Summer Leah Ranch

DuckieSue

DuckieSue

Junior Member
“Now this nation that I love is fallin' under attack.


A mighty sucker-punch came flying in from somewhere in the back.


Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye,


Man, we lit up your world like the fourth of July.


Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,


And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.


And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell,


When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell.


And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you.


Ah, brought to you, courtesy of the red, white and blue.” The crew sang as we cleaned and load the guns that were the only things that put us between the enemies. People might just think the movies are more gruesome than real life but truth was it was PG compared to the scenes that a solider had to go through on the field while people back home sleep warmly in their beds. The one thing that had to stick to each soldier’s mind was that they were fighting for their home and everyone that they love and worship.


“Come on Luke; hurry up man. How’s Candice?” He asked as Luke hustled a little to pass him one last hay bell that they were unloading. “I was up all night with her last night. Sorry that you didn’t get booty” Luke mused jumping down from the tailgate before closing it shut. The sudden noise made both of them finch faint, snapping back to the sounds of bombs going off. They looked back at each other with a slight smirk. Brandon watched as his sister came in, “Oh hey there Miss. Know it all. What makes you so special in not having to get up at five?” Brandon asked with a smirk as he motioned for Luke to go get some more have from the other barn.
 
Autumn stuck her tongue out but almost immeadiately stuck it back in as she threw her arms around her brother's warm neck "I missed you," she said in her soft, child-like voice. Her wavy blonde was tied into a long braid and she wore her black hat on her head along with a pair of old blue jeans that had a few holes. To top the whole thing off she wore an army green t-shirt with print across her chest saying 'Welcome Home, Brandon!" Autumn had gone to bed early last night and hadn't gotten to see her big brother arrive last night. She grinned as she pulled back and breathed in the scent of alfalfa hay. She let out a small sigh and grabbed her brother's hand "Alright, you have to come see the new puppies." She half dragged her older brother out of the horse area of the barn and led him into the dogs' room. Inside were the two proud parents, Abby and Zippy. Beside them were six little puppies. Autumn chuckled as the smallest one whimpered "Aren't they just the cutest, Brandon?"
 
(omg Already forgot my character's name! was it.. hmm... Alex... no... Debbie!)


"My oh my it's American pie, to the chevy to the levie, but the levie was dry..." Her Pick-up truck stopped at a farm known as Summer Leah Ranch. She smiled at the beautiful scents of nature. She bent down and saw the hay scattered around the grass. She smiled, just a ranch, her dream ranch. Debbie Heart was going to stay here for a while, if she could get a hold of the owner. Debbie took her small suitcase and rolled it into the barn. She smiled at the profound thoughts and the never ending ranch. She finally made it to the house door and knocked. "Excuse me, anyone home?"
 
Mark’s old ford pickup truck barreled down the driveway of Summer Leah Ranch. Brandon and Luke had just got back from Iraq and he wanted to say hello to his long lost buddy. On top of that he had a possible new employee following close behind him. His Aunt Margaret had wanted him to introduce this Rosa girl to the Oakley’s. She was a quiet girl but obviously a hardworker, however there was something sad about her that he just could not put his finger on.


When he pulled in the driveway he saw that they already had a visitor. Sighing Mark got out of the truck and gestured for the girl to park her truck and trailer beside him. The small brunette got out cautiously and walked over to his side.


“So this is it?” Rosa asked in a small voice. Mark nodded looking across the huge property.


“Yeah just follow me they must be in the barn,” he said striding across the green lawn and into the barn. He passed by a woman who he had never seen before with a smile Mark, “’Cuse me m’am,” dipping his hat before he passed her. “Well, well, well what do we have here?” He asked a smile pulled across his face, "This is a rag tag bunch a kids for sure. I brought you a new ranch hand," he said gesturing to Rosa who was a few feet away. She was petting a huge stallion and seemed a bit lost in her own world.
 
Brandon tightly wrapped his arms around his sister sighing in content deeply. He had truly missed her. Her laughs, her smile, even that damn look that she gives you when she’s being a smartass. He would never tell her how much he missed her though. It was just a brother and sister thing. The brother isn’t supposed to show any kind of weakness in front of his sister. He faintly didn’t want to let go of her but he let her willingly pull away and drag him to the puppies. He smirked at her face lighting up at the sight of them. Just the smell of the dogs smelt more like home to him. Brandon would rather smell wet dogs than gun powder and sweaty Army boots. “Let me guess; you want to keep them all?” He mused as he reached up running his hand backwards through his sister’s hair just to mess with her nerves. “Come on let’s get to work. Could you even imagine what our father would say if he saw us standing around?” He said as he walked back into the horse barn, seeing Luke’s truck gone to get more hay. As soon as he walked through the doors to be welcomed by his good buddy, Mark, his grin grew slightly wider.“It’s nice to see you man. I’ll take your word on her.” He said shaking his hand before pulling him firmly into a quick brotherly hug. “When do you want to start ma’am?” He asked firm another to bring the woman out of her own world but still friendly enough to have a gentle smile across his face.


Luke had pulled out of the ranch but he raised a brow as he saw a strange truck in the Oakley’s driveway. It was just odd for someone to drive past all the barns and go straight to their home. He shrugged before kicking up some dirt with his mud tires as he revved the engine as he made his way hurriedly up to the Oakley’s home. Luke couldn’t help but quiet the truck when he saw it was just a slender lady knocking on the door. “Nobody’s home ma’am, everyone is at the barn working. May I help you ma'am? Directions maybe?” He asked thinking that just maybe she was lost.


{You’re accepted Kelsey}
 
Autumn chuckled and nodded a tiny bit. She reached up and smacked his hand as he ran it through her tightly pulled back hair. She turned around and poked his cheek knowing that it would aggravate him. Her bright blue eyes were shining and she tugged on her shirt to pull it down. She turned and picked up the largest puppy and grinned "This is Brando." She winked and set him back down. She pulled her braid around over her shoulder before setting her dark hat on her head. Abby barked quietly at Brandon and Autumn chukled slightly.
 
Debbie saw the brother and sister bonding and sighed. "Why didn't mother decide to have a son?" she asked. Debbie walked over and tapped the man. "I'm sorry to interupt? But do you all know where the owner is?" She smiled brightly and said, "I for'ot to introduce my self. I'm Debbie Heart."
 
Barry overheard Debbie asking for the owner. He walked over to her. "Hey. Yeah i'm looking for him too." Barry said. "I'm supposed to be working here this summer. The names Barry Owens."
 
Rosa jumped a little than blushed, how was she supposed to prove that she was worth his time if she couldn’t even hear his voice without leaping out of her skin? She took a deep breath and straightened herself up, “I can start any day now, I mean I was hoping to starting working today but I understand if we need to put it off a couple of days in order to work out an agreement. I have two horses that will need to be boarded and I was hoping that would come directly out of my paycheck,” she added her voice would gain strength as she spoke about horses because that was the only thing she was truly confident of.


The yelp and whine of the puppies made focusing on her future employer but her attention did not drift. She needed this job and she was not about to lose it because she was puppy crazy. However Rosa did not show her desperation it was well hidden under her quiet demeanor. “If you need a recommendation I can give you my previous employer’s number. I was also wondering if there were any motels nearby?” She still had not found a place to live and she figured she could crash in a hotel for a few weeks maybe even months. She did not need much.


“Long time no see Autumn, what’s been a full sixteen hours since I was out here helping you mend a fence?” Marcus teased lightly as he looked at the new pups. He cooed softly to the mother before scooping a brown one up into his arms. He looked at it a moment than set the puppy back down. The boy looked about the barn letting out a soft sight then crossed his arms and leaned against a support column. “How’s he doing?” he whispered genuine worry in his voice. He knew that the heat of war could mess somebody up and he carried about Luke and Brandon.
 
Brandon nodded to Rosa, listening intently to her words. His opinion of her at this moment was just another pretty girl that knows how to talk the talk to impress people. He motioned for her to follow before watching the people come in by seemed like herds, Brandon raised his brow faintly. He just was trying to figure out if his father had a sign up of job offers there. Was his father trying to get more people to help him out because he thought Brandon couldn’t handle the work mentally right now? His blood boiled at the thought but he didn’t let his emotions show as he shook Debbie’s and Barry’s hands with a welcoming smile. “Let me check on something right quick. Ya’ll may just go take a seat in the office. It’s second door to the left. I’ll get the paperwork for you all and then we’ll get to work. Autumn will show ya’ll around. Won’t you Autumn?” He said so his sister could hear him. He pushed her into doing things all the time, it wasn’t anything new. He laughed lightly before he reached into his pocket, retrieving his phone to call his father. After getting approval from him, Brandon walked into the office with a friendly image about him. “Alright let’s get this paperwork done with.” He said passing the clipboards out, placing an extra sheet of a motel advertisement on each of the clipboards. The motel that he promoted on the clipboard was affordable and just a mile from the ranch which made it convenient to new workers. The ranch was taking on new workers all the time because most work there for a few months then leave for college. In just a few minutes Luke returned with a truck bed stacked full with hay after he had gotten the woman where she needed to get to. When he got out of his truck a smile formed on his face at the sight of Candice standing at the barn doors. She had just arrived to bring him a southern style chicken biscuit. “Hey cowboy, sorry it took so long. The truck didn’t want to start today for some reason.”She said wrapping her slender arms around his neck once she had sat the paper bag onto the tail gate. “How did I get such a woman?” He asked mostly to himself before he kissed her lips passionately, not caring who was around.
 
Barry sat down in the office. "Thank you." he said taking the paperwork from Brandon. He glanced at the motel advertisement, and then around at all the people in the room.
 
Autumn nodded and did as her brother asked. As she heard her brother's call from his office she ushered the two back to his brightly lit office. She shut the door behind them and turned to Marcus, who held the smallest puppy who had been named Buggy because of his affinity with chasing bugs. A butterfly flew by just then and the puppy snapped at it and wriggled in Marcus' arms. Autumn gave a small smile as she spoke, "Honestly? Well, I'm not all to sure. I just got to see him this morning." She sighed and shook her head, her braid twisting about like a snake on her chest. A little black and white female puppy pawed at her leg and Autumn knelt down to pick her up. She craddled the puppy like a baby and let her gum her finger. She chuckled and smiled "Your a softie aren't you?" She turned to Marcus and their eyes locked. Autumn silently admired him, how his lean muscles held Buggy carefully yet strongly and how he wore his hat so it just began to cover his shining eyes. She blinked and came back to reality and realized her cheeks were flushed with a gentle pink. She lowered her eyes to the puppy in her arms as she spoke "Would you like to name her?"
 
After finishing up the paperwork, Barry stood up and walked over to Brandon. "Excuse me, here you go. I'm finished." he said handing the papers to Brandon.
 
(Sorry that this was so long I just had a million ideas so...yeah)


Mark nodded; he knew that for some the transition to civilian life was easy while others struggled with it. For the longest time his father pressured him to go into the military, just like his older brother Jack, but when the day came for him to sign up he got the call that changed his mind. Jack had put Mark’s phone number down as the ICE number or In Case of Emergency in his cellphone. Jack had only been back from his tour in Iraq for a month and during that time period he had been very distant, his moods shifted in a flash and he was hard to be around. But Jack had seemed to be on the mend as if things might be looking up, he had gotten a dog, Skeet, and was checking out online colleges. But it had not been enough, nobody knows what finally did it but Jack killed himself and like that he was gone from their lives. Mark was the one to get the call and was forced to tell his parents. When they got to the scene Skeet was whining by the body and wouldn’t let anyone but Mark get close to it. The dog didn’t understand what had happened to her owner and refused to leave its side. That’s when Mark realized he could not do it, he could not risk dying out their or at him and traumatizing his family one more time. It was why he was so worried about Brandon and Luke; he wanted to make sure that it did not happen to them too.


He was broken from his train of thought when Autumn said something about him being a softie and her eyes met his. It was as if time froze for a moment but than he snapped out of it, this was his best friend’s sister and therefore deep within off limits territory. Mark tried to lighten the mood by saying, “Oh come on, you know that real men are the ones who can prance around holding puppies and kittens while wearing daisy chains and pink dress and are still undoubtedly masculine. But if it makes you feel better to call me a softie than I guess I will just have to nurse my hurt feelings back to health,” trying to look hurt and put out.


His eyes fell to the puppy in her arms and he smiled. The man took a step back and shook his finger, “Uh, uh, uh you know that once somebody names a cute fur ball puppy they get attached. You are not pawning one of these puppies off on, I have a dog and I was not born yesterday,” he teased even though a perfect name had popped to his mind instantly. Mark’s mother was part Cheyenne Indian and had taught him a few words, his favorite was Ayasha meaning Little One.
 
Autumn chuckled "I was talking about the puppy, silly." she said and sat on a nearby stool, the puppy still nawing on her finger. She giggled and scratched the pup's head gently, "Markus, I'm not asking you to keep her. Just to name her." She glanced back up and felt herself get lost in his eyes again. She shook her head, putting shame on herself. This was, after all, her brother's best friend. What would Brandon say about her feelings. The fact that she had just spent two years alone on the ranch with only Marcus to keep her company had Definately made them closer. He knew her nervous habits and how her brigt blue eyes flickered around when she was lost in thought, or how when she was truly amused her laughter was like a loud bell. She dropped her eyes and chuckled. Yet again she was feeling things she shouldn't.
 
Rosa looked over the form it was mostly information about health insurance and medical slips for the horses. She was glad that she always kept a set of coggins in her wallet in case something like this occurred, she pulled everything out that was needed and after filling out the information she handed the clipboard back to him. “Do you mind if I get the horses out of the trailer, I don’t want to leave them in there too much longer? As long as they are tied up outside they will be fine but one of them isn’t comfortable in tight spaces for long periods of time. It is something I’m working on but it takes time, she is still kind of young,” she explained as she thought of her bay appaloosa mare. Babe was just a handful of spit fire which made her an amazing racer but at times difficult to control. Thankfully the mare finally trusted Rosa and things had begun to get easier.
 
Brandon waited a few moments to collect some paperwork before placing it back on the table to get around to later on it the day or leave it for his father to file out. His father was suppose to file paperwork while Brandon trains and work horses. Anything and everything his father ordered he did. “No problem. My sister will show you where to place your horses for the time being.” He said looking to the soorway. When Autumn wasn’t standing out at the doorway his temper unusually rose in a split second. “The hell is she?” He murmured underneath his breath to himself, going to the dog room. When he opened the door to Autumn still playing with the puppies he couldn’t help but snarl at the sight. He didn’t think much of his best friend in the room with her. Brandon always trusted him to look after his sister when he was Iraq, he never would think he would go after her romantically. It would be crossing a line that you don’t cross with a decorated soldier. “Autumn get your lily white ass out there like I asked. I know damn well you heard me.”He snarled, for a moment his mind was back in Iraq, ordering his men which made his voice sound harsh and direct. One of the puppies whimpered making him snap back to reality making him run his hand roughly through his shortened hair. “Please just go show those newbies around.” He said with a sigh before walking out, keeping the door open for her. “Ya’ll get a freaking room man.” He snapped lightly to Luke and Candice but when Candice pulled away all hell seemed to break lose. “Did I tell you to stop?” Luke accidently said with a witty attitude, he was just so used to being in control of people. Luke grabbed her wrist roughly as she tried to pull away. “Come on man! Calm the hell down. Remember how to treat your woman or do you need me to knock your sense back into you?”Brandon snarled pushing Luke up against a stall. “The hells gotten into you Luke?” Candice snapped walking backwards until turning and walking hurriedly to her truck. “I got to make things right man. I’ll see ya’ll tonight.” He said as Brandon let him go, shaking his head at the situation. It was none of his business.
 
Autumn's blue eyes stared, startled, at her brother. He never snapped at her like that. She set the puppy gently down and, eyes watering, pushed past Brandon and into the breezeway, not hearing Brandon's second group of words to her. She spotted the new people and walked down, black boots tapping against the straw and hay covered concrete. She reached the girl and led her to two empty stalls "Here ya' go," she said with a sniffle. Even being a grown woman she was rather soft. She had never been around much mean people before and hardly knew how to deal with being spoken to like she was a soldier. As the girl went to get her horses, Autumn sunk down to the floor, letting a few tears fall. Her brother had changed a great deal and Autumn wasn't sure how to deal with it.
 
Mark sighed, “Fine, call her Ayasha it means,” but before he could answer Brandon swung through the door fire blazing in his eyes. It was a look he had not seen since Jack was alive but Brandon seemed even more crazed. The mother dog growled behind him as he lashed out at Autumn, he wanted to yell at Brandon but knew that would only make it worse plus he was already gone after Luke. He turned a pleading eye to Autumn before saying, “Listen he didn’t mean it, he was just mad okay. I’m gonna go talk to him okay,” he whispered. Turning and rushing out the door. It was mayhem between Candice running off Luke and Brandon blowing up, things were getting messy fast.


He jogged to catch up with him, “Dude, Brandon will you just stop for a second,” Mark called as he caught up with him. As soon as he reached him, the guy realized he did not know what to say. Finally he decided to let Brandon start talking about the blow up if he wanted to, Mark was just going to try and get him to talk, “So it looks like you won’t be doing much what with all the help you got around here,” he said softly.


Rosa followed the girl to the stall feeling as if something was off. She had heard yelling but was unsure of what had happened; she knew it was not her place to meddle but if the girl was still there when she got back she might try and talk. Rosa jogged to the trailer and coaxed Babe and Jet out of it, the two horses were more than happy to oblige. Sighing she carefully led them into the barn making sure that Jet's chain was properly secured across his nose, he got frisky around new mares. However he was moderately well behaved she only had to snap at him once before he conceded and lowered his head. "Good boy," she cooed as she released him into his stall. When she turned Rosa saw that the girl named Autumn was still there but now she was crying. She decided to just hold Babe, the mare was surprisingly good with people who were sad. She was almost motherly. "Hey, I know its silly to ask but are you ok?" she whispered.
 
Autumn looked up and just shook her head as she replied "I can't expect you to understand," as she exited the barn, walking past Marcus and Brandon as she hurried up to the house. Half to make lunch, half to cry. As she reached the door she pushed it open before sighing and letting it slam. She went into the largish ranch house kitchen. She dug out a pan, some bread, butter, and cheese. She would make grilled cheese. She set it on the stove and switched it on. She let tears stream down her pale face and onto her shirt. What was wrong with her brother and why was he acting this way? She wondered if Iraq had affected him this much.
 
(I'm sorry I think I have too many RPs going on, I'll have to drop this.. Sorry Duck!)
 
Brandon watched Luke run after Candice with a deep sigh. He never did deserve such a woman. She was the awesome woman that he had ever met. She would forgive Luke but she would obviously never forget what he just did. Candice was always on every man’s mind to be totally honest. She was the kind of girl take can down whiskey and still be sharp as a knife. In his many years of knowing her, he had never seen her weak. That was one of his pet peeves now, when someone thinks it’s okay to cry in front of others. If you have to cry, you cry alone and somewhere no one can possibly see you. His sister was a different story, seeing her past by with moist eyes made him jump onto the tailgate to start to unload. He was going to work himself to pure exhaustion. He felt like he had to for some reason that he couldn’t quite figure out. He shook his head with a faint smirk at Mark. “Man you know damn well small talk ain’t my thing.” He said throwing a hay bell down from the tail gate. “Hell if everybody is going to be weak little gals around here; I guess I’ll just have to do everything. If you want things done right ya got to do it yourself…By the way bro don’t tell me to stop again. I can handle myself man. No need to worry about me.” He couldn’t help but let his voice go cold as he snatched on his pocket knife, cutting the bell open and also accidently the tip of his finger but he didn’t flinch. The sight of blood made him shake his head at the memories it caused.


{It's fine Forks and Kelsey just pick anyone still at the barn I guess.}
 
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