Boots Up (Port Ranch Book #1)

Chapter 4

BRIELLE

“Good morning, Mom!” I sneak a quick kiss on my mom’s cheek and then sneak one of the muffins she’s loading onto serving trays.

“Morning sweetheart,” she jokingly slaps my hand away, but it’s too late the muffin is already mine. “Once you have breakfast can you walk Jace up to the bus stop? Britt already headed down to meet with Helen to get ready for the huge party that we have coming in this week.”

“Yeah, not a problem. Do you have your backpack here, Jace?”

“Yep!,” he enthusiastically nods his head. “Mommy even got my lunch in there already.”

“Awesome. Let me finish eating my muffin and I’ll walk up there with you.”

“Can I go play with Harold, Grandma?” referring to the old farm dog that roams the property.

Mom kisses him on the top of the head and then ruffles his hair a bit, “I don’t think so, little man. I don’t need you getting dirty before school. Plus Auntie Brielle is going to be ready before you know it.”

Jace pouts a bit, but I don’t blame my mom for her stance. The ground is super slushy after a few random warm days melted away the last snowfall that we had. Harold might be a gentle giant, but the boys get pretty crazy when they’re running around with him. Without a doubt, Jace would end up with mud-stained jeans and a dirty face before he stepped foot on that school bus.

I finish my muffin and then get Jace all bundled up and ready for the walk. The bus does come directly to the ranch, but the big house where most of us live sits back about a quarter-mile. That means every morning and afternoon somebody is escorting Jace to the stop. Since the ground is a mess, I put on a pair of snow boots and then grab the lighter of my two coats for the walk. I’ll probably be sweating by the time I get back though.

The sun still hasn’t fully shown itself, but that is normal for this time of the year. The ranch doesn’t wait for the sunrise though, often going full speed before it ever peaks above the horizon. There is always a lot going on in this joint, but that’s just the way I love it. Once Jace is safely onto the school bus, I can head back to meet up with my mom to go over our weekly schedule, one that is usually jam-packed.

If you ask people what Port Ranch is known for they’ll either tell you our full-running cattle ranch, our bed and breakfast style dude ranch, or our very popular wedding reception site. Whichever one they tell you, they’d be right. My great-great-grandfather bought this land many moons ago and used it as farmland and raised cattle and other farm animals. It was passed down from him to my great grandfather who did the same.

When my grandma took over the family business (that’s right, she was the oldest child and it didn’t matter that traditionally land was passed through the men of the family), she decided that a change was needed. At the time she took over, cattle weren’t doing very well and farming didn’t make financial sense. What WAS popular was the idea of bed and breakfasts and dude ranches. She combined the two and was well ahead of her time.

Grandma was untraditional in many ways. She was also a single mother who was never married. My dad and uncle were both given the Port name. She fought tradition, but she won. Until the day she died, she was still kicking ass and taking names. I hope to be just like her one day. She did eventually retire when it became too hard for her to run the ranch. My uncle wanted nothing to do with the ranch, but it was part of my dad’s soul as much as it was part of Grandma’s.

He officially took over the ranch when my sisters and I were still toddlers, Bev wasn’t even born yet, and together with our mom, they continued to grow and expand. It was my mom’s idea to convert the large barn at the front of the property into a wedding reception site. She knew the wedding industry was a huge money maker and boy was she right. They even redid and updated all of the cabins to accommodate for entire wedding parties to stay here on site. When we have a wedding, it isn’t unusual for the entire ranch to be booked for one family.