Page 100 of Claimed By the Cowboys
Our Maisie was quickly approaching her fifth birthday, along with the start of kindergarten. And that didn’t take into account any of the goings on at the Ranch proper—the never-ending list of to-dos for the business, the animals, and the employees.
I had nearly fallen asleep seated on my horse earlier in the afternoon, but there was no time to be lazy. We had only a few weeks to prepare for Piper’s first heat with the pack.
Sure, we had done things a littlebackward, but we were still dead set on making sure that our omega’s first heat with our pack would be as magical as possible.
Dakota and I had spent hours preparing feed, hay bales, and giving detailed instructions to some of the newer ranch hands in order to ensure operations would run as smoothly as possible when we had to step away.
In the house, we agonized over packing travel kits for both kiddos. Luckily for us, Evelyn and Emmy were wonderful with Maisie and baby Jackson. When we had insinuated that we might need a few days of overnight childcare due to “familymatters,” they had volunteered without a second thought. Even though we weren’t blood kin, our children would grow up calling Evelyn “Granny” and Emmy “Auntie”.
There was also the matter of making sure the house itself was stocked and prepped for the heat. Laundering all the blankets in readiness for Piper nesting, stuffing the freezer with easy-to-prepare food and plenty of sports drinks to help keep all of us hydrated.
Even though it had been hectic, we’d been making a good show of it, and everything was almost ready. Things had almost been going too smoothly—until we hit a bump in the road one fateful Wednesday night.
It was one of those Murphy’s Law type nights, where everything thatcouldgo wrongdid.
Dinner, which had fallen to Dakota in Piper’s postpartum kitchen duty hiatus, had been forgotten during the scramble to get baby Jackson—post-diaper blowout—and suddenly pukey Maisie into separate baths while a miserable Clay ran cleanup duty on both the changing table and Maisie’s room. As a result, we were reminded of the meatloaf still in the oven only after the fire alarm started blasting, smoke billowing from the open door.
We ordered a pizza to try and recover, but ended up with someone else’s order—a Hawaiian with extra anchovies.
“I give up. I’m just going to make some cup noodles after we get the kids down to bed.” Piper had sniffled as we all looked at the disappointing pizza, doing her best not to burst into tears after the long list of frustrations that seemed without end.
We all did our best, moving to where a parent was needed most as we got both Maisie and the baby down to rest. Piper fed Jackson, even though she was exhausted, before she was finally able to slip out of the nursery to join the rest of us on the couch.
“You want chicken or beef noodles?” Clay grunted, taking Piper’s order as he lifted himself off the sofa, moving to the kitchen to put the large kettle on the stove.
“Do we not have any of the miso ones left?” She sighed, easing back onto the couch between the twins.
“Fresh out,” Clay confirmed as he started down the line, peeling back the paper lids one by one.
Everyone was finally taking a breath, Montana massaging one of Piper's swollen feet while the TV played quietly in the background.
Clay was about to pour in the boiling water when suddenly, Jackson’s high-pitched newborn cry pierced the quiet.
Piper nowactuallyburst into tears, and everyone else looked like they might join in right after her.
“I got it!” I yelped, jumping to my feet and running down the hall to grab the screaming baby.
“Shhh, it’s okay, little guy!” I crooned, lifting Jackson up and out of his bassinet, cradling him gently in one of my arms.
As soon as he was against me, his little eyes drifted closed and he fell quiet again. I rocked him against me for a few moments, preparing to lay him back down into the bassinet to drift back into dreamland, when suddenly, Maisie struck up with a piercing cry.
On cue, Jackson joined in, a chorus of screaming, crying children momentarily making my head spin.
I shuffled on light feet into Maisie’s room, Jackson still bawling at the top of his lungs from my arms.
“What’s the matter, baby girl!?” I soothed, ducking into Maisie’s room.
“I had a scary dream!” she wailed, sitting up in her blankets, her little fists rubbing tears from her eyes as Jackson continued to scream.
“I think your little brother is havin’ a bad dream too,” I joked lightheartedly, doing my best to keep up a happy face and a light attitude as I bounced from foot to foot, exhaustion wearing even my patience thin.
“He is?” Maisie sniffled, her sweet face turning up to look carefully at Jackson.
“What do you think? Should we sing a little lullaby? Maybe help him be less scared and get everyone back to bed?” I asked hopefully, reaching down to wipe some tears from Maisie’s chubby cheeks.
“Yeah.” She nodded with a sniffle.
“What do you think would be a good one?” I started gently patting Jackson’s back in case it was gas that had him so distressed.
