“I’m Just A Hired Girl,” She Sobbed — But The Rancher’s Children Begged Her Not To Leave
Chapter 2
Samuel left the kitchen without another word.
Mara stood beside the door.
Ellie was still holding onto his coat.
“Daddy?”
“Go upstairs.”
“But—”
“Now.”
The children obeyed reluctantly.
Mara watched them climb the stairs.
Samuel waited until they disappeared.
Then he turned.
“You read the bank letter.”
It wasn’t a question.
Mara nodded.
“I found it under your desk.”
“You had no right.”
“I know.”
“You had no right to interfere in my business.”
“I wasn’t interfering.”
His eyes hardened.
“You brought it to me.”
“Because it said the ranch would be auctioned in thirty days.”
Samuel went silent.
The kitchen clock ticked.
Mara lowered her voice.
“I thought you should know.”
“I knew.”
“Then why didn’t you tell the children?”
“Because they’re children.”
“And because you don’t want anyone to know you’re losing the ranch.”
His jaw tightened.
Mara immediately regretted saying it.
But Samuel didn’t explode.
Instead, he looked exhausted.
“Do you know what happens when a man spends his whole life building something and then watches it disappear?”
Mara shook her head.
“You watch your father build it. You watch him die. You take over because everyone says you’re supposed to. Then one day you realize the thing you inherited is slowly eating everything you have.”
His voice was flat.
“The cattle prices collapsed. The drought lasted three years. My wife died. The kids stopped sleeping. I borrowed money to keep the ranch running.”
Mara looked down.
She knew about his wife.
Everyone in the county did.
Claire Reed had died two years earlier after complications from pneumonia.
Samuel had never remarried.
He barely spoke about her.
“I didn’t mean to make things worse,” Mara said.
“You didn’t.”
He looked toward the stairs.
“You made them better.”
Mara looked up.
Samuel seemed surprised by his own words.
Then his expression closed again.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re leaving.”
“Because you fired me.”
“Because I can’t keep paying you.”
“I don’t need much.”
“I know.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“You haven’t been paid properly in three months.”
Mara’s eyes widened.
“You knew?”
“Of course I knew.”
“Then why did you let me stay?”
“Because you wouldn’t leave.”
A tiny smile appeared on his face.
It vanished almost immediately.
Mara looked at the suitcase.
“I can work somewhere else.”
“You can.”
She nodded.
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
Samuel didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked to the window.
Outside, a pickup truck was parked beside the barn.
It hadn’t been there when he arrived.
Mara noticed it too.
“Who is that?”
Samuel’s shoulders stiffened.
“I don’t know.”
The truck started.
It rolled slowly past the house.
Mara saw the driver.
A man in a brown hat.
He looked directly at the kitchen window.
Then the truck disappeared behind the barn.
Samuel grabbed his coat.
“Stay inside.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
He walked toward the back door.
Mara followed.
“Samuel.”
He turned.
“This is no longer just about money, is it?”
His silence answered her.
He opened the door.
Before he stepped outside, Mara saw something on the porch.
A small white envelope.
No name.
No address.
Samuel picked it up.
He opened it.
His face changed.
“What is it?”
He handed it to her.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Samuel’s wife, Claire, standing beside the ranch’s old water tower.
A man stood behind her.
Mara stared at the photograph.
The man looked familiar.
She had seen him before.
At the feed store.
At the bank.
At the funeral two years earlier.
Samuel whispered:
“That’s not possible.”
Mara looked at him.
“Who is he?”
Samuel’s fingers closed around the photograph.
“My brother.”
Mara frowned.
“Your brother is dead?”
Samuel stared toward the snow-covered fields.
“He’s supposed to be.”
