by Zoe Matthews
While he drove towards his rented house, he could almost hear Sarah say to him, “This is right. They are our sons and they should be with you. You will be happy in Colorado.”
Chapter 7
“Would you girls like to help me clean up one of the cabins for a new man Uncle Sheridan hired?” Sierra asked her two daughters late one morning a few days after her talk with Sadie. She had spent the morning trying to do school work with Ashley and Elysha, but it was one of those days where nothing was getting done. The weather was starting to really warm up and the girls had spring fever. They kept asking if they could go outside and play. Finally, Sierra decided they had done enough and it was time to take a break. She had wanted to spend more time on reading with them, but she decided to work with them again later that afternoon.
Sheridan had asked her that morning if she would clean out cabin number 4 for his friend Logan and his family. Cabin number 4 was the largest one with two bedrooms. It was also the one in the best shape. Most likely, all that would be needed is a good cleaning. Sheridan had instructed her that if she saw any needed repairs to let him know and he would take care of them.
“Yes!” Ashley said with enthusiasm, with Elysha echoing her agreement. Both girls gave each other a high-five. Sierra chuckled at their antics. She knew their excitement was more from being able to stop schoolwork rather than being able to help clean a cabin.
“Who is coming?” Elysha asked as the three of them headed outside and walked towards cabin number 4.
“One of Uncle Sheridan’s friends,” Sierra explained. “Remember how I explained we are going to change how the ranch is run?”
“Yes,” Elysha responded as she skipped along. “We are going to build lots more cabins and get lots of horses and have lots of people stay here to enjoy the mountains and pay us lots of money.”
“Well, that’s about the gist of it,” Sierra chuckled at Elysha’s description of their new business. “Anyway, this man is coming to help with the horses. He also has a family who will be living here.”
“Does he have kids?” Ashley asked excitedly.
“I think so,” Sierra told her. “I don’t know much about his family. We are going to clean up the cabin so they have a place to stay.”
“When are they coming?” Elysha asked.
“Next week sometime,” Sierra responded. “Come on. Let’s get this job done and then if we have time before dinner, we can walk down to the river.”
Both girls liked that idea and they ran ahead to the cabin. When Sierra opened the unlocked door, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the cabin was in fairly good shape. There was a layer of dust everywhere and some trash scattered around, but it would only take a few hours of scrubbing and a little elbow grease to get the cabin in shape. Sierra got the girls busy picking up trash. Kathy soon showed up and between the two of them, they started the heavy cleaning. The design of the cabin was shaped in a perfect square. The main floor held a small kitchen with a dining and living area, all in one. Off the living room, there was a small bedroom with a double bed. There was also a full bathroom. There was a wooden ladder near the bathroom that led to a loft that was about a third of the size of the bottom floor. It was open with a railing and two twin beds.
The only major drawback to the cabin was that there was no heat. Logan would have to use the fireplace and space heaters. None of the cabins had heat and Sierra knew this feature would be added as they were remodeled and prepared for guests.
The entire cabin would need to be redecorated to be used for the coming guests. The appliances in the kitchen and the furniture, along with the beds would need to be replaced, but it would work for Logan and his family for now.
After the girls picked up some large pieces of trash, they lost interest in the project and Sierra allowed them to go outside to play, as long as they stayed close. Sometimes it was just easier not to have their “help.”
****
A week later, Logan and his boys were finally on their way to Colorado. They were leaving a few days later than he had wanted because they had a new member of the family with them. His younger sister was joining them. Annie had Down syndrome and had been living with his mother. His father had died of a heart attack a few years ago and his mother had been caring for Annie alone since then. Annie was 24 years old and had been doing fine living with their mother until a few days ago. Logan called his mom to inform her he was moving with the boys to Colorado and she had broken down in tears. He could hardly understand her, she was crying so hard. He had hurried the boys into his truck and raced to his mother’s home, scared of what he might find.
When he arrived, he learned that his mother was starting to have a hard time with the total care of Annie. During the course of the conversation, his mother had hinted that maybe now was time to put Annie into a group home. When she had mentioned that, Logan knew that his mother was not doing well. She had always been adamant that she would never consider a group home for Annie, and that she would care for her daughter until her own death.
Annie was a happy girl and loved to be around other people. She sometimes needed to be reminded to perform her daily care of bathing, combing her hair, and brushing of teeth, but once she was told to do something, she did it on her own. She could make her own peanut butter sandwiches and prepare other simple foods if she needed to.
The main concern with caring for Annie was that she liked to wander. If she was bored at home or even when she was out in public and she did not want to be there, she would wander off. She needed to be watched almost constantly. About a year ago, his mother had been able to arrange for Annie to receive a skilled companion dog, a white Labrador retriever named Sunny. This dog had been trained to stay by Annie’s side at all times. If Annie wandered off, the dog followed her. Sometimes she would bark an alert and would continue barking until someone found them.
The stress of Annie wandering was starting to be too much for their mother. She was constantly checking the doors, and looking for Annie. She was so afraid Annie would leave the house without her knowledge. She wasn’t sleeping well because she was so concerned that Annie would leave the house at night. When they were out in public, she worried that she would turn around and find Annie gone. Logan knew his mother needed a break. In actuality, Annie did not wander as much as she used to. When she did, nearly everyone knew who she was, and was kind to her. Having the dog with Annie helped her want to stay closer to home, but his mother still worried about it.
Logan decided it was now his turn to care for his sister. He loved Annie very much. She had brought such joy and happiness into the home when she was born. She was very loving, always giving hugs and smiles. She was rarely sad, although she did get upset when she wanted to do something she couldn’t do. After talking with his mother for a while, he convinced her that he would take Annie with him to Colorado, at least for the summer. At the end of the summer, they would discuss permanent care for Annie.
Logan actually had thought about moving his mother to Colorado, and he almost suggested it, but in the end he decided to wait and see how this new job panned out before he suggested such a drastic move. As his mother grew older, she was starting to have a hard time coping with major changes in her life.
He made sure his mother would be okay for the summer. She lived in a retirement community and she had good friends as neighbors. They all watched out for each other and did a lot of things together, shopping, lunches, and such, so he knew she wouldn’t be too lonely.
He glanced at his boys in the rear view mirror as they drove along the freeway. The boys were in their booster seats, reaching out to slug each other in play. They seemed to like to do that a lot.
Annie was sitting in the front of the truck with him looking very intently out of the window. Sunny had curled up on the floor of the truck at Annie’s feet and was quietly sleeping. Annie loved going on trips and seeing new things. Logan wasn’t sure if she understood that she would be living with him for the summer. She ha
dn’t seemed too upset to be leaving their mother. He had explained to her what she could expect the best he could.
Annie had a large navy-colored cloth bag sitting next to her and had placed an arm around it as if protecting what was inside. She carried this bag around with her almost all the time. It was full of skeins of yarn of different colors. Annie had learned to do simple crochet stitches a few years ago and had loved it. She spent quite a bit of her time crocheting dishcloths and small baby blankets. When she completed a project, she always found someone to give it to.
“When will we get to… to…” Annie started to ask carefully as if trying to remember where they were going.
“To Colorado,” Logan said.
“To Colorado, to the mountains in Colorado. When will we get there? Soon?”
“It is a long drive to where we are heading. We will be driving the rest of today and we will stay one night in a hotel.” Logan had already explained all this to her, but knew he would likely need to tell her many times.
“We get to stay in a hotel and eat at a restaurant and go swimming,” Mason said from the back seat.
“I want to go swimming now,” Noah informed Logan.
“We can’t go swimming now, dummy!” Mason yelled at his brother. “We’re driving.”
Logan tried not to roll his eyes. This was going to be a long trip. The day before, he had gone shopping and picked up a bunch of coloring books, reading books, and new games for their handheld devices. Logan was hoping what he had bought would last the trip. He gave them permission to play one of their new games and all was quiet for a while.
“When will we get there?” Annie asked again as she kept looking out the window at the scenery.
“Soon,” Logan sighed and flipped on the radio. It was going to be a long trip.
Chapter 8
Late Saturday morning, Sierra was outside in the front yard of the ranch house doing some weeding. Sheridan had asked her to be available to greet Logan when he arrived since he could not. He had needed to run into Pinedale for some business and legal matters that had to do with the new family business. He had left the day before and was planning to return that evening.
Sierra was not looking forward to meeting Logan and his family, although she wasn’t sure why. She knew Logan would be a great help to their business. Sheridan had explained to her that Logan was great with horses and had a gift with training them. Sheridan really wanted the horse program to be strong. He knew that most of their guests were going to want to have access to horses, whether they were novices or experienced riders. She just had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach about him coming.
She finished pulling the weeds in the section of the flower bed and stood when she heard a truck with a horse trailer pull into the ranch driveway. He drives a man truck, she thought to herself with a smirk. She watched as a man jumped out of the large black truck.
“Hey,” the man greeted her as he opened the door to the extended cab. He reached his arm in and very quickly two little boys tumbled out. They ignored her and immediately started to run around. “Don’t run off,” he ordered them.
“You must be Logan,” Sierra said with a smile as she approached him.
“Yep, and you must be Sierra, Sheridan’s sister.” As he talked, he walked around to the other side of the truck and opened it. Sierra noticed a short young woman get out with a white dog. This must be his wife, she thought but then immediately changed her mind when she saw that the woman had Down syndrome. The young woman had brown hair that was cut just above her shoulders in an easy-to-care-for hairstyle. There was a huge smile on her face as the young woman turned in a full circle, looking around at the tall mountains surrounding the ranch. The dog was a white Labrador retriever and was wearing a blue and yellow vest on its back, showing it was a service dog.
“Introductions,” Logan told Sierra with an easy grin. “Those hoodlums are my sons, Mason and Noah. This is my little sister, Annie.”
“Hello,” Sierra said, as she offered her hand for Logan to shake. “It is nice to meet you. Are your boys twins?” She noticed that they were both the same size in height, although it was hard to tell because they were both running around.
“Yep,” Logan drawled as he shut the truck doors. “They’re twins, although they don’t look much like each other.”
Sierra noticed Logan was right as one of them had shocking red hair and the other had blond. Both of their faces were covered with freckles.
“Did you have a nice trip from Wyoming?” Sierra asked Logan.
“I guess we did if you call traveling 14 hours in a truck with two very bored four-year-olds and a dog that throws up every few hours,” Logan grinned as if saying it all came with the job.
She wondered where his wife was, but didn’t dare ask and decided she’d ask Sheridan later. Maybe his wife stayed in Wyoming and was going to join her family later.
Annie approached Sierra holding a large blue cloth bag over her shoulder. “It’s nice to meet you. I am Annie,” she carefully said, holding out her hand.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Sierra said as she shook Annie’s hand. She noticed Annie smiled big at her and then suddenly Sierra was enveloped in a big bear hug. Sierra was surprised, but recovered quickly and hugged Annie back. “Welcome to Majestic Mountain Dude Ranch.”
Annie frowned. “I thought we were going to Colorado.”
“We are in Colorado,” Logan explained to his sister. He turned and yelled at his boys, “Mason, I thought I told you to stay close.”
Sierra quickly took note that Mason had the red hair.
“Ahh, Dad I want to see what’s in that field,” Mason complained. Sierra noticed he kept walking towards a nearby field, letting them know he was not going to listen to his dad’s instructions.
“Mason…” Logan hollered again and then sighed as Noah took off after his brother. He started after them both, but Sierra stopped him.
“There isn’t anything in that field at the moment that could hurt them,” Sierra told him. “How about I show you the cabin you will be staying in?”
Logan agreed and yelled at his sons again. “Come on, boys. Let’s go see the cabin we are going to sleep in this summer.” Both Mason and Noah must have thought that going to the cabin would be more exciting than an empty field because they ran back towards them.
Sierra excused herself for a moment and ran inside to let Kathy know Logan had arrived. Ashley and Elysha had been coloring at the kitchen table and both of them wanted to come with her, so when she headed back outside her daughters were with her.
“These are my daughters, Ashley and Elysha,” she introduced them to Logan, Annie and his boys.
“How come they look like each other?” Mason asked with curiosity.
“We’re twins,” Ashley told him.
“Me and Noah are twins too, but we don’t look alike,” Mason said.
“Some twins look like each other and some don’t,” Logan explained.
“Let’s show Mason and Noah their new home,” Sierra suggested and soon the group was walking towards the small group of cabins a short distance away. Sierra noticed that the boys had quite a bit of energy. They were alternatively running and wrestling each other. Ashley and Elysha stayed away from them, showing that they weren’t sure about these two rambunctious boys. Logan gave them instructions to settle down, but both boys ignored what he was saying.
Sierra subtly studied Logan as they walked. He was a large man and Sierra could tell he spent most of his time outdoors because of his deep tan on his arms and face. He had dark brown hair that looked like he had run his hands through it a few times. There was a white line on his forehead that Sierra knew was from wearing a cowboy hat. Logan glanced at her and Sierra immediately felt her face flush and looked away. She admitted to herself that he was one of the best-looking men she had seen in a very long time. She noticed that Annie was very interested in her surroundings and asked numerous questions that Logan patiently answered.
When they arrived at the cabin, she opened the door and allowed Logan and his boys to go inside before her. She suddenly felt a bit embarrassed at the condition of the cabin. Even though it was now clean, it was clearly run down and needed a lot of work.
“I am sorry the cabin isn’t in better condition, but we will be…” Sierra started to say, but stopped as Logan waved his hand to silence her.
“Don’t worry about it,” he told her. “Sheridan explained the circumstances. It will be fine.”
“It only has the one bedroom and the loft has two twin beds. I guess we might be able to squeeze another bed up there for Annie.” Sierra hadn’t been aware that Logan was going to be bringing another family member and she was sure Sheridan hadn’t known either or he would have arranged for another bed to be brought in.