Cowboy Bring Me Back

1

June 15, 2013

***

"Look, look at daddy...c'mon Colton let's walk to daddy." Stevie points to the camera holding Colton who has a giant grin on his face, wearing a pair of blue overalls a yellow and white striped teeshirt under it.

The little boy with brown curls giggles then he does, he takes his first steps towards Lindsey. And his left-hand shoots out from behind the camera and catches him as he goes to fall but Stevie comes up behind him and lifts him up twirling him around. 

"That's momma's big boy." She coos kissing him. 

***

Music is playing softly in the background, Stevie's pregnant with Livinia about eight months and she has Colton straddling her hips and molded around her stomach as she's slow dancing with him. 

***

Colton was holding Livinia and Stevie was sitting on the arm of the chair watching them. She was occasionally bending down and grabbing at Livinia's hand or kissing Colton's head and then she took her from him and Colton stood up on the chair and peered over Stevie's arm and kissed his little sister's head and the joy on Stevie's face was priceless. 

***

Livinia was a few weeks old and Stevie was in bed with her and all she was doing was showing Livinia off to the camera.

***

A throat cleared in the archway of the kitchen and Lindsey paused the television and turned his head. They had been back from the bar for about two hours now and it was about midnight, so he was surprised to learn that one of the kids was still up. 

"I've um, never seen those before...is that...is that my mom?" She asks.

"Yeah Livvy, that's your mom. There are a few more videos if you want to watch them with me." He shrugs.

"Nah, I'm just going to go to bed, Kit, Lola and I are going shopping tomorrow and I have to drive around town so I want to get ample sleep." Livinia rolls her eyes.

"Why are you driving, Kitty's twenty." Lindsey states.

"She wants me to gain experience. I love you daddy, goodnight." Livinia smiles.

As she walks up the stairs he just looks at her. She's in her pajama's which is a simple purple teeshirt and a pair of grey pajama pants. Her blonde wavy hiplength hair is in a very messy bun on the top of her head and she's walking with a slight waddle. She had just won gold in a barrel racing competition that day and she had trained for weeks, hard, on Snow, her white mare. 

"Night Livvy." He sighs.

She turns around and smiles back at him with her mother's big brown eyes and though he misses Stevie terribly and Livinia is the exact same as her mother that sixteen-year-old girl is his whole life. Colton too but he has a little bit more of a special place in his heart for her, and it stems from the fact that she only got her mom for two months of her life. And not to mention she's a Daddy's girl through and through. 

***

The next morning, Lindsey and Colt are up with the sun doing the work on the farm, it's nice having a helping hand when it comes to hauling hay and doing all of that, especially now that Lindsey's in his mid-sixties. Though Waylon is no longer with them, their new dog, Cash, a blue tick hound, is being the perfect farm dog and he barks when Livinia exits the house. She's wearing a pair of light blue short shorts and a white long sleeve teeshirt. She's got her brown cowboy boots on her feet and her blonde waves are straight down her back. 

"You heading out?" Lindsey questions.

"I am...yeah...should I bring something home for dinner?" She asks.

"You're going to be out that long?" Lindsey questions dropping his work gloves on the hood of his work truck.

"We're going to go horseback riding. Snow needs to rest but I was going to swipe one from the center." Livinia shrugs.

"Alright, be safe...you can bring some fried chicken home from the diner. Do you need money?" He asks.

"I'm okay. I've got money saved up from my odd jobs this past school year, and not to mention Lola and I are starting at the bar on Wednesday." She shrugs.

"Well, take this for dinner tough." Lindsey digs in his back pocket and pulls out his really beat up thirty-year-old leather wallet and hands her a twenty.

"Alright, Love you, daddy." She waves climbing up into her black jeep. It was a gift for her sixteenth. Her aunts and uncles on Lindsey's side, Lindsey, and Susan, and Robbie all pitched in and got her the wrangler. It was good because that's the car she learned to drive in and that was the car that she took her driving test in. 

"I love you too." He kisses her blonde waves. That was something that both of the kids inherited from him the wavy curly nature of their hair. 

***

In Santa Monica, Stevie found herself up and awake at the ungodly hour of nine in the morning, and she was pacing back and forth in her bedroom tears falling slightly, and a sinking feeling in her stomach. She had just gotten off of the In Your Dreams tour and she felt like she was missing a piece of her. 

She walked away from that little boy and that sweet little girl sixteen years ago and while she was on tour, Jessica had come out to her show in Texas and asked to go horseback riding so they went and while Stevie was on the horse she started thinking about Lindsey and her children and she was wondering what exactly was going on in their lives. 

As she was pacing the floor Karen walked in and cocked an eyebrow.

"You're awake. I was going to wake you for your hair appointment but you're awake." Karen states.

"What do you think they're like?" She asks bringing her thumbnail up to her mouth. 

"Who?" Karen questions.

"Livvy and Colton." She explains.

Karen was taken aback by those names because Stevie hadn't mentioned them since the night she was sobbing about making the decision to leave everything in Agoura Hills behind. And she was full out sobbing, the panting, gasping, snot, and tears running down her face sobbing. 

"Well...I think Lindsey's done the best he can with them. They're probably working on the farm with him, and making beautiful music like their parents." Karen explains.

"Would it...would it be bad if I went back?" Stevie asks plopping down her bed.

"Stevie, you left. You sent a note...Honestly, I don't think you'd be welcome." Karen shakes her head.

"Oh but I...I just...I miss my babies. And I want my babies." She cries. 

"They're not babies anymore. They're sixteen and twenty." Karen shakes her head.

"He's not twenty yet...but Karen they're always going to be my babies and I just...I need to see them."

"Stevie, it's up to you what you decide You have nine months off. I'm just saying that I don't think you're going to be met with a good reaction." Karen shrugs.

Stevie just looked up at her and when she returned home from her hair appointment, she packed her Michael Kors bag and she called a car.