Stacie held the note to her breast. The first time they had indicated they loved her.
Taking the note, she read it twice more before running upstairs to put it in her memory box, where she saved everything. Turning it over, she quickly dated it, but doubted she would ever forget this date. She couldn’t wait to tell them she loved them, too.
* * * *
Ramona was sick and tired of waiting for Luke to make his move. It had been two weeks, long enough for him to have an opportunity to get the bitch. He wasn’t answering her calls and she needed something done.
Her phone had been blocked from calling Stacie, the Ransom brothers or any of the phones on the ranch, so she had gone and bought a disposable phone. There was more than one way to get what she needed done. She’d had the phone for a couple days before she finally got Stacie to answer her cell phone.
“Hi, Stacie, it’s your mom. Don’t hang up,” Ramona said quickly when Stacie answered the phone finally.
“What do you want, Mom? There’s no money left,” Stacie answered with a sigh. Why couldn’t her mother be a real mother and be contacting her for something else?
“Half of that house and those insurance policies were rightfully mine. You know that. Why are you trying to keep what belongs to me?”
“Mom, there’s nothing left. The hospital bills took everything. Dad was very ill before he passed away.” Stacie tried to reason with her.
“I really don’t care about any of that. Just get the money to me or I’ll find another way to get it. Those men you live with would pay a lot to ke
ep you from being hurt!” Ramona screamed, hanging up the phone.
Stacie sat down on the couch and just stared at the phone in her hands. What to do now?
That’s how Jake found her when he walked into the house. “Babe, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I…just…the phone,” was all Stacie managed to say, still staring at the phone. Jake pried the phone out of her hands and looked at the last call received, unknown. Hitting the redial, the number had been disconnected.
“Babe, did you get this call today?” he asked her softly, not wanting to upset her any more than she already was.
“My mother…money. She threatened me,” she answered.
The picture was starting to come together for Jake now. “Stacie, was it your mother that called again?”
Stacie just nodded. What was she going to do? She didn’t have the money to give Ramona and was scared after she had been threatened by her.
“Don’t worry, baby. We’ll take care of everything, and the first thing we’re doing is changing all the phone numbers around here. If she should happen to call again, you need to hang up immediately. Once we change all the numbers, she shouldn’t be able to call again, but just in case she should get a hold of the numbers, don’t answer. I know this will be hard, but until we get this settled, I don’t want you calling any of your friends or giving them the numbers to any of the cells or the ranch. I’ll try to get this taken care of as soon as possible, but will you do this for me?”
Jake pulled her into his lap and held her. She was still acting shellshocked and he was worried for her. Once he had her settled, he planned on calling their lawyer to see where he was with getting the matter settled, right after he called his brothers in to help with Stacie.
Grant and Seth came as fast as they could after Jake explained what happened. There was no way Stacie was going to be alone, if they all three had to stay with her.
While his brothers were with Stacie, Jake went to his office and made some calls. His first call was to the sheriff to let him know that Ramona had threatened Stacie and put him on alert.
His second call was to their attorney. “Find out how much it will take to pay her off. We want her gone and gone for good, but make sure she understands that this is a one-time deal. She’s not going to be calling here every few years wanting money like she did with Stacie’s dad. We pay her off and she’s gone, or no deal.” Jake was firm on that point. He wanted the woman gone for good and wasn’t playing games.
Mike understood what needed to happen and decided to do some digging on Ramona. From what he had been told, she didn’t have a claim to the house or insurance policies. She just sounded like a bully to him.
Chapter Ten
Luke was sitting with Ron at their favorite bar in Rapid City.
“So that’s the story, man. I think I need to come clean with the brothers.” Luke had just finished explaining what was happening with the case he was working on and what was going through his head. He knew he couldn’t keep Ramona quiet much longer and that she wouldn’t wait forever for him to make a move. He was afraid she would find someone else to do what he wouldn’t.
“I know Jake Ransom. They are pretty good, reasonable guys. I think it would be safer for everyone involved to bring them in on this. You’re right, the bitch won’t wait much longer to make her move and if you won’t do it, she will find someone else. We need to move the girl into protective custody until this is settled,” Ron told Luke, taking a sip of his beer.
“Those brothers aren’t going to let her out of their sight, Ron. We need to come up with another plan. They won’t leave the ranch or the girl.” Even though Luke had only been working at the ranch for a few weeks, he could see how devoted the brothers were to it and to Stacie.
“You’re right, I don’t know what I was thinking, must be the beer talking,” Ron said with a laugh.