink, I used the whisky to help me decide what to do." He reached out his hand took and hold of her robe, and jerked it off her. "I've decided that if you're going to behave like a child, I'm going to treat you like one."