by Zoe Matthews
“I will keep trying with them, but I need your permission to discipline them as I see fit.”
“What do you mean, discipline?” Logan looked as little suspicious at her words.
Sierra felt slightly offended. He needed to trust her with his sons if this was going to work. “I don’t use corporal punishment, if that is what you’re thinking. I will use time outs, separation from each other, not allow them to participate in an activity the other kids might be doing, that sort of thing.”
Logan nodded his head in understanding and agreement.
“I also will assign them chores to do around the ranch and house. All of us have responsibilities, even the children.”
“I don’t mind if they help out, although they probably have never had to do anything in the way of chores before. I know Harriet did everything for them,” Logan commented.
“We’ll start slowly, but I can almost guarantee that their behavior will improve. Children do well when they feel secure and when they have a set routine.”
At that moment, Jed ran up to them. “Logan, you better come to the barn. Mandy is ready to foal and you said you wanted to assist.”
Logan nodded at the man’s words and then turned to Sierra. “I better go. I need to…”
“That’s fine, go.” Sierra waved him away and watched as he ran after Jed towards the horse barn.
She was glad they had talked and that she had asked about their history. She understood Mason and Noah a little bit more. She started to walk towards the Ranch House, trying to think of things she could do to make this work. She knew that if it didn’t, Logan would likely leave and find another job. She did not want that to happen because she knew Sheridan was thrilled Logan had agreed to work for them.
Chapter 10
A few days later, Logan dropped Mason and Noah off at the Ranch House, but didn’t linger as they ran inside shouting for Sierra. It was as if they couldn’t wait to leave his side and participate in whatever Sierra had planned for them that day.
He hollered goodbye to his sons, though he knew they didn’t hear him, and then he turned around and walked towards the horse barn. He decided he needed to exercise his horse, Dakota, this morning. They both needed a good run. Along the way, he passed Kathy who was busy planting some flowers along a stone path that surrounded the house. Annie was sitting beside her, doing her best to help.
Annie’s face lit up when she saw her big brother. “Logan, hi!” she shouted as she was prone to do when she became excited. Annie stood up and ran to him for a hug.
“Hi, squirt,” Logan hugged her and greeted his sister with the childhood nickname. “What are you doing here?”
“Kathy is planting flowers and I am helping,” Annie told him proudly. Logan smiled at Kathy, feeling very grateful for the older woman. He had not minded that he needed to take responsibility for his sister, but it was nice that Kathy had taken Annie under her wing, so that he could focus on his sons and his new responsibilities.
“This flower bed looks great, Annie,” Logan told her. He watched as she sat back down and started to carefully dig a small hole for the next flower.
“Are you settling in all right?” Kathy asked him. She continued to talk even though he nodded his head at her question. “If you need anything or have any questions, be sure to ask Jed. He knows everything anyone needs to know around here.” Kathy talked as if she was very proud of her husband.
“Will do,” Logan told her with a grin. “Thanks for what you are doing for Annie.”
“She is a joy to have around,” Kathy told him. “I have missed my sister quite a bit even though she has been gone for so long. Annie is filling a hole in my heart.”
“I’m glad,” Logan felt relief at her words. He knew that many people felt very uncomfortable around people with special needs. He was glad Annie was accepted by her and Jed.
Logan walked to the horse barn and quickly saddled Dakota. Soon they were trotting away from the ranch. He decided to explore one of the paths that led away from the ranch to see where it led. He knew he needed to become familiar with the ranch and its surroundings so he could make sure the horses he trained could handle the different terrains. He couldn’t believe how beautiful these mountains were.
The tops of the mountains that surrounded the ranch were still ribboned with snow and he could see rocky outcrops in the distance. The dark green of the pines with the light green of the aspen trees were clustered together along the path. There were quite a few different varieties of wild flowers scattered underneath the trees. The dirt on the path beneath Dakota’s feet was almost black and damp from a recent rainstorm.
As he rode Dakota, he started to think about Mason and Noah. For the last few days, Sierra’s reports had been a little more favorable about his sons. She had decided to start a morning preschool program to help keep Mason and Noah busy, and that had worked wonders. He could tell both boys enjoyed what they were learning. He also noticed that they had learned more in the last few days from Sierra than they had in the preschool Harriett had enrolled them in. Sierra had reported a few problems, but nothing like she had been dealing with the first few days.
In fact, Logan was starting to notice that Sierra could control his sons better than he could. When he picked them up a few days ago, they were invited to dinner, which he accepted since he was not looking forward to making their own meal. He immediately noticed how the boys responded to Sierra. They fought over who was going to sit next to her at the dinner table. She expertly handled the issue before it came to blows by informing them that Mason could sit by her for dinner and then Noah could for dessert. Logan knew Noah felt he got the better deal since dessert was the best part of any meal, at least according to his four-year-old mind.
Once dinner was over and he herded the boys to their cabin, they immediately reverted back to their old selves. They got into two fist fights before they even arrived at the cabin. Logan ended up holding each boy by the collar just to get them into the cabin without any more fights. The rest of the evening when downhill from there. Bath time was a joke and he had to separate them when it was time for bed, one in the loft and one in his bedroom, just to get them to fall asleep. He shoved down a feeling of resentment that Sierra handled his boys better than he could. He realized that Sierra was correct in being concerned about their behavior.
The next day, Logan showed up for lunch and carefully watched as Sierra handled his boys with ease. He also watched Sierra personally and instantly realized he wanted to get to know her better. He could not help but compare her to his late wife. He had missed Sarah like crazy for the first few years, but in the last few months he realized he had let her go and was ready to move on, and now he wanted to get to know Sierra better.
Logan stopped his musings as he realized the path he was following had led him to a small lake. Logan smiled in contentment as he stopped his horse and soaked in the beauty around him. The lake actually looked like a mirror since it reflected the surrounding mountains on its waters. Pine trees surrounded the lake and it had some nice smooth shorelines that would be perfect for fishing. He could see water flowing into the river that Logan knew ran down the mountain to the ranch. The sun went behind some clouds briefly and then burst through again, shining on the water brightly in all its glory. Logan noticed a few trout jumping as if in response to the sunlight.
“I will have to bring the boys up here,” Logan murmured to himself. He wished he could spend more time exploring, but he knew he needed to get back to the ranch and his job.
****
Sierra awoke on June first, the morning that she and her siblings had agreed to start the required six months living together on the ranch. She knew Stella and Stephanie were supposed to arrive around noon. None of them had heard from Spencer yet, and she hoped he would show up as he had agreed, yet she also knew Spencer changed his mind quite a bit, and there was a very good chance he wouldn’t show up at all.
She said a prayer that Spencer would show up. She
knew if he didn’t, it would give Sheridan another reason to get after their brother. She loved both of her brothers and wished they got along better, but Sheridan wasn’t very patient with Spencer. Sierra knew Sheridan believed Spencer should want to be part of the ranch totally, like he was, but Spencer was his own person and had a hard time spending more than a few days at a time on the ranch. She knew it would be a miracle if Spencer actually spent the entire six months on the ranch without leaving.
As she dressed and helped Ashley and Elysha get ready for the day, she could not help but think of Logan and his sons. Since it was Saturday, he had agreed to keep them with him for the day to give Sierra a break, and she hoped things would go well for him and his boys. She had noticed that Logan tried to spend time with her the last few evenings after dinner. She was starting to get the message that he was interested in her, which scared her.
When Paul died, she had made a promise to herself that she would not get involved with another man until her girls were grown. She did not want to chance that the girls could lose another father. She was afraid that Logan might be looking at her as a potential mother for his two boys since she had been able to develop a teacher-type relationship with them and was able to help them settle down. When she was with Logan, she did her best to keep the conversation on what Mason and Noah had done that day and not allow the conversation to become personal in any way.
Sierra remembered the letter her father had written her and the advice he had given to develop a close relationship with each of her siblings, so as they each started to arrive, she tried to spend time with them. Stephanie arrived first in her large black SUV with a trailer full of her personal belongings. It was obvious that she was planning to stay longer than the required six months. Sierra was happy to see Stephanie and was looking forward to spending time with her and finding out what had happened with her job.
Stella arrived later that afternoon with her usual scowl on her face. Sierra had always thought Stella was not a happy person, but she did not know what caused her to be that way. She helped both her sisters unload their vehicles and encouraged Ashley and Elysha to help. Sierra noticed that Stella softened when she was around Ashley and Elysha. She was glad to see a smile on Stella’s face as she interacted with the girls.
At dinnertime the family gathered around the dining room table for their first meal together, minus Spencer since he had not yet arrived.
“Has anyone heard from Spencer?” Sheridan asked everyone after the prayer was said over the food by Elysha, who had asked God that “Uncle Spencer come home safely.”
Sierra looked around the table as everyone shook their heads.
“He had better show up, that’s all I can say,” Sheridan mumbled as he loaded his plate with mashed potatoes.
“He’ll be here,” Stella declared loyally. She never allowed anyone to criticize her twin.
“Do you know when? Have you talked to him?” Sierra asked curiously. She figured if anyone knew what was going on in Spencer’s life, his twin would. She noticed Stella hesitate as if debating her answer.
“Don’t worry about him. He agreed he would be here and he will be,” Stella said firmly, letting everyone know by her tone of voice that she wasn’t going to say anything else.
“Even though Spencer isn’t here, I wanted to talk to everyone about hiring some new people and now is a good time as any,” Sheridan announced after everyone had filled their plates and the children were taken care of.
“You have already hired Logan for the horses,” Sadie commented.
“Yes, and he gave a year’s commitment,” Sheridan said. “Hopefully, we can find others who will do the same.”
“I think we are going to have a problem with housing them,” Sierra commented. “We can’t give everyone a cabin to stay in, or we won’t have any to rent out.”
Sheridan nodded. “I have been thinking about that. We need to hire someone immediately to be over building some new cabins and repairing the ones we have. I think we can hire quite a few college students during the summer months. We can build a large building, like a dorm, to house them.”
“Where would we put that building?” Sadie questioned.
“That large space behind Kathy and Jed’s home would work well,” Sheridan responded.
“I think that is a great idea, building rooms for the college students. Part of their pay could be room and board,” Sierra commented as she helped Ashley cut up her beef and buttered a roll for Elysha.
“We also need to hire one more person for the activities,” Sheridan announced.
“Why do we need someone else?” Sadie asked. “Sierra is doing the activities for the kids and teenagers and I am doing the activities for the adults. Why do we need someone else?”
“I think we need a male for the adult activities,” Sheridan said firmly. “I think it will be good to have you be over the activities, as well as a man to help.”
Sierra smiled to herself as she watched Sadie’s face redden with anger. “So you don’t think I can do a good enough job on my own?” Sadie hated it when she thought people didn’t think she could do what was required of her.
“No, I don’t think that and you know it,” Sheridan raised his voice in frustration. “I just think it would be good to have you there as well as a man. We will have people who will be more comfortable with you helping them scale a cliff and others will be more comfortable with a man. There is nothing wrong with that.”
Sadie looked at Sheridan and slowly nodded her head at his words. “That makes sense, I guess.”
Sheridan sighed as if in relief. “I would like to hire the contractor as soon as possible. We can hire a man for the activities later this summer.”
“I want to approve of who you hire,” Sadie demanded. “After all, I will have to work with him.”
Sheridan nodded his head in agreement and then changed the subject. “Stephanie and Stella, you both need to decide what you want to be in charge of.”
“I would like to be over the food for the guests,” Stella requested. “I think we will need to build a lodge that will be located in the middle of the cabins for eating and gathering.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Sheridan agreed. “Whoever we hire to be the contractor will need to bring in a number of helpers. Since it is summer, maybe they won’t mind sleeping in tents or RVs on the section of the meadow that is near the hanger.”
“I wouldn’t mind being over the housekeeping and cleaning of the cabins,” Stephanie offered. “I could also help with decorating them. I think we should do western themes and Native American decorations.”
Sheridan nodded his thanks. “I am hoping Spencer will want to be over the small cattle herd we keep.”
Stella laughed at Sheridan’s words. “Do you really think he will agree to that? You don’t know him very well. You should know he absolutely hates cows.”
Sheridan scowled at her words. “We all need to do our part to make this work.”
“Let him choose what he wants to do,” Sierra gently advised her older brother. “We were all able to, and Spencer should too. You can hire someone else to take care of the cattle.”
“What else is there to do?” Sheridan asked.
“Finances, advertising, booking the guests…” Sierra started to list but stopped when Sheridan shook his head again.
“I want to hire someone who has experience in those areas,” he argued.
“Let him choose,” Sierra said again. She watched as Sheridan clamped his mouth shut and started shoveling food in his mouth as fast as he could, as if he wanted to hurry and eat so he could leave. For the next few moments, everyone enjoyed the delicious meal that Kathy had prepared for them.
Suddenly, Sierra heard a strange noise and paused in her chewing to listen. Everyone else around the table also stopped eating.
“That sounds like Grandpa’s plane,” Elysha said to everyone. “Did he come back?”
“No, honey, he didn’t,” Sierra answered
her daughter. “I’m not sure who that is.”
Stella stood up with a smile on her face. “I think we should all go to the landing strip.” She left the house quickly, leaving the rest of the family to follow her if they wished.
Sierra felt confused. Her father had learned to fly small planes years ago and had built a small hanger and runway on the south side of the large meadow. The plane had been destroyed in the accident that took her father’s life. Who would be landing? She didn’t think it would be Spencer because her father had not allowed any of them to learn to fly, which Sierra always felt was ironic since he had done so. Her father had felt that it was too dangerous. Too many people were killed in small plane crashes and that was how he was killed. Something had happened to his plane’s engine and it had crashed into the side of a mountain, killing her father instantly.
They all ran to the other side of the meadow where a small white plane with red and yellow trim was just landing. She gasped when Spencer got out of the plane with a huge grin on his face.
