“Fuck, I’m gonna come,” he gasped. He reached down, pulling my thigh up and opening me to him more. Then he plunged in, and holy moly, my entire world imploded and then blasted into the million stars that were lighting the sky above us.
“Yes, baby…yes… Fuck, you feel so good.” His hips bucked and warmth spread through me, until he collapsed.
I held him to me, trying not to cry. I wasn’t in pain. I didn’t feel regret. My tears were an overwhelming abundance of love for Wyatt. He was everything to me. And now, I was sure we’d be together forever.
1 Wyatt – Ten Years Later
Coming home was like walking back in time. Driving back into Salvation, Nebraska after ten years serving in the military, I saw all the same corn and soybean fields. All the same cattle ranches. The town itself had hardly changed at all. Perhaps a little more scarred and tired, but so was I.
Of course, there was one glaring difference; my father was gone. Good riddance. The bastard overstayed his welcome as far as I was concerned. One thing I learned in the military was that my fuck-up of a father wasn’t so unusual. Many of my brothers came from abusive homes run by drunken fathers and mothers who enabled them.
My father had always been selfish. He’d always fucked as many women as would open their legs for him. But until a few months ago, he’d always stuck around. Like a bad penny. Apparently, a barfly at the local bar was appealing enough that he’d run off with her. To my mind, this was good news. Neither my mother nor I needed that asshole around.
But leaving my mother to manage a cattle ranch, that was fucked up. Farming in general wasn’t a great vocation anymore. Cattle farming was doing okay, but it had dropped the last few years. Having been away, I didn’t know why. Was it because there was more emphasis on plant-based diets? Or the fact that cows were bad for the environment since they farted methane. Up until I got the call from my mother about my father leaving, I didn’t care to know.
Nebraska ranked number two behind Texas in the overall cattle industry, but that didn’t mean my parents’ ranch was a cash cow… No pun intended. When my father left, my mother hired more men to help, but the money coming in wasn’t supporting the money spent on hiring help. So, she’d called me home.
As it turned out, the timing was perfect. The military was good to me. I learned discipline, some amazing skills, got an education and was paid for it all. But there came a time when being in special forces required you to become an unfeeling machine to survive. I was on the cusp of having to make that decision when my mother called. I decided I wanted to retain my humanity. Life could be a bitch, but I’d rather hurt than be numb.
The screen door squealed open, adding one more thing to the to-do list to get this house and the ranch back on track.
“I brought you some cold tea.” My mother handed me a glass of the sun-made brew and stood with me on the front porch as I took in the vastness of Nebraska.
“Thank you.”
“Are you settling in? I imagine it’s strange to be home after all your travels and adventures.”
War wasn’t an adventure, but I decided not to correct her. “It’s nice to be around calm.”
“I’m so happy to have you home safe and sound.” She sniffed. I turned to see her wipe a tear. “I always worried about you, but I know you had to go.”
I was safe. The sound part was questionable. “What’s that?” I asked, nodding toward an envelope she held in her hand.
“I don’t want to start your time home with trouble, but we got this in the mail today. It’s not the first one. I thought you should see it.”
I opened the envelope and pulled out a letter on fancy paper with “Stark Associates” emblazoned in gold on the letterhead.
“It’s an offer to buy the ranch,” she said.
“That can’t possibly be a fair price,” I said after scanning the letter.
“No, but if you read further, it seems to say that if we don’t sell at this price, the private prison they’re building will devalue the land and we’ll end up with less.”
I looked at her, wondering why she brought me home if she was considering this. “You could take the money to start a new life.”
She sighed as she looked out over the land and then looked down, and I got the feeling I wasn’t going to like what she was going to say.
“This is my home, Wyatt. But even if it wasn’t, I can’t sell. It’s your father’s. He will probably want to sell the property, but I don’t want to.”
“Your name isn’t on the deed?”
She shook her head. “This land has been in your father’s family for over a century. Passed down generation to generation. If it’s going to be sold, I feel like you’re the one who needs to make that decision.”
I couldn’t understand what she was saying. “I’m not on the deed.”
“The terms of land transfer are from son to son, or daughter if there isn’t a son. As long as a Jones lives on and works the land, it can’t be sold. By your being here, it can’t be sold unless you agree to it. It was set up by your six-time great grandfather when
