Wounded Legacy Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

　
Sam and Lily arrived back at the ranch after breakfast with Ned and found Luke's truck gone. Sam might be angry with her father, but she didn't want him to have a relapse from doing too much too soon. She headed into the house to find her mother folding Lily's clothes in the laundry room. "Mom, I can take care of her laundry, you don't have to do that." Robbie smiled at her daughter, "Oh, I like doing it honey. That's my job around here. We all have our jobs to do. You, your dad..and Jake." Robbie looked at Sam as if she was challenging her to a quarrel. "Ok, how about Jericho? Does he have a job to do around here?" Sam countered. Robbie continued to fold the clothing, "No, he doesn't. Jake let him go this morning."

Sam hadn't figured on Jake taking over so soon, she shouldn't have left so early this morning. "Where is he?" Her mother looked stunned by Sam's tone, "Where is who?" Sam took a deep breath, "Jake."Robbie picked up the clothes and headed for the door, "I have no idea, I take care of the house, I don't know what anybody does elsewhere on this place. I just take care.. of..the house." Robbie had started to cry and dropped all the freshly done clothes. She bent down to pick them up and Sam took her by the hands, "Do you see what happens now, when Jake is allowed to rule the roost, Mom? None of us are safe from his wrath." She led Robbie into the kitchen, where Lily stood staring at the door. Sam looked at the door and saw that Jake was standing there with the door wide open. He had heard the whole conversation.

"Sam, I'm not the one upsetting Mom, you are!" he yelled at her. Sam stood up tall, " Yeah, I'm the one at fault here Jake, you are innocent, totally innocent. And..horse's fly!!" Jake took a step toward her and Sam stood her ground, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction anymore, and turn tail and run from him. Lily came and stood beside Sam, looking from one to the other. "Don't you hurt my Mommy!!" she cried at Jake. Jake turned red in the face and screamed at her, "She ain't your nothing kid, and you don't belong here at all." Sam didn't move a muscle, "We won't be here long Jake, you've taken care of that, haven't you?"

Jake snorted, "Somebody had to get things back in place, you sure aren't capable of doing anything right."

Robbie had stood and witnessed Jake's wrath against Sam, and was shocked to her very soul. "Jake, I had no idea...Sam, I'm so sorry honey." Jake turned and stormed out the house, spraying gravel behind him as his truck headed out the drive. Sam watched him go and became aware of another truck coming in. She hoped it was her dad. He had no business out in the truck so soon. It soon  became apparent that it wasn't her dad, as the truck pulled up in front of the house. Bubba got out and waved to her. Sam smiled and called him to the house, "Come on in."

After Sam had poured him a cup of coffee and sat in the chair opposite him, he looked down at his cup, "Sam, I'm awful sorry to have to do this, ya'll have already had your share of troubles, lately." Sam looked confused, "What do you mean, do what?" "Well, your check for those cows bounced. I held it for awhile and had the bank check to see if the money had come in afterwards. But I can't wait any longer, I need my money." Sam was astonished and couldn't speak. A million different things were flying around in Sam's head, but none of them made sense. "Bubba, I don't know what to say. I keep the books, that money should have been there, plus a lot more." Bubba shook his head, "Yeah, I know honey. I been hearing about all the money Jake's been..losing again. Guess he thought nobody'd know if he was over my way, doing his business. But it spreads like wildfire, when somebody is down on his luck in small towns like ours."

Sam took what he said and ran it around her head, with no good answer. "Mom!" she called her mother to the kitchen. Before Robbie could greet Bubba Sam started, "Mom, the money for the cows is gone. The check bounced!" Robbie put her hand over her mouth. "What did you give Jake access to?" Sam demanded. Robbie looked at her, afraid to answer, but finally said in a whisper, "Everything Sam. He wanted to take over the books, he said you didn't know how to do it, that it was your fault the money was messed up."

This was the final straw for Sam. She sat down and put her head in her hands trying to breath.

The back door opened and Luke came in, "Bubba, good to see you, I was headed over to your place later today, here's your check. I sure am sorry for the mix up. I would never have let this happen if I had been well. I seem to have lost my mind, along with that heart thing." Bubba took the check, "Is it good Luke? You can tell me, if I need to hold it for a while, we've been friends a long time." Luke smiled, "It's good. It's a new account." Sam's head flew up with this information. Her dad just held up his hand, for her to just wait, for him to explain himself to her later.

Suddenly, Sam knew that she couldn't just run away from her heritage, she had put her whole life into this ranch too, she couldn't allow Jake to run the whole thing into the ground. While her dad and Bubba talked about the cattle business over coffee, she made up her mind to stay on the ranch and work hard to keep it in the family. Somehow, her thinking had changed from anger to empathy for her father, while she sat across from him, listening to his voice and seeing his unsteady smile. Sam smiled to herself, thinking how she could now understand her father's wrenching decisions about his child, Jake. In the few months that she had become Lily's mom, her whole being had changed to think of Lily first. Her needs were more important than Sam's, and she could see now, that her father was being unfairly pulled between his children. She would have to work on her thinking some more later, at least she now knew the direction her life needed to go. She would stay and fight, but in a different way than before, she would be with her parents, instead of against them.

Bubba left and Sam waved goodbye as she got up to find Lily. She found her coloring in her room. Sam sat beside her on the bed and picked up a crayon, coloring in a section that Lily pointed to. It felt so good to just be with Lily, coloring a picture for no reason at all, just fun. While she colored, Sam realized that she needed to manage her time better, taking time to just be with Lily. Sam put her crayon down and looked at Lily, "Lil, do you know how to swim?" Lily laughed, "No!" Sam laughed too and patted her on the back, "Well, we are going to change that! Come on, we need to go shopping." Sam got off the bed and laughed at the look on Lily's face. "Come on girl, change your shirt!" Lily jumped off the bed and pulled open a drawer to get a clean shirt. She looked at Sam for approval. "Cool, that looks cute on you." Sam told her happily.

Robbie was sitting at the table with Luke, her head down and her hands folded together. She looked up when Lily ran into the room and said, "We're going shopping!" Sam looked at her mother, "Come with us Mom, we need bathing suits!" Robbie frowned and turned to Sam, "Bathing suits? Why?" Sam laughed, "Because this little girl doesn't know how to swim and we are going to fix that!"
Robbie, still frowning said, "I don't.. understand..." Sam leaned over and hugged her mother, "Just come with us Mom. We need some girl time, together." Robbie started to smile, slowly coming to understand what her daughter meant. Luke was silent as he watched this take place.

Sam went to her father and hugged him, "We're having lunch out today, so you are on your own." Luke was so thrilled to receive her hug, he couldn't say anything at all. "Dad, when we get home, we'll have a long talk and get all this worked out. Don't worry, it will be ok." Sam told him before she turned to go out the door with a very excited little girl, ready to get out the door now. Luke felt the weight of all that had taken place, suddenly feel lighter as he watched them leaving. He knew then more than ever, that he should have never counted Sam out, she would come through for them after all. Luke sat at the table all alone and cried. He had done so many things wrong for so long, he couldn't hold it in any longer. Finally, spent and tired, he went in and took a much needed nap in his recliner.

Robbie was unsure of how to act when she got into the truck with Sam, she almost felt trapped and wanted to jump out and run back to the house, her safe place. She stole a look over at Sam and Sam laughed. "You don't have to worry Mom, I'm ok and I'm not moving anywhere. Lily and I are right where we belong for now. Ok?"

Robbie sighed with relief and kept quiet, she had no idea what to say to Sam. They had been wrong to choose one child over the other again, and Jake had railroaded them into to doing what he needed, yet again. She was still sad and couldn't get over how wrong they had been, even though Sam appeared to be just fine. Better than fine, she noticed..strong and happy.