"Well, thank you, Swayde. I really needed that." Renne admitted after their two hour long trail ride/tour of the property was over. "Even though my break was only supposed to be a few minutes, I'm really glad that we got to take the horses on a ride." 

         "You're welcome, darlin'. See, I really do know what is best for you sometimes." He winked before dismounting from the sturdy sorrel horse. Rubbing a hand over the horse's neck, Swayde held the worn leather reins in his other hand. "Y'know, he is a really good horse, Reagan...what are your plans for these guys when you move back home?" His eyes drifted to the horse his girlfriend sat proudly and comfortably on top of. 

        Renne swung her right leg over Buster's back before kicking her left foot from the stirrup, dismounting from the saddle. "To be honest, I haven't thought much about it. These two boys are my babies. I bred their momma with one of our studs and have raised them since they were born. Cowboy took to the saddle and training really well, but Buster here was a lot harder to break. Growing up as colts, they both had completely different temperaments, even though they have the same mom and dad." Grabbing her horse's reins, Renne led him back into the barn, Swayde following beside her. "I would love to take them back home with me, but I doubt we will have room for two horses in the trailer." It pained Renne to think about leaving her babies behind, but at the same time, she knew that with some more training, they could be good for the program, or as back up horses for the ranch. However, she also knew that they would rarely ever get ridden if she left them here, considering they were bred, raised and trained for working cattle, not to be therapy horses. In addition, Matt and the other hands had their own horses to ride. The more Renne thought about it, the more she realized it would be in the horses best interest to go back home to Wyoming with her. Besides, Mamaw and Papaw and Swayde could always use more horses at the ranch. 

          "I couldn't help but see that extra trailer by the house, and it had an old truck hooked up to it. Based on the amount of weeds around it, I am gonna assume that it isn't being used much, if any at all anymore." Swayde slid a rein over Cowboy's neck as he loosened the cinch to remove the saddle. 

          "What are you sayin'?" Renne rested a hand on her hip as she looked over at her boyfriend. 

          "Just that maybe I could drive that truck and trailer back home with these guys in the trailer." He didn't look at Renne at first, knowing she would give him a sassy look as she contemplated the idea. 

        "That truck hasn't been run in three years. It needs all new tires, an oil change, and all the fluids topped off. Plus, the truck is 22 years old. And the trip back home is a long way to take it back, fully loaded." Looking back to her horse, Renne stroked his cheek. She hadn't realized how much she had missed him until now. "I will probably end up selling that truck and trailer anyways since we have a few extras here." 

       The comment gave Swayde an idea. He had a trip into town to make. "I understand. Well, what do you say we get these boys back in their stalls for the night?" 

      "We can actually turn them out on the grass for the night. They have deserved it. I'll go get them a bucket of feed before we turn them out." Handing the reins to Swayde, Renne walked the the tack room, grabbing two buckets, giving each horse a mixture of feed before walking back outside, seeing her horse already untacked and ready to be turned out. Shaking the buckets, both horses nickered as they followed Renne out to the pasture, to the hooks that were on the fence line, placed there just for these buckets. "There ya go, boys. Mama threw in a little extra sweet feed for y'all." Giving both horses a kiss on the neck, Renne walked out of the open gate that Swayde held for her. 

        "'Mama' gave them sweet feed?" Swayde gave his girlfriend a teasing, goofy look. 

       "Oh don't even. You greet your dogs with, 'daddy's home!' Every day." She winked at her boyfriend, grabbing the hand he held out to her, interlacing their fingers as they slowly walked out of the barn, heading back to the house. 

        "Well, one day we will have actual human children that will call us mom and dad, rather than just these fur babies we call our kids." Swayde felt his cheeks heating up at the thought of him and Renne having kids. Granted, they have known since they were teenagers that it was bound to happen: getting married and having kids, but even still, saying it out loud just made it even more cemented. 

      Renne tugged slightly on Swayde's hand, making the couple stop walking. Strapping her arms around Swayde's neck, Renne pulled him against her. "I cannot wait for that day." A huge grin covered her face.

        Swayde's hands snaked their way around his girlfriend's slim waist. "Oh yeah, is that right?" He knew that was right. The look in her eyes told him to get down on one knee and propose to her so they could go get married...like, now. "All in due time," Swayde reminded himself. 

       "Yes, sir, it is." She tilted her head up, watching as Swayde removed his cowboy hat to tilt his head down, their lips connecting in a deep kiss. With a girn, Renne tightened her grip around his neck, pulling him closer to her, asking for another kiss. 

     The sound of gravel spitting up from the speeding tires of a truck, jolting to a stop, as the driver and passenger got out, slamming their doors, made Swayde and Renne stop what they were doing to look at who interrupted their cute moment. 

         Of course, one of the occupants of the truck was the last person that Renne wanted to see. However, the other person was someone Renne didn't recognize, but based on her growing belly, she knew exactly who it was. 

        Renne hadn't noticed that she had been staring, er, glaring, at the pair until Swayde pulled himself off his girlfriend, placing a comforting, but protective, hand on the small of her back. Settling his cowboy hat back on his head with a little extra force, Swayde focused his gaze on Matt and the woman with him. He tried to decide if they were going to approach Swayde and Renne or just keep walking. 

       Sure enough, Matt walked directly up to Renne, keeping a good five or six feet between him and the girl he was with. "Got a few minutes?" Matt tugged on the bill of his ball cap, ignoring Swayde and the other woman in the group. 

       Renne's eyes drifted from Matt to the clearly pregnant woman who stood a couple feet back from Matt. She looked younger than Renne imagined. Then again, Renne had never in a million years thought that she would be cheated on, so she never gave herself the time to think of what "she" would look like. 

        "Uh, that depends. What's up?" Renne felt herself instinctively lean closer to Swayde. 

        Matt kicked a small rock away from him with the toe of his boot. With his eyes still down turned, he said, "Just wanted to get this house stuff dealt with." 

       "I was actually just working on that before Swayde and I came out here." Renne motioned for the group to follow her into the house. Anything to get this meeting over with sooner. 

      "Did you get all of your stuff out of the house?" 

       "Swayde and I finished loading the trailer yesterday. We just have the tack and the rest of the stuff in the barn." Renne could not even force herself to look at him. 

       Swayde grabbed the door for Renne, holding it open for Matt and the woman with him. He had a hankering that he knew who it was, but still, he had to say, "I'm Swayde, by the way." Once she was through the door, he stretched out his hand to her. 

         "Chris." She said in an almost timid voice. It was the first time that she had made eye contact with any of them, and Swayde couldn't help but notice a bruise on the side of her face, nearing her eye. Never one to speculate, he didn't want to assume it was from Matt, but her actions today suggested otherwise. 

       Renne busied herself pouring glasses of sweet tea for her and Swayde. Just to be polite, she asked, "Chris, you want any?" Without making eye contact, she held up a glass of sweet tea before handing it to Swayde. 

       "No, thanks." Chris watched Renne a little too closely as Renne moved comfortably around the kitchen that she once spent a lot of time in. 

      Matt walked to the fridge, pulling out a cold water bottle, handing it to Chris. Looking at Matt, he said, "Chris is on a strict no sugar diet until she has the baby." His tone suggested that Renne should have known the fact. "And, I'll take some sweet tea." He replied to the question that Renne wasn't even planning on asking. 

       "So what did you want to talk about, Matt?" Renne stood next to Swayde, almost as if she needed his close comfort for support. 

        Matt practically scoffed. "Can we make this a more professional meeting, just you and me?" 

       Swayde straightened off the counter he was leaning on. "I'll go get things ready for feeding." He leaned over to give Renne a kiss on her temple before casting a look at Matt as he passed him; it was all he could do to not shove his shoulder into Matt's. Even just the presence of the man just brought out a fighting side of Swayde that he didn't even know he had. 

      Chris walked the other direction, towards the laundry room before passing through into the living room. Silently, she sat down on the recliner, turning the TV on loud enough to not hear Matt and Renne' conversation. 

       Matt pulled the pocket door shut, separating the dining room from the rest of the house. Taking a sip of sweet tea as he sat down next to Renne, he jumped right into the conversation. "You know how badly I want to buy this house, so I have an offer for you." 

        Renne minimized the screens on her laptop before shutting it, adding it to her stack of papers. "What's that?" She lifted the mason jar to her lips, taking a sip of it.

        "$250,000."

       Renne practically spat out her tea. Once she was able to swallow, she couldn't help but hold back a scoff. "Absolutely not. The house alone is worth at least four times that amount." 

        "Just hang on. I'm not finished with the offer." Matt replied impatiently, holding up a hand. 

        "Okay, talk." She motioned with her hand to tell him to continue. 

        "You can just have all the horses and pastures, and everything else that comes with the ranch. I won't take any money from you for the stuff that makes the ranch run. Instead of buying me out, I will just pay you for the house. I know it's a lot less than what the house is worth, but I'm just giving you all the stuff that I owned, and giving you a quarter of a million in addition. So either way, you're walking out of here well in the green and making money on top of it. This ranch is worth a bunch of money, and I know that you own most of it, but still. I'm going to stop rambling now." 

       "$300,000 and you have a deal." There was more that Renne wanted to talk about, but if she had to buy Matt out, with everything he still owned, it would cost Renne a little over $1 million, so Matt was right, she is really making almost $700,000 in this deal.

       She knew that she should probably make Matt sweat a little, making him wait until after she talked to Swayde about this offer Matt was proposing, but then again, they had already talked about it: Renne would sell her house to Matt. At the end of the day, Renne just wanted this to be done and over with so she could improve her ranch, and have her ties cut with Matt. 

         "Okay. Deal. I'lll write you a check for half of that now, and the other half will come at the end of the month." Matt didn't even hesitate as he pulled out his pocketbook and wrote out a check for $150,000, sliding it to Renne. Reaching out his hand, he shook Renne's, sealing the deal. 

        Picking the check up as she stood from the table, Renne stared at it for a couple seconds, the amount of zeros still surprising her. Never in her life had she been financially stable enough to write out a check for that amount of money, or, if she had, it wasn't easy. Matt, however, had so much money that he didn't know what to do with it, hence why he didn't even bat an eye signing the check. 

        "Thanks." Renne said simply, folding the check and sliding it into her wallet. 

        Matt opened the parturition door, motioning to Chris that he was finished with the conversation. Turning back to Renne, he said, "Chris and I will be back later to move the rest of her stuff here from her apartment. Where are you and your boyfriend staying?" 

      "Swayde and I were planning on staying here, in the guest room, but we can just get a hotel in town if you and Chris are staying here." She collected her stack of stuff into her arms, about to take it into the bedroom to put it up for the night, since her and Matt had figured out over half of the logistics, by just selling the house. 

        "It's fine. Don't make it awkward. We will just stay at her place." Matt started walking to the door, Chris struggling slightly to stand up from the chair without her baby belly getting in the way. 

      Renne actually kind of felt bad for Chris in a way because it was clear that Matt was not being a good boyfriend, or baby daddy, or whatever he was to Chris. She knew that if the tables were turned and Renne was pregnant, Swayde would have been right there with a helping hand to help her up from the chair. The sight only made Renne even more glad that she had called things off with Matt when she did, or else it very well could have been Renne in that chair. 

      "Is that okay?" Matt reminded Renne that he had made a statement. He stopped walking to the door to look back at Renne. 

       "Yeah, that's fine." Renne tore her eyes from Chris to look back to Matt. Once he gave her a curt nod of approval, Renne headed for the guest bedroom that was situated next to the mud room, dropping off her laptop and paperwork. As she walked out, she found herself face-to-face with Chris. 

       "I know we haven't met, but I know we know each other in a way. But, anyways, I'm Chris. It's nice to finally put a face to the name." She forced a shy smile, reaching out a shaky hand to Renne. 

        "You, too." She looked into the eyes of a woman she couldn't help but resent, even though she knew that it was only partially Chris's fault that Matt cheated, but all in all, Renne still could not look Chris in the eye without there being a pang of dislike. 

       "Look, I know it is very awkward, but," Chris looked down at the toe of her tennis shoes before looking back to Renne. "I would really really like to talk to you. I feel like I owe you an explanation, at the least." 

       Looking Chris up and down, before her eyes rested on her growing belly, Renne said in a tone that was almost a mumble, "I think I have all the explanation that I need." Before she said something else that she would regret, Renne began to walk away, but a pleading voice and a hand on her wrist stopped her. 

         "Renne, please." There was a look in Chris's eyes that told Renne she was on the brink of tears. 

        Renne took a deep breath, knowing that she should at least give the woman a chance to explain herself. Heck, if she could talk to Matt's mom, she could talk to Chris, right? Probably not. "Sure, go ahead." 

         "Can we sit down?" She motioned to the dining room table. 

       Without a word, Renne sat down, silently waiting for Chris to start the conversation. 

        "I guess I will start from the beginning. Umm..." She traced a circle around a wood knot in the table with her finger as she debated the best way of going about this conversation. Though she had rehearsed it time after time, it still hadn't prepared her for actually delivering the speech. "When I first met Matt, I didn't know he had a girlfriend. Actually, I didn't know he was in a relationship until after I found out that I was pregnant, about six months ago." 

         Renne mulled over what she was saying. "So, how long have y'all been seeing each other then?" 

      "A little over a year." Chris said quietly, knowing now that Matt and Renne were very much together during that time. "But, I promise you that I did not know he had a girlfriend until I found out that I was pregnant. And...at first...Matt and I were just two people having a good time, no feelings attached, but shortly before I got pregnant, he told me he loved me, and I realized that I loved him as well. Then, I found out that I was pregnant, and that changed things...a lot, obviously. But it wasn't until then that Matt told me he was in a relationship, and the day he told me about you, I tried breaking up with him, I promise you." With tear stricken eyes, Chris looked up to Renne to see if she believed her or not. 

        "Well, I appreciate you telling me." Her voice was cold as she thought over what Chris was saying. 

       "Well, there is more." Chris looked up from where she had been staring a whole through the table. "I know I really should not be the one who tells you this, but..."

       "What is it, Chris?" Renne knew that her feelings for Matt wouldn't change, no matter what beans Christina spilled. In her mind, Matt was still her cheating, lying ex, and that is what he would stay. However, it was better if Renne heard the truth from someone Matt would actually tell it to. She knew that her and Chris had beef with each other, by proxy, but still, Renne knew that Christina would not lie to her. Call it closure, but Renne wanted to hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, no matter what it was. 

      "I wasn't the first girl that Matt was with." 

      "I know that, he had other relationships before he met me." Renne's mind thought back to when she first met Matt. At the time, he was still in a relationship; it was a bad relationship, and Matt said he had been planning to break up with the woman anyways, but either way, Matt had not mentioned that he was in another relationship until almost a month after her and Matt had been dating. At the time, Renne was furious and tried to break up with Matt, but he swooned her, and sweet talked her. Apparently, by the sounds of it, Renne wasn't the only person that Matt tried to coerce into being in a relationship with him.

      "No, I mean, after y'all started dating. He had told me about two other girls that he had...been with, and was seeing before he met me. He told me that y'all had been dating for five years, but he didn't start seeing other women until about two years ago. Either way, he had been cheating on you for almost two years, and I know it doesn't really matter much now since you are in a great and very happy and healthy relationship, but I just know that I would have wanted to know if I was in your shoes." Chris reached a hand across the table as she saw Renne visually becoming upset. Squeezing Renne's hand, she said, sincerely, "I apologize for all of this, honestly. If I had known Matt was in a relationship, I promise you I would not have ever gone out with him, or anything. And I know that nothing I could ever say or do could ever rectify this, but I have been cheated on as well, and I know that the only thing that made it a tiny bit more manageable was the truth, no matter how hard it was to hear." 

       Renne knew that Chris was not lying to her; she had no reason to at all. Either way, the truth still hurt, but she was so glad that it was told. In her mind, Renne knew she had seen the signs of Matt cheating a while ago, but she was too stubborn, and still too heartbroken by what had happened years ago in Alpine Ridge to even think about breaking up with Matt. Besides, she felt obligated to stay with him because of his ties to Healing Hearts. However, now Renne knew that if she had broken up with Matt two, or even three years ago, when she had first seen the signs, her and Swayde would probably be married by now. The thought struck a chord in her heart. 

       Clearing her throat, Renne held Chris' gaze. Knowing every word that came out of her mouth was true, and sincere, Renne didn't even try to question any of it. "Thank you very much for telling me. It means a lot." Not realizing that Chris still had a grip on her hand, Renne pulled hers back. Just like that, something in Renne's heart changed for this woman. No longer was she someone that Renne despised, sure, there was still hurt, but in the end, it wasn't solely her fault that Matt is scum and a liar and cheater. "So, do you know if the baby is a boy or a girl?" Renne heard herself ask.

       Chris's hand went to her large stomach, softly rubbing the cotton material on her shirt as she smiled down at it. "It's a girl." Looking back up to Renne, her smile was widened. "I have always wanted a little girl. I just...never thought that it would happen this way." 

        "If there is anything I can do to help in any way..." Renne's voice trailed off, but she knew that Chris knew the rest of the sentence. Why was she even offering? Because she had a caring heart; that's why. Healing Hearts was the name of the ranch, after all, even if that heart that needed healing was her own, and if the way her heart would heal was by helping out a fellow hurting heart, then so be it.