by Zoe Matthews
“Annie can’t climb ladders very well,” Logan explained. “She can sleep on the sofa.” He pointed to the one lumpy brown couch in the cabin.
Just then, Kathy arrived with a paper sack in her arms. She greeted everyone with her usual cheerfulness and set the sack on the small kitchen table. Sierra knew she had brought some food to tide Logan and his family over until he could purchase his own, although very likely Logan and his family would be joining them for some of their meals.
Kathy seemed very pleased when she was introduced to Annie, especially when Annie hugged her with the same bear hug she had given Sierra.
“I was telling Logan we will need to bring in another bed for Annie,” Sierra explained to Kathy after introductions were made.
“I think the sofa will be fine, or else I can give her the bed in the bedroom and I will take the sofa,” Logan said. Sierra wondered where his wife would sleep when she arrived if he gave the bedroom to Annie.
“You can’t sleep on that old thing,” Kathy told Logan. “You’re too tall for one thing and it is the most uncomfortable piece of furniture in this whole place.”
The boys started to wrestle again and Kathy immediately put a stop to it by pulling out some cookies and a gallon of milk out of the paper sack. Soon all four children and Annie had gathered around the small kitchen table for a snack.
“I have an idea, Logan,” Kathy said. “I know you don’t know me from Adam, but Jed and I, we have an extra room that Annie could use.”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Logan started to say, but Kathy continued as if he hadn’t said anything.
“I am familiar with people with Down syndrome; my sister had it. She died when she was a teenager from a heart condition. I would be pleased if you allowed her to stay with us. She could still eat with you and spend time with you when she wants to, but she could be with Jed and I when you are working.”
Logan hesitated and Sierra could tell that he was thinking seriously about Kathy’s offer. “Annie is pretty functional and follows directions well, but she needs to be watched; she likes to wander. That’s what the dog is for.”
Kathy waved his concern away with her hand and handed each of the children another cookie. “I think there are enough of us around the ranch that we can keep an eye out for her.” She stopped and looked Logan straight in the eyes as if wanting him to know her sincerity. “I promise you, she will be no trouble. I would be honored if you let her stay with us.”
Logan nodded his permission and Sierra thought he looked relieved that Annie was going to be looked after. She again wondered when his wife was going to come to look after his boys.
“I need to figure out daycare for the boys, too,” Logan said. “Is there anyone close who could watch them during the day when I am working?”
Sierra shook her head. “We are over an hour away from any kind of businesses like that. When is your wife…?” she stopped her question when his face showed surprise.
“Didn’t Sheridan tell you? My wife died about a year after the boys were born.”
“I’m so sorry…” Sierra stammered.
“It’s okay. You obviously didn’t know.” Logan smiled at her and Sierra felt her heart jump at his grin. “Now I have a question for you. What do you do with your girls during the day?”
“I homeschool them. I usually keep them with me all day.”
“Would you be willing to watch my boys? I will pay you for your time.”
“Sierra is a certified teacher,” Kathy put in with a grin.
“Even better,” Logan said. “Maybe you could teach them along with your girls.”
Sierra hesitated. She could tell in the few minutes since he arrived that the boys were going to be a handful. Did she really want that responsibility? “I guess we can give it a try,” she finally agreed. “But I don’t want you to pay me.”
She argued with Logan about being paid for a few minutes until Kathy interrupted again. “Well, now that Annie has a place to stay and Sierra has agreed to watch your boys, it is time to help you unpack. You can argue about pay later. Kids, let’s get this new family settled.”
Kathy took over and soon she had all four children helping to carry small items from the truck into the cabin. Jed showed up with a few hired hands and very quickly all of their belongings were in the cabin, except Annie’s few suitcases which had been taken to Kathy and Jed’s home.
While the truck was being unloaded, Logan led a large beautiful horse out of the back of the horse trailer. It was pure black in color, but its mane and tail were brown. One of the hired men offered to care for the horse, but Logan shook his head and started to walk the horse around in a circle a few times, giving him some exercise. Logan then followed Jed to a nearby barn to stable the horse.
Sierra stood still and watched Logan walk away as he led the large horse and something inside her jumped again.
“There’s nothing I like better than to see a man with a horse,” Kathy commented as she stopped beside Sierra, each of her hands gripping a boys’ smaller grimy hand. “I think things are going to become mighty interesting around here.”
Sierra glanced sharply at the older woman and noticed laughter in her gray eyes. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“If you don’t, you soon will,” Kathy laughed and then walked away with all the children and Annie following towards the Ranch House.
Chapter 9
Sierra sighed with relief as she settled all the children in front of a movie. She did not like using the TV to babysit, but she was at her wits end. Logan had dropped his boys off early that morning so she could watch them per their agreement. She had been running ever since. Mason and Noah were walking (or running) disasters. The morning started out in the vegetable garden with the idea that she would show the boys how to plant pea seeds, until they turned them into shooting objects at each other. Mason pulled up half a row of small spinach seedlings before Sierra could stop him.
She decided to try to do some inside activities with them and took the children to her rooms for some sit down arts and crafts. This also was a mistake. While Ashley and Elysha had fun with stickers, glue and colored paper, Mason and Noah stuck the stickers on everything but the paper, spreading the glue all over the place. A container of glitter also was “accidentally” spilled. Even after cleaning the glitter up with a rag and the vacuum, Sierra knew she was going to see glitter in the schoolroom for some time to come.
When it was lunchtime, Sierra made the mistake of leaving them alone with Ashley and Elysha for a few minutes to check on the food. When she returned, Mason and Noah had started a “marker war” with Ashley and Elysha and all four of them had colored marker on their arms, hands, faces, and clothing. Sierra was grateful the markers were not permanent, but she was not able to totally wash the colors off the kids.
She tried to put the boys in time-out for this new offense, but they refused to listen and short of sitting on them, she gave up. Sierra quickly fed them lunch and sat the four kids in front of the TV. As she reviewed the events over in her mind of that morning, she knew she needed to have a talk with Logan about his boys. They needed to be more under control or he would have to make other arrangements.
When Sierra thought this, she felt a little guilty. She usually did not have trouble keeping children entertained. She was able to divert their attention when needed and could hold their interest when she wanted to. She knew the boys had been uprooted from their home in Wyoming. Maybe the change had been a bit traumatic for them and they just needed some time to settle in. She sure hoped so because she knew she could not take much more of what she had just experienced.
Sierra asked Kathy to sit in the room for a while with the kids. Annie joined them, showing interest in the movie. Annie had spent her morning following Kathy around and trying to help with whatever Kathy allowed her to do. Sierra could tell that Annie saw Kathy as a substitute mother.
She gratefully left the kids in Kathy’s care and headed towards the horse barn whe
re she hoped she would find Logan. She walked slowly and started to feel calm as she looked around at the mountains surrounding the family land. She could hear the river faintly in the distance. These sights and sounds always calmed her. In her perspective, this place was a little heaven on earth.
She arrived at the barn and started to look around. The barn was mostly empty of horses with only one black mare in one of the stalls. She quickly saw that Logan was not in the barn, so she looked in the fenced field behind the barn and immediately saw him at the far end. He was on a dark brown horse and she leaned against the wooden fence and watched as he rode the horse in a large circle.
Watching Logan on the horse was awe inspiring. Sierra could tell he had total control of the horse. They were as one. He had on a black cowboy hat that shaded his face, but Sierra could still see his firm jaw and quick grin. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched him and she frowned at the feeling. Why was she reacting to this man? Of course she was attracted to him. Who wouldn’t be? A woman would have to be dead to not have her heart skip a beat as she watched Logan ride on the horse. She vowed she would not allow herself to be caught up in this cowboy.
Logan must have noticed her because he rode across the field to where he was standing. As he stopped the horse in front of her, he looked down at her intently and sure enough, her heart skipped a beat again. Sierra shook her head slightly with an inner anger towards herself.
“Is something wrong with the boys?” Logan questioned as he swung down off the horse. He draped the reins over the horses back and allowed him to graze as he strode towards her.
“Why would that be your first question?” Sierra asked dryly.
“Because they tend to get themselves in trouble,” Logan answered with a grin.
“And you were going to let me in on this secret…when?”
“I was hoping they would turn over a new leaf. You know, new job, new house, new life,” he explained still smiling at her.
“Well, you hoped in vain. We need to talk.”
“Why don’t we take a walk and you can show me some of the ranch while we talk?” Logan suggested as he swung his large muscular body easily over the fence and landed very close to her. Sierra took a step back but not before she noticed tiny gold specks in his dark blue eyes. She had never seen that color before and was almost mesmerized for a moment. She took another step back to put more space between them and those dark blue eyes sparkled with amusement. It was almost as if he suspected what was going on in her heart.
“That’s fine,” Sierra quickly agreed, thinking that if they were walking she wouldn’t have to look at him. She started walking in the direction away from the Ranch House and Logan followed. They were both silent for a few minutes as they walked along some other fenced fields. Some had a few horses in them and some had cattle.
“Tell me what Mason and Noah did to bring you out here,” Logan finally said.
Sierra briefly described her morning with them. “In short, they are out of control. I know they are little boys and boys are curious and make messes, but they just do whatever they want. They won’t listen to anything I say.”
“I don’t know what to say, except I am sorry. I will talk to them.”
“I am not sure this arrangement is going to work, watching your boys. You might have to make other arrangements. I am also supposed to be setting up the new program of activities for teens and children. I can’t do that job if I have to watch your boys every second. I know they are only four years old, but they should be able to entertain themselves without getting out of control.”
“This has to work. Didn’t you say there really wasn’t another option?” Logan questioned with an edge to his voice. “I said I would talk to them and I will. Tomorrow should be better.”
Sierra decided to let the matter drop and changed the subject. She knew no parent liked to hear that their kids were out of control. She briefly showed him the rest of the ranch, but she felt frustrated that Logan was not taking her concerns seriously. She wanted to just get back to the Ranch House and leave Logan to his job with his horses.
****
The next day wasn’t better. It wasn’t worse either. Sierra quickly learned if she could keep the boys busy, they didn’t get in as much trouble. She also learned if she kept them apart so they couldn’t plan anything, they also didn’t get in as much trouble. They couldn’t conspire together, although they seemed to be able to know what each other was thinking.
Sierra was familiar with this “gift” since her own twins did the same thing. The difference was Ashley and Elysha used it to comfort each other, not to get into trouble. Sierra once again sought out Logan after she had put the girls to bed and she hoped the boys were also asleep.
“Things didn’t go well today either,” Logan guessed when he opened his door of the cabin and saw her standing there.
“I was hoping you would tell me their history. It might help me understand and maybe help them.”
Logan sighed and ran his hand through his dark brown hair. He looked behind him as if making sure the boys were in bed and asleep, then turned to her and nodded.
“Let’s talk outside,” Logan suggested as he grabbed his cowboy hat off the kitchen table and placed it on his head. They both headed towards some logs that had been set around a large firepit that was located a few yards away from the cabin.
Sierra sat down next to Logan, wishing she had brought a heavier jacket. It still got quite cold at night in the mountains.
“Why do you think knowing their history will help?” Logan questioned. “They really aren’t bad boys.”
“No, they are not bad boys,” Sierra agreed. “But they are out of control.”
“No, they aren’t,” Logan disagreed. “They are just boys. They just need time to settle in.”
“Who watched them while you worked in Wyoming?”
Logan’s jaw twitched for a moment. “Their grandmother did. They were living with her.”
Just that one sentence told Sierra a lot. “Your mother?”
“No, my late wife’s mother. She took them in after Sarah died. They were almost a year old.”
“She’s had them up until now?” Sierra tried not to judge Logan, but she couldn’t understand how someone would allow another person to raise his kids, even if that person was a relative. This was exactly what her father had done.
“Harriett, their grandmother, felt it would be best if they lived with her and she took care of them. I certainly couldn’t. I had to work to support them.”
“They must miss their grandmother desperately,” Sierra commented, although she had not heard either of them talk about her.
“Maybe so,” Logan agreed, although reluctantly. “She tended to spoil them. She gave in to whatever they wanted. At first I didn’t see the harm in it. They don’t have a mother and I figured a grandmother’s love was the next best thing.”
Sierra didn’t say anything. She wanted to point out to him that her twins didn’t have a father, but they did not seem to have the behavioral problems his boys did.
Logan sighed, took off his cowboy hat, and ran his fingers through his hair again as if in frustration. “When they were three years old, I tried to make arrangements with Harriet for them to move in with me. The boss on the ranch I was working on had built a small home and was willing to rent it to me. There was a woman who lived on a ranch nearby who ran a daycare in her home. She could have watched them during the day, but Harriett became so upset with the idea of the boys leaving, that I backed off.”
“Harriet seemed to give into the boys even more after that. I saw my sons at least once a week, usually on Sundays. I would take them to church and then spend the day with them. I knew I needed to get them away from their grandmother’s constant influence, but I didn’t know what to do, and they seemed happy with her.”
“They are your sons.” Sierra commented. “You have every right to remove them from her home if you wanted, even though she is their grandmother.”
“When Sheridan called and offered me this job, it seemed as if God had intervened in my behalf. Harriett couldn’t argue with me over the fact that I needed to take my sons with me to this new job in Colorado.”
“So she has accepted the changes?”
“Nah, probably not. She didn’t even argue with me and was way too quiet when I told her. I know she was angry. She handled it too well, now that I think about it.” Logan paused as if thinking about the situation and then shook his head. “Anyway, the boys are with me now and I will never let them go back to her, no matter what. They belong with me.”
“Yes, they do belong with you.” Now that Sierra knew what Logan had been going through, she decided she would do her best to help him with his sons.