Mara knocked on the door and waited. It was a nice ranch-house built near a river bend along one of the driest sections of the Utah desert near Salt Lake City. Brent stood next to her. He took off his cowboy hat and held it out in front of him. Mara knocked again and a young, very pretty teenaged girl with red hair and green eyes opened the door. She smiled.
“Yes?”
“Hello,” Mara said, smiling broadly. “Is this the Kendall residence?”
“Yes, it is.” The young girl leaned back and turned her head. “Mama? There’s someone at the door!”
“Who is it, Edith?” A voice called down from above. Edith turned back toward them. “May I ask who’s calling?” She smiled.
“Mara Wortherington and Brent Harwood,” she said. “We’re looking for someone.”
“Oh.” Edith leaned back again. “They say they’re looking for someone, Mama!”
“Oh – alright. Ask them to come in and I’ll be right down.”
“Won’t you come in?” Edith stepped backward and opened the door wider.
“Thank-you.” Mara nodded and stepped in with Brent following her.
“Please sit.” Edith gestured to the couch. “My mother will be down in a moment.” A young teenaged boy with bright red hair entered the room from the kitchen and stared at the strangers.
“This is my brother, Duncan,” Edith said.
“Howdy.”
A petite middle-aged woman came down the stairs and smiled. “Hello,” she said. “Can I help you? Did someone get lost out here in the desert?”
“Oh, no. We was just looking for any relations of Jake Alexander Kendall who used to live up in Idaho. There was some rumors he had kin down here in Utah. We found your name in the directory and was hoping that you might a known him somehow.”
“Well, yes,” Carol said. “He was my father-in-law.”
“Your father-in-law?” Mara turned to Brent and beamed. “Well, we been searching high and low for Jake!”
“You knew him?”
“We sure enough did!” Brent grinned. “We was good friends.” He turned toward Mara. “I reckon we done know’d each other since grade-school.”
“We was all friends – Jake, Me, Brent and Jessie.” Mara grinned widely and sat on the edge of her seat. She looked around expectantly as if Jake might walk in the room at any moment. “Is he here? I mean is Jake around?”
“Oh, no. I’m so very sorry,” Carol said. “He passed away a number of years ago from a heart attack.”
“Oh no.” Mara’s broad grin disappeared and she frowned. She put her face in her hand and sniffed. “Oh no – Jake.”
Brent looked down at the floor and grimaced. He took Mara’s hand and squeezed it. “Jake’s gone?”
“Yes. I’m afraid he is.”
“You knew Grandpa?” Edith asked, sitting down on a chair next to her mother.
“Yes. A long time ago.” Mara sniffed again and brought a white handkerchief to her nose. “We sort a lost contact over the years. How long has he been gone?”
“Oh, I’m not completely certain.” Carol sat in one of the large overstuffed chairs. “I never actually met him. But these are his grandchildren.”
“His grandchildren?” Mara looked at the two teenagers, smiling wanly. “Really? What are your names?”
“I’m Duncan.”
“I’m Edith.”
“They’re twins.” Carol smiled.
“We knew that Jake had two sons but didn’t know he had grandchildren.”
“His oldest son Calvin Kendall still lives up in Idaho on the family ranch. I don’t know if he’s even married or has any children or anything about him. We’ve had kind of a falling out, so that’s all I know about him. The youngest son, Duncan Little – I mean James Kendall – was my husband.”
“Was?”
“Yes.” Carol’s chin trembled as she looked down at the floor. “My husband was killed in an auto accident when these two were just newborn babies.”
“We’re mighty sorry to hear about that,” Brent said quietly.
“Well, it’s such a shame that the two of you traveled all this way – way out here in the middle of nowhere to find nothing. Do you live up there in Idaho?”
“No, Waterwicke,” Brent said.
“What?”
“Waterwicke. It’s in England.”
“England?” Duncan whistled. “That sure enough is a mighty long way to go to find nothin’.”
“Well – no.” Both Brent and Mara smiled. “It weren’t for nothing, ‘cause we already done met Jake’s oldest son Calvin. He weren’t too talkative I’m afraid and in fact literally threw us off our own property.”
“Your property? What do you mean?”
“Calvin don’t own it no more.” Brent smiled. “We do. We bought up all the debt he borrowed, so now his share belongs to us.”
“What?” Carol’s mouth dropped open. “How could that happen?”
“Well, this here situation goes all the way back to Jake. We gave both Jake and Jessie the money to buy the land way back yonder in 1988. When Jessie died, her part of the deed reverted back to him. Jake never really owned the ranch 100% even though he done 100% of the work. We don’t live here in the states no more, and so we cain’t own all of it.”
“So, then.” Carol held out her hands. “You own the original ranch where my husband grew up on? What do you intend to do with it? I heard that Cal ran it right down into the ground.”
“Oh, he did. Cal didn’t keep it up so good. Jake’s attorney kept sending us the money right along. Cal couldn’t do nothin’ about that, but it just kept getting less and less over the years, so that’s why we came over to have a look-see.”
“I see.”
“But – there is another reason we wanted to find you all.” Mara said slowly.
“There is?”
“Yes. I got cancer.” Mara smiled wanly. “I got only ‘bout six months left to live.”
“Oh no.” Carol said. “That’s terrible. I’m very sorry to hear that.”
“Oh, it’s alright.” Mara sighed. “I had me a good life and all, but since I’m the sole heir to Highmount Castle and all the lands, title and money along with it –.”
“This here is Lady Maranda Wortherington.” Brent interrupted and put his hand on Mara’s knee.
“Aw, hush now, Brent honey. You let me tell this here story.”
Brent smiled and nodded.
“So – along with what’s left of the Kendall Ranch, I had to find me the next heir to the title, or else it all falls back to the crown of England.”
“What will?”
“All of it – Highmount Castle and the lands and farms surrounding it. The British government will own it all – including Jake’s ranch.”
“So, what’s that got to do with us?” Carol turned her head and looked at Mara suspiciously.
“You see,” Brent smiled, looking at the twins. “Jake and Jessie Kendall weren’t your real grandparents.”
“They weren’t?” Carol’s mouth dropped open. “Who was?”
“We are.” Mara folded her hands in her lap and smiled, looking back and forth between the astonished twins and Carol.
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