Page 96 of Cherry Tree Ranch

Mom uncovers her mouth and Rhett hands me the deed to the eighty acres. “I signed it back to you, Dahlia, and next week I’m bringing my excavator up to the ditch line. We’re diverting all that water back to your ranch.”

I’m all at once grateful and consumed with grief. These gestures are more than I could ever ask for – but the irony is they won’t save the ranch from debt. It’s too late.

“Thank you, Rhett.” I use a cloth napkin to pull a tear from the corner of my eye. Cash rests his hand on my leg and gives it a gentle squeeze.

“I’m not done yet. Cash told Kaylee about the debt you have. We’re going to pay it off for you.”

My eyes dart from Cash to Rhett. “I can’t let you do that!” I burst out. “The debt wasn’t your fault. The taxes are tens of thousands of dollars—”

“Dahlia.” Rhett pats a gentle hand on the table. “None of this was your fault either, but we want to make things right. And, believe me, the family trust can afford it. That, plus a lump sum for what Earl should have paid for the property, adjusted for inflation, will be put into a business account for you. You’ll need to get an EIN number, liability insurance, articles of organization, but I’d be happy to help you with all that.”

“No! Are you serious?”

Rhett laces his fingers together around his coffee cup. “Very. If you really want, you can see the debt pay-off as a loan. I have a feeling you’re going to do very well here, and you can repay it when it works, but it’s not necessary. I’ll wire you the money as soon as you get things in order. You can plant a new orchard, buy a truck, whatever you need. Or do something new.”

I look to Mom on my left, to Cash on my right, and cover my face with the napkin. After a few words of disbelief to myself and more tears, I jump from my stool and swing my arms round Rhett.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

After Mom thanks him too, we all take a walk outside. Cash’s mom wants to see the ranch and Rhett wants to check on his calves. As we walk and talk, we admire the pastures with tiny green shoots and leafy alfalfa spreading across the ranch. It won’t grow tall enough to cut like I hoped, but I’m glad we got the calves here. Kaylee was right. Between them fertilizing the ground and the ash from the fire, it may grow well enough to choke out the weeds in spring.

Cash and Mom chat, and I hang back to talk to Cash’s mom. “Thank you for coming, Ruth. I imagine it wasn’t easy to hear that Cash had been coming up here.”

She regards me. “No, it wasn’t.” She’s quiet for a moment as she looks around. “I love that boy right there and he scares me, Dahlia. Every time he gets on a bronc I fear for his life. But I let my fear and superstition get the best of me when it came to this. It was partly my fault he lied. Somewhere along the line I made him so worried about hurting my feelings he forgot to trust himself. He didn’t need to be protected from this place – he just needed to know the truth.” She looks up at me as we get to the orchard. “We all needed to know, didn’t we?”

“Yeah,” I say as we walk through the trees. Black ash litters the orchard floor with truths that are hard to bear – a curse undone but not forgotten.

“Did Cash tell you Joaquin gave Daisy all these trees?”

“No. He did?”

“Yep. And,” I emphasize, “they lived for a hundred years.”

Ruth plants her feet and stops me. As someone who knows plants, she needs no explanation to know how unlikely that is.

I just nod my head and say, “Crazy, right? An arborist came up and she believes some of the trees have enough life to come back in spring,” I tell her. “She said the ash from the burned trees will provide nutrients for the trees that survive and the most interesting thing she said was, ‘Leave it to the bees. Eventually, they’ll help everything come back to life.’”

“Dahlia, this ranch is wonderful. I wish I’d have known sooner.”

“We’ll just have to make up for lost time, then. Come up whenever you’d like. I think you and my mom need to talk. You have a lot in common.”

Ruth smiles. “I’d like that.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

In honour of Joaquin, Daisy and Mama Clara, we planted three new cherry trees. Cash’s parents came up and helped plant them. Cash and his dad wrote down the words of the Spanish lullaby Joaquin used to sing and tucked it in with the soil. Cash is learning to play the charango, and he strummed along as we sung the lullaby together. Cash’s parents also said a little prayer. It was a beautiful moment I will never forget.

During this winter, with not much work to do on the ranch, I’m shocking Dad by taking up his offer of college. Agriculture and business classes to start, so that when I’m set up again on the ranch I’ll be able to sell my produce bigger and better than ever. He came to see how the grass has grown. I’m going to do “my ranch thing” as he calls it, and he’s not going to convince me otherwise. He’s trying. I hear it each time we talk. Even if he was shocked at the time, I think me standing up for myself when I was pushed to the brink made an impression on him. I notice when he stops himself from being controlling, and I’ve set clearer boundaries, which I’m going to stick to.

Cash won the amateur bronc-riding competition at the finals in Pueblo. We all went out there to watch, even Lani – who I’m going to Maui with over Christmas. I even bought my own ticket. Cash had the ride of a lifetime. He successfully obtained his pro permit and will now ride in PRCA events.

Kaylee is taking a year away from school. She wants to help her dad with their ranch. She knows Rhett likes Mom, and Mom likes him. We found out they’d been talking since that day when Rhett and Kaylee brought their cattle over and I gave Mom’s number to Rhett. We’ve joked about being stepsisters some day.

Emery left for college yesterday. She took the truck, but said she’ll give it to me after her car is fixed, as long as Dad’s OK with it. When she came up to say goodbye, I invited her to the barn and gave her one of the pearl necklaces I found in the desk. I showed her the desk, the saddle and the bronze horse I continue to keep in my pocket, and told her about the two sisters who used to live here.

“Emery, why did you tell Dad about the debt when I asked you not to?” I asked her.

She sat in the desk chair and rolled the strand of pearls in her hand. “I never meant to hurt you.”