by Zoe Matthews
“But you said I was on the naughty list!”
“But you said you were sorry and that puts you back on the nice list!” Hunter told her with a tickle to her ribs as he lifted her from Sadie’s arms. “Why don’t you and I go finish cleaning up mommy’s room?”
Brooklyn whispered something in his ear which caused him to bark out laughter and then stifle it immediately as he looked at his daughter solemnly and shook his head, “No, I don’t think saying sorry gets you ice cream for lunch.”
He walked out of the room and everyone was silent for the space of a heartbeat. Then, as if a switch had been thrown, everyone erupted in talking. Babies. Decorations. Christmas lists. The crisis had been dealt with, in Collingsworth style, and the outcome was a family that had supported one another and was ready to face the next adventure. Together.
Chapter 8
Monday, December 15th…
Stephanie and Sierra were sitting in the Great Room, completing the last of the tree decorations when the front doorbell rang throughout the house. They’d spent the last few days creating decorations, stringing popcorn, making more cut out snowflakes, and enjoying the ambience of the house.
Before either of them could get up to answer it, they heard Annie yell from the kitchen, “I got it!”
They shared a grin and went back to their project. The sound of a male voice a few seconds later had them both pushing the craft items off their laps and heading for the hallway. Blake Anderson was standing in the foyer with Annie, trying to convince the young woman that it really was okay that he’d just dropped in.
“What is your name?” he asked her, keeping his voice calm and soothing.
Stephanie interceded before Annie could answer. “Mr. Anderson. This is Annie. She’s Logan’s sister.”
“Ah!” he said with a nod of his head. “Stephanie, is Sheridan available? I realize you all probably have many things going on this week in preparation for the wedding, but I really need to speak with him for a few minutes.”
“Let me go get him,” Sierra offered. She turned back down the hallway and rapped her knuckles on Sheridan’s office, but when she pushed the door open, she didn’t see him anywhere around. She continued down the hallway, smiling when she heard Sheridan and Megan talking about the ranch’s financial books.
She paused in the doorway, watching as Sheridan let his fingers rub absently across the back of Megan’s neck. “Excuse me,” she said softly.
Sheridan looked over his shoulder and then stepped aside as Megan spun her chair around. “Sierra! Hey, how are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling fine. Sheridan, Mr. Anderson is here asking to see you.”
“Blake Anderson?”
“One and the same.”
“I wonder what he wants. It’s a long drive out here, and I doubt the roads were all that clear,” Sheridan said as he frowned.
“I don’t know. Do you want to come talk to him?” Sierra asked.
“Sure.” Sheridan winked at Megan. “Be right back.”
Sierra trailed after Sheridan, wondering what business had brought the attorney for their father all the way out to the ranch.
“Mr. Anderson, what can I do for you?” Sheridan asked, extending his hand and shaking that of the other man.
“Well, I actually might want to save that explanation for a time when all six of you can be present.”
“All six of us?” Sheridan asked.
“Yes. Is everyone else available?”
“Sadie and Stella rode with Spencer down to the lodge,” Sierra said.
“Why don’t you radio Spencer and have him bring the girls back up here? I’ll call down to the barns and have Logan round up the rest of the men.”
“I hardly think you need to assemble people other than your siblings,” Mr. Anderson exclaimed.
Sheridan gave him a solemn look. “We are a family now. My brother, sisters, and their respective spouses and fiancés. Whatever brought you here today most likely will affect all of us.”
“True, but…”
“Why exactly did you drive all the way out here to see us?” Sierra asked. As the second oldest, she felt a surge of protectiveness for her entire family rise up.
“It’s about your father’s will.”
Sheridan nodded. “I assumed as much. Will you be needing anything other than our presence?”
“No.”
“Fine. Stephanie, would you mind showing Mr. Anderson into the Great Room? I’ll go make that phone call and join you shortly.”
“Sure.” Stephanie led the man back down the hallway, indicating he could have his pick of seating before everyone else arrived. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Some water would be very much appreciated.”
“Sure.” Stephanie walked over to the bar and pulled out a bottle of water. She handed it to the attorney and then resumed her earlier seat. Whatever the man had to say must be important.
Sierra came back in a few minutes later with Annie, Misty, and Kathy in tow. The younger children were watching an animated Christmas movie, and Jed had offered to stay with them. Annie and Misty had asked to join the adults, and Sierra had seen no reason to refuse the request.
Sheridan entered with Megan. “Logan’s rounding up everyone now.”
“Spencer’s bringing the girls back now as well,” Sierra told him.
Sheridan nodded his head. “So Mr. Anderson, this must be fairly important since you didn’t call, and you drove over an hour to get out here.”
“Well, today is the 15th of the six month since you all returned back home. Per your father’s instructions, I am to read you a letter he wrote.”
“Another letter?” Sierra asked curiously. “Why didn’t you give it to us back in May?”
Blake Anderson shook his head, wishing his late client had been easier to deal with. “You father left this letter and said it was only to be opened if it looked like you were all going to succeed in living here for the full six months.”
All heads turned when they heard the front door open and a bevy of voices enter the house. As everyone filed into the Great Room, the couples naturally paired up, as the turned curious eyes towards the attorney.
Blake quickly assured himself that all six Collingsworth children were present and accounted for, and then he held up a sealed envelope. Clearing his throat, he began. “When your father met with me to discuss the finer details of his will, he gave me two letters. One letter was to be copied and sent to each of you if you had chosen to not honor his last request to move home for six months. I was instructed to burn that letter when the six months are over.
“The second letter was to be read to you all on the 15th day of the month, wherein, your six month time frame would be completed. That would be today.”
Sheridan looked around the room and then back at Mr. Anderson. “My father required that you personally deliver and read this letter?”
“Yes, sir. He did. May I continue?”
“By all means.” Sheridan waved him on, a perplexed look on his face. His father had oftentimes been hard to deal with, and not one for showing affection of any kind. At least, not after his mother had passed away. The emotion contained in the letters he’d written to each of his children had shown more emotion than Sheridan had thought him capable of.
Mr. Anderson carefully opened the envelope and then flattened out the piece of parchment inside. He looked around the room, and then he began to read –
My Dearest Children:
If you are being read this letter, then know that I am terribly proud of you for honoring my last wishes. I hope that you have found the last six months fulfilling and that the bond between you all has grown leaps and bounds.
I am sure by now that Spencer has solved the riddle surrounding my untimely death. He always liked a mystery, and being a pilot himself, I know that he will have found the cause of my plane crash puzzling.
Please don’t judge me too harshly children. The thought of wasting a
way and burdening you all to care for me was worse than admitting how much I had neglected you over the years.
Yes, I am a proud man, and I hope you can understand my need to go out of this life with my dignity intact.
Sheridan – I always put too much pressure on you, and I hope that you have learned to share the burdens associated with running the ranch with your siblings. I trust you have been successful and that the ranch is everything you wanted it to be.
Sierra – my little peacekeeper. I trust those skills have been put to good use as you all learned to get along with one another. Give your girls a hug from me, and know that I wish I could have given them more myself while I was still with you. They reminded me so much of you and your sisters, and I’m positive they are going to bring you many tears of happiness in the years to come.
Stephanie – my hope for you is that you have learned to lean on your brothers and sisters. You were always so organized and such a hard worker, and yet I don’t think you ever took the time to truly appreciate the rewards of your hard work. I hope you have learned to do so now, and that you count your siblings as friends and family.
Sadie – I hope you’ve learned to smile and relax once again. I never told you this while I was alive, but your daughter Brooklyn is the spitting image of your mother when she was a toddler. There is an old wooden crate full of pictures in the far reaches of the attic. Inside, you will find a picture album from you mother’s side of the family. Have Jed retrieve it for you when you’re ready. Be happy and enjoy the blessings of this life.
Stella – I hope you have released the guilt you carried with you over your mother’s death. If not, this is a wakeup call to your siblings. This needs to be discussed and dealt with. If you have already come to terms with this issue, I’m proud of you.
Silence on important matters only leads to more heartache. Kids. I know you might say I’m being hypocritical here as I chose to end my own life rather than discuss my failing health. And so I am.
I want more for all of you. Use my example and learn from it. Talk to one another. Often. Share your dreams and your fears with one another.
Spencer – help Stella if need be. You two have the bond I wish for all six of you. I hope that through these last six months you’ve found pleasure in your differences and so much joy in your similarities that none of you want to leave the ranch when the six months is completed.
I wish I could be there to see all of your children grow up, and to share in the ups and downs that life is sure to bring. I hope that all of your dreams are coming true, and that you have discovered the greatest gift in this life isn’t material in nature. It is the bond between family and friends.
Hold onto that. Hold onto each other. I pray that you all find the happiness I found with your mother many years ago.
You’ve done as I requested, and regardless of the outcome – the money is now yours to do with as you wish.
Mr. Anderson, by virtue of this letter, I now suspend the last fifteen days of the time period and request that within the next seven days you make available to my children the money to which they are entitled.
I hope in some way, you have been able to forgive me for the past, and will be able to speak well of me to your children. I love you all, and am very proud of you.
Your Father
Chapter 9
The atmosphere in the Great Room was somber as Mr. Anderson finished reading the letter and then folded it neatly and returned it to its envelope.
Sheridan was the first to speak up. “Mr. Anderson, I think I can safely say that we would all appreciate a copy of that letter.”
“Of course.” He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a stack of paperwork. “I suspected your father would be ending the six month time period in his letter and took the liberty of finalizing the paperwork which will start the process of moving the money for each of you to your own accounts.”
He began passing out papers that were clipped together to each of the siblings. When all six of them had their paperwork, he began handing them each pens with which to apply their signatures.
Stephanie looked around the room, and could tell that her siblings were feeling the same way she was. She caught Sheridan’s eye, and when he simply nodded at her raised brow, she spoke up. “Mr. Anderson, could you give us all a few minutes?”
The attorney looked a little taken aback, but then he nodded and headed towards the doorway. Kathy joined him. “I’ll take Mr. Anderson through to the kitchen. Just holler out for us when you need him back.”
Sheridan watched the two leave and then stood up. “Wow!”
Sierra smiled at him a little sadly. “That’s an understatement.”
Sadie still had tears in her eyes when she stood up. “As soon as we’re done here I’d like to find that chest of pictures.”
Spencer joined her and nodded. “We’ll go up and search for it once Mr. Anderson leaves.” He looked around the room and then asked, “So, is everyone comfortable with the way things are going down?”
No one nodded their head. Stella finally spoke up. “I think maybe I’d like to see most of my money put back into the ranch. I mean, we all are getting our own homes if we want them, and the ranch not only pays all of our living expenses, but we’re all drawing a salary from it as well.”
Sheridan looked around the room. “Do you all feel the same way?” One by one, they all nodded their heads.
Sheridan turned to Megan and asked, “You’re the money guru. How would this work?”
Megan smiled and spoke to them all. “If you want to place the majority of your individual inheritance back into the ranch, I think you should consider making the ranch and all of its assets a family trust. That would enable you to put money into the trust and take it back out at some time in the future without the fear of being taxed on the money twice. There will also be significant tax savings by placing the initial money into the trust.”
“That sounds good,” Spencer said. “I think we can all agree that if someone wants their money back out in the future, it can be taken out without any hard feelings.”
“With interest,” Sheridan stated. “If you’re all going to invest in the ranch this way, the ranch is going to pay interest on that money. Can we do that?” he asked Megan.
“I think there’s probably some way to make it work. There will need to be paperwork drawn up that each person will sign designating the family trust as the keeper of their inheritance, minus whatever amount you all decided to keep for yourselves.”
“Mr. Anderson could probably handle that,” Sheridan nodded. “Hey, Kathy!” he hollered out loudly.
Moments later, she and Mr. Anderson re-appeared. “Ready to get this paperwork finished?”
Sheridan shook his head. “Not quite yet.” He briefly outlined what they wished to do and Mr. Anderson looked stunned.
He looked around the room and then asked, “None of you want your full inheritance?”
Sierra looked at him and shook her head. “No. Together, we can do so much more with that money. We’ve learned that over these last six months. Together is much better than alone.”
“Well,” he stated, receiving back the stacks of paperwork he’d handed out earlier. “I’ll need to draw up some new paperwork, and we’ll need to get the family trust established. It might take a few days to accomplish that…”
Sheridan waved his concerns away. “I think I can speak for everyone here and say that next week is fine with us. As I’m sure you’re aware, we have a double wedding taking place at the end of the week.”
“Yes, I was aware of that fact. I even sent back my response card.”
“Great! How about we let Mr. Anderson work out the details on this family trust, and after the wedding, we get back together with him and finalize the transfer of the funds?” Sheridan asked everyone.
“That sounds good. Speaking of wedding…” Stella began.
“…we all have things to get back to,” Spencer finished for his twin.
They shared a smile that only twins could understand. Mr. Anderson looked around the room and then spoke to everyone. “I think I’m envious of the way you’ve all pulled together here. You all seem to genuinely like one another.”
Sheridan laughed as he escorted the perplexed man from the room. “Not only do we like each other as siblings, but we like each other as human beings. And each of the men and women we’ve brought into our family fit into the same category. You might say, we are now the epitome of a tightknit family.”
“It shows,” was Mr. Anderson’s only comment as he walked down the path towards his vehicle. Sheridan watched him go, and then closed the front door with a smile.
He looked up at the ceiling and whispered, “Way to go, dad! Thanks.”
Chapter 10
Friday, December 19th… the afternoon before the wedding and celebration!
“So, did you get Father Alexander situated alright in cabin three?” Stephanie asked as Spencer and Emma came back inside the house.
“We did. He was really impressed by the renovations that have been done to the cabins. I guess he was up here years ago to visit dad, and stayed in one of the cabins. He likes the improvements very much,” Spencer commented.
“Good. Okay, so Stella and the other girls are just about finished with the additional trays of food. They need to be taken down to the lodge and stored in the fridges there,” Stephanie informed them.
“What about the dresses?” Emma asked.
“They were delivered an hour ago. Kathy had them placed in the lower guest bedroom. I peeked, and they’re gorgeous.”