She was surprised when she found herself telling Joseph about her late husband and the automobile accident. She had to stop herself before she brought up the whole custody situation. The man seemed to inspire a person to tell him their life story.
"Emily, I think you're a perfect fit for the position. When can you start work?" Joseph asked her.
"I could start right away," she replied with real joy.
"Well, there's no time like the present. Let me take care of this bill and you can follow me out to the ranch," he said as he stood up.
"I can pay for mine," she said. She wasn't used to taking handouts, even when she had nothing.
"Nonsense my dear, this was my interview. Why don't you gather up your son and meet me out front," he said. She could tell there would be no arguing, so did as he asked.
"Where are you parked?" he asked her when he stepped out front.
"I'm staying at the motel down the street but my car isn't working right now. I need to get it in the shop." She was really embarrassed to admit the obvious.
"Well then, hop in my car and we'll swing by your motel so you can gather your belongings and get checked out. I'm happy to give you a ride to the ranch. Is your car at the shop here in town?"
"Not yet. It's still at the hotel," she quietly replied.
"That's no problem. We'll have it towed there. The guys here in town do excellent work and they can have it delivered when it's all done."
"Thank you," she replied. She was grateful to have found the ad in the paper. She really didn't care what the job entailed. She was excited to have a place to stay and her first few paychecks would pay for her car. Life would start getting back to normal for her and Trevor, again.
Emily didn't take long getting checked out of the motel. She didn't have many personal items. She'd packed clothing and some of Trevor's favorite toys and books but not much more. She'd been in a hurry to leave and she knew possessions could easily be replaced but her son couldn't.
They were soon off and heading up a winding road, away from the small town. "The ranch house is not too far from town. It's most definitely beautiful country out here," Joseph said.
"I agree. I can't believe I've never been out to this area," she responded.
"Where are you originally from?" he asked her.
Emily didn't know whether to tell him the truth or not but she knew if she started building a huge story around herself it would be difficult to keep it up. She decided it would be best to stick with the truth as much as possible.
"We're from the LA area. We got sick of the crowds and pollution and decided to drive north until we found somewhere we couldn't leave. It turned out Fall City became that place," she said.
"You have great taste, my dear," he responded.
Trevor started asking his usual myriad of questions and Joseph happily answered them. Emily sat back and enjoyed the drive in the comfortable sedan.
They turned off the road and crossed under a huge sign, which read Three Sons Ranch. The driveway was flanked on either side by huge oak trees seeming to be hundreds of years old.
She couldn't see anything through the trees and her anticipation grew.
"My Great, Great Grandfather built this ranch over a hundred years ago, with not a penny in his pocket. He loved the land and knew he could make something out of it. It's been passed down through the years. My beautiful wife, Katherine and I have chosen to live in the city but Mark has always been a country boy so it belongs to him now. His brothers come up and help out whenever they want to get away but no one loves it like Mark," Joseph told her.
Emily was shocked to find Joseph wasn't going to be her employer. "You don't live here? I'm going to be working for your son?" she asked.
"Yes, you'll be working for Mark. He had to go to Montana for some ranch business and won't be back until next week. He asked me to take care of the employment situation for him. Don't you worry though. There are plenty of staff so you won't be alone up here. All our employees are trustworthy and good people. You and your son will be more than safe," he reassured her, misunderstanding her fear.
She wasn't worried about her safety. She was worried her boss wasn't going to like having a five year old boy running around his ranch. She would have to make sure Trevor stayed out of Mark's way and behaved really well. She figured they would be in some bunkhouse anyway and never run into the boss.
Emily lost her breath as they rounded a corner and the ranch house came into view. It was magnificent. She thought she'd seen wealth before, with everything her ex in-laws had but it was nothing compared to what was in front of her.
The home was three stories high and seemed to stretch out forever. It was beautiful and not at all what she'd expected. When Joseph had said a ranch house, she'd envisioned a great little eighteen hundreds farm house with a wrap-around porch. It definitely had a wrap-around porch but it was huge. There was a second story balcony as well, with several different French doors allowing access to it.