Tacoma Falls✔️

Haying

"Why are you four just standing there?! Get to work!" Grayson yelled.

Payton, West, Amy, and I stood there groaning. Today starts the day of haying and also dealing with a major hangover from our night out.

"Uncle Grayson, they're a bit hungover from last night," Julia said to him.

"I don't care if they're dying, they knew we were starting haying now," he growled at her causing her eyes to widen.

He walked towards the back and got on one of the haying machines and started it. We slowly made our way back to start working. This was going to be a long day and I felt like total hell.

Tom drove the truck to the bales that dad and Grayson had already bundled and we loaded it. Every bale we loaded I felt like I was dying, literally. God, I felt so sick.

After four hours we took a break. Thank god. I needed something to drink and to also hurl. I wasn't the only one. The four of us either found spots outside to hurl or one of the bathrooms.

Mom took pity upon us and made a greasy lunch. She basically served biscuits and gravy for lunch. We gobbled it down, to help coat our stomach. I had to admit after getting it into my stomach, I felt a little better.

Once we finished eating we went back to work.

When you grow up on a farm, you're taught to work on the farm doing everything. Doesn't matter if your a girl or a boy. This is our way of life. Bales get made and loaded. Then they are unloaded and new ones are reloaded again.

Hay was also delivered to Grayson's ranch as well for the horses. While we were working on the hay, our house was being worked on. The work started a few weeks ago but there was still work needed to be done before we could move back in. Luckily, the kitchen was in some type of order that Mom could cook for everyone along with Pam's help.

As we worked Mom and Pam talked.

"Did you hear about Ellie," Pam asked her.

"Yeah and Kate as well." She let out a sigh. "I just don't understand why? Ember never did anything to those girls but yet they wanted to hurt her."

"Jealousy."

"What?"

"Jealousy makes you do crazy things. Paige, you know what it's like when two guys are fighting over you and other girls get jealous," Pam said to her.

"Yeah but it's not like you choose to have guys fighting over you. Not like you walk up to them and say a fight over me. Trust me no girl likes to be put in the position to have to choose especially when she cares about both of them," Mom said to her.

"I know. Grayson explained all this to me when he was courting me. Although, I hated the fact I was being courted. I mean I was fifteen and sixteen when we married. Our wedding night was hard. I was terrified," Pam said to her.

"Things were different back then," Mom said to her.

"Still didn't make up for the fact I was a kid married to a grown man expected to do things wives are supposed to do." She sighed.

"Grayson told Jerry about it. I remember he said, 'I don't know what to do. My wife won't let me go near her'. Then Jerry explained that you were probably scared and needed a little understanding," Mom said to her.

"Thank god for that because I was terrified. I didn't even date. I was courted then married. Grayson was my first kiss, my first everything," she said to Mom.

"But it all worked out, right? I mean you got a beautiful family and everything."

"It did. I got two great kids out of it, a hardworking man, and a home. Just like I hope it works out for Payton and Ember. Paige, he was so heartbroken the last time she left."

"Pam, she was scared. That's why she ran. She thought it had to do with the fact that she didn't want to end up like Jerry and I but the truth was, she was scared of her feelings about Payton. Then I find out she got married to some guy we didn't know only to return broken. It's a parent's worse nightmare."

"Well, thank god she did. Payton needed her. Him getting together with that Kingswell girl was the worst thing he ever did. That girl was nothing but a headache," Pam said shaking her head.

"That bad?"

"Oh, she was something else, always whining about something. But we just kept our mouths shut. We knew if we said anything it would just make him want to stay with her. Payton can be stubborn when he wants to be just like the horses he breaks."

Grayson and dad pulled up and stopped the haying machines. They both got down off of them and walked over to Mom and Pam.

"What are you two hens cackling about?" Dad asked them.

"We were just discussing the past and the present," Mom said.

"Great they're reminiscing again," Grayson mumbled. Pam gave him a playful tap on the upper arm.

As they grabbed something to drink, Payton walked up.

"Well, son you look like hell," Grayson said and he gave him a look.

"Thanks. I feel like hell." He grabbed a glass of water and looked at my parents. "I wanted to talk to you both."

"About what," dad asked as he drank his water.

"I wanted your blessing to ask for Ember's hand," he said causing dad to spit out his water and start coughing, "or not."

He wiped the water from his face as dad cleaned himself up.

"Are you asking to marry our daughter," Mom asked him.

"Yes, I want to do it properly. That means getting your blessing. Mr. And Mrs. Fallon, I love Ember more than life itself and I want to marry her."

"Moving a bit quick there aren't you son?" Dad asked him.

"I've known her my whole life. This isn't as quick as you think. I don't want to lose her again," Payton said with determination. "I'm just asking for your blessing out of respect to you."

They looked at each other, then dad said, "As long as you love and respect her, we have no problem with you marrying her."

A smile formed upon Payton's face as he received my parent's blessing.

"So, when are you going to ask her," Mom said to him.

"Soon, I want to plan it right and I don't want to wait to get married. So, I'm going to need some help." He looked at his mother and my mother and they looked at each other. They knew he was serious. They also knew he wanted everything in place for us. This was going to take a lot of planning and work.

******
We worked all day from sun up to sun down haying to get it done as quickly as possible. Now only did dad make sure we had enough hay but also Grayson had enough as well before delivering hay to other farms.

Between haying, there was also canning that needed to be done as well and deliveries to be made. To say we were quite busy was not even half of it. Plus we also had school. This didn't leave much time for Payton and me with all the work that needed to be done. He decided to plan a getaway for us once things were set.

Every night I dragged myself to bed. I was that exhausted and Payton would make his way to my room just to have a few minutes with me. It would end up with me falling asleep mid conversation but he understood. I mean he understood better than anyone how much work went into haying and canning.

Thank god for that because most guys would get frustrated. Payton was a good man. He always was and always will be a good man.