The Cherry Blossoms (26 page)

“Good.  I’m thinking that after breakfast, you need to walk down to the training ring.  We have a houseful of children arriving today.  It would be nice if the owner greeted them.”

“I will.  Now, Nana, I’m gonna tell you something and I just don’t want to hear any flack about it.  The first thing I plan to do as the new owner is to hire you some help.”

“Don’t be wasting your money like that.”

“It’s not a waste of money.  You need to train someone to take your place.  You will have final say on the candidate.  I’m going to advertise the position in the newspaper.  I’ll call them right after breakfast.  Nana, there’s also something you need to know.  Grandpa left you one million dollars and said you may live here as long as you choose to.”

Betty was speechless as her brain processed the new information.  “Child, tell me why that old fool did such a thing?”

“He did it because he loved you.”

Just as soon as breakfast was over, Danny called the newspaper and placed an ad for a housekeeper.  Once that was done, she walked to the training ring.  She stood to one side to watch a group of young children listening intensely to what one of the ranch hands was saying.  Those children looked deathly scared as they looked up at the horses.  Danny was shocked; there is no other word that can express what she felt, when she saw one of the horses lay down on
it’s side on the ground while a ranch hand assisted a child into the saddle.  When the horse stood, she heard the child cry out to look at him, he was riding a horse.  She had tears welling in her eyes when she saw the look of accomplishment on that small child’s face.

She was overcome with emotion and didn’t realize that Garrett was standing beside her.  “It’s an amazing thing isn’t it?”

Her voice choked on her tears, “It’s more than amazing.  What an incredible thing to watch.”

“All of our ranch hands are licensed physical therapists.”

“All of them?”

“All of them.  Walk with me to the milking barn.”

Again, raw emotion flowed in the form of tears, as Danny watched the children milk the dairy cows.  “It’s pretty amazing isn’t it?”

“I am so impressed with what you’ve created here.”

He chuckled, “So are we.”

Spring gave way to summer.  Danny hired a young single mother to serve as Nana’s assistant.  Nana wasn’t necessarily pleased with the news, until she met Alice’s young 7-year old son, Pete.  Pete won Nana’s heart, so all was then forgiven.  When Danny’s first royalty check arrived from Paris, she donated the money to the Children Rehabilitation Program.  She donated all of her subsequent checks to them.

She spent the mornings gathering fresh vegetables from the garden, and the afternoons canning them.  Danny always managed to run down to the training ring at least once a day.  She and Garrett rode together before dinner since Nana had someone to help her prepare the evening meal.  They grew closer with each afternoon ride.  Danny respected his judgment in the ranching business.  She also appreciated his off-center humor.  Garrett found the good in everyone, including her.

The days grew shorter when autumn arrived.  Her daily tasks included helping to round up the horses each day to bring them to a smaller pasture near the barn.  She raked leaves and twice, like a child jumped into the leaf pile.  She stacked firewood in the mudroom.  She and Garrett played chess in the evenings, and while he was ahead, she was determined to win a game or two before the end of winter.

The first snow fell on Thanksgiving Day.  The children in them came outside for a snowball battle and to build snowmen.  Danny lay in the snow and made snow angels with Pete.  Snow or not, the animals needed tending to everyday.  She shoveled the snow along the paths to the barns until her shoulders felt as though they had been dislocated.

When the last piece of pie from Thanksgiving Dinner disappeared into Garrett’s mouth, Nana told him it was time to think about Christmas decorations.  He and Danny dragged boxes of decorations from the attic.  They rode together to the Christmas tree farm; the first McPherson started; chopped down a tree and dragged it home on horseback.

Late on Christmas Eve, long after everyone else had gone off to bed, Danny and Garrett sat by the fire.  “Danny, I have something that I’ve been pondering about in my head.”

She chuckled, “Oh, do go on and tell me about this pondering you’ve been doing.”  Expecting him to have some outlandish plan for the ranch, she was speechless when he asked her, “Would you consider marrying me?”

Not sure if he had actually proposed to her, she asked him, “Would I consider it?  Let me think about that.”

Looking uncomfortable, he asked, “What I meant to ask is will you marry me?”

She smiled at him, “Do you want to know something Garrett Ryan?  I believe that I will.”

Garrett announced their engagement at the Christmas morning breakfast and Danny didn’t miss the shit ass grin on her Nana’s face.  “We’re gonna have a hoedown on the day of your wedding.”

Danny shook her head, “Don’t get yourself all worked up.  I think we want something small and simple in the spring after the snow melts.”

Garrett spent the afternoons and evenings working on something in the wood shop all winter.  When Danny would ask him about it, he’d laugh and tell her to mind her own business.

The snow finally melted, so they set the date for April 15.  When she woke that morning, Danny found it unbelievable that in just a few hours, she would be Daniella McPherson Ryan.  That thought brought a smile to her lips.  When someone knocked on her bedroom door, she almost sang the words, “Come in.”

“Nana, what are you doing?”

“I’m serving my child breakfast in bed on her wedding day.”

Danny laughed, “You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes I do, and you are not to leave this room, until you are called for.  Do you understand that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m just saying that you are to remain in your room, till I come and get you.”

“Are you afraid that the groom will see me?”

“For once, can you please just do as I say?”

Danny took a long bath and dressed in her grandmother’s wedding gown.  Then she waited and waited and waited for someone, anyone to come get her.  When no one did, she poked her nose out the door.  “No ma’am, Nana sent me to make sure you didn’t leave the room.”

Danny doubled over with laughter; Nana had sent 7-year old Pete to guard the door.  “Yes sir.”

At 10:55 am, someone knocked on her door and said it was time.  When Danny opened the door, Randy was standing there.  “Ms. McPherson, I have been sent to escort you.”

“Well, Mr. Barnes, how could a lady resist that offer?”

Without saying another word, he escorted her down the main staircase and onto the porch.  Danny started to cry when she saw what Garrett had worked on all winter.  He had built her an Eiffel Tower, and surrounded it with blooming Cherry trees.

As Randy helped her down the porch steps, she saw that everyone she loved was standing on the lawn, including the staff and their families from the House of Daniella.  When she spied Garrett, she started to run to him to tell him just how much she loved him.  She ended up tripping on the hem of her gown and fell face down in the grass.

She heard a chorus of, ‘Oh my God’, in English and French.

When Garrett reached her to help her up, she was laughing so hard that she couldn’t stand.  “What is it about you that I’m always falling to the ground when you’re around?”

Garrett joined her laughter as he lifted her to stand up.  “At least it’s not mud, nor is it cow shit, so you must have done something right.”