by Zoe Matthews
“Enough about me. I wanted to tell you that you are doing a great job keeping us all on tract with your lists. Have you thought about how you want to decorate the cabins?” Sierra asked.
“Yes. I have some great ideas. I was thinking maybe doing some themes in the…”
“Aunt Stephanie, come have a tea party with us,” two little voices called to her from the doorway before she could finish her statement. Sierra’s two daughters, Ashley and Elysha, were standing there jumping up and down with excitement.
“Hi, girls. A tea party?” When two little heads nodded, Stephanie laughed and then smiled. “I would be delighted to attend. When is this glorious occasion to take place?”
Ashley and Elysha rushed forward, taking her by the hands and pulling her to her feet. “Now!”
Stephanie allowed herself to be pulled along. “We’ll have to finish this discussion later, I guess.”
Sierra waved her off, “That’s okay. I need to talk to Sheridan anyway. Girls, where are Mason and Noah?”
“They went with Kathy to fix the tea.”
“Logan’s boys are going to be part of this tea party?” Stephanie asked, looking at Sierra for an explanation.
Sierra nodded with amusement in her eyes. “They should make an interesting addition to the tea party.”
Stephanie nodded her head. “I see. Well, lead the way girls. We wouldn’t want to keep anyone waiting.”
Ashley and Elysha led her up to their rooms, and Stephanie entered to see Kathy setting up a small child-sized tea service along with plates of cookies and other treats.
“Boys, the girls are back,” Kathy called into the other room.
Stephanie watched as two little boys, one with blond hair and one with red, came running into the room, stopping when they caught sight of her. Behind them came a young woman and she could instantly see Logan’s sister, Annie. Stephanie smiled in greeting. She knew from Sierra that Logan’s sister, Annie, was living with Kathy and her husband, Jed. Annie had Down syndrome and was a delight to be around. She always had a big smile on her face. There was a white lab by her side with a blue and yellow service vest on its back, letting people know it was a service dog.
“Hello,” Annie greeted Stephanie formally, although Annie immediately gave her a hug. Annie greeted everyone with hugs.
“I see you brought a friend, Stephanie said, referring to the dog by Annie’s side. She bent down to pet the dog’s head.
“This is Sunny. Are you here to have tea with us?”
“I am.”
“Goody! I like tea parties.”
Stephanie grinned back at her, “So do I.” She noticed that Sadie’s daughter, Brooklyn, was also present and was already sitting on a chair in anticipation of the tea party.
Everyone seated themselves on small chairs that had been placed around a small table designed for children, with the exception of Kathy who preferred to use a regular-sized chair. “My knees aren’t as young as they used to be.”
“Are your knees old, Miss Kathy?” Annie asked as she used some hand signals to direct Sunny to lay down beside her.
“Yes, Annie. My knees are getting old.”
Annie thought about that for a minute, but then the boys decided to dip their cookies in their tea cups and that action drew her attention.
“So, Ashley, your mom says you’re about to be done with school for the summer,” Stephanie addressed the twin who sat next to her.
“Yay! Summer!” Elysha cheered.
“I like school,” Ashley said with a frown towards her sister.
“Don’t you like school, Elysha?” Stephanie asked.
The little girl nodded her head. “But I like playing outside better.”
“Me too!” chimed in Noah, the blond haired twin. He quickly finished the cookie that was on his plate, then took another handful of cookies and placed them on his plate. He reached out to take another handful when Kathy stopped him by placing her hand over his.
“Mason likes school, don’t you?” Kathy asked as Noah shrugged and started to eat another cookie off of his plate.
Mason nodded his red-haired head. “Kind of. I like to play outside better.”
Stephanie and Kathy shared a look and then turned the conversation back to all of the changes happening on the ranch.
The children told her about the horses, and the boys talked about going fishing. Stephanie could tell that Sierra’s daughters and Logan’s sons were already acting like brothers and sisters to each other.
When the kids became full of lemonade and desserts, the allure of the tea party was lost to talk of the vegetable garden and the outdoors. Soon all five children were ready to go outside and play. Sheridan had installed a fun playground with a sand box a few days before and the kids wanted to go play on it.
Stephanie offered to take the used tea service to the kitchen to be washed so that the children could accompany Kathy outdoors. Kathy gave her a wink, knowing that Stephanie had gotten her fill of the rambunctious and chattering children.
Stephanie listened for the voices to die away and then she gathered up the used cups and plates and headed for the kitchen. One thing was for sure, with five little kids running around the Ranch House, there would never be a dull moment in the house. Or a quiet one!
The days continued to be busy for Stephanie. She spent her time moving all her belongings into her rooms and arranging things to suit her. She took some time with each of her nieces. She took some much needed time for herself. Stephanie also, as promised, talked with each of her siblings about what they wanted to accomplish and provided the promised daily lists to keep everyone on tract, amid several teasing comments.
She tried to spend individual time with each of her sisters. She went on a short hike with Sadie, but Stella refused to take any time to spend with her, stating that she had too much to do with her responsibilities to get ready for the guests. Stella had always been the hardest to reach. Stephanie knew she was close to Spencer, most likely because they were twins, but she held herself aloof from the rest of the family, for some reason.
Chapter 5
It was now the beginning of July and Stephanie decided it was time to officially meet the man who Sheridan hired to do the remodeling and building of the cabins and lodge. The construction company was run by a man named Bridger, who worked alongside his father and two brothers. She had seen Bridger around and had been hesitant in meeting him for some reason, but now that the construction was going so well, she felt she needed to be involved.
Bridger and his brothers had a large construction company and performed jobs all over Colorado. Sheridan had pulled a few strings and had gotten them to commit to remodeling the existing four cabins, build six new guest cabins, a large lodge to be used by all of the future guests, and a large dorm building for the employees to live in. Everything was to be completed by the end of August.
In order to accomplish this great building feat, Bridger brought with him a large number of men and women, many of whom pitched tents or brought RVs with them since the ranch was too far away from Pinedale to be worth commuting back and forth every day.
Sheridan and Sierra scouted out and designated the far end of the meadow as a place where the construction crew could make camp. By the end of June, the far end of the meadow looked like a small village had been set up there as more and more people seemed to arrive daily. The remodeling of the four cabins that were already on the property were almost completed and Stephanie was anxious to start decorating them.
“Hey, Stephanie! Come over here!” Sheridan hollered to her.
Stephanie felt relief when she saw her brother standing by Bridger. It would be easier to explain to the man what her job was if her brother was also there. She joined her brother and tried not to stare at the good looking man by his side. “Yes?”
“Stephanie, this is Bridger. He’s in charge of the construction crew and the construction projects. Bridger, this is my younger sister, Stephanie.”
�
�Nice to meet you,” Bridger offered with a small smile. He reached out to shake Stephanie’s hand.
“You too,” she responded. When his hand touched her, she felt an unusual tinge go up her arm and into her body and she pulled her hand quickly away in confusion.
Sheridan nodded his head towards Stephanie. “She’s going to be the one driving you crazy by constantly needing to check things off of her list.”
“I won’t drive you crazy, I just need to know that everything is going as planned.” Evidently Sheridan had already told Bridger about her job.
“I can handle that. If you can’t find me, that RV over there with the cougars on the side of it is mine. You can leave a note and I will get back with you.” Bridger’s eyes seemed to twinkle at her as he looked her over.
Stephanie looked at the RV nearby and nodded her head. She looked down at her notebook and started to make notes of the major projects his crew would be handling. She’d make a timetable and go over it with him in the next few days.
Bridger was a good looking man, in a rugged sort of way. He had blond wavy hair that looked a little too long, but seemed to fit him. His gray eyes sparked in amusement as he looked at her, as if silently letting her know he had felt the same ting when their hands had touched. Stephanie quickly looked away and tried not to let his looks appeal to her, telling herself there was way too much work to be done to worry about attraction.
Sheridan and Bridger started discussing the details of the work to be done first, walking to each project, and Stephanie found herself following along, writing down notes about what the men were saying.
Bridger gave her several curious looks when she asked questions, but other than that, everything seemed to be fine. Until a few days later.
Stephanie knew that Logan and his boys had moved into her father’s old rooms in the main house while the old cabins were being remodeled. When she’d exited her room for breakfast, she’d seen Mason and Noah trying to sneak out of their rooms towards the staircase. They each had a hand towel in their hands, and Stephanie immediately knew they were going to try and slide down the banister.
It wasn’t that she and her siblings hadn’t tried something similar when they were kids, but they’d been considerably older than four years of age.
“Boys, where might you be heading this morning?” she asked them, looking them both in the eyes and trying to hide her smile as they shoved their hands behind their backs.
“Breakfast?” Noah replied.
Stephanie nodded. “I’m heading that way myself. Do I need to grab a hand towel from my rooms as well? Did Kathy notify you that we were out of napkins or some such thing?”
Mason scowled and dropped the pretense of hiding his hands. “How did you know we had towels in our hands?”
“The same way I knew you were going to try and slide down the banister with them.” Stephanie leaned over and lowered her voice conspiratorially. “I was once a kid.”
Both boys looked at each other and then Noah asked, “Did anyone ever make it to the bottom without falling off?”
“Spencer…,” her voice trailed off as a knock sounded at the front door. Probably for the best anyway. Something tells me these two little boys don’t need to hear about any of our shenanigans from when we were kids.
“Go put those towels away and then we’ll go down to breakfast.” She watched the boys scurry off and hurried down the stairs to answer the door.
Bridger was standing on the other side and she stepped back and allowed him to enter.
“Good morning,” she tried not to stammer as she greeted him. She hadn’t been expecting him on the other side of the door.
“Good morning. Is Sheridan up yet?”
Stephanie nodded her head. “He’s probably eating breakfast right now. Was there something you needed?”
Bridger shook his head. “No, I just wanted to let him know there’s a delay with some of the stuff we ordered.”
“Really? What stuff would that be and which project is going to be delayed because of this?” Stephanie pulled out a notebook that she kept in the back pocket of her jeans. She held a pen over the note to write down what he told her. She mentally went through the list she’d made for the construction crew so she could start trying to rearrange things.
Bridger raised an eyebrow at her questions and then answered, “I’d rather discuss things with your brother.”
Stephanie looked at him and then narrowed her eyes. He’s one of those men! “Well, I could probably help…”
Bridger shook his head. “No need for you to worry about the construction side of things.”
Stephanie smiled at him and used her most congenial voice. “That’s where you’d be mistaken. I like organizing things. It’s what I do. If there are going to be delays with the construction, then there will be delays in other areas as well.”
Bridger scratched his chin and then a relieved smile broke across his face, “Sheridan!”
Stephanie turned and saw that Sheridan was coming down the stairs. It bothered her that Bridger obviously preferred to talk to Sheridan about the construction problem over her. Didn’t he realize she needed to know about any delays, too?
“Bridger. What brings you up to the house this early?” The two men shook hands in greeting.
“Delays. The trusses for the new cabins aren’t going to be ready this week. That means we can start working on the lodge instead.”
Sheridan scowled and then turned to Stephanie. “Why don’t you take a look at the schedule and see how we can arrange other things so we can still move ahead this week?”
Stephanie nodded, relieved that Sheridan was showing Bridger that he had confidence in her organization skills. “Already on it.” Turning to Bridger she asked, “Does your crew have enough to keep them busy this week?”
Bridger watched the exchange between the two siblings, admiring the way the young woman seemed to have a handle on everything that was going on. She’s beautiful and intelligent, it would seem. And it looks like Sheridan trusts Stephanie.
“I thought maybe we would start the preparations for the lodge foundation. The weather’s supposed to be good all this week so I’m hoping we can get the concrete pad poured this week, instead of next,” Bridger answered her.
Stephanie nodded. “That should work. That will give me more time for the furnishings to get ordered and make their way up here.”
Sheridan laughed. “Always organized. I’ll leave you both to it then. I have some meetings in Pinedale and I probably won’t be back until tomorrow.”
Stephanie watched her brother shake hands with Bridger and then head out the door. “So…if there are any other delays, you’ll let me know so I can work them into the schedule?”
Bridger slowly nodded his head. This woman intrigued him. Her brother seemed to trust her ability to keep everything together, and her smile was infectious. Maybe having to talk to her several times a day won’t be a hardship after all.
Chapter 6
Bridger headed back to his crew, taking his time as he checked over the progress on the four existing cabins. There was still a fair amount of work to be done, but since work on the new cabins was stalled for the time being, his crew might be able to get these finished this week.
He thought about Stephanie and grinned. She had seemed on edge and he assumed it was because of the delay. Bridger chuckled to himself. He’d been working in the construction industry long enough, he didn’t let things like this get to him. Firstly, because it wasn’t in his nature. He was generally a laid back kind of guy.
He believed in putting in an honest day’s work and expected the same from his employees. He didn’t keep his expectations a secret, and on more than one occasion he’d overheard his employees talking about how much they enjoyed working for him.
The second reason he didn’t let delays get to him was because it didn’t accomplish anything useful. If materials were delayed, all of the worrying in the world wouldn’t fix the issue, and he’d ha
ve a headache to deal with as well. Besides, there was always something else that could be pushed forward to keep the project on track.
He finished his inspections and then headed for the large canvas tent that had been set up to house the blueprints and construction information. His crew bosses were already there waiting for him, and he quickly informed them about the change in the schedule. He wasn’t worried about anyone having a problem with it. His guys were paid to work and follow orders. End of story.
****
Stephanie immediately grabbed her schedules and made a few phone calls. She’d put in a rush order on some of the furnishings for the new cabins, but now there was no need to spend the extra money.
She was grateful that her late father had been so proactive in providing for his children and the change in the operation of the ranch. She still wasn’t sure how he’d managed to put away so much money without anyone becoming the wiser, but then she didn’t feel like she needed to know. Her father had been very private, and his children had learned to respect that character trait. Or was it a flaw?
She reached for her master notebook, scowling when it slipped from her hands and fell to the floor. She started to bend over and retrieve it, but then stopped and grabbed at the hallway table to help support her right leg that suddenly felt like it was going to give out.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm the uneasy feeling that came upon her. Since she had arrived on the ranch, she’d thought things were going really well. One of the reasons she took most of the month of June to relax was because she thought her body had been too stressed. Since Christmas, she had been having a few problems with her hands becoming weak and her vision blurring on occasion. It didn’t happen often, and Stephanie had decided the symptoms were due to the stress of her job with the bridal company. But the symptoms had not gone away like she hoped they would. She realized she was getting to the point where she could no longer ignore the signs her body was sending her, and these signs have been happening more and more over the last few months.
