Cowboy Bring Me Back

3

It was awkward, the night time was awkward because the three people still at the house didn't know how to go about doing anything. Especially with each other. If it was just Livvy and Lindsey they would've already put a comedy movie on or the AXS TV Channel and watched a music show. But it wasn't just Livvy and Lindsey and the TV wasn't on and they had stared at each other from about six-thirty until eight when Livvy announced she was going up to take a shower and then she didn't come back down leaving Lindsey and Stevie. He just picked up the newspaper and she just burrowed deeper into the couch. She didn't like the couch because it wasn't the big cushy brown leather one that she sunk into when she was living with him. This one was still a chocolate brown but it was fabric, and it wasn't as comfortable as the other one. In her opinion anyway. 

"Why now," Lindsey says after a moment, closing his paper.

"To tell you the truth Lindsey, I don't even know. Halfway through my last tour, I went horseback riding with Jessica. She still talks about how her Uncle Lindsey taught her how to ride. In the five-ish years, I lived with you, you had such a big impression on her. And I woke up the next morning and all I wanted was my kids and you. So my tour finished about a week ago and I didn't sleep at all because I just wanted...I just wanted to know you know." Words were failing her at the moment. 

"Well Steph, you just left without a warning and you came back without a warning and I don't blame Colt for the way he acted. I'm not impressed by it, but I understand it." Lindsey sighs.

"And I do too, really I do...And I can see that Livvy is struggling, but I just...I don't know, I need to. I need to be their mom. I need to cook them food and make their breakfast. And Lindsey...if...if these nine months go well, could I...could I stay."

"Well, we don't know how these nine months are going to go. So let's just...cross that bridge when we get there." He sighs.

"Karen is bringing Sulamith tomorrow. I hope Cash'll be okay with her." Stevie points to the Blue Tick.

"Sulamith will probably end up running the place. She did with Waylon." Lindsey shrugs.

"That is true...she did with Waylon." Stevie laughs.

"Um, well I think I'll go do the dishes." Lindsey goes to stand up.

"No, No...I'll do it. Just relax you've had a long day. I'm surprised you were working when I got here. You usually take Sundays off." 

"And I still do...I have a Mare that's about to foal. Her teats are waxing so I've been watching her all day." Lindsey states.

"Her teats are what?" Stevie asks.

"Waxing. Remember when you breastfed Colton, and that yellow stuff came in before your milk." 

"Yes, Lindsey it's Colostrum." Stevie nods.

"That's exactly what waxing means. She's producing Colostrum." Lindsey states.

"Oh. So she's close then." Stevie nods.

"Two to four days yeah." Lindsey nods.

"Well anyway, I'll still go do the dishes. You just relax." Stevie stands up.

"You wash, I dry?" Lindsey asks.

"Sure...just like when they were little." She looks down and smiles slightly.

"Well, when he was little." Lindsey clarifies.

"But we still did that while I was pregnant and she was a newborn so it counts." Stevie points out. 

***

Cleaning the dishes with Lindsey again was nice, especially every time their hands would brush up against each other as he took the dish from her, and those sparks of electricity sparked through her body. But what wasn't nice was being in the guestroom. She was in the guestroom and she was still sleeping in Lindsey's bed. She knew just by crawling in it that it was the queen he had from when Kristen was still alive and it was the same blue plaid bedspread that they slept on her first year with him. She really wanted to be sleeping on the king in the master with Lindsey wrapped up in his arms, but she wasn't. Not to mention it was only 11:30 so it wasn't even time to sleep yet but she really was trying because she wanted to be up to make them breakfast in the morning. 

So she looked out the window for a while and then she crawled out of bed pulling on her black silk bathrobe and she makes her way outside. Colton was pulling into the driveway as she leaned against the opening of the door.

"You didn't have to wait for me." He looked at her.

"What kind of mother would I be if I didn't..." She smirks as Colton just snorts in response.

"No, I didn't...at least I wasn't planning on it. The moon was just calling to me and I had forgotten how clean the air smelt and how clear the sky was out here. The difference forty-five minutes makes...so I was just relishing in it all." Stevie shakes her head.

"Oh, well good night...um...mom." Colton looks down awkwardly. 

She smiled at him and then grabbed his hand rubbing it against her cheek. She then moved and placed her hand on the back of his head pulling it down allowing her to kiss his temple. 

"Goodnight, baby." She lets him go and then curls up on the little bench on the front porch.

She watches for a while and listens to the sounds. There's a coyote howling in the distance and she worries about the chickens for a hot second before remembering that Lindsey literally locks them up at night in a chicken coop that is padlocked and the door has a chicken wire window that's too high up for coyotes to reach. Stevie cocks her head to the side when she hears the door open and she can see Livvy with her blonde waves pulled back into a ponytail. She's wearing a purple teeshirt and a pair of grey and white plaid pajama pants. And a pair of flip-flops and Stevie just observes her as she leans over the railing and just stares out into the night. Stevie smirks for a minute and then she turns her gaze back up to the moon. 

She can hear the door creak open again and from behind the screen, Lindsey clears his throat. 

"What are you doing out here?" 

"The Moon was calling to me." Stevie and Livvy said in unison and Livinia jumps a mile in the air and slightly screams as Stevie just starts cackling. 

"Where you there the whole time?" Livinia asks her right hand over her heart.

"I was...I watched you for a while but you didn't even notice." Stevie explains. 

"C'mon in you two. It's going to storm tonight I can feel it." Lindsey sighs.

"It does smell like rain." Stevie nods standing up from her perch. 

"If it does storm are you and Colt going to fix the fences tomorrow?" Livinia asks.

"No, we'll have to wait until the ground dries up...but we need the rain so I'm not complaining." Lindsey shrugs opening the door for them.

"How did you know we were out here?" Livinia questions.

"Your mother some way or another always ends up out here when she can't sleep. And you. Well, you like to sleep with your window open and since my phone says a thunderstorm is coming and I could feel it in my joints, I went into your room to shut your windows. I do it all of the time." Lindsey shrugs as they make their way back upstairs and Lindsey was right. It was about one-thirty in the morning when Stevie jolted awake to a flash of lightning and rain pounding on the windows. It didn't bother her because she loved storms, it just made her want to nuzzle up with Lindsey and she couldn't. Because he was down the hall and it made her huffy.