Swayde pulled his truck up next to Renne's right at the spot he figured she would be. It was the same location that she always went to whenever things were rough back home. This spot by the pond was Renne's "happy place," her getaway.

Leaving his cowboy hat in the truck, Swayde turned off the ignition, hopping out to walk over to where Renne sat on the dock. Plopping himself down beside her, Swayde slipped off his boots and rolled up his jeans, plunging his feet into the cool water next to Renne's. He knew she needed the company, but that she most likely didn't want to talk.

The large pond was on the edge of the Mamaw and Papaw's property on the east side. It was about a ten minute drive through the pastures just to get out to the five acre body of water. Behind where they were sitting was a huge oak tree with an old rope swing tied to one of the branches. Swayde couldn't count on two hands the times that him, Mallory and Renne had all come out here by themselves, or with friends, and swung off that rope.

Twenty minutes had passed of Swayde and Renne sitting in silence on the edge of the dock with their feet wading in the water before Renne let out a chuckle. "How did you know to find me out here?" She was making circles in the water with her toes.

"This has always been the place you go to when you need to think." Swayde smiled, looking at her for the first time since he had sat down.

"I guess this has always been my go to spot, huh?" Renne's smiled faded slightly as she reminisced on all their times they had here. "Do you remember when you and I would sneak down here after my curfew and lay right here, on the dock, watching the stars? And then when I would try to kiss you, you would throw me into the pond, clothes and all?" Renne chuckled at the memory. "I remember that one night when Mallory caught us sneaking down here after midnight. And we both thought she would be mad at us for cutting curfew, but instead, she jumped into the pond with us? And when we got back to the house, we were laughing so hard that we woke up my grandparents, and they were so mad when we came into the house soaking wet. From that night on, it wasn't just our spot, it was Mallory's spot, too." Renne looked out over the body of water as tears began to rise in her eyes. "This is the same dock we sat on when she told me she was pregnant the first time. The day she told me that I would be an aunt. She was only 20 at the time, and wasn't married. The father of the baby was not around, and I was furious at Mallory for goin' against her raising, but at the same time, the thought of her carrying on the Walker name, and making me an aunt was the most exciting thing I could think of at the time." Renne drew her eyes back to Swayde, realizing how she had to start talking about Mallory in the past tense because she was really gone. "That was the thing about her. No matter what stupid thing she did, I could never stay mad at her. Even though she did some things that I didn't agree with, at the end of the day, she was still my sister, and even though we weren't very close once we got older, I still loved her." A tear fell from her eye as she realized how selfish she was five years ago. "Why did I leave all that time ago? Five whole years that I could have spent patching things up with Mallory. Instead, I left selfishly because I was mad at all of y'all. She died with so many unresolved fights and unanswered questions. I should never have left. I should have stayed here to be with her. Why did I leave?" With every word she said, she found herself getting more and more upset to the point where she was now sobbing at the memory of her passed sister.

Swayde's comforting arms wrapped tightly around Renne as he held her, letting her cry on his chest. "Reagan, it's okay. You had to do what was best for you. That was years ago, and no one is mad at you for leavin'. We all understand that you did what you had to do. Please, do not beat yourself up over this issue. Mallory loved you more than you know, and she never held a grudge against you." Lowering his voice slightly, Swayde added, "She's in a much better place now, no longer suffering, and she is lookin' down on you and me right now, smiling because we are remembering her at one of her favorite places." He was rubbing his hands over Renne's back. "I know it is hard, but try to think of all of the good times you and your sister had, and think about how happy she is to be up in heaven, reunited with your parents."

Still sniffling, but feeling a little better, Renne pulled back from the hug. Swayde reached up, wiping some tears off her cheeks. "You're right." Renne started. Forcing a smile, she added, "You always have a way of makin' me feel better."

"It's my pleasure, darlin'." Swayde smiled before pulling back to grab his cell phone from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Renne asked.

"Texting Matt. I promised I would once I found you. We wouldn't want your fiance gettin' worried, now would we?" He teased before shooting Matt a text that said he was with Renne, and they would be heading back soon.

Renne's hand instantly began to play with her engagement ring. The term "fiance" still seemed so new, almost weird, to Renne. It was going to take some getting used to. "We should probably head back then, huh?" She stood up from her spot, taking her boots and socks to the cab of her truck. Drying her feet, Renne slipped on her socks, then her boots over them.

Swayde walked over to where Renne was sitting in the cab of her truck. "You know that I am always here for you, right?"

"Of course. Thank you so much for everything, Swayde." Renne smiled, closing her truck door before turning the key in the ignition. "I'll see you back at the ranch."

Swayde nodded, hopping in his truck to follow Renne back. Once their trucks made it to the house, Swayde and Renne walked in.

Matt, upon seeing Renne, stood up and walked over to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. "I missed you. I am so glad that you are back." Pulling back to look Renne in the eye, Matt added, "I'm really sorry to hear about your sister."

Renne felt tears swelling in her eyes, but she was not about to let them fall in front of Matt. "Me too." She forced out, slipping past her fiance, giving an excuse that she had things she needed to do, when really, all she wanted was to be alone.

After Matt watched Renne walk away, he turned back to look at Swayde. "Hey, man, I just wanted to say thank you for everything you have done for Renne. And I don't just mean today. I mean these past few weeks. It's obvious that she matters a lot to you and that you mean a lot to her. So, thank you."

Swayde was partially taken by surprise by Matt's words. What he said was the nicest thing Swayde had heard come out of his mouth since Matt got here. "It's my pleasure." He nodded cordially.

"Despite what you might have heard about me, or what you think of me, I really really do love Renne." Matt's voice sounded as sincere as a cheater's could.

Swayde nodded, chuckling slightly. "I love Reagan, too, so please, just take good care of her." Looking at Renne's grandparents who were sitting across the room, Swayde took a step closer to Matt, lowering his voice, but still sounding firm. "And if you don't take good care of her, I promise you, I will find you and sock you a good one. Understand?"

Matt's jaw clenched as he remembered the fist fight him and Swayde had gotten into the other day. It was obvious that Swayde had won, and that he could throw a real good punch, especially when the fight is over Renne, so Matt's common sense kicked in and he promised Swayde he would take care of Renne.

Stretching out his hand, Swayde said, "I wish the best for you and Reagan." He squeezed Matt's hand tight to make him wince at the pain, just enough to remind him to never hurt Renne. Dropping his hand, Swayde said, "Now, I think Reagan could really use her fiance right about now." He jerked his head towards the stairs, telling Matt to go check on Renne.

Taking a deep breath, Swayde walked over to Mamaw, giving her a hug before shaking Papaw's hand, telling them both, "I need to head back to my ranch to do my chores, but please don't hesitate to call me if y'all need anything tonight. If not, I will see y'all tomorrow." Swayde tipped his hat to the wonderful, Godly people that were like family to him.

Swayde made it to his truck just fine; he even drove to his ranch fine. It got a little harder for him when he passed the side street that he had taken so many times to go to Doug and Mallory's house. Still, with a deep breath, a prayer and the old country music coming through the speakers, Swayde was able to hold it together. Once he got to his ranch, he turned off his truck and headlights, walking up the porch steps. Flipping on the living room light switch, Swayde kicked off his boots next to the door, resting his hat on the horse shoe hook above the light switch. Sighing, he walked into his living room to plop down on the couch, letting out a deep breath. His eyes wandered over to the bookshelf next to his TV where all two of his photo albums were. Picking up the TV remote in an attempt to get his mind off of the crazy week he had, Swayde began flipping through the channels, but nothing intrigued him as much as that album on the shelf.

With a huff, Swayde walked over to the book shelf, pulling out the photo album labeled "youngun's." Taking it back to the couch with him, Swayde began to look through the pictures, starting from when he was a toddler, through his teen years. He had been quickly flipping through the numerous photos, but promptly stopped when he stumbled upon the picture him and Renne had taken on their first date. Staring at it for a few seconds, he very slowly flipped through the next several photos, the ones that made up the majority of the large album; they were all pictures from when him and Renne were dating as teenagers. So many memories flooded back to him, reminding him how perfect their relationship had been. Looking at the next page, Swayde saw the still wrinkled piece of newspaper that had the story about the car accident that killed Renne and Mallory's parents. That was the article that had revealed to Renne that it was Swayde's older brother that was driving the car that killed Renne's parents. It was at that time that Swayde began to get upset mentally. He clenched his jaw tight and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself, not wanting the guilty feelings to resurface, but his attempt failed. All he could see was Renne's tear stricken eyes as she held up the paper, asking Swayde why he didn't tell her the truth about the accident that left her an orphan. It was that night, five years ago, that Renne left her family, and Swayde, eventually ending up in Montana. The incident still stung, even after all this time.

Opening his eyes, Swayde set the newspaper clipping back in the album and flipped the page, hoping for some redemption. Instead, all he saw was more pictures of the old times. The next photo was him, Renne and Mallory all soaking wet in their swimming suits. Swayde had taken the picture of them together. It was taken down at the pond on Mamaw and Papaw's property where Renne had found sanctuary earlier that day.

Swayde had done such a good job holding it together this whole week despite what life had thrown at him. However, seeing the next few pictures of what his life was life years ago, when he was just a teenager, made him realize just how short life was and how much he had taken for granted. Deep in his throat he could feel a swell of tears forcing their way to his eyes.

The only thing Swayde wanted was to go back to the happy times of being a young adult, the times he saw in the photo album. He wanted Mallory to still be here, cancer free, so she could be a mother, wife and sister to her family. Above all else, Swayde wanted Renne back...back to their once in a lifetime "perfect" relationship. His selfish choices had resulted in consequences, major consequences, the biggest one being losing the only woman he had ever truly loved. Now she is with another man, one who does not treat her at all how she should be treated, but because of the grudge she still holds against her old life in Wyoming, there was nothing anyone could say or do to show Renne the truth.

The longer Swayde thought about everything, the more upset he became. Tears still threatened to fall, but he was trying everything in him to keep them down. Reminding himself that he needed to stay strong for Renne and her family, even though no one was with him, Swayde shut the photo album, walking back over to the book shelf to replace it in it's spot.

Deciding he needed a glass of water, Swayde walked into the kitchen. The clean glass he grabbed from the drying rack was wet, causing his hand to slip; the jar fell to the ground and shattered. At that moment, it was like something in Swyade snapped. All of the hurt and pain and anger that he had kept inside for so long finally erupted like a volcano within him.

With an angry shout, Swayde threw the full drying rack off the counter, everything in it hitting the floor and breaking. Sinking down against his cupboards, Swayde tried hard to calm himself by taking deep breaths. However, with every breath he took in, he found his tears harder and harder to keep down. Eventually, he couldn't hold them in any longer and tears began to fall to his cheeks. It was something he hadn't done for as long as he could remember, but it wasn't every day the love of his life was engaged to someone else, or that someone very close to him, someone who was like a sister to him, passes away way too young because of cancer.

"God, please help me. I can't do this on my own." Swayde sent up the tearful prayer. "Please be with Doug, the kids, Reagan, and Mamaw and Papaw. And God...please help mend my heart. It's so broken." Swayde prayed. He continued to pray until he fell asleep, right there next to the broken glass on his kitchen floor. His last thought before sleep found him? "How on earth am I going to be able to keep it together for Reagan when she needs me most?"