Mansfield Ranch
Authors: Jenni James
Mansfield Ranch
Jenni James
Copyright 2013 Jenni James
Cover design copyright 2011 Jenni James
Kindle Edition
Table of Contents
Chapter Three: I Hate Sean Benally
Chapter Nine: Popularity Blues
Chapter Ten: Girl on a Mission
Chapter Eleven: Rise and Shine!
Chapter Twelve: The Hammer Falls
Chapter Thirteen: Farmington Drama
Chapter Fourteen: Pride Comes Before the Fall
Chapter Fifteen: Packs a Punch
Chapter Seventeen: Reality Blues
Chapter Eighteen: Facing the Past
Chapter Nineteen: Forget Me Not
Chapter Twenty-One: Peace Heals the Heart
Chapter Twenty-Two: Promised Heart
Chapter Twenty-Three: Facing Reality
Chapter One: Surprises!
Eight years ago, my life was the happiest it had ever been. Eight years ago today, I was fulfilling a dream I’d never thought possible, an adventure and a dream I’d never thought would come true. I was going to a Native American foster family. Me!
Me
? Like, how wonderfully crazy is that, right?
Up until then, I had been the pitiful Little Orphan Annie. Yep. That was me. Well, except that I was Navajo and my hair was brown—nearly black—not red. And I couldn’t sing—or even carry a tune—to save my life.
And
I didn’t have a dog named Sandy—but a millionaire did foster me! Can you believe it? A totally awesome millionaire family fostered me!
It was like living in a dream—you know the ones with totally beautiful people who smile and hug you, and everyone treats you like an uber rock star?
Yeah, it was like living in one of those dreams. Except I didn’t have to wake up—it was real. And it was truly happening to me!
I remember crying through my giggles as I rode on my first airplane to live with my new family. It was a whole Navajo family, too. I was going to have a foster brother and two foster sisters and live on this huge ranch in Bloomfield, New Mexico, with them. It was going to be this crazy, wonderful adventure that girls like me could only dream of having. In fact, my case—being brought in by a millionaire with a traditional large family—had never been heard of in Albuquerque before.
I couldn’t wait to leave, either. I wanted as far away from Longfellow Elementary School as I could get. Now I wasn’t going to be teased for not having a real family. I couldn’t wait to start my life at my new school miles and miles away from my old one! I couldn’t wait to play Barbies with my two new sisters and spy on and tease my new older brother like crazy. My life was going to be oh, so full of laughter and happiness and giddiness. I knew it! And I couldn’t believe my luck.
October eighteenth. I sighed. Rolling over in my bed, I blinked at the alarm clock. Five a.m.
Ugh! Still too early to get up.
I’d been wide awake since four twenty. Slumping back against my pillow, I stared up at the ceiling. A shot of grayish-blue light went across half my room and down the wall from where the curtain wasn’t closed all the way.
I still couldn’t believe it’d been eight whole years since the Benallys invited me to stay with them. I’d officially lived in this house now for half of my life. I covered my face with the comforter, willing away the memories of my eight-year-old self as I first stepped over the threshold into the large house that was now my home.
Sheesh! Why did I have to be such a dork? Seriously! I should’ve known my life wasn’t going to be a bed of roses.
Not that I was complaining. The Benallys had been amazingly generous, more than I’m sure I’ve even deserved. It’s just—it’s just I thought we’d all get along a little better than we do. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Sean, I’m not sure I’d have a friend in the family at all.
“Psst! Hey, Lilly! Are you awake?”
I grinned, tucked the covers up around me, and whispered loud enough to be heard through my door. “No!”
“Liar.” Sean chuckled on the other side. “I knew you were awake. Now come on, let me in. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
A surprise?
“Fine,” I grumbled around my smile. “You can come in.”
A small stream of yellow light flickered into my room as Sean Benally opened the door and stepped inside. I gasped at the candlelit cupcake he gingerly carried toward me on a small saucer. Its flames danced across his mischievous features, causing a giggle to escape from my lips.
“What in the world are you up to?”
With as much caution as possible, Sean teetered, slowly lowering himself to the foot of my bed, and held the cheery cupcake out to me. His face was instantly hidden in the shadows. “I thought you’d want to celebrate your foster birthday.”
“My foster birthday? At five a.m.? Are you crazy?” I giggled again and clutched the plate with both hands. “I’ve never heard of such a thing before.” The little cupcake had the pretty swirled bakery icing on it and lots of flower sprinkles. Flower sprinkles were my favorite.
“Yep. Now come on—you gotta make a wish and blow out the candle.”
“Sean, now I know you’re crazy.”
“Hurry up and wish for something!” I could hear the grin in his voice. “I thought all girls liked to make wishes. Now make sure it’s something good. This is a magical cupcake.”
Magical?
I rolled my eyes and knew Sean had seen me when he chuckled.
What should I wish for?
“I can’t believe you even remember this date.” Mesmerized, I watched the flames spark and fling about a moment as I hesitated.
“Like I could forget the day I got my new baby sister.”
“Baby? Whatever!” He always called me that and he knew it drove me nuts. Sean was only three years older than me.
He chuckled again and I closed my eyes
. I wish for . . . I wish . . . um . . . that I could fall in love . . . or, or—oh! I know! I wish I’d get asked on a date.
Okay, so it’s lame—I know. But it was the truth. I quickly scrunched up my eyes and blew.
“What did ya wish for?”
“World peace.”
“Come on.” Sean snorted. “What did ya really wish for?”
I grinned and shook my head and then studied the perfect cupcake. “Nope. If I tell you, it won’t come true.”
“Aww . . . so it’s something really important this year. Hmm, I
will
figure it out—you realize that, don’t you? So you might as well tell me now.”
“Figure it out, then.” I smiled into the shadow where I knew Sean’s head was. “I’m still not telling.”
He leaned forward and I chuckled at the faint light that glittered off his eyes as he stared into mine. “Fine. Keep your secrets, because I have one of my own that I’m not gonna share unless you—”
I gasped. “You got her? You really got her?” I was so excited, I almost dropped the plate.
“Yes,” Sean grumbled as he rolled his eyes. “How can you always figure out what I’m thinking? I can’t keep anything from you, can—?”
“Is she here? Can I see her? Have you brought her home yet?” I couldn’t believe he’d gotten my horse! I had already set the little plate down on my nightstand and was scrambling off the bed, searching in the dark for my boots.
“Yes. Yes. Oh, and yes, she’s in the stable,” Sean answered as I slipped on a boot over my warm woolen socks.
I grinned up at him and almost lost my balance trying to shove my foot into my other boot at the same time. “I can’t believe it!”
“And before you ask, I got her yesterday afternoon and brought her home super late last night. She’s a real beauty, Lilly—prettier than any mare I’ve ever seen.”
“I still think you’re nuts for trading Flash and Tiger for her,” I replied as I threw on my hoodie jacket and zipped it up over my pajama top and bottoms. With a dash, I collected my riding gloves and paused at the door. “Well, are ya comin’?” I smiled my cheesiest smile.
Sean groaned, still sitting on the bed. “Now?”
“Of course now!” My voice turned all sugary sweet. “Have I told you yet how you’re the bestest person in the whole world and I love, love, love you more than six double-decker ice cream cones? Huh? Huh?” It was an old chant of ours, something Sean had made up years ago to convince me to learn to ride. It never failed.
“Grr . . .”
I giggled again. I knew that “grr.” Victory was mine. “Hurry up already. The sun’ll be up before I even get to see her.”
I heard more moaning and shuffling as Sean got off the bed and slowly made his way to me with a huge grin that he was failing miserably to hide. For the first time, I noticed he already had his coat on. In fact, he was fully dressed.
“Sean Benally! If you’ve already sweetened up Princess Buttercup this morning without me, then I’m gonna be really—”
“Now why would I go and do a thing like that?” he asked as he pulled a couple of carrots from his coat and dangled them above me.
“Yay! You didn’t!” I snatched a carrot from his hand and shoved it in my jacket pocket. “Come on, let’s go,” I said quietly behind me, already sprinting down the traditionally native-decorated hallway that led to the back of the house. Sean was hot on my heels.
“Slow down—you’ll spook her.” He chuckled as he desperately attempted to catch up to me.
Yeah, right
. The stable was at least a hundred yards away and he knew it. “Like I’d fall for that one. Good try.” I grinned as I yanked open the back door and stepped into the dark, crisp morning air.
“Okay, then, slow down cuz I wanna walk with you, not race you.”
I slowed down. Way down. Sean usually walked with me if he wanted to say something. “What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing really.”
I walked even slower, waiting for him to begin.
After a few seconds, he said, “I met the new neighbors yesterday.”
Ah . . . the Crawfords
. It’s all the Benallys had talked about for days. Apparently, there was a guy and a girl in the family who looked to be about seventeen/eighteenish, and the whole town of Bloomfield was going mad over them. Everyone who’d met them in the last week or so raved about how hot they were.
Sean’s sisters were determined to meet them before the week was over. I guess they had. “And are they as cute as Lauren and Alexis heard they were?”
Sean shrugged like a typical guy. “I don’t know. I guess so. The girl’s not bad.”
Not bad?
I grinned. “Which of course means she’s gorgeous!”
Sean rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything.
“So? And?” I prodded. “Come on, give details.” Our boots crunched on the hard gravel that led to the barn.
“Well—I don’t know. I’ll let you decide for yourself. Mom sent me over yesterday to invite them for dinner tonight.”
Tonight?
“Are they coming?”
“Yeah. They were really nice about it, too—you know, asking what they could bring for dessert, that type of thing.”
“So what’s up?”
“What do you mean?” Sean glanced over at me.
I grinned and bumped his shoulder. “You know what I mean. What’s up? Why do you need to talk about it?”
He stopped, so I did too.
We were about twenty feet from the stable. Twenty feet from Princess Buttercup, the horse I’d been dying to meet for over six months now. She could wait. “Sean? Is—is something wrong?”
He looked past me to the fields beyond the barn and out toward the land that connected with the Crawfords’ homestead. You could just make out our new neighbors’ house from where we stood. It was still all dark and cozy, nestled amongst some of the biggest fruit trees in the area.
“No—yes. Maybe. I don’t know.” Sean shook his head slightly and grinned his crooked grin down at me.
“You wanna tell me about it?”
He put his hands in his coat pockets and I waited. The brisk breeze lifted a few strands of hair across my face as I met his gaze under the faint starlight.
“I’m worried about you.”
What?
“Me? Why?” I grinned. I couldn’t help myself.
“Because that new guy, Harrison . . . he’s . . . he’s—”
“Scary?” I smirked.
“No. Stop laughing. I’m serious. He’s . . . well, you’re gonna like him.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No. It’s just . . . it’s just . . .”
And then it hit me. Like a tornado in a trailer park. My smile whooshed away just as fast. “Oh. Y—you don’t think he’ll like me?” I nearly croaked.
“No! Why would you say that? That’s not what I meant at all!” Sean closed his eyes and let out a huge puff of white fog from his mouth. “That’s the problem. I think he will like you if he got a chance to get to know you—he really likes funny girls. But he won’t get to know you, will he?”