Chapter 104

Stevie hopped in her ute and headed over to Drovers. She had been thinking about something for awhile, and she didn't want to call ahead , she just wanted to show up and do it.

As Stevie pulled in, she saw what must be the Drovers Demo car. It was hot pink with a purple unicorn. It was hooked up to a trailer, and all ready to go. She parked next to it and walked to the big house.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Stevie said as she entered.

"Stevie? Is that you?" called Jodi. "We're in the dining room."

Stevie walked in to see the whole gang eating pie at the dining table.

"I'm entering the pie contest tomorrow, and I thought I'd give them a sneak peek of my entry." explained Meg. "I'd offer you a slice, but I've only got the pie I'm entering left."

"Hey, don't mention it. I'm all good. I actually came by hoping to talk to Tess and Jodi alone."

"Is everything okay?" Jodi asked

"Everything is great. There is nothing to worry about. I just want a quick word," said Stevie.

"Okay, sure. We can have a drink out on the terrace, since everyone else is in here."

"Sure that'll work. Nice car by the way, I love the unicorn."

"Thank you, I hope you'll be ending up with a lot of pink paint on yours," Matt challenged.

Jodi and Tess got up and headed out with Stevie.

"So what's going on, Stevie?" Jodi asked

"Well first of all. Tess, are you okay? You were really upset last night. I just need to know that you're okay,"

"I'm okay. Confused, frightened, overwhelmed, but okay."

"I'm right next door. I'll be here whenever you need me, but I hope you figure it out between the two of you," offered Stevie

"Thanks Stevie. Sorry for being so off last night. I'm glad your date was good."

"It's fine, since you're okay, we can talk about that later. I have something else I want to talk about now."

"What is it? This is all unexpected," said Jodi

"Well, I know you're giving Charlotte an equal share of Drovers at the party."

"Yes, each of us will hold 30% ownership."

"I want to give Charlotte my 10%. You can make it 33.3% each," said Stevie.

"No Stevie. Absolutely not," said Tess.

"We're not taking it," said Jodi.

"I've put a lot of thought into this decision. I have gotten my investment back one thousand fold. It was the best money I've ever spent, and I will never regret making that investment,"

"Then it will continue to be the best money you've ever spent," said Tess.

"Tess, Jodi, you and Drovers gave me a home when I hadn't had one in a long time. You gave me a family. You gave me somewhere I belonged and people who cared about me. You gave me confidence and a belief that I was worth something. You gave me something to be proud of. It had been a really long time since I had experienced that when I turned up eighteen years ago. I owe Claire, and Drovers Run and both of you so much, but my future isn't on Drovers Run. It's at Killarney. I'm not a McLeod, I became a Ryan. My son is a Ryan, not a McLeod. Killarney is our home, and our future. It's Alex's legacy for Xander. I don't need any ownership of Drovers to know that I'm welcome here, or that you are my family and that will never change," said Stevie.

"Of course we're family, but you bought those shares. They're yours and we don't want them back," replied Tess.

"Look, Claire was very good to me. I didn't get to spend very much time with her at Drovers, but we were close mates at the rodeos, and she gave me my first job at Drovers. I would consider it an honor to hand off my share to her daughter. I'll sign it over directly to her if you prefer. If you each match, or well slightly beat my ten percent, that would leave each of you at thirty-three point three percent. Drovers Run should belong to McLeod's Daughters. I'm not one. Please let me do this," said Stevie.

"Stevie, in my mind, you are as much, if not more, entitled to ownership of Drovers than the rest of us. You're the only one that never left. I left when I chose Matt, Tess left when she chose Nick. You chose Alex knowing you could watch over both." said Jodi

"That's not why I chose Alex," said Stevie.

"I know, but you still stayed, you're the only one who stayed the entire time. You and Claire are the only ones who never left. Please let me try to work this out. So I understand you want to give a gift to Charlotte, and that is a beautiful thing, but the idea of you not having a stake in Drovers makes me physically ill. What if you give Charlotte nine percent and Tess and I each give twelve percent? That would leave Tess, Charlotte and I each with equal thirty-three percent shares, and you with a symbolic, but still very legal and official one percent ownership stake. It's just like Tess did with Wilgul. Is that something we could agree to?"

"I'd be more comfortable if it was all of it. I consider it an honor to have kept part of Charlotte's inheritance safe for her until she came of age. It's important to me that I do this," said Stevie.

"I still feel uncomfortable about you not receiving any financial compensation for this. You paid in a lot of money eighteen years ago." said Tess "And we needed that money then. You deserve to receive some sort of financial return."

"I don't want any money. It's a gift to the daughter of one of my best friends."

"Are you absolutely sure of this Stevie?" asked Jodi "Tess, are you on board?"

"If this is really what you want to do Stevie, I can live with the nine percent as long as Stevie is still officially a part owner of Drovers Run." Tess replied. "Drovers would never have made it through after Claire without you. You earned that ownership many times over."

"I wouldn't have come to you if I wasn't certain of my decision. I want to do this." said Stevie "It's less than what Tess did for Jaz, Regan, Grace, and you. She gave up Wilgul for nothing to get Drovers Back for you, Jodi." pointed out Stevie.

Jodi didn't like thinking about that, She still felt overwhelmed by her sister's generosity.

"I got the best end of that deal, and I did it for selfish reasons. I'll never regret it. I needed Jodi here with me for the long term, and my cousins nearby. This is different, this is a very generous thing to do Stevie," said Tess.

"I really prefer to give all of it," said Stevie "Is there a way I can convince you to accept it?" said Stevie.

"I'm really not okay with not having you be a part of Drovers, '' said Tess.

"I have an idea on how to settle this," said Jodi as she laid out her idea.

Okay. It's a bet, said Stevie as she shook hands with Tess and Jodi. "I'll see you tomorrow," said Stevie as she stood up and walked off the terrace towards her car.

"I don't like this Jodi," said Tess. "Now we have to win the demo derby."