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LIFE

Chapter 27

Edward, Sean, Seth, Gary, Laurent, and Emmett head out the doors grabbing guns, and ammunition as they go. Edward comes over giving me a kiss, and telling me that he will find him, and bring him back to me. Then they all head out the door.

The girls all come around assuring me they will find my dog, and he'll be alright. I just can't quit crying, and holding Lise so tight. It seems like they are going forever, and I'm losing my mind.

EPOV

My God, not that dog, not Baxter. I will find him no matter what. The men gather, and form a plan so as not to lose sight of each other. We are going off in pairs. Sean, and I as one, Seth and Emmett as another, Gary and Laurent are the others. We each have a gun, and understand if we find him to shoot once in the air to let the others know they found him.

We all take off about five hundred feet apart taking it nice, and slow calling for him at the same time. The wind is still blowing like crazy, and it's highly unlikely he will hear us, but we keep calling him anyway. Gary gave us a general idea of the direction he took off in, so we followed it. There were no paw prints, no disturbed snowy path. It was being covered up with the falling snow, and the blowing wind.

We keep on in a straight forward pattern. This goes on for almost an hour, when some of the guys state they are going to move out a little further, and start heading back towards the building.

Sean and I keep going forward calling for Baxter. The snow is still coming down like crazy, but we notice a bit of the wind has died down. We keep moving on another half mile, which in this snow is very tiring. We keep moving forward calling for Baxter when we hear a noise. Not a dog, but definitely bigger, and heavier running towards us. We keep trudging on, and come to a bank going down into a little heavily wooded area.

Sean and I look at each other, and start to prepare to go down hill. Just as we take a few steps something comes running towards us kind of stocky, mixed black, and white. I keep looking, and call for Baxter. He kind of barks, and comes running towards me. I grab hold of him, but he almost seems panicked, and keeps pulling me back. We can still hear what almost sounds like something stampeding towards us. We start backing up looking for some kind of cover with nothing in sight. Sean, and I grab Baxter, and turn starting to run. We get a little bit of distance when I remember to fire a shot off to let the others know we found him. Maybe they will come and help us if needed.

Just as I make the shot there is this awful bellowing behind us. We dive off to the left under a tree just as this humongous bull moose comes running by us. Whether he saw us, or not is not relevant. We need to get our asses away from him, and back to the building. I slap a leash on Baxter pulling him nice, and close to me. I look at Sean, and we decide to hold point for a bit. To wait, and see what this moose is going to do.

We stay hunkered down in the snow watching this moose, with Sean and I heavily armed. Nothing is going to happen to us; I won't let it. After about a good twenty to thirty minutes we have watched this moose stomp around, sniffing the air, and nibbling on the trees, and bushes. After another thirty minutes, or so he starts to move off back down the bank. We're not moving yet. I want to give him a little bit of time to make sure he has moved on.

I'm petting Baxter trying to keep him calm, and quiet. Finally Sean, and I look at each other deciding it's time to take a chance to move. We slowly come out from behind the tree, and snow to be met by the other guys. We just all look at each other shaking our heads, turn, and head back to the building.

We're almost back when I hear some hollering, and I look up to see Bella running towards us. I kneel down holding on to Baxter as she plows right into both of us. She has her arms around both our necks, just squeezing, and I can hear her crying. She's calling Baxter over, and over. She pulls back admonishing poor ole' Baxter a lifetimes worth. Then she turns on me grabbing me around the neck pulling me towards her, and kissing me.

The other guys have headed into the building leaving us out there. I just now realize she had been holding Lise, and she is loving all over Baxter, and me. Thank God we were able to find that damn Baxter. I could never have faced her if we had not found him.

BPOV

I was never so glad to see them coming back with my Baxter, and no one hurt. I am so mad at Baxter. He was taught not to do the kind of crap he pulled today. He was taught how to be my bodyguard, and to follow my orders. I know he's still a puppy, but I thought he was trained better than that.

It doesn't really matter as long as he came back to me, and unharmed. My God, I love this big mutt. I'm just thankful they found him, and no one was hurt.

I go over to the bunch of men hanging around the fireplace trying to thaw out, and get dried off. "I don't know what to say other than thank you all for bringing me Baxter back, and none of you were hurt. Was it very hard to find him?"

Sean start's to tell me, "Not really. He pretty much came running to us when he had about a twelve hundred pound bull moose chasing him down. I'm not sure what brought it on, other than Baxter probably stumbled across him, but it was hell trying to get away from him."

Edward standing over there looking at Sean as if to tell him to shut the hell up. "A bull moose was chasing ya'll? Dear God, what in the hell have I gotten us into," taking a deep breath. "Doesn't matter. This is my land, and if I have to kill everything on it to claim it, then so be it. I am not going to be run off my land, my home. Now, that being said, IF someone else takes Baxter, or Lise outside please put them on a leash. I will try to not have this happen again if I can help it. I know that's not part of any job detail looking after my dogs. I'm sorry, but thank you just the same," I say as I walk off to take a seat with my dogs.

I grab Baxter hugging the daylights out of him, and pull Lise on my lap just loving on both of them. pick up my coat, Lise, and grab Baxter heading out to my trailer. I am tired...actually, beyond tired. I think I'm going to lay down for a while. I look at Edward, and tell him to take care of things for me. I'm taking them out to lay down for a bit. He leans over giving me a kiss telling me not to worry about a thing. He will handle it. He said he'd come wake me up for dinner in a little while.

I walk out to my trailer, and it looks like someone has been out shoveling snow away from everything. Climbing the steps inside I put Lise down, and they both climb up on their bed. I sit down taking my boots off, and hang my coat.

I then head for my bedroom grabbing a water out of the refrigerator as I go. I am just so tired, and didn't sleep that well last night either. I'll just take a short nap until dinner. I lay down grabbing a throw pulling it over me, and turn on my side falling into a very deep sleep.

A SMALL TIME JUMP

It's been almost three weeks of continuous snow, winds, ice, and everyone is getting short tempered. I decide it's time to gather everyone for a small meeting. I mean to do something about this, hopefully finding something for them to do.

I call everyone to attention. "It is almost the new year, and I was wanting to ask a few questions of everyone. I am proposing a New Year's party of sorts. I first want to know of all the men who are hunters." There are quite a few hands going up, so..."Alright, I'm proposing a hunt for you to go find us something good for a big pit roast. Maybe a deer, or if we're lucky a bear. That might be kind of hard to find as it's hibernation time. Just something we could cook over a big firepit, different side dishes to go with it. I might even have a surprise for us all to go with it. Now, I know all this waiting, and not able to do a lot of things is getting on everyone's nerves, but we'll manage to make it through this, and just think of it as a paid vacation in the wild. We're going to miss this when it get's so we work almost sixteen hours a day, or more. Now, does this sound like a good idea to everyone?"

A lot of yes, hell yes, and alrights ring through the air. Since it's going on almost time for bed I mention they start very early in the morning. The ladies will cook everything needed for the dinner, and hope they get back soon enough to cook out. The men decide to leave about five in the morning after some coffee, and the ladies are making them breakfast burritos to take with them.

The rest of the men are expanding the firepit outside bigger, and making a rotisserie out of a couple steel rods they have. They are also setting up a grating to lay some of the meat down to cook on it. The ladies are making potato salad, corn on the cob, green bean salad with cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic, and onions. Maggie is making a banana pudding from scratch with meringue. Yummmmmm

Everyone retires for the night excited for the events of tomorrow. It's about time for some tension to be released around here.

Bright and early the next day the ladies fix the men breakfast, thermos' of coffee to take with them, some sandwiches in a small cooler, bottled waters, lots of ammunition, good hunting rifles, warm coats, gloves, toboggans , and the men are off. It is just now going on five thirty in the morning, and the men said they would try not to be back any later than at least three.

I sat down with some coffee after fixing my babies some breakfast. I grab my sat phone, and commence to call Jason Jenks, my attorney, and godfather. He answers, and starts in asking how everything is going. I tell him we have managed to get a lot of land cleared around where we got camp set up, but there is a lot to do yet. I then proceed to ask him about why I called. I ask him to check into buying another twenty five hundred acres surrounding the property I already own. I ask him to look into it possibly encompassing another piece of water within it.

I tell him I am going to try to get Seth to send up the drone we have to take a look at the property, and to see if there is something of interest I will then give him a call. I want him to go ahead, and see what he can obtain for me, how much more acreage, and I'm not worried about the cost.

I do ask him if he managed to sell the other businesses, other than the five biggest ones. He said he had sold them, and I asked him the statistics on my current accounts. I now own the five biggest corporations left to me by my father. I still own at least one major piece of housing property in some of the more major cities around the world. I own quite a bit of stock, and the amount in my bank account is right now at five hundred seventy five million dollars, and in all sixty three billion dollars counting the corporations, property, stocks, and money. I am now ranking number six on the Forbes list of top billionaires in the world. I don't give a crap about holding any ranking for my monetary value; quite the contrary, I only care because it will continue to fund my building my own empire right here with my ranch.

I ask him to call me after the first of the year about the property, and I wish him a happy new year. I then call the weather center to see what is going on. Things have been kind of quiet, except for an occasional bit of snow, I just have a feeling it's time for it to turn loose on us again.

They have some interesting news to tell me. It seems the upper northeast of the United States encompassing Pennsylvania, New York, upper parts of Virginia, and Washington D.C. are under a possible bomb cyclone dropping numerous feet of snow on everything. Along with the fact all the Great Lakes are close to overflowing, it is a major disaster waiting to happen.

In our weather we are to experience an increase in snowfall, and the temperatures are dropping into the double digits below zero. At present it is -4 outside. I thank them wishing them a happy new year if I don't talk to them sooner.

I look over at the firewood, and we still got a good two cords of wood left so far. Some men went out checking the fuel in the generators earlier today, and everything was fine. They got the firepit rearranged, bigger, and a load of wood piled inside and to the side ready to start it up.

At around one thirty there is a ruckus outside, and it appears the men are already coming back. They are carrying two full sized deer; one a buck, and a doe. Both of them are a pretty good size. The men take them off to a small area near the woods to skin, and prep the meat. The men look none the worse for wear. At least no one is hurt; a few scratches from brush, but nothing serious.

I ask who shot them, and it appears Alec, and Cal did. Good job. I asked if they were going to save the skins, and they were going to try.

The ladies commenced to start cooking the corn, and Maggie was finishing up on the pudding. They all looked excited from the hunt, and sounded in better moods. Gianna, and Leah were going to be the cooks on the firepit. The men were already bringing over a couple racks of ribs, which the girls started seasoning, then the men hung them on the steel rods, and then hanging them on the forks they made out of wood. Pretty cool idea.

The men hang the guns back up by the doors, and deposit the ammunition on the little tables. They then go to get cleaned up, and Edward finally comes over to give me a kiss. I grab his hand to come with me out to our trailer. I check on Baxter, and Lise before going. Both are laying by the fire place.

I head towards my truck, and in the back floor board are cases of beer. It's nothing extravagant, but it's a little something. I got some Guinness ale, a couple stout, some Murphy's, Michelob Ultra, and my favorite Peroni. I ask Edward to go get one of the men he can trust to come help get this. He heads out to get Sean, and Emmett. They each carry in three cases of beer each. I carry in my Peroni.

The men start hooting, and hollering. I make sure each man has something to drink, and take one of mine proposing a toast.

"To each of you, I wish a good new year, in finances, happiness, and good health. I thank each one of you for helping me accomplish my dream, and I hope that quite a few of ya' continue on it with me. Thank you all," raising my bottle to take a drink. "Now behave, no excessive drinking, no rowdiness, just have a good time," giving them all a stern look.

Lots of,'Yes, Miss Bella', 'yes mam's', 'sure's', and nods. It was going to be a good night. Edward got a Guinness, and came to sit by me. I told him about the incoming weather, with the dropping of temperatures to double digits below. I also told him about the bomb cyclone hitting the upper northeast. I hate to say it, but better them than us.

When everything was cooked, we set the tables, and everyone started digging in. The food was dang good. I ate entirely to much, and Edward kept eyeing the pudding. I laughed at him, and reached over to get him another big serving. He didn't bat an eyelash, just dug right in eating it all.

We got everything cleaned up, wiped down, leftovers in the frig, and everyone with a beer in hand sitting around talking.

I looked up, and Cal was standing. "Miss Bella, we would like to thank you for the wonderful evening. I would like to say it is going to be my pleasure to help get you the biggest horse, and cattle ranch imaginable. Your probably right about quite a few of us wanting to take part in this adventure. But, until that comes about we're going to do our damndest to make this one heck of a ranch people are going to talk about. Thanks again."

We sit around the biggest part of the evening just talking. There was a lot told about the men working here, and a lot of it was surprising. I learned why some of them took up this form of working the construction. A few told about working for different ranches with horses, and cattle. The ones that worked for Max were very upset about his giving the foreman's job to someone else that didn't deserve it. It kind of lost the luster to it, especially for Edward.

We have been working very hard at clearing out the areas where they will be pouring foundations for the cabins for the employees. They will consist of two bedrooms separated by a bathroom. There will be a small area in the front of the cabin for a fireplace, sofa, television, and a desk for them to utilize anytime during the night.

At present I am thinking about fifteen cabins to house thirty employees. I imagine if I take this as far as I want I am going to have another ten more built. I am also thinking when I get the horse barn built to house starting out seventy five horses, of taking half of the loft and ..making it additional housing. They will be separate bedrooms separated by a bathroom also.

I like this idea tremendously. This would be for people not looking to stay for long periods of time. I still like the idea.

Edward is definitely going to be busy with all the employees. I may have to give him a couple of assistants. I'm thinking of Jasper, and Sean...only if they are planning on staying for a long time. I'll just have to see.

I did get a call from Jason, and I got twenty five hundred more acres. Yessss...

ANOTHER JUMP IN TIME

Emmett comes to tell me he just got a call from Jake Black. They are finished with their other job, and are able to head our way. He needs land cleared enough to house two yurts. They will also need firewood for their fireplaces. Emmett say's he already has the land cleared, and they can start on cutting more firewood as soon as possible. I tell him to go ahead.

I grab my phone to call the weather center to see how things are looking. It seems we might have a problem heading our way. It's looking to be one hell of a blizzard. It might hit us by the middle of next week, if not sooner. Right now it is hitting Russia, and headed towards the Bering Sea. It could also hit Seattle pretty hard. Something else to look forward too.

The last week, or so of January is turning into a pain in my ass. We've had our share of problems with equipment small, and large. We've been under the watchful eye of quite a few mountain lions, and moose. We've been on a few hunting trips, and able to bag a fair amount of meat. The freezers are still plenty packed, so no worries about food. I still may have to get an airlift of supplies about the middle of February.

It is also about time to call for a fuel drop. I'm hoping they won't have any problems getting out here. Emmett say's the highway is fairly clear. They have trucks running to clear it every few days depending on the weather.

I can hardly wait for spring to see the buildings coming up. For it to start really looking like my ranch.

Alright, a couple time jumps, a little excitement, and more incoming new characters. I can tell you right now it means some drama. Your kidding, right? You didn't actually it was going to be smooth sailing. NOT!

So hang in there. Please let me know what ya'll think.