Sometimes Dreams are All You Have Ch. 02

Mia Sanchez waded across the border into Texas in 1972. She found work as a domestic to feed herself and pay for a place to live. She could speak some English, but perfected it working for an Anglo family in Austin. They were teachers and helped her in many ways, giving her a bedroom in their home. Mia was a beautiful girl. The Appleton's were James and Amy, and were college professors at UT. They helped her get her citizenship. Mia became very close to them. She grew very comfortable in their home. They were older than Mia. They would take her out for dinner with them. James and Amy had an open marriage. They each sometimes just did their own thing.

They would go dancing and even started taking her on vacation with them. They went to Mardi Gras and got pretty blitzed. They all ended up in the same bed and Mia had sex with James. Amy seemed to approve of it but it was never discussed openly between them. This went on for years. Mia became a part of their family. Some nights James would come to her bed and they would have sex. Amy knew James was having sex but never brought it up or tried to stop it.

Amy couldn't have children. Their life consisted of she and James having their academic life and both having sex with some of their colleges. Amy got serious with a younger professor and was spending a lot of time with him and staying with him days at a time. James gravitated toward Mia and they were together constantly. Amy's young protégé started pulling away from her. She came back home and became jealous of Mia and all the attention James was giving her.

A serious problem came up when Mia got pregnant, and it was obvious the father was James. When she began to show, there was a terrible fight between James, Amy and Mia. Amy was going to call the police to have her thrown out of the house, but James talked her down and they left to work out their problem in private. Mia was pretty sure that her job was over and knew James would never claim the baby.

They came back after being gone for most of the day and Amy wouldn't even look at Mia. She just went to her bedroom. James told her that he would give her $2500 to get her back home to Mexico if she didn't cause any trouble. She was hurt but now understood that James was just using her. She decided that was the best she could expect and took the money. James took her to the bus station and she got a bus to the border. She crossed the border and caught another bus for her home. Her mother wasn't pleased about her condition, but she took her in and took care of her. About six months later, a little Seria Sanchez came into the world. She was a pretty baby with blue eyes, black hair and dimples. Seria and Mia stayed with Seria's grandmother for about five years. Mia was teaching Seria English as she was teaching her Spanish.

Mia came back to the United States when Seria was five. She made her way to Dallas and the Police Department was desperately hiring people. She was a citizen, could speak fluent English and Spanish with no criminal record, so she was hired and went to the police academy.

Mia found an apartment and she and Seria moved in. She was welcomed by an older German lady, who lived in the building. She fell in love with Seria and while Mia was hunting a job, Mrs. Ercanbrack kept Seria. Mia kept Mrs. Ercanbrack as a babysitter for Seria after she got through the academy and went to a regular job as a police officer. She didn't go out on patrol, but they wanted her to work at the jail as she was fluent in Spanish and was an asset to them there.

Seria was crazy about Mrs. Ercanbrack. She gave her love in a way that her mother never had. Seria started to school, and Mrs. Ercanbrack would take her to school and pick her up in the evening. Seria heard Mrs. Ercanbrack talking in Dutch on the phone. When she terminated her call, Seria wanted to know what language she was speaking. Seria was in the first grade but already had an interest in languages because of the Spanish and English she already knew. Mrs. Ercanbrack started teaching her German. In about six months Seria could carry on a conversation in German. After a year, she was spouting it like she was born to it.

Mia Sanchez, for whatever reason, had started to dislike little Seria. She was a burden to Mia, and Mia resented that everyone seemed to just adore sweet little Seria. She had started to hate James Appleton for taking advantage of her and impregnating her. She started wanting to blame her mistake on Seria because she was James Appleton's daughter.

Mia met Jake Reynolds at one of his military surplus stores. She had gone there to find some Army BDUs to wear in an exercise her precinct was doing. He paid a lot of attention to her and she liked his appearance. A few days later she went back to the store not really looking for anything but just to test his interest in her. He asked her out, they started dating and in about six months she introduced him to Seria. He liked Seria and they married about six months later.

Seria was thrilled to have a father, but she hated leaving Mrs. Ercanbrack. She cried when she had to say goodbye. Seria became the apple of Jake Reynolds's eye, much to the dismay of her mother. Seria had to go to a different school when they moved into Jake's house. She loved the new school in the suburbs. He had a large home in a gated community. There were some Vietnamese kids in her school and she became friends with them to learn their language. This was the first language she tried to learn that wasn't a Romantic language. It was harder, but she was in the 5th grade now and learning was easier for her. Before the school year was over, she could speak passable Vietnamese. Jake heard her one night practicing it in her room and amazed Seria by knocking on her door. When she invited him in he spoke GI slang Vietnamese to her. This pissed off Mia when they started speaking Vietnamese to each other and she couldn't understand what they were saying. Jake had spent two tours in Vietnam and knew a lot of Vietnamese. Seria and Jake drew closer and he asked her if she wanted him to adopt her. She liked the idea, they went to a lawyer and in a few months she was Seria Reynolds.

This was the start of Seria's love affair with languages and she took every language class she could in high school, at immigrant workshops and she learned from anyone she ran into that spoke another language. She would befriend them to learn about the language they spoke.

She enjoyed her time with Jake and being part of a family. She and her mother just got further apart. She couldn't understand why her mother resented her bonding with anybody. Her mother was jealous of her relationship with Jake. As Seria got older it became worse. When Seria turned 17 she was about at her wits end. She had an argument with Mia and it was awful. She accused her of getting too close to Jake and screamed that she was just like her father, James Appleton. He was promiscuous, also, and couldn't keep his penis in his pants. Seria was shocked to learn her father's name. She asked Mia where James Appleton was and she was told that he was probably still in Austin, teaching college. She wouldn't tell her anything else about him. Before then, Mia had told Seria that she was raped and didn't know who the father was.

Seria went to Jake, her step-father, and told him she was going to have to leave. Jake tried to talk her out of it, but to no avail. She told him she was going to emancipate from her mother. She had finished high school and was ready for college. Jake sent her to his lawyer to get emancipated, gave her $5000 to get started in college and said he would pay his lawyer for her legal expenses. Mia found out about the money and threw a fit. They almost divorced over it. Seria tried to keep in touch with Jake, but her mother made that impossible.

She went to North Texas State University. She took her prerequisites and worked to support herself and pay for her college. She got through three years without getting any student loans, but was at her wits end when she ran into her step-father's nephew. She had known Jake, the nephew, when she was growing up. She had liked him and he liked her, but when she had been in the family for a little over a year the bad things happened to Jake's family and she never saw Jake again until she saw him at UNT.

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Seria Reynolds got settled in her and Jake's new apartment. All their furniture had been lost in the fire. They had put all their personal and valuable things at Arthur's before they went to Mexico. Jake had renter's insurance so they were reimbursed for their loss. Actually, it was Jake's loss, as she had no furniture. They put that money in the Bank and rented a furnished apartment on a monthly basis.

Seria decided to see if an employment agency could help her get a job. She was a linguist as she had been interested in languages since she was a little girl. She was now fluent in Spanish, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, French and Romanian. She was still working on her Vietnamese and she was trying to learn Chinese. It was a very hard language to learn. She signed up with the employment agency and decided to see what she could find out about her biological father.

*********

Jake had always wanted a Ranch. He wanted to put down roots and have a home that he could always come back to, no matter what. It would be a place that was self-sufficient, and be the center around which he could form a family. He discussed it with Seria and she liked the idea. He started looking in newspapers and online for land for sale around Gainesville. He wanted to find a place this summer as college started for him again, in the fall.

He found one that was 500 acres with a nice older brick home with barns and out buildings. An older couple owned it but couldn't keep it up. They wanted to move into town close to doctors and the convenience of everything being nearby. He looked it over and fell in love with the place. It was like a place he had dreamed about when he was on the boy's ranch. He bought it for under a million.

Jake advertised for someone to run the Ranch. One of the people who answered the advertisement was a man and wife with two teenage sons. They lived in Oklahoma, but the Ranch they worked on was sold and the new owner didn't require their services. Jake invited them down for an interview.

They arrived in their truck pulling a trailer apparently filled with all their tack and possessions. He thought they must be confident he was going to hire them. About that time another pickup pulling a horse trailer drove up.

Jake ambled out toward them. The father was a stout looking guy and you didn't realize how tall he was because of his girth until you got next to him and had to look up. His wife was a tall handsome looking woman. She was somewhat regal looking, and they looked to be in their early forties. The two sons were probably 17 to 20 years old. They looked rough and ready as if they could handle anything. All in all they were an impressive bunch.

He walked up to the father to shake his hand and he got bigger the closer Jake got. They shook hands and Jake told him he was Jacob Wesley Reynolds, but to just call him Jake. He introduced himself as Sam Slade.

"Jake, we thought we had an agreement to stay where we were until I got employment elsewhere but we got kicked off the ranch so everything we own is with us. I don't want you to think I am assuming I have the job. We plan to camp out somewhere if we don't get the job."

"Sam, whether I hire you or not you can stay here for a while. Get your horse out of that trailer and there are some stalls in the barn. I just bought this place and don't know anything about it. I do know this place has a well and there is water in the house. I assume there is water in the barn."

"Sammy, you and Buster get Chico out of the trailer and down to the barn. I'm worried about him after that long ride. Scout around and see if there is any hay and water down there. See if there is some straw for the stall. Jake and I need to get acquainted and then I'll be down there."

They opened the trailer and got the horse out. He was a super looking horse and a stud. They had a halter on him and walked him down to the barn and he was a magnificent animal.

Sam saw how I looked at the horse, "Jake, he is out of old Joe Hancock and also Two Eyed Jack. If you don't know he is out of two super Quarter Horse lines."

I looked at him and then at his wife, "Sam who is this beautiful woman?"

She laughed and looked at me. "Honey, I'm sorry. Jake, this is my wife, Claudine. She ramrods this wild bunch including me."

"Well Sam, I figured that and I bet she chews you out when she gets you alone for not introducing her first."

Claudine looked at me, "Jake, I'm the negotiator, we come as a family. Sammy and Buster can ride anything with hair on it. Sam here is getting a little long in the tooth and has slowed down a mite."

She laughed again and Sam said, "Woman?"

"Jake, I'm just pushing his buttons because of the slight a few minutes ago." Sam grinned then.

"I can ride, herd cattle, cook and do Ranch books. I also clean house if it's needed. We are somewhat at your mercy because of our circumstances. I guess you could say we are homeless, and without employment. It really hurts our pride to be in these circumstances."

"Hold it there Claudine I won't ever take advantage of anybody. I grew up in some bad circumstances and I don't want anybody to have to face that. I have a good feeling about your family. I think we can work something out."

Claudine looked at me, "Jake you aren't much older than my boys. I can tell you have been around the mountain and can handle yourself. I have a good feeling about you to. We are honest and will give you a day's work for a day's pay. We won't steal, lie, or cheat. We were making $2000 a week as a family, where we worked before. We had been there 10 years. If you can't afford $2000 we will take less to work for you because you are young and just starting out."

"Claudine, how about $2500 and you cook our meals? I will set up a Ranch bank account and you will have to buy the groceries also out of it."

"So you're going to feed us and give us more wages. That doesn't seem too fair to me. You sure you want to do that, my boys and Sam will eat you into bankruptcy?"

"Yes Claudine, but you are going to have to be my mother also."

"OK Jake, I can handle that." "Daddy, what do you think of having another kid at our ages?"

"Claudine, I always wanted a rich son to take care of me in my old age." They both laughed.

"OK, folks I am assuming that Sam is my Foreman. We have just a few cows and I don't know what shape they are in. Claudine you need to take notes so as to tell our foreman what to do." She laughed.

"I want this to be a showplace and we will always make visitors welcome. I want to run some type of specialty breed of cattle as our cash crop. We need to buy some good blooded mares and raise quarter horses also. We need to buy all the equipment we need to make the ranch run. Sam you need to inventory everything to see what we have and what we need to buy."

Sam said, "Jake, there was a guy at our old ranch that was the handyman. He could build or fix anything. He is a good honest guy and easy to get along with. He is still at the old ranch but I think they are going to let him go also as soon as he has done a few things they want done. You can hire him for $500 a week."

"Call him Sam and offer him a job, you are the foreman."

I could tell that set right with Sam. He was the foreman he should do the firing and hiring.

"Son, you sure you want to give me that much authority. I didn't have that much at my old job."

"Sam, I haven't had a family since I was 10 years old. I expect you to run this ranch like it was yours. I'm sure you have a lot of ideas that you have collected over the years and are dying to set them to work. Well, do it, and if they don't work try something else. I hope we are making money in a few years. I expect you to let me know what you are doing not asking for permission but just keeping me up to date on our business. I want this to be a family business and we are all family. I expect you to be out finding us stock, that we can make money on, finding good used equipment if you can, so as to save money, where you can. You probably have been ranching for 20 years and know what is needed and I trust your judgement."

"Claudine, are you going to do the Ranch books?"

"For what you are paying me I assumed I was."

"OK, I will open some business accounts tomorrow and you two need to go with me so I can authorize you to write checks on the accounts. Claudine you need to keep the accounts balanced so I know how much cash we have in hand. I will set up another account for household expenses, groceries, toilet paper, dishes, cook ware and so on. That will be your account only, Claudine. I know I have given you a lot of jobs so if you need help make your foreman hire you an assistant. You just do it Sam you don't need to ask me."

"Jake you are putting a lot of trust in me and Sam. To be honest it is just the situation we have always wanted. We can feel like we are part of something."

"Claudine, I am going to just say this. I want to see what you both can do for six months and if things are like I am sure they will be then you have lifetime jobs. You can work here as long as you can and when you can't then I will have someone taking care of you here on the Ranch.

They both were silent and looked at each other. Claudine had tears on her cheeks. Sam walked over to me and hugged me.

"Jake, I want to tell you this is mine and Claudine's dream. We have dreamed about this exact situation. We don't have money. But we have our skills and a work ethic to get thing done. I promise you that we won't let you down."

"Sam, I want this place to be the envy of the county. Register us a brand and I want it to be -RS, which is for bar Reynolds Slade." The next thing I knew Claudine was choking me with her arms around my neck."

"Jake you are heaven sent. A week ago we thought our lives were over as we had known them. Now you are giving us the adventure of a lifetime. We will never let you down."

The agency got Seria a job working for a high dollar law firm as an interpreter. The also wanted her as an outreach person to the Mexican community. They were a full service firm and coveted representing all the Mexican businesses that were popping up with no legal representation. Seria was beautiful, personable and educated, she also was aware of current events and things the Mexican community was concerned about.

Seria hit the ground running and loved her job. Her firm advertised their services and Seria was identified as the point person. All at once she was loaded with appointments with the leaders of the Mexican community.

Jake spent most of the summer getting the brick home renovated. It was well taken care of but needed to be modernized completely. He brought in contractors to redo the bathrooms and the kitchen. He had the kitchen redone just to suit Claudine's wishes. He got an architect to draw up plans to expand the home to add three bedrooms and a full bathroom to each bedroom. He expanded the floor space to also have a huge den on the back of the house and a covered porch with a hot tub.

His main problem was finding brick that would match the old brick on the house. He could find none online or at the local lumber yards. Sam came to the rescue when he told Jake about a nearby ranch that had built a new home near the home site of the original ranch house. They had lived in the old home while the construction was going on the new house. He thought maybe the brick was the same as their ranch house.

Sam had gone to the ranch to introduce himself and make them acquainted with him and the Bar RS. He took Jake over and introduced him as the owner of the Bar RS. The owners were about the same age as Sam and Claudine. The owner was J. Ralph Hanson who had an investment firm in Dallas. His wife was Wanda Jackson Hanson who had come from money herself. This was to be their getaway home in the country. But also their daughter was into Rodeo and they wanted a place for her horses. They were friendly and invited him and Sam into their new home. It was a great house, lots of glass and metal all modern fixtures and furniture. It was nice but it just wasn't Jake's cup of tea. His vision was cherry and mahogany furniture and brass fixtures. He had been in a home like that when he was a foster kid. The foster parents were somewhat cold but he loved the house. He rubbed his hands along on the furniture where ever he went around in the house. But they found out about his past and the social worker picked him up one morning unannounced. But he dreamed about that house sometimes. One time he dreamed he was in that house and his mom was tucking him in a wonderful soft bed with those clean smelling sheets. That was one of his recurring dreams. He always woke up in a great mood after that dream.