Heartbreak Town (COMPLETED)

Chapter Nine

Mallory's kids all silently sat on her bed, staring at her, waiting for her to wake up. Finally, Mallory stirred and her eyes slowly opened. "Mommy! Mommy mommy mommy mommy! Mommy's awake!" The kids shouted.
     "Hey guys." Mallory forced a smile. Her voice was hoarse.
     Doug leaned down over Mallory's bed. "Hey babe." He said, placing a kiss on her lips.
     "Hey, Doug. Thanks for bringing the kids over." Mallory placed a hand on Doug's cheek.
     "Welcome." Doug smiled down at Mallory. There was a look of pure admiration in his eyes.
     Renne, frankly, was taken aback. So much had changed in the five years that she was gone. Now Mallory and Doug were dating or married or whatever they were?! Last Renne was here, Doug and Mallory hated each other. They could hardly be in the same room with each other. But they looked genuinely happy, so that made Renne happy. Besides, Doug is a great guy; Mallory deserves that.
     "There's someone here to see you, Mallory." Swayde said, smiling.
     Mallory followed Swayde's gaze to her left and saw Renne. "Reagan, you came? Oh, thank you for comin'." Mallory's warm eyes filled with tears. Renne had only seen her tough and stubborn sister cry a handful of times.
     Renne stood up and bent over her sister's frail body. She wrapped her arms carefully around Mallory in a hug. Mallory breathed into her little sister's hair. "I'm so glad that you're here."
     "I'm so glad to see you. I never did get the chance to say a proper goodbye." Renne admitted, chuckling slightly.
     "Dang right. I knew you'd come back. You missed me too much to stay away, right?" Mallory smiled. Renne missed that teasing smile.
     "That's true. I did miss my big sister." Renne returned the smile and took a seat on the side of the bed. One of her nieces crawled up on her lap.
     "I missed you, MJ. How are you doin'? You've gotten so big. How old are you now? Eight? Nine?"
     "I'm nine now, Aunt Reagan." MJ, Mallory Junior, said. She was Mallory's second oldest kid. Her oldest was a son, Taylor, who's ten now. Then came Susan who just turned seven. The youngest kid sitting on the bed was the only of Renne's nieces that she didn't know. She looked to be only about three or four.
     Mallory sensed her sister's confusion. "Reagan, I don't think that you've met my daughter Hope, have you?"
     "No, I haven't. Hi sweetie. I'm your aunt Ren- Reagan." Renne corrected herself. She instinctively stretched out a hand to her newest, adorable niece. Hope instead wrapped her arms around Renne's neck.
     "Hi auntie Reagan." Hope said in her tiny voice. When Hope loosened her grip, only slightly, from around Renne's neck, Renne looked at how pretty the little girl was. She had dirty blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, just like her momma. Freckles dusted Hope's chubby cheeks and button nose.
     Renne smiled. For a few minutes she was really glad to be back here with her family, but then reality hit her. Her nieces and nephew, Mallory's children, were all going to grow up without a mom...
"I think it's best to let your mama sleep now, kids. C'mon. Let's say goodbye." Doug's voice knocked Renne out of her moment of realization. The kids all scrambled, giving their mom a hug, kiss, and an "I love you," before wriggling off the bed. Next was Doug's turn. He bent down and placed a kiss on Mallory's lips. "I love you, baby. I'll see you tomorrow." Doug said, kissing Mallory's forehead. He straightened, then herded the children out of the room.
"I can't tell you how happy I am that you are here, Reagan. Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling good enough to catch up with you." Mallory replied, her voice even more hoarse and tired than just a few minutes ago.
     "That's alright, you just get to feelin' better. We will talk when we can." Renne grabbed Mallory's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
     "I love you, Rebel." Mallory said, those tears rising to her eyes again.
     It had been so long since Renne had heard her sister's nickname for herself: "Rebel." That nickname didn't come without reason for Renne, however. It came when she snuck out one night to work with an injured mustang that had somehow made it's way onto her grandparents ranch. The horse should have been put down due to its physical and mental injuries, but Renne had begged her grandpa to not shoot the mustang, and he didn't. He promised Renne that he would work with her once her injuries were healed since those injuries made it impossible for her to ever be able to return to the wild.
     Papaw kept up his end of the promise and Renne stood beside him, on the other side of the fence of course, as Papaw worked with the mustang. But that time wasn't enough; the mustang needed to be worked with on a daily basis. So, Renne snuck out one night to work with the mustang. Mallory found out, but watched from her bedroom window as Renne worked the stubborn mustang. That rebellious night had ended with Renne having a badly bruised shoulder and a broken rib, but that didn't stop Renne from working with the mustang every night. Eventually, after countless nights of sneaking into the round pen, the mustang became rideable; in fact, it became one of the best horses that Renne had ever ridden.
     Of course, there were many other rebellious things that Renne had learned from her "partner in crime," her sister, but after the incident with the mustang that first night, Renne had tagged the nickname, "Rebel." Mallory had called her that ever since.
     "I love you too, sis." Renne replied. She gave her sister and grandparents a hug before Swayde led her outside.
     Renne stopped at the door of her sister's hospital room door. She turned and looked back at Mallory. A hand on the small of her back kept Renne walking forward. It just started to hit Renne that every time she sees her sister from now on could be the last time.

     The car ride back to the ranch was silent again, but this time it wasn't because of tension between Swayde and Renne, it was because of everything that Renne was thinking about with her sister, and just being back here under the roof of the people she so dearly wanted to forget about.
     Finally, Swayde's truck rolled up in front of the ranch house. Swayde shut off the ignition and made his way over to open Renne's door. She slid out and Swayde shut the door behind her; he then followed her up to the front porch.
     Renne had a hand on the wooden screen door's handle, but didn't open the door. She let out a big breath and turned back around to face Swayde. Tears began to rise in her eyes.
     "Reagan? What's wrong?" Swayde placed a hand softly on her shoulder. He gave her a sympathetic look.
     "It's just...my sister...me being back here...you...everything is just comin' at me so fast and I can't slow it down. I expected Mallory to be bad, but...when I saw her layin' there..." Renne took in a breath to steady herself. "And then Doug brought the kids in...they're gonna grow up without a mom. There are so many things that I need to ask Mallory for forgiveness for that...now I'll never get the chance..." Renne stopped. She refused to cry, but the tears protested otherwise. Renne swallowed, but her throat tightened as she denied the tears from spilling from her eyelids.
     "Hey...it's gonna be okay." Swayde said. He pulled her into a hug. Renne, not thinking clearly, wrapped her arms tightly around Swayde and let her body rest against his strong, warm, comfortable build.
     It had been so long since anyone had held her like that. No, it had been so long since she let anyone hold her like that. Swayde smelled so good, but Renne tried not to think about that; however, she found that that was all she could think about.  How couldn't she when he smelled like first cutting hay, horses, and pine trees at the top of a mountain. His shirt smelled like cotton laundry detergent and fresh mountain air from being hung out on the line. It felt so good to be back in Swayde's strong arms again. Renne didn't care that it was dangerous for them to be this close. Right now she just needed to be held.