Mayfly Melodies

Forty-Six

Stephen

I suppose the pleasure of country life lies really in the eternally renewed evidences of the determination to live—Vita Sackville-West

There was an odd orange hue lighting up the night sky in the distance.  Stephen watched as it glowed, the burn becoming gradually brighter over the trees as he stood in the entryway to the Grant's barn.  He sipped from a bottle of water, wondering just what it was that he was looking at.  He hadn't meant to be at work so late but one of the sheep had gotten loose from the pen and now he had to go track it down before he was able to go home for the night.

The ranch had been quiet the last few days.  Bailey's departure to Nashville had taken the heart out of the place.  Everyone seemed to be in a downcast mood and it wasn't hard to guess why.  He, along with the others, had gotten used to her being home.  Her long stint away with Chasing Mayflies had lasted for years and enough time passed that it had become normal.  She'd been home on occasion then but it had never been long enough for everyone to grow accustomed to her presence before she'd taken off for another tour.

Now, it had been over two-and-a-half months that she'd been home.  The Grant's were used to waking up and finding her there, to having her helping with the chores and lighting up the house with a simple smile.  Even Stephen had noticed the change having her around had had on the ranch.  Travis and Jake laughed more, acting more like young teenagers than adults half of the time and Rob and Maryse seemed more in love than ever. 

And Stephen...He couldn't even describe what having Bailey home meant to him.  For so long, he'd idolized her.  He'd loved her.  Perhaps if she'd never left Tishomingo to begin with, if she'd stayed and continued barrel racing and ranching, they would have ended up together.  The Bailey who'd left Tishomingo was the girl that Stephen had fallen for.

The girl who'd returned from Nashville two-and-a-half months ago was not that girl.  Sure, Bailey shared many of the same traits from the girl she'd been before.  She was still beautiful and funny and kind, but she'd brought back a worldly experience Stephen knew he would never match. 

Instead he realized that, while he would always care for her, it would be a brotherly sort of love from now on.  Bailey would always hold a piece of his heart but Stephen could say with full confidence that he was not in love with her.  He could realize now that the last four years had been more of an obsessive sort of love.  He, like many of her fans, had been swept up in the craziness and the whirlwind fame that had brought her to national attention. 

Somewhere along the way, Stephen had lost sight of the woman she'd become, still imaging the girl he'd played pranks on and gone riding with.  He hadn't noticed that Bailey had grown up, emerging into the world as someone who was strong and independent.  She had left behind completely the girl was worried about singing in front of people and had fretted nervously about taking her shot in the big leagues.

So, as the Grant's mourned the upcoming loss of their daughter as she embarked back to the spotlight for which she born to shine in, Stephen found himself grieving with them as family and not a lover.

With this newfound clarity had come some other revelations.  He found that he actually didn't hate Noah Hartley.  In fact, the man was rather funny.  Stephen had bumped into him at the local grocery store a few days earlier and had been able to admire the man's dry humour and fleeting grin.  Stephen figured that he could maybe even be friends with Noah Hartley one day and the thought didn't make him as miserable as it once had.

This meant that Stephen could also understand the hardship that Noah was going through.  As someone who loved and cared for Bailey, Stephen knew the impact that her departure must have had on Noah.  When she was around, the world seemed better.  Without her light everything was dim and it was clear that this was true for Noah Hartley as well.