Stacie got a sinking feeling in her stomach. What if her mother had called again? She should have told them, but there wasn’t really anything to tell. Maybe it was something else.
“Can you guess who called, Stacie?” Jake asked her, turning her face away from the floor she had been staring at and turning it toward his.
Stacie thought she might be in trouble, but hadn’t wanted to talk about her mother, so she shook her head no.
“I think you do, babe. Who do you think it could have been?” Jake was still holding her face toward him.
“My mother,” Stacie mumbled. She really wanted to be anywhere but there.
“Is that because she called before?” Jake was persistent, if nothing else. She had to give him that.
“Uh huh,” she mumbled again, squirming a little in his lap. She was getting very uncomfortable.
Seth turned her head toward his and said, “Honey, tell us what’s going on.”
“Well, my mom called the other day, but I didn’t talk to her long and she asked about the house, and I told her I had to go,” Stacie answered in a rush.
“Did she say anything else, baby?” Grant asked.
Taking a deep breath, Stacie blew it out slow and said, “I didn’t give her a chance. I hung up on her when she started asking about the house. I was afraid she was going to want money. I hoped she would just go away.”
“No such luck, baby. She called me today and wants half of what you sold the house for. Somehow, she found out you sold it and now thinks half of the money from the sale and insurance policies should be hers. I explained that you had to use it to pay the hospital bills, but she doesn’t care,” Jake explained.
“Oh God, what am I going to do? I don’t have the money to pay her!” Stacie jumped up off Jake’s lap and ran out of the room before any of them could catch her. Flying up the stairs, she went to her old room and slammed the door, throwing herself on the bed, crying.
Grant started to follow her, but Seth stopped him. “Hold on, give her a few minutes, and then we will all go up. First, I want to hear from Jake and find out what’s going on so we reassure her. Regardless, we will get her out of this.” Seth then turned to Jake. “So, what’s up?”
“Stacie’s mom is a total bitch. When I tried to explain that Stacie had to sell the house and pay the hospital bills, she really didn’t care. Stacie’s mom thinks half the money should be hers and she wants her share if she has to go to court to get it. I called Mike Eades, our attorney, and he’s more than happy to represent Stacie, and doesn’t think that she has to worry about anything. If she can prove she used the money to pay bills and they were all for her father, it shouldn’t be a problem.
“He also said that if the house was not in Stacie’s mom’s name and her name wasn’t beneficiary on the insurance policies, she couldn’t claim it. I’m sure Stacie’s dad removed Ramona from everything years ago. The woman always gave him trouble and I know he would have taken care of all of this.”
“That’s good to hear, and we can give her good news. I know she’ll be worried about paying Mike, but I think this is the best route to go. Let the mother sue and see how far she gets.”
“Great, let’s go tell her. I don’t want her to worry about this any longer than she has to. Jake, is there any way we can keep the woman from calling here again?”
“Yes, Grant. I can block her number and she won’t be able to get through. I’ll get Stacie’s cell phone and block the calls there, too.”
“Good, we don’t want her bothering our girl. She can go through Mike if she needs anything. I want everyone on alert, as she might try and show up here. She must have called the day we were all out branding. Stacie is not to be alone again, understood?” Seth was very firm on this point. They were not going to let Stacie’s mom get to her.
The three men headed up the stairs to tell Stacie what was going on and what they were planning to do about it.
* * * *
Stacie was relieved. She had been afraid the men would want her to leave if her mother started making trouble, and Stacie knew she was going to.
The next few days were quiet again and the men made sure she was never alone. If her mother had tried to call again, no one had said anything.
It was Friday, and it had been a wonderful day. She woke up with all three men in bed with her, then they had all taken a long shower. After breakfast, Jake and Grant had gone to do chores while Seth stayed with her. Once she had what she needed to do done, he had taken her out in the 4x4 and they went around the ranch. Even though Stacie had been working on the ranch for years, she had never seen the entire place. It was bigger than she thought, and she was amazed at all the cattle they had.
‘Over twenty thousand head,” Seth proudly informed her. “When my daddy was alive, we barely had five thousand, but my brothers and I have worked and grown the herd. We have breeding stock and make a nice profit from that, and then we sell some cattle for meat, also. The ranch is very profitable.”
Stacie was astounded. She knew the boys didn’t worry about money, but hadn’t realized how much stock they had and how much work the ranch was.
After lunch, Seth told her to put on something nice. He and his brothers were going to take her to Rapid City for dinner, and on Saturday they would do some shopping. “Pack a bag for the weekend, honey. We’ll get a hotel room and come back in a couple days. ”
Stacie was excited. She hadn’t been to Rapid City for a long time and loved shopping. She was sure going with her men would be even better.
On the way to the city, they had to go through Deadwood. “Have you ever been gambling?” Jake asked as they slowed for the town.