Chapter Text
Nicole yawned as she drove past the sign that told her she was now in Wyatt Earp territory. She had been on the road for five hours, her destination was a place she had vowed never to come back to.
Damn. She had been a dramatic teenager, she chuckled to herself. The Irish woman shook her head and tried not to think about the last time she had been here.
Out of the corner of her eye, the Alpha saw her thirteen year old daughter, Róisín, texting or tiktoking. Who fucking knew? The younger Alpha had been giving her mother the cold shoulder ever since Nicole had divorced her other mother and the Irish woman had won full custody. Then Nicole’s uncle Dermot, her last living relative, died suddenly and left her his land and house at the same time as a job opened up in the Purgatory Sheriff Station. It felt like fate.
The police officer needed a less hectic work life and smiled when she was pulled from her thoughts by a sneeze from the seat behind her.
Amazon, her partner, best friend, her Belgian Malinois, a highly trained police dog, squirmed in the back seat.
“Don’t worry, we will be there soon.” She reassured the dog, looking out the windscreen, watching as much as she could, which was only what their headlights lit up.
Róisín looked out the window at the prairie, that went on for miles.
“Ma, there’s nothin’ here! I can’t believe you moved us to this kip,” the teenage redhead scoffed, as she looked at the desolate landscape.
“Listen, Ro, I know ya aren’t happy about this, fuck knows ya’ve been vocal enough about it, but I need you to try and make a go of it. For me? Please?” Nicole pleaded to her child, but the smaller Alpha didn’t reply and just stared out the window.
“Lords, have mercy on us. We will fecking need it,” she muttered under her breath.
Róisín didn’t know the truth about a lot of things, such as Nicole choosing to be the one to take the blame as her Ex walked away scot free and void of any responsibility. She made up lies to keep her daughter’s heart from breaking. She never, ever bad mouthed the other woman.
Privately? In her own mind? She imagined pissing into the woman’s coffee.
So many things had changed in such a short space of time, and Nicole hoped this latest change, the biggest one, would make things better.
She checked the rearview mirror and saw the movers truck was still following.
They drove through town, swinging a left after the rail line, that cut right through town, heading east.
“You know, we can go sniping on Dermot's land, the river that cuts through it is where I learned to prospect. Be a fun way to make some extra dollars, save up for that new cell phone?” Nicole said, excitedly.
“Uh, no, there’s no way you’re getting me in your stupid YouTube videos,” Róisín said, looking disgruntled.
“We don’t have to film it when yer with me. It’s a lot of fun and ya could get really lucky and find a large piece worth a couple of hundred dollars. Ya won’t get rich but it’s a good way to save some money for a rainy day. It’s so much fun, hunting gold!”
Nicole had a YouTube channel where she filmed herself prospecting, sniping under water, metal detecting, wilderness survival, and looking for rare stones, pretty, patterned ones or crystal, to make jewelry, which she sold via her social media. Jeremy, her best friend and editor, would be the one to make what she filmed into a presentable video for each of her accounts.
She didn’t even know she had a sizable following, she made a little money from her social media but nothing to write home about. She just had fun making content when she wasn’t working or with her child.
Her uncle had left her three hundred acres, most of it heavily forested, with creeks and rivers; Nicole had loved it when she was younger.
They pulled into and drove down the long driveway towards a beautiful stone farmhouse. It was two stories and she couldn’t help smiling. She was home.
“We’re here,” she said, more to herself than to her sulking child.
“Obviously,” the teen scoffed, and Nicole pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She was too tired to have another argument with the girl.
She climbed out and waved at the movers, who had pulled in behind her before opening the back door and undoing Amazon’s seat belt, which was hooked onto her harness.
The dog jumped down from her truck and sat, waiting for instructions.
“Gwan and do yer business,” she said to the dog, who belted off into the long grass to do what she needed to do.
Nicole pulled a couple of suitcases out of the truck, flinching and hissing with pain. She hated how weak she was now.
Inside the house, which was much bigger inside than the exterior would have you believe, it was rustic with beautifully made furniture that her uncle had lovingly made with his own two hands from the wood in his forest, but it also had a modern element that made the place feel like it was professionally decorated. It wasn’t, Dermot was just talented.
“Ro, c’mere and I’ll show ya yer room. Well actually, ya can pick between 3, one’s gonna stay a guest room and the other’s gonna be my office.” Nicole smiled at her daughter, who just gave a pathetic shrug in response.
“That’s my room,” she said, pointing to the master bedroom before showing the younger Alpha the rooms she could chose from.
Róisín eventually opted to take Nicole’s old room which had been cleaned out by her uncle years ago. The teen had her own bathroom with a shower.
“I’ll get the movers to bring yer things up here. Are ya hungry?” the taller Alpha asked, but her pup shook her head and sat on the bed, pulling her phone out. When Nicole realised Róisín wasn’t going to say more, she sighed. “Set yer alarm for eight, we have to go to the school in the morning,” she said over her shoulder as she left the room.
Amazon was waiting for her in the kitchen when she came downstairs and she smiled at the dog before kneeling in front of her and scratching her ear. “Oh, Mo Chara, this is gonna be a rough transition, ain’t it?”
The animal whined up at her handler and licked her chin before Nicole stood back up.
“Let’s get ya set up first,” the redhead said and went back out to her truck to get the dog’s bed, toys, bowls and food. Choosing a corner in the living room, she laid down the bed and threw some of the dog toys around before bringing her bowls to the kitchen and filling them.
It was getting close to midnight when she, finally, got into bed after changing the sheets.
She was so exhausted but she couldn’t turn her mind off.
What would she say, if she saw her again? Don’t be an eejit, she told herself, it’s been 17 years. She was older and wiser now, there was no way her old crush would have the same effect on her as when she was a love struck pup.
Still, she had hurt Nicole badly, worse than anyone else ever could.
The Alpha eventually fell into an uneasy sleep, and when her alarm went off the next morning, she groaned unhappily before getting up and showering. When she was dressed, she went to her daughter’s room and knocked on the door before opening it.
“Time to get up!” she said in a faux cheery voice, getting only a grunt in response. “Hey, I can’t be arsed making breakfast, d’ya wanna get some pancakes at the diner after we go to the school?” No response.
“Get your redheaded arse up this instant, Róisín Haught, or I’m calling Amazon up here to make ya.” Still nothing. So she whistled for the dog who came bounding up the stairs, seeing the young girl in the bed and knew exactly what to do.
The 55 pound dog leapt onto the bed and Nicole heard a muffled groan as the dog started trying to get the comforter off the girl and licking her face.
“Get off me!” the teenager shouted and tried to push the dog off as her Sire laughed and walked away. This was a regular occurrence in the Haught household, and she smiled a few minutes later when the dog came down, wagging her tail at a job well done. Nicole rewarded her with a treat before letting her outside to do her business.
When her daughter came downstairs still sulking, Nicole handed her a glass of juice which was refused, the Mother had had enough.
“I know ya aren’t happy about this move, Ro. I know ya miss yer friends but for feck’s sake, do ya think it was an easy decision for me to make? Ya just need to give it a chance. Do not make a show of me when we meet Principle Lucado today. That old battle axe won’t take any of yer shite, Cailín, so make a good first impression. Show her the well mannered child I reared, please.”
The pup rolled her eyes but nodded. Róisín knew she was being hard on her Mother but she didn’t care. She was the reason Róisín rarely saw or spoke to her other mother these days. Best not push her over the edge just yet, however; she could tell Nicole’s almost unlimited patience was wearing dangerously thin.
Nicole called Amazon inside and told her to go to bed before she and her daughter walked out to the car. There was no doubting whose daughter Róisín was. Like her mother, she was tall and thin, they had the same hair colour, but Nicole’s was chin length and curled around her ears, gently, whereas her daughter’s hair was long, past her shoulders. They had the same eye shape and colour, lips and nose, but Róisín’s face was rounder and she didn’t have her mother’s dimples.
As Nicole drove through the streets, heading to the school, Róisín was filled with dread. The town was definitely not the bustling metropolis she was used to, having grown up in the Big City.
Why were people wearing cowboy hats? She wanted to ask her mother but she also didn’t want to talk to her mother more than she had to.
They went inside the school where janitors and teachers were getting classrooms ready for the new school year beginning the following day.
They got to the office and Nicole introduced herself to the receptionist, a blond woman who gave Nicole an appraising look and a flirty smile.
“Well, Nicole Haught, I almost didn’t believe it when I saw you in the appointment book. My, my, you certainly glowed up,” the woman said seductively. Róisín nearly gagged as Nicole looked utterly perplexed.
“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Nicole asked, and her daughter had to bite back a smile at the shocked face of the woman.
Nicole knew exactly who this woman was, she had been a bitch to her in High school.
“Silly, it’s me! Stephanie Jones,” the woman said, letting out a fake laugh. Nicole continued to look confused but smiled politely. Stephanie huffed but recovered. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“I’m registering my daughter here, she’s starting 7th grade tomorrow.”
Stephanie didn’t even look at the daughter in question before smiling again at Nicole.
“So, you seeing anyone?” the omega asked, wriggling her eyebrows playfully.
Nicole pointed to the chairs behind them. “Let’s sit down and wait, Ro. Good to see you again, Ms. Jones.”
“Wow, she was laying that on really thick, Ma. Do you not remember her?” the teen muttered and Nicole smirked.
“Oh, I remember. Couldn’t stand her 17 years ago; she was a thundering Bitch back then and I doubt time has made any improvements,” Nicole whispered back as she flicked through a booklet about school activities. The younger girl almost cracked a smile but held it back.
When the office door opened, a tall, stern faced woman with her blond hair in an up-do came out and gave Nicole a strained smile as she shook her hand.
“Ah, Miss Haught, good to see you after all this time.”
“Hello, Principle Lucado,” Nicole said. She had never liked Lucado either.
The beta turned and looked at the teen. “And this must be Roy-sin.”
“It’s pronounced Ro-sheen,” the teen said, rolling her eyes, hating her Gaelic name. Once again, people never got it right the first time.
Nicole laughed lightly and squeezed her daughter’s shoulder. “Easy mistake. Honey, not everyone knows.” She waved it off, but Lucado pursed her lips, hating feeling like an idiot.
“I see. Come inside.”
They sat in front of the woman’s desk and Nicole had a terrible sense of Deja vu, remembering sitting in front of the same woman years ago after she had kicked Champ Hardy in the nuts for making someone very important to her cry.
“We received Róisín’s transcripts and they are impressive. Or they were until last year.”
“Last year was a difficult year for our family. She passed everything, and I have no doubt she will pull her grades back up after our fresh start.”
The adults spoke for an hour, the teen answering the occasional question, before Lucado handed them the child’s class schedule and welcomed her to Purgatory High.
Outside, Nicole huffed. “I see age hasn’t softened her up anyways.”
“She’s kinda scary. She looks so angry.”
“Yeah, she always did have a face like a well slapped arse.” Róisín rolled her eyes at her mother’s odd turn of phrase, though she was used to it. “Anyway, let’s head to Mama Olives, it does the best pancakes in town.”
“I’m pretty sure, it’s the only place in town. There isn’t even a Starbucks here.”
Nicole took a deep breath. “One, you are thirteen, you have never even drank coffee and two, smart arse, Starbucks doesn’t even do pancakes.”
They got into the Truck and drove back into town.