“Not yet. It’s still at the hotel,” she quietly replied.

“That’s no problem. We’ll have it towed there. The guys here in town do excellent work and they can have it delivered when it’s all done.”

“Thank you,” she replied. She was grateful to have found the ad in the paper. She really didn’t care what the job entailed. She was excited to have a place to stay and her first few paychecks would pay for her car. Life would start getting back to normal for her and Trevor, again.

Emily didn’t take long getting checked out of the motel. She didn’t have many personal items. She’d packed clothing and some of Trevor’s favorite toys and books but not much more. She’d been in a hurry to leave and she knew possessions could easily be replaced but her son couldn’t.

They were soon off and heading up a winding road, away from the small town. “The ranch house is not too far from town. It’s most definitely beautiful country out here,” Joseph said.

“I agree. I can’t believe I’ve never been out to this area,” she responded.

“Where are you originally from?” he asked her.

Emily didn’t know whether to tell him the truth or not but she knew if she started building a huge story around herself it would be difficult to keep it up. She decided it would be best to stick with the truth as much as possible.

“We’re from the LA area. We got sick of the crowds and pollution and decided to drive north until we found somewhere we couldn’t leave. It turned out Fall City became that place,” she said.

“You have great taste, my dear,” he responded.

Trevor started asking his usual myriad of questions and Joseph happily answered them. Emily sat back and enjoyed the drive in the comfortable sedan.

They turned off the road and crossed under a huge sign, which read Three Sons Ranch. The driveway was flanked on either side by huge oak trees seeming to be hundreds of years old.

She couldn’t see anything through the trees and her anticipation grew.

“My Great, Great Grandfather built this ranch over a hundred years ago, with not a penny in his pocket. He loved the land and knew he could make something out of it. It’s been passed down through the years. My beautiful wife, Katherine and I have chosen to live in the city but Mark has always been a country boy so it belongs to him now. His brothers come up and help out whenever they want to get away but no one loves it like Mark,” Joseph told her.

Emily was shocked to find Joseph wasn’t going to be her employer. “You don’t live here? I’m going to be working for your son?” she asked.

“Yes, you’ll be working for Mark. He had to go to Montana for some ranch business and won’t be back until next week. He asked me to take care of the employment situation for him. Don’t you worry though. There are plenty of staff so you won’t be alone up here. All our employees are trustworthy and good people. You and your son will be more than safe,” he reassured her, misunderstanding her fear.

She wasn’t worried about her safety. She was worried her boss wasn’t going to like having a five year old boy running around his ranch. She would have to make sure Trevor stayed out of Mark’s way and behaved really well. She figured they would be in some bunkhouse anyway and never run into the boss.

Emily lost her breath as they rounded a corner and the ranch house came into view. It was magnificent. She thought she’d seen wealth before, with everything her ex in-laws had but it was nothing compared to what was in front of her.

The home was three stories high and seemed to stretch out forever. It was beautiful and not at all what she’d expected. When Joseph had said a ranch house, she’d envisioned a great little eighteen hundreds farm house with a wrap-around porch. It definitely had a wrap-around porch but it was huge. There was a second story balcony as well, with several different French doors allowing access to it.

“Wow, is this a hotel? Is there a swimming pool?” Trevor asked excitedly, as they all stepped from the vehicle.

Joseph chuckled. “No, it’s the main house Trevor. You and your mom will be living here and yes, there’s a pool you can use anytime you want but only if there’s an adult there to watch.”

“Okay,” Trevor said and started running for the massive front doors.

“Trevor wait for us, please,” Emily yelled after him.

He stopped immediately and turned towards his mom, although he was practically dancing in place, barely able to control his excitement.

The door opened as they started up the stairs. “Hi Mr. Anderson,” the older gentleman said.

“Hello Edward. How are you doing today?” Joseph asked.

“I can’t complain,” the man answered.

“Emily this is Edward. He does a little bit of everything here and Edward this is Emily, the new cook. This strapping young man is her son Trevor. They will be staying in the East Wing. Can you show them to their rooms so they can get settled in?” Joseph asked. Emily missed the wink Joseph gave to Edward and the answering smile he gave back.

“It’s great to meet you, Emily and Trevor. Follow me, I’m sure you are anxious to get settled in,” Edward said.

“It’s really nice to meet you too, that sounds great,” Emily responded.

“Where are the dogs?” Trevor asked.

“After you get settled, I’ll take you out back and you can meet Sassy. She had puppies a couple weeks ago and I’m sure they’d love to meet you,” Joseph said.

“Come on mom, hurry,” Trevor said, grabbing her hand.

Emily laughed at the excitement shining in Trevor’s eyes. She hoped her new boss was a good man because showing this to her son and then having it taken away from him would be far too cruel.

“I’m coming,” she responded.

“I’ll meet you downstairs in the den,” Joseph said before heading off down a long hallway.

“This place is huge,” Emily said as they followed Edward up a large staircase and down an even longer hallway.

“You’ll get used to it in no time,” he responded with a kind smile.

Emily wasn’t so sure but nodded at him anyway. Everywhere she looked there were priceless portraits and antiques. It was all very overwhelming.

“I know you weren’t expecting two people, so Trevor and I can share a room. It’s really no problem,” she told him.

“Oh there’s no need for that. There are plenty of empty rooms in this old place just waiting to be filled up. Mark’s granddad built this place originally and Mark updated it by adding more square footage. He wanted plenty of room for his family to visit often. The Andersons’ value family and friends above all else,” Edward said.

“Here’s your room young man,” he said and opened the door. Trevor squealed, while he ran inside and jumped on the huge bed. The room was bigger than her old living room and dining room combined. “We didn’t know we were going to have a child here, so we will furnish it better for you over the next couple of weeks,” Edward said.

“There’s no need to do anything extra. This room is beyond fine,” Emily said, awestruck.

“Your room is right across the hallway,” Edward said and opened the door for her. She actually gasped. It was even bigger than Trevor’s room. There was a magnificent four poster bed centered in the room and a huge window with a comfortable looking window seat. She would never want to leave.

“You have a private bath through that door there. We’ll make sure it’s stocked up within the hour. Your closet is through the door over there. After you get settled, come downstairs and take the hallway Joseph took.” He turned and left before Emily realized she hadn’t even thanked him.

“Wow Mom, your room is even bigger than mine. Ooh you have a seat on your window,” Trevor exclaimed, as he came bounding into her room and headed straight for the window. “Oh! Look at all the horses,” he continued on.

Emily walked over to the window and stared at the picture perfect scene before her. Her bedroom view was the back of the property and a pasture with at least a hundred horses grazing.

“Look Mom, you can go outside right through here,” Trevor opened the French doors she hadn’t even noticed and stepped outside before she could even gather her thoughts.

“Trevor be careful,” she said and rushed after him. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noted the railing around the porch. Her son was safe. The porch wrapped around the entire back of the house. She saw another set of doors and wondered where they led but didn’t want to be nosey. It was probably another guest room or a hallway.

“Let’s unpack our suitcases and then head back downstairs. We don’t want to keep Mr. Anderson waiting on us,” she finally said.

“Yeah, then I can see the puppies,” Trevor said, before running back into the room and across the hall to his own room.

She quickly put her few things away and then headed over to Trevor’s room, where he was cramming his clothes into the dresser. She liked to let him do things on his own but knew she would have to redo the clothes later.

Emily collected Trevor and they began the journey back down the stairs and followed the hallway towards the sound of voices. She heard a loud laugh and stepped through a doorway into an inviting room. A warm fire blazed in the fireplace and Joseph was sitting on a comfortable looking sofa.

Emily was surprised by the room. It was set up far more for comfort than as a showpiece. She noticed a similar theme around the area of the house she’d seen so far. Expensive artifacts, displayed behind glass decorated the house and yet there were simple touches making it look homey and inviting. Fresh flowers were placed throughout and the furniture was comfortable.

“There you are. Did you get settled in?” Joseph asked, as he spotted them.

“Yes we did, thank you.”

“Can we see the puppies now?” Trevor asked.

“Trevor wait until Mr. Anderson offers,” Emily admonished him.

“It’s perfectly okay Emily. I understand Trevor is excited. Let’s go,” he said and led Trevor from the room.

Emily followed them down the hallway into the kitchen. She stopped and looked around in complete rapture. It was the most heavenly kitchen she’d ever stepped foot into. There was every known gadget she could imagine. She completely forgot about the puppies as she wandered around the massive kitchen, looking in the cupboards and the fully stocked industry sized refrigerator.

She realized what she was doing and looked up guiltily at Edward, who was smiling from the doorway. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have started getting into things,” she said to him.

“This is your area; I’m more than pleased to see you’re happy with the accommodations. On average you’ll be cooking for about twenty men a day, five days a week. It can get a bit overwhelming,” he said.

“This kitchen is a dream come true and I love cooking for large crowds. Please tell me they like to try new things and not just beans and ham,” she begged.

Edward laughed out loud. “I think if you’re doing the cooking, the men would eat worms.”