988 Lifeline

*Dear Readers – Please know that my Molly is safe and still living. When I told him that I was doing what Becks had asked, he insisted that this had to be in the story. It was not his finest moment, and he regrets that he ever considered it. But he did. Grief is hard. But as Tammy reminds us, many hearts lessen the grief. There is always hope. There is always love. There is always a reason to keep going. Sometimes, we just need to learn to take a break. With much love, Amy*

The phone next to the bed chimed with a notification of movement from one of the cameras in the calving barn. During calving season, Molly always slept on the edge of the bed and not in the center. Reaching over, he grabbed his phone and opened it with his thumb print before pulling up the app.

A first-time mother cow lay on her side and a calf was partially born. Quickly and quietly, he slipped out of the bed and pulled on the clothes that he kept nearby at night. Just as quietly, he left the room and headed down the stairs leading to the main house.

Stopping at the front door, he slipped on his boots while he disengaged the alarm and opened the main gate. Then he grabbed his khaki Carhart jacket and keys as he headed out the door. The old farm truck started up after a few hesitating cranks of the cold engine. He passed through the gate before pushing the button on the sun visor to close the gate.

Once the gate closed again, the alarm would automatically re-engage. Werewolf and his team, mainly Trevor on the electronics and Tech on the coding, created a seemingly perfect alarm system for their customers. And since the first one, Molly’s house had always been the guinea pig for upgrades and new products.

This included cameras in the individual stalls in the calving barns.

Just a little over half a mile down the road, Molly pulled through a different gate and approached the barn. Four stalls down, he found the small red and white Hereford heifer struggling to deliver her baby. Pulling off his jacket and shirt, he replaced them with coveralls.

Grabbing the chains, he entered the stall as Cowboy entered the barn through the side door. Silently they worked together to help the little calf into the world. After so many years, the two men could anticipate what the other would do or need.

Once the baby was born, the mother stood and turned to clean her newborn. Molly moved quickly enough to miss getting hit by the sac that was hanging out of the cow’s vagina. It thwunked against Cowboy’s leg.

“Damn it,” Cowboy swore softly as Molly laughed. “I really do think that they have a bet as to how many of them can hit me with the sac or placenta.”

“Pretty sure that they have the winning score.”

“Yeah, and I want to know what the grand prize is.”

“Extra alfalfa.” Molly suggested as he stripped off the coveralls and pulled his shirt and jacket back on.

“Probably,” Cowboy said with a laugh. “You go on back, I’ve still got to check the North Star barns.”

Molly nodded and headed towards his pickup truck. Once again, the cold engine objected to starting and he made a mental note that he needed to look at it. Or have one of the guys at Wilson’s or Pops take care of it.

He sat and idled at the gate as he debated if he was going to go back to the house or not. Pulling out on the road, he turned away from the large house that his Becks built for him. Pulling off the road, he took the unmarked path to the small grove of trees.

A few days ago, while Case was riding one of the North Star horses, she had come across him at the grove. He had been sitting on the bench that Sticks had made for his and Becks’ first anniversary. After they had moved out to the farm, it had been placed next to the small pond within the grove.

Molly parked the pickup and grabbed the small box from behind the seat. Then he got out and walked over to the bench. Taking the small, heavy object out of the box, he let the plastic box fall to the ground.

Tears streamed down his face as he sat and thought about all that he had lost over the years. His grandparents. Friends. An uncle. A child. His heart. It was overwhelming. His heart was heavy with grief and loss. Memories ran down his cheeks as he sat alone in his grief.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting there when Case and Noel sat on either side of him. Case reached over and took the gun from him. Silently, she removed the clip and the round from the chamber.

Noel pulled him to her and held him as he cried. The whole bench shook with the strength of his grief and loss. No words were spoken between the three of them for a long time. Noel watched as the other women picked up the lock box and placed the gun inside before locking it. She then pocketed the key and clip ensuring that they were separate.

“I miss her so much,” Molly finally said.

“We know,” Noel assured him. “We miss her, too.”

Case rubbed his back, “Molly, the world misses her. It’s not as wonderful without her, but it’s still pretty great with her memory.”

He sat up and nodded.

“I’m going to call Carly in the morning,” Noel told him, “I think you need to go talk to her. We need to get you to a better place.”

“Okay,” he whispered.

“But right now, we need to get you back to the house to meet your newest daughter.” Case smiled at him. “From what I understand, you’re the one that always says their name first.”

He nodded again. “We always talked about them and settled on a few names, but I got to pick it. We debated between Priscilla and Lisa Marie for Priss.”

“She’s more of a Priscilla than a Lisa Marie.” Noel smiled at him.

He pulled both of them in close to him and hugged him tight. “Thank you, pretties.”

Smiling up at him, Case cupped his cheek with her bare hand. “You’re welcome, handsome.”

“Your hands are cold.” He observed.

“Hell, all of me is cold!” she laughed.

“Same. And she rode out here with on that damned bike.” Noel complained.

“It was the quickest way here.” Case pointed out.

Standing up, he pulled them with him, “Take the pickup back, the keys are in the ignition.”

As if on instinct and without any conscious thought, he leaned down and kissed Noel and then Case before nudging them towards the pickup. They both climbed into the pickup and Case tossed the locked gun case on the dash as Noel started the engine after the second try.

Molly straddled his Harley Fatboy and wondered how Case had controlled such a large bike. And why, with several of them there at the house, she chose the biggest one. He led the way back down the track to the road and then towards the house.

The gate was still wide open, and he knew that if Werewolf had seen that, he would be getting a phone call. Then again, he would probably get one anyway since the alarm system would register it being open for an extended period overnight.

He parked next to the steps of the front door of the main house. The pickup pulled up and parked close by. All three entered the house and went upstairs to the main room. Tammy was on the bed along with three of the teens. The little pretties were shooed out of the room, but Priscilla stopped and hugged him tight.

When Molly looked at his daughter, his guilt and shame showed in his face. She gave him a sad smile. “I’ve lost two of my moms, I can’t lose you too, daddy.”

He kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly. “You won’t, Priss. I promise.”

“I love you, daddy.” She whispered and kissed his cheek before he released her, and she followed her sisters out of the room.

Molly sat on the edge of the bed and Tammy handed him the newest member of the Lowery family.

“Hello, my little pretty.”

The baby scrunched slightly in her blanket and then yawned before she opened her soft blue eyes and looked at him. She smiled at him, and he knew which name belonged to this little girl.

“Reba.” He whispered. “It’s a shorter version of Rebecca. And you’re here because of a wonderful woman named Rebecca. My Becks.” He looked at the other women in the room. “Our Becks.”