Renne parked her truck beside the empty fifth wheel trailer in the field. Glancing out over the golden field, her eyes focused on the man working the tractor. A grin spread over her face as the handsome figure made his way towards her, idling the tractor down, the driver hopping out of the cab. 

         "Good morning." Swayde greeted, wrapping an arm around Renne's waist as he pulled her up to him in a kiss. Pulling back, Swayde pushed his cowboy hat back down on his head, but only after wiping sweat from his brow. 

         "Good morning, handsome." Renne smiled up at her boyfriend. "Man, we had to choose the hottest day to bale straw, didn't we?" 

        "That's how it usually goes. The rest of the guys should be here within an hour. Do you want to drive the other tractor to start picking up bales?" Swayde asked, turning around to walk back to the tractor he was using to bale the straw. 

         "If that's what you want me to do, sure. You're the boss." Renne winked, walking towards the antique tractor at the edge of the field. 

        Swayde was right. Within an hour, almost all of the guys had shown up to help. The group was like worker bees: they knew their job, where they were supposed to be, and how to get a lot of work done efficiently and quickly.  

       Once Renne's hauler was full, she dumped it next to the fifth wheel trailer where the guys would start stacking it to haul back to the ranch, while she went to pick up more bales. 

         The team worked efficiently while still pacing themselves so they wouldn't get worn out too quickly; they had a very long, exhausting day ahead of them. 

         After only a few hours, this whole field of straw had been baled and stacked onto the trailer. With the trailer full, three of the guys went to start unloading it into the barn, leaving Swayde, Renne, Bernie, Kyle, and one of their other buddies to start baling the next field. 

         As Renne pulled the tractor into the next field, she saw a truck pulling in. A truck that could only belong to one person. Idling down the tractor, Renne hopped from the cab, walking over to the drive of the pickup truck. 

          "Hey, how are you? I hope it's okay if I am here." The driver said, stepping out from the truck. 

            "Hey, Doug. It is more than okay that you are here." Renne pulled her brother-in-law into a hug. "It's really good to see you." 

          Doug married Renne's sister, Mallory a few years back. When Mallory got diagnosed with breast cancer, Doug did everything he could to help, and still take care of Mallory's four kids. Admittedly, things had been hard on Doug, and still coming around to family functions without Mallory there just seemed awkward, and almost weird. 

           "It's good to see you too. I brought the kids over. They refused to stay at home and do chores." Doug chuckled, then sniffed. 

          Renne looked behind her brother-in-law to see her three nieces and nephew. She had missed the kids; seeing them made a guilty feeling swell up in Renne's stomach. One of the only things that Mallory had asked of her sister when she was dying was to help Doug look over her kids. Regretfully, life had been so busy for Renne recently that she hadn't followed through on her promise. However, seeing the kids now, Renne made herself a promise to be a better aunt, and make time to be with her sister's children. 

         "Hey kiddos. I have missed you. How are y'all?" Renne gave each of her sister's kids a huge bear hug, their familiar scent filling her nostrils, giving her a warm, comfortable feeling. 

           "We are good, auntie." MJ announced. 

          "We came to help daddy!" Seven year old Susan announced. 

           Taylor, Mallory's oldest kid was already standing on the trailer, ready to help stack bales, while Hope hung tightly to her dad's side, sucking on her pointer and middle finger as she watched the big machines working in the field. 

          "Hopey, do you want to ride in the big tractor with Auntie Reagan?" She asked her youngest niece. 

           Hope nodded, a big smile rising to her lips as she let go of her dad's hand and walked over to Reagan, lifting her arms up. Since the day that Reagan met Hope, she had always loved to be held, though she was three years old and could walk perfectly. 

         Doug manned himself on the ground, preparing himself to help throw the straw bales onto the trailer. Renne made her way to the tractor that was attached to the bale picker-upper, as she liked to call it. Lifting her youngest niece into the cab, Renne climbed up right behind her. Situating Hope in the small seat next to the driver's, she fastened the seat belt, making sure that Hope was safe and secure in the tractor, before raising the throttle, making the tractor engine speed up. Releasing the brake, Renne began slowly merging the tractor in line behind Swayde, who was running the baler. 

        Once Renne's trailer was full, she drove over to the trailer where the men were stacking bales. Dumping the load onto the ground, Renne asked Hope if she was having fun, only to get a huge smile, and nod. Once the "picker-upper" was empty, Renne filed her way back behind Swayde. 

        Just as she was making her last pass in the large harvested wheat field, Renne saw small rain drops begin to hit the windshield on the tractor. Leaning forward over the steering wheel, Renne peered outside, glaring at the ominous looking gray clouds. "Ugh, just great." She mumbled under her breath. 

          "Auntie, it's raining. I love rain!" Hope cheered beside her nervous aunt. 

         "Yes it is, sweetie. Thankfully it is just a small sprinkle right now." Just as she said it, however, it was like God made a path in the sky, opening up the rain clouds to pour out rain. "Alright, hold on, sweetie, Auntie has to drive fast to get the bales in the barn." Renne kicked the throttle up on the tractor engine, speeding across the open field. She only had a short window to get the bales to an enclosed, dry space so the wet rain didn't ruin them. 

           As Renne exited the field, she saw Doug, Taylor, MJ, Bernie, and Kyle struggling to get the tarp over top of the fifth wheel trailer. The wind was now picking up as it pelted rain against the metal cab of the John Deere tractor. 

      Turning onto the road, Renne pushed the tractor as fast as it would go, pulling into the barn just a few minutes later. Opening the door on the tractor, Renne shouted to the guys, "I'm gonna dump it. Y'all start stacking. Swayde will be coming shortly with the fifth wheel."

         All the hands worked at lightning speed, knowing the importance of getting the bales in before the rain soaked them, ruining all of their hard work, and making the ranch miss out on the money they get selling the bales. 

        By the time Renne and the guys had all the bales from her load stacked and in the barn, Swayde was finally pulling in with the fifth wheel. She couldn't help but notice the amount of mud that was covering the wheels of the truck and trailer. Rolling her eyes to herself, she already knew what that meant. The reason the guys were so late getting to the barn is because the trailer got stuck in the field that was now soiled, wet ground. 

        Swayde expertly backed the covered trailer into the barn, shutting off his truck once giving the "okay." Stepping out of the driver's seat, Swayde jogged into the barn, straight to Renne. "How about this rain, huh?" He rested an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, kissing her forehead. 

      "Yeah, it's nice. We certainly needed it, just not today." Renne watched as Doug and Mallory's kids ran around in the yard, basking in the cold rain, getting soaked down to their bones. "How did you get the trailer out?"

         Swayde chuckled. "Doug hooked up his truck to mine, and the guys got behind to push. It was quite the scene, actually." 

        "And how did you get covered in mud? Or do I not want to know?" Renne chuckled, looking her cowboy up and down, admiring how his wet shirt caressed his muscles. 

          "All comes with the territory of being a hard workin' man, babe." Swayde smiled, winking at his woman. He stared at her for a minute, in awe of how attractive she looked after a hard day's work. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her hat and hair soaked, caking itself to her face. As she took in a breath, her chest lifted and fell a little harder than usual. The rain had soaked through all of her clothes, including her boots, but Renne didn't seem to notice, or care. At this moment, the most important thing to her was making sure that all the straw bales were inside a dry place, and not rotting in the field. 

           "Good thing we didn't start baling the third field." Renne chuckled, bracing herself to the wind and rain as she ran to the shelter of the house. 

          Swayde couldn't help but watch as Renne jogged inside the house, most liking scavenging for a clean, dry pair of clothes. A slug on the shoulder and a voice to his right brought Swayde's eyes to Bernie. 

        "So, you coming with me to the rodeo this weekend?" 

        "The annual fourth of July weekend rodeo? You're still keepin' up that tradition and the wife is okay with it?" Swayde teased. Every year, on the Fourth Of July weekend, Bernie always competed in the Independence Rodeo. It was a four hour drive, but all of the proceeds went to the Wounded Warriors project, and to help support soldiers and their families. It was a great cause, so Swayde and all the guys always tried to go every year. 

           "Hey, traditions are still traditions, and even though the wife isn't too happy about me making the trek by myself, I promised her I would be home by ten or eleven to set off fireworks with the kids." 

           "Whatever works man." Swayde watched the kids running around in the yard, now covered in mud, water, and sweat. The rain had started to let up, only for the thunder and lightning to take it's place. "I wished I could go this year, but with Reagan moving her ranch back here , y'know, duty calls." The pair laughed, before turning to Doug.

         "Doug, you wanna take an eight hour round trip with me to the rodeo tomorrow?" Bernie continued his attempted recruiting. 

          "Maybe next year, man, I got so much ranch work to catch up on. I'm sorry." Doug wiped some sweat from his brow; the rain cooled things down for about five minutes, but now the heat returned. 

          "No worries, man. It's lookin' like I get to have myself a solo road trip. I feel bad for my horses, though, havin' to hear me sing to myself for eight hours." Bernie commented, making all the men laugh along with him. "On a more serious note, Swayde, we all got something we wanna ask you. Everyone is thinkin' it, I'm just the only one man enough to say anything about it." All the men around Swayde mumbled in agreement.

         Swayde scoffed, a smile rising to his lips. "Yeah, what's that? Whatcha gotta ask me?"   

        "When you gonna put a ring on that pretty girl's finger? It's been nigh on ten years that y'all have had a thing for each other. We all know you love her, so when are you going to ask her to marry you?" Bernie wasted no time getting to the point. 

         Swayde nearly fell over in his boots. He had half a mind to take off into the rain, and find solace in the house, or better yet, ask Bernie to ask the question again, blaming the lack of hearing on the rain pelting the metal barn roof, but instead he tussled over his words. "Well, I, uh..." Swayde looked down to the ground. "Geez...um..." 

          "C'mon, man, we all see how you look at each other. It's clear how in love y'all are, so what are you waiting for?" Bernie pressed on harder. 

           "Trust me, I have thought about it. I thing about it nearly every day, but there's still a lot Reagan and I have to figure out before we can go on makin' a decision like getting married. It'll happen, there's no doubt about that, but the timing right now just isn't the best." Swayde must have had someone working him like a puppet because the response he gave was much better than what he thought of in his head. 

         All the men nodded their heads in agreement, all interjecting their opinions here and there, before the group made their way inside the house. The warm aroma of dinner cooking in the oven was enough to draw them in. 

            The day was finally starting to wind down. Mamaw had dinner prepared for everyone, just as they all got a change of clothes and cleaned up. Before digging into the delicious feast that Mamaw had prepared, the table joined hands, bowing their heads as Papaw said a prayer, thanking God for the day, the work that got done, the food before them, the hands that prepared it, and the help and safety of everyone. All in all, it was a great day, regardless of how hot and tiring it was. 

          To end the night, it was a tradition to set off fireworks. Everyone gathered around the edge of the cut field as three of the guys set up the stands, loading the fireworks into the canisters, setting them off one by one. 

      Swayde wrapped his arm around Renne's waist, holding her close to him. Looking deep into her eyes, he couldn't help but smile; she was like an overly fascinated kid, like it was her first time seeing fireworks. Renne had always loved fireworks; the complexity of them always amazed her. 

        Squeezing her side slightly, Swayde kissed the side of Renne's forehead. "Make a wish, beautiful." 

        Renne now fully turned to Swayde during the short pause as the guys set up more fireworks. "Make a wish? But these aren't shooting stars." Renne giggled; sure, baling was fun and she loved it, but the firework show had always been her favorite part of the day. 

           "They're close enough." Swayde wrapped both of his arms around Renne's waist, keeping her close to him. The couple jumped slightly as one of the fireworks whistled and popped loudly as it exploded in the air, an array of colors and a willow tree pattern disintegrated into the sky. 

          Taking in a deep breath, Renne closed her eyes, making a wish before looking back at Swayde. With a grin, she encouraged, "Your turn." 

          Swayde lowered his head, dropping a long, sweet kiss on Renne's lips. The question of marriage that the guys were teasing him about earlier was now weighing heavy on his mind. He meant what he said then, but he also meant what he said now. "I got everything I could ever wish for right here, darlin'."