by Zoe Matthews
“Mr. Anderson specifically told us we all need to be here at the same time to fulfill the requirements,” Sheridan reminded everyone as he started the meeting. “I think we should start immediately.”
“I can’t do that, Sheridan,” Stella said with some disgust in her voice. “I can’t just up and leave my job like that. I probably will lose my position in the restaurant as it is.”
“What does it matter if you lose your job?” Sadie wondered. “You are going to get half a million dollars. Isn’t that worth it?”
“My job means a lot to me,” Stella argued. “Just because you don’t have…”
“Let’s not argue,” Sierra interrupted her sisters as she inwardly sighed. She really got tired of these two always disagreeing about something and they usually did it very loudly. “I’m sure we can come up with a date that we can all agree with.”
“What about you, Spencer?” Stephanie asked their younger brother. “What is your schedule like?”
“I just started a new job with an advertising firm,” Spencer said.
Sheridan snorted at his words and Sierra glared at her oldest brother, hoping to keep him from saying anything. In Sheridan’s mind, Spencer was being irresponsible because he could not stick to one job. He was never fired or laid off. He would just say he was bored and would move on to another job.
“Most likely, my company will not hold my position, but like Sadie said, it is half a million dollars.” Spencer let everyone know he would not care if he lost his job over needing to spend the next six months at the ranch.
“Sadie and Sierra live here with me, so the starting date won’t be a problem for us,” Sheridan explained to the group. “What about you, Stephanie?”
“I…” Stephanie hesitated and Sierra noticed tears in her eyes as she quickly blinked them away.
I am definitely going to find out what is going on with her before she leaves tomorrow, Sierra thought to herself.
“I can be here on whatever date is decided,” Stephanie said quietly.
“It looks like you are the holdup,” Sheridan told Stella in his usual blunt way.
“Sure, blame it all on me,” Stella started to argue again. “Why is it always me that...”
A good old-fashioned argument ensued between everyone but Sierra. She hated conflict and always had. Ever since she was a child, she always did her best to keep things peaceful between all of her siblings. In fact, her mother had given her a nickname of “Peacekeeper Sierra.” Right now, the last thing she wanted to do was step in. Why did Stella always have to argue? Why couldn’t they all get along? It was going to be a long six months.
“Children,” Sierra heard a voice over the arguing and saw Kathy enter the room. She smiled to herself because Kathy had chosen to use that word. They were all acting like children.
“I know the last few days have been very stressful for everyone,” Kathy said when the arguing died down at her entrance. “I am sure you are all very tired and it is late. Why don’t you all go to bed and meet back here right after breakfast? That should give you time to think about things and maybe you can come to a decision then.”
Sheridan nodded at Kathy’s words. “I think that’s a good idea. If we can’t decide on a starting date, we can continue to discuss it through phone calls and emails. I think Kathy is right. We need some time to deal with all the changes.”
Surprisingly, even though Sadie and Stella refused to look at each other, everyone agreed, and soon the room was empty except for Sierra and Stephanie.
“What is going on with you?” Sierra asked her sister as she walked over to the sofa Stephanie was sitting on and sat next to her. “I can tell all is not well. Is it your job?”
Stephanie hesitated as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about it, but then nodded. Stephanie worked as a wedding consultant for a prestigious company in Denver. It was one of the most popular places to go for a wedding. They basically offered everything a woman would need for her wedding on site. They had a shop for the bridal gowns and other clothes needed for a wedding, a flower shop, a small restaurant that also did the catering, and of course a beautiful building for the wedding itself, the reception, and any other get-togethers the bride might want. Stephanie had wanted to work there for years, and when she finally received a job there as a consultant, she had been so happy and excited.
“But I thought this was your dream job. You were so excited when you were hired a year ago. What happened?” Sierra asked.
“Remember how the owner promised me that I could eventually buy into the company and be part owner? Well, she either really didn’t mean that or she has changed her mind. She has done everything she can to undermine me and make me look like a fool. Little things have been happening that I can’t totally prove she is part of, but I suspect she is.”
“Like what?”
“Well, she assigned me to be the consultant to a young woman six months ago. This girl is such a brat, a total bridezilla. The mother is even worse. They kept changing their minds, making it sound like it was my fault they had to change things, and the owner always backed them up. Some of the changes cost the company money and the owner is going to take the difference out of my pay.”
“That’s awful. Can she really do that legally?”
“I don’t know. The wedding was finally held last week and I figured since it was over, things would settle down, but the day after the wedding, the owner called me into her office and really got on my case. She blamed the entire situation on me because they weren’t happy with the wedding. She demoted me to a lower position on the spot with the threat of firing me. Then Dad died and I wanted to take a week off for the funeral. She wasn’t happy. She wanted me to come down just for the funeral and return back to work by the next day.”
“I am so sorry,” Sierra sympathized as she gave a hug to Stephanie, wishing she could do something to help her sister. Secretly she thought Stephanie should just quit the job and find something else. Stephanie was a great organizer and had saved a few small businesses from going under with her organizing ideas. Any business would be lucky to have her as a part of their team.
Stephanie continued. “Don’t tell anyone in the family yet, but I actually quit the day I left. The owner left me a nasty email that I read when I was waiting to board the plane to come here. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I sent a reply and just quit.”
“It sounds to me she was trying to make that happen,” Sierra observed. “I think you will be better off.”
“I think so too, but I am also so angry. Why did I allow her to treat me like that for so long? I should have quit weeks ago.”
“Well, you are done now. Have you thought of what you want to do next?”
Stephanie shook her head. “With Dad’s funeral and everything being so crazy, I really haven’t had a chance to decide anything.”
“I know we haven’t agreed on a date for starting the six months, but why don’t you just move back now? You can take some time to think about things and…”
“I was actually thinking about doing that before we even met with Mr. Anderson,” Stephanie admitted.
“I would love to have you here again,” Sierra said as she hugged her sister.
“That is what I am going to do,” Stephanie made the decision quickly. “I will go back to Denver and close up my apartment. I don’t have many belongings and the apartment I am renting was furnished so I don’t need to worry about storing anything. I should be back here in a week or so.”
“I am sorry that you have had to deal with the way things were at your job, but I have to admit I am very glad you are coming home,” Sierra admitted with a big smile.
“It looks like we are all going to be coming home for a while,” Stephanie said with a small shudder. “I hope we don’t all kill each other before the six months are up.”
Chapter 3
The next morning right after breakfast, Sierra and all of her siblings met in the Great Room again. Everyone was more sub
dued than the night before. When Sierra entered the room, she noticed that no one was talking and everyone was doing their own thing. Spencer was busy texting someone. Stella was writing a list. She was big on making lists about everything. Sadie had her daughter, Brooklyn, next to her, and she was helping Brooklyn play a game on her small iPad. Stephanie was sitting on the same sofa she had sat on the night before with her head back and her eyes closed. Sierra noticed that Sheridan hadn’t arrived yet.
Sierra sat down on an empty chair to wait for her big brother. She had left Ashley and Elysha with Kathy in the kitchen in order to finish their breakfast. She hoped this meeting would go better than last night. She also hoped it would not last very long because she really wanted to spend time with her daughters. She had not been able to the last few days and she missed them.
When Sheridan entered the room and sat down on the large chair her father had always sat on when he was in the Great Room, it took her back for a moment. It made her realize her father really was gone. Sheridan had always been a great big brother. He took his role as the oldest very seriously. She knew he basically was running the family cattle ranch on his own and had been for a few years now. Her father had been slowly easing out of the responsibilities of running the ranch. Sheridan also was very protective of all of his sisters. When Paul died, he was the one to tell her what happened, and he didn’t leave her side until after the funeral, always making sure he was available if she needed him.
Though he was protective and sweet with his sisters, he was not very patient with Spencer at all. For some reason, those two had never got along well, probably because the two brothers were so different. Sheridan was a very serious man and saw everything in black or white. There was never an in-between in his mind about anything. Spencer was more playful and laid back. He took things as they came and if plans needed to be changed, that was okay. In his mind, it was what made life interesting and fun.
Sheridan cleared his throat and started the meeting. Sierra noticed that he seemed rather subdued. He was holding the letter Mr. Anderson had given him from their father. Sierra remembered that she had not read her own letter yet.
“I don’t know if any of you have read your letters,” Sheridan said, “but I read mine last night. I would like to share part of it with you. I am sure most of you know that I have wanted to make some changes to the ranch in the last few years. With the economy changing, cattle ranches have not been doing too well lately, and I have wanted to change the direction of the ranch. I would like to make it into a dude ranch. Our location is perfect and we have plenty of land with our 2500 acres to expand, grow, and build anything we would need. The problem was, Dad refused to consider it. Even when we started to lose money, he wouldn’t agree to my ideas.”
Sheridan stopped and rubbed his finger and thumb over his eyes as if he was trying to keep himself in control of the emotions he was feeling. “In the letter Dad wrote to me, he gave me permission to make the changes I want to make. He even set aside a large amount of money to finance the changes.”
Sierra heard gasps as everyone started murmuring. Of course, Stella started to ask a question, but Sierra interrupted.
“Let’s let Sheridan finish what he has to say,” she suggested. Everyone quieted and looked at their eldest brother.
“I would like to make this ranch a dude ranch. I have actually done a lot of research and have had plans drawn up and everything. We could get started on the changes immediately. I can send everyone the plans and ideas if you are interested. I actually think if we started right away, we might be able to be ready to open by September at the latest, maybe by Labor Day. It is the middle of May right now. That would give us about four months.”
Over the next few minutes, Sierra listened to his plan and ideas. She noticed that he grew more and more excited as he talked. She could tell that it was very important to him. There were a few old cabins on the ranch that could be used to be used for hired hands. Those cabins would need to be remodeled and could be made into guest cabins. Eight more cabins could be built so there would be twelve guest cabins all together.
They would need to hire quite a few people. Sheridan felt that most of them could be college students who attended the small state college in Pinedale. He wanted to build a dorm-like building for them to live in during the summer season.
Sheridan had plans to hire someone who would be over a horse program. This person would be over the training and breeding of good riding horses.
He wanted the dude ranch to be for entire families, from young children to adults. He suggested they have a well-rounded choice of activities for all ages.
He wanted to sell off most of the cattle and just keep a small herd. That way, if any guests wanted to have the experience of caring for cattle, they would have the opportunity to do so. He also wanted to have an old-fashioned cattle drive every fall where they would bring cattle from the summer range deep in the mountains back down to their ranch.
While Sheridan talked, everyone started to get excited along with him. Sierra noted that for the first time all six of them were agreeing on something. Everyone thought this was a great idea. They all wanted a part in helping with this new business.
“We could call it Majestic Mountain Dude Ranch,” Sadie suggested.
“We could offer really good quality meals,” Stella chimed in.
“I want to be over mountain activities,” Sadie continued.
Sierra already knew what she wanted to do. Since she was a teacher, she wanted to be over the activities for children and teens.
“It looks like we all agree that this is a good idea,” Sheridan finally said. “I think it would be a good idea if we start the required six months as soon as possible. That way, we all can be part of the changes. I know that most of you have not really had anything to do with the ranch. From what Dad said in my letter, I think he had some regrets over that.
“After the six months are over, I don’t want anyone to feel they have to stay on unless they want to, but I would like to set the business up so that everyone can do what they are most interested in and be involved. That way, if you want to stay, you can. There will be a place and job for you.”
Sierra really liked what she was hearing. She loved this idea. Since she moved back a few years ago, she hadn’t done anything to contribute very much. Her father had always had the attitude that only men should work on the ranch. Women should be in the home and he always had discouraged any of the girls from doing any heavy outdoor work. So Sierra really didn’t have a lot to do. She took care of her own rooms, of course, and would help with meals and some housecleaning, along with the flower and vegetable gardens, but Kathy did most of the work around the Ranch House. Sierra mainly spent her time with Ashley and Elysha.
Eventually they all agreed that the six months would start June first and run through the end of November. Sheridan mentioned that it would be nice if everyone would extend the six months through December so they could all have Christmas together.
Spencer, Stella, and Stephanie soon left, Spencer to New York where he lived, Stella to Los Angeles and her chef job in the fancy five-star restaurant, and Stephanie to Denver to pack her belongings. Stephanie told everyone she would be back in a week or so. Spencer and Stella promised they would be back by June first as agreed.
Chapter 4
After her three siblings left, Sierra went to the kitchen to get her daughters. They were busy helping Kathy do the dishes. She stopped at the entrance of the kitchen and watched them.
Ashley stood on a stool next to Kathy, carefully rinsing each dish as it was handed to her. She gave the dish to Elysha who put the dish into the dishwasher. At five years old, they were starting to be great little helpers. They both had blonde, almost white, hair and looked alike since they were identical twins. They inherited the blonde hair from their father and their gray blue eyes from her. Even though they were identical, they had very different personalities. Ashley liked to do girly-type activities like dancing
and crafts, while Elysha was more of a tomboy who loved to ride horses and wanted to be outdoors whenever she could. They also wore their hair different. Elysha liked hers short, above her shoulders, and Ashley kept hers long so she could braid it and put flowers in it like a fairy. Ashley loved to wear dresses, but it was always a fight to get Elysha to wear one. Although they had different personalities and interests, they were very close as most twins were and did almost everything together.
“Are you girls almost done?” Sierra finally asked when Ashley noticed her standing in the doorway.
“Yes, Mom,” Elysha answered. “Do we have to do school today?”
“Yes, honey. You both have missed so much because of Grandpa’s funeral. I would like to get you both caught up so we can take the summer off.”