Everything Happens for a Reason

"It's awesome!" was all I could to say.

Suddenly I felt Laurie take my hand, and as I turned to look at her; she moved in close to me. She put her arms around me and pressed her body against mine. As I reciprocated her actions, she moved her face within inches of mine and said, "I've dreamed of one day doing this since the first time I ever saw this place," and then began to kiss me softly. I felt something within me begin to burn a little more than just a spark. I held her closer, more intimately and she responded likewise. Soon a gentle kiss turned to something more passionate, almost primal. Our lips pressed harder against one another's and soon our tongues began a dance that was as old as time itself. All too soon the kiss ended, leaving us both breathless and wanting. I looked into her eyes and found something there that I'd never once in my life seen before. It was so tender and so gentle that, for just a few seconds, it startled me. While I looked at Laurie, her eyes burned like blue molten fire and the morning sun was shining on her face enhancing the beauty there while her raven hair fell all around the both of us, binding us together. I couldn't help it when I softly caressed her cheek and said, "Have I ever told you how beautiful I think you are?"

She kissed me briefly but softly, and smiling, said, "No, but now is as good a time as any to start telling me ya know!" I laughed, as did Laurie, and we just stood together holding one another, enjoying the beauty before us, and for me, the beauty in my arms.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was getting close to noon, and we hadn't even begun to start looking for the lost strays yet. I smiled and said, "I hate to say this but, don't you think we should start looking for the strays that your dad was talking about?" Laurie began to giggle, making me ask, "What?"

She leaned back in my arms, and with a big grin, said, "Daddy's so silly sometimes!"

"What're you talking about?" I asked, puzzled.

She released me from the hug, and nodding to our horses, said, "Mount up and I'll show you something!" I did as she requested, and we hadn't ridden maybe half a mile down the outcropping until Laurie pointed down into a small glen about forty feet below us and said "Look!" As soon as I looked down, I counted fourteen head of cattle down there grazing on the lush grass growing in the glen. "I've never told anyone, but whenever we have any stock that goes astray; they all come here to graze!" Then she giggled and added, "The reason that Daddy always sends me to go after them is because he thinks I'm good at it."

"From what I can tell, it seems that you are," I replied.

Then she smiled and said, "No, I'm not. You just have to know where to look. The guys that work for Dad, and you'll meet them all on Monday, never have been able to find them." I just laughed and shook my head. Laurie looked at me and said, "What?"

I grinned and replied, "Just goes to show!"

"Just goes to show what?" Laurie asked, dubiously.

I laughed and replied, "Just goes to show that there aren't any real cowboys in Montana!"

Laurie grinned and said, "I heard that!"

It took us hardly any time to round up the few head of stock and right before 1:30 pm; all of the strays were back down in the lower pastures grazing amongst the rest of the main herd.

When we got back to the house, Julia had a late lunch ready and waiting on the table for us the minute we walked through the door. "Hi babies, did you find all the strays?" asked Julia, smiling.

"Yes Mama," said Laurie, as she walked into the kitchen to wash her hands. I figured that I ought to do the same so I followed her. I had a funny feeling, like I was being watched, so as I headed to the kitchen; I turned briefly to see Julia looking at me and smiling brightly. I smiled and made my way to the sink arriving just as Laurie was drying her hands and began to wash my own.

We sat down at the table and began to eat the steak sandwiches that Julia had made for us and I can't remember when I'd eaten better steak. After Laurie and I had eaten, she looked at me and said, "Would you like to go in to town with me tonight?"

"Sure, that sounds like fun, I'd love to" I replied, looking into her sparkling eyes while seeing Julia out of the corner of my eye grinning proudly. Julia shooed us away to let her clean up the kitchen. I decided that I would take a short nap before it was time to start getting ready to go into Billings later that evening.

Chapter Five

I awoke at 6:00 pm to a soft knock on my bedroom door, followed by the sound of Laurie's voice saying, "Tommy, are you awake, sweetie?"

"Sure, c'mon in," I replied, wiping my eyes as I sat up in the bed.

I had taken off my clothes and put on a pair of shorts without a shirt so as to sleep more comfortably. When Laurie walked in and looked at me, her eyes went as wide as saucers, and stuttering, she said, "I...I...um I was going to ask...you..." and then she trailed off from what she was saying and just stared.
Not thinking that anything was wrong, I stood up and went to the dresser and put on a tee shirt then turned and asked, "Are you alright?"

"My God, Tommy, you really have grown up, haven't you?" she said, with her face flushed and breathing a little deeper and heavier. Then she remembered why she had come into my room in the first place, and snapping back to reality, she smiled and said, "I was going to ask you if you wanted to eat a quick bite here or get something a little later when we get into town?"

"I'm not very hungry right now so, if it's okay with you; I'd like to wait until we get into town," I replied, a little unsure.

She winked and said, "Good choice!" Then she motioned toward the bathroom with her head and said, "You take the bathroom first. I want to look beautiful for you before we go out tonight."

"You already are beautiful," I replied, and then teasingly asked, "So I guess this means you're asking me out on a date then, huh?"

With a wide grin across her face, Laurie replied, "Yeah, genius! Now, go get a shower and get ready, ya smart ass," and then she laughed and disappeared, closing the door behind her.

I was ready in a matter of about twenty minutes. I opted to wear a pair of slacks, dress boots and a nice shirt with long sleeves. In the eleven months, almost a year that I'd been out of the Navy, I decided to let my hair grow out and by this time it was beginning to touch my shoulders. Up until now I'd kept it tied in a pony tail. Tonight I had used a blow-dryer on it and it looked like I'd just come from having it styled. The moment I got downstairs, Julia took one look at me, and smiling, said, "My gosh, Tommy, you sure clean up good, sweet boy."

"Thank you," I replied, smiling.

Julia and Mike had treated me just like I was one of their own since the moment I arrived into their home and I always enjoyed talking with them. "You do know that tonight, Laurie is taking you to meet her two best friends, don't you?" asked Julia, with a conspiratorial smirk on her face.

The sudden and uncomfortable feeling that I was experiencing must've been evident on my face, because Mike laughed and said, "Relax Tommy! It's not that bad. Look at it this way; you're going to be spending the evening with the three prettiest girls in all of Yellowstone County, that's for damn sure."

"Well, I'm sure that makes him feel a whole lot better, honey," teased Julia.

All of a sudden, and coming from the top of the stairs, I heard a familiar voice say, "I'm ready, let's go!" I turned my head to see something that, still to this very day, takes my breath away. Deep blue eye shadow with bright red lipstick, made Laurie's face look like perfection in its purest form. She wore a sleeveless, dark blue form fitting blouse and a black leather mini skirt that only came about a fourth of the way down her thighs and was long enough to be considered tasteful but still short enough to be very sexy. Her hair hung down both sides of her face and flipped across her shoulders to gently flow down her back. At the end of her long and beautiful legs was a pair of black shoes with three-inch heels. To say that she was sexy would've been an understatement. "I can tell by look on your face that you think I look good, Tommy, so, I'm not going to ask," Laurie playfully teased. After the initial shock wore off, and with Laurie still teasing me, which I loved, I was finally ready to go. As opposed to riding in the truck that she had picked me up from the airport in, this time Laurie took a set of keys off of the hooks by the back door, and winking at me, said, "Come on handsome, you're driving."

The only word I could muster was, "Wow," much to the laughter of Mike and Julia.

We went out to the garage and when Laurie turned on the lights, I saw a brand new Corvette Stingray that was my favorite color, midnight-blue, sitting in front of us. Handing me the keys, Laurie looked at me and said, "She's my baby so, if I'm gonna let you drive her; you'll have to promise me one thing!"

"Name it," I said, opening the passenger door and helping her into the car, as well as helping myself to a nice look at her legs as she got in.

"Please be careful Tommy," she said, almost pleadingly.

This time it was me who surprised her when I leaned down and softly kissed her lips and said, "I'll treat her like she's my own." Laurie smiled and reached above the visor and touched a box that raised the garage door. I got in and started the car up and before long; we were off.

With Laurie doing the navigating, hardly any time had passed before we were pulling up in front of a tavern called Buffalo Bill's, on old Historic Montana Avenue. I got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side and helped Laurie out, and again I was treated to the sight of those luscious legs of hers. As we stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the tavern, I took Laurie's hand, and gently squeezing it, said, "In case I forget to tell you later, I had a great time tonight."

She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and then said, "My mom is right about you, ya know."

"What's that?" I asked.

Rubbing the lipstick off of my face and then gently caressing my cheek, Laurie leaned over, and into my ear, breathed, "You really are a sweet boy." I just smiled and kept walking down the sidewalk, thrilled by the beauty that was walking next to me.

The moment we walked through the front doors of the tavern, I heard female squeals emanating from the bar. I looked over and saw two very beautiful women making their way toward us. One was a brunette with reddish, brown hair and the other, a blonde. While both were extremely attractive women, neither could hold a candle to Laurie, and I was proud that it was me that she chose to be with and introduce to her friends that night. The brunette's name was Emma Tyler and the blonde's name was Deirdre Crouse. They had reserved a table in the back, and after an acknowledgement to the maitre'd; the four us were immediately seated.

I could tell that they all been friends for a very long time because it was Deirdre who started right in and asked, "So Laurie, is this the guy you've been going on about for the past five days?"

"Sure is! Isn't he gorgeous?" replied Laurie, unfazed at her friend's attempt to embarrass her. I felt her put her hand on the inside of my thigh under the table and simply smiled, saying nothing.

"He sure is," replied Deirdre and Emma, almost in unison.

Then Emma looked at me, and smiling, asked, "So, tell us Tommy, is it true that you were Laurie's boyfriend when you two were little?"

Before I could answer, Laurie spoke up and said, "No fair picking on him. He's new so the rules don't apply to him." Then she turned to me, and referring to Deirdre and Emma, added, "Ever since I moved here and became friends with these two, every time there's a good looking guy around, which isn't very often, we try to embarrass each other in front of him, but not tonight. Your mine...uh... I mean you're with me." Suddenly Emma and Deirdre began to howl with laughter at what Laurie had just said. However; she took it in stride and simply said, "Bitches!" making all four of us laugh.

I was really beginning to enjoy myself. The food was excellent and Laurie was beautiful. Her friends were wonderful girls and I could tell from talking to them that they genuinely cared about Laurie and her well being. We were having a blast when suddenly; Emma looked over my shoulder, as I had my back facing the door, and said, "Uh oh, here comes potential trouble!"

"You can say that again!" Deirdre added. I turned around to see three guys dressed in blue jeans, tee-shirts and cowboy boots and each one of them stood at least six feet tall or taller, making their way to where we were sitting.

"Oh shit, let's get out of here," Laurie said to me.

"Why?" I asked, unknowingly.

Before I could get an answer, the three men were at the table and one of them stood very close to Laurie and said, "So, how's it going Laurie, honey?" as he put his hands on her shoulders.

"I told you to leave me alone, Harvey Crutcher, and I'm not your honey," replied Laurie, struggling to remove his hands from her shoulders.

Nothing pisses me off more than some idiot who can't take no for an answer and especially when it comes to them putting their hands on a woman and making unwanted advances. So, I turned and said, "Why don't you take your hands off of her, man?"

He looked at me and sneered, "You're about to bite off more than you can chew so, why don't you mind your own business, hippie boy?"

I stood, glaring at him, and as quietly as I could, I growled, "I'm going to ask you one last time to take your hands off of the lady, NOW!"

About that time, Laurie stood, and being visibly frightened, said, "Now Harvey, we don't want any trouble so, go away, please."

No sooner had Laurie spoken than he pushed her out of the way, knocking her to the floor, and then glaring at me, loudly said, "I heard that there was a new bitch in town. My name is Harvey Crutcher and fixing to show you what that name means, hippie boy!"

I could hear the men that came in with him laughing, and with my body arched into a warrior stance, something I prayed I'd never have to do again once I left the Navy, I stepped back away from the table and said, "If you want to do this, that's fine. But, I'm telling you right now that I'm not gonna play with you, asshole." I suddenly felt both of my arms being grabbed and out of instinct; I looked to see both of Crutcher's friends on each side of me, trying to hold me down. With everything taking place in less than a few seconds, I hopped into the air bringing all my weight down, and with a hard side kick; I caved the man's knee to my right inward, sending him to the ground screaming in pain. About that time, Crutcher threw a punch that momentarily blind-sided me and I retaliated instinctively with a kick to the gut, momentarily stunning him. I could hear Laurie screaming my name, but by this time, I was caught between a stunned Crutcher and the other asshole still standing. The man on my left still had a hold of me so I quickly reached over with a thumb-lock to his hand and dislodged his grip. Then I grabbed his arm with both hands wrenching it free and popping his shoulder out of socket from his rotator-cuff, sending him to the ground screaming as well. Once I was free of his minions, Crutcher had regained his breath and decided he was going to rush me. However, by using a spinning back kick straight to the solar plexus as hard as I could, I stopped him dead in his tracks and sent him to the floor, gasping for air. By this time I'd lost my temper, and as he was lying on the ground trying to regain the wind that I had just knocked out of him and with my foot at his throat; I leaned down so that only he could hear me and hissed, "If you ever come near her again, I'm gonna kill you. Do you understand me, motherfucker?"

Suddenly, a loud blast of gun-fire got my attention, making me turn my head to see, who I found out later was, Sheriff Lance Howard with a sawed-off shotgun in his hands, holding it at waist level, aimed at us. As I stood and backed away from Crutcher, Howard smiled, lowered his weapon, and looking at me, said, "Are you alright, son?" Then taking a look at the three men splayed out in a bloody mess on the floor, he laughed and added, "Yeah, I guess you are, aren't ya?" Laurie, Emma and Deirdre all three, began to tell him what had happened and that none of this was my fault and that Crutcher and the other two idiots had tried to assault me when he interrupted them and said, "Girls, I know what happened. The owner already called me and told me what was going on while I was on the way over here!" Then reaching over and grabbing Crutcher by the hair, Sheriff Howard said, "Well, well, it looks like you've finally met your match, asshole. I told you it was going to happen, didn't I? In the mean time, after the three of you get out of the hospital, you're going to jail!" Then looking at the four deputies who were right behind him, Sheriff Howard pointed to the men on the floor and said, "Get these idiots out of here so the rest of these folks can get back to their meals." He looked at me and asked me if I wanted to press charges, but I declined, telling him that we just wanted to be left alone.

As the Sheriff's deputies were picking him up from off of the ground, Crutcher gave me an evil glare, and with his voice rasping from the kick I'd given him, said, "This ain't over yet, asshole."

Sheriff Howard laughed, and looking at Crutcher and pointing to me, said, "You're even dumber than you look. This man just stomped your ass and you wanna come back for more?" Then he looked at his deputies, and pointing at Crutcher, added, "Take his dumb ass outta here!"

After the three trouble makers were gone, the Sheriff looked at me smiling, and extending his hand, said, "My name is Lance Howard. What's yours?"

"Tom Mason, sir!" I replied, returning the handshake.

"You handled yourself pretty well, son. If you don't mind me asking, where did you learn to fight like that?" asked Lance, with a knowing smile.

"It was just a couple moves I learned when I was in the service." I replied, meekly.

Lance laughed, and then patting me on the shoulder, knowingly replied, "Uh huh, whatever you say kid," followed by a hearty laugh. Then after taking everyone's statement, he left.

I looked over at Laurie, who was visibly shaken and said, "Do you want to get out of here?" She nodded her head as she took my left hand and hid her body beneath my arm.

I was about to pay for the nice meal that had been so rudely interrupted when the owner quickly walked over to us smiling and said, "Your money's no good here."

"I don't understand," I replied.

He laughed and said, "Harvey Crutcher has been bullying the people in this town ever since he got crowned National Golden Glove Champion. It's about time somebody stomped his ass and knocked him off his high horse." We were grateful and I handed the little girl who was our server a fifty dollar bill which elicited a gracious smile.

Laurie was still quite shaken, and as soon as we all got outside; she leapt into my arms and began to cry. I gently wrapped my arms around her, holding her closely and trying my best to soothe her, with both Emma and Deirdre looking on, concerned for their friend. After a moment she began to relax, and soon she leaned back in my arms and simply looked at me with sadness in those beautiful eyes. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"I am now. Thank you for doing what you did back there, Tommy," she said, beginning to smile again.