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Belle needed a moment just be present and put the events of the morning behind her. She walked through the main door of the office center, nodded to Susan, and continued to Margaret’s office, closing the door behind her. The tears started the second the door contacted the frame and sealed the world out.
She walked in and sat in one of the plush chairs opposite Margaret’s desk as she made eye contact with her best friend. Margaret rose, grabbed the tissue box, and extended the box to Belle while lowering herself into the other chair.
“Tough morning?”
Belle nodded. She wanted to tell Margaret the details but still was not in a place where she could put it into words. She loved working with the clients but sometimes the trauma was significant to her mental state. She had known this would be a tough case, based on the file, but it had not prepared her heart for the tiny broken child that had been brought out to her this morning. Staying patient, on task, and focused was critical in her line of work. It was afterwards in moments like this that the impact of her work hit home. After a few more minutes she looked up at Margaret.
“I just needed a minute where no one could find me,” she said by way of explanation.
“I knew this one would be hard,” Margaret said, sympathetically reaching out to simply rub a hand gently on her shoulder.
“I don’t understand how people that should love a child can do that much physical and mental damage to them,” Belle said, exhaling somewhere between anger and disbelief.
“I know,” Margaret said sadly. “This line of work brings the side effects of the worst of humanity to our door. We are then charged to help put them back together. I have every confidence you will be able to help that little girl, but it will take a toll. My office and ears are always open to listening.”
“I know,” Belle reached out and squeezed her hand. “You are always the first person I come to, as I know you have seen a lot during your internship with Children and Family Services.”
“Most days, I still wish I had continued working as a social worker, but my job is now to keep the ranch operational. I am finding this to be a larger job than I anticipated, and the day to day emotional toll is definitely not as high.”
“Yeah, I heard we have a new social worker for the ranch starting soon as you permanently vacated the position,” Belle said, with a little bit of a question in the statement.
Social Workers from many of the temporary agencies seemed to turn over quickly and were not as good as Margaret had been at the job. The ranch needed to hire a full-time social worker to meet the vast needs of the clients and to stay compliant with state service requirements. It was also an opportunity to bring new talent and services to the ranch. The demand of a social worker in the ranch setting working with clients and animals was different from the typical role of a social worker in a general population setting. She had heard Margaret hired a man. That was a rarity in the social work field, and she was curious to get Margaret’s take on the guy.
“His name is Jacob Williams and he is from Chicago. He earned a sociology degree after serving in the military, a couple of tours of active duty in Iraq. Seems down to earth, great recommendations, and I enjoyed our conversation as he seemed to understand what we do here,” Margaret said, with an odd look on her face that caught Belle’s attention.
“But what is wrong with him?” Belle asked, gently prodding.
“Nothing, I just got a gut feeling about him and went with it. We will see if I am wrong or not over time,” Margaret shrugged but Belle could tell she didn’t want to discuss it.
“So how about the wedding planning,” she said, changing topics.
“Oh, please, that is going to be waiting until after the crazy spring season passes. But you know when the time comes, my maid of honor is going to be sharing the lion’s share of work it will take to put on the big production,” she said, with a deep smile at Belle.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Belle said and meant it. She was so excited for Margaret and Noah and looking forward to the winter wedding.
Margaret had always dreamed of a white wedding, and Belle was expecting it to be the event of the year. She had been truly blessed when Margaret named her Maid of Honor and was looking forward to helping with all the details. They had been friends their entire lives, and this next chapter for Margaret was giving Belle hope about what might come next for her.
“And what about Reagon visiting?” Margaret said, raising her eyebrow in question.
“Yeah, he will be here this coming weekend. Said he wants to finally see what all the fuss is about the ranch,” she uttered with a chuckle. “This time of year and all the craziness should give him an eyeful,” as she rolled her eyes.
The spring season filled the ranch with lots of extra help planting the crops, delivering fur babies, and checking off the extensive list of pen and stall work. Reagon and Belle have been dating since her first year of college, and in the last few years, it had been a long-distance relationship because of his medical school commitment in California. Attending Stanford had been his dream and one she had never wanted to stand between despite the difficulty of seeing each other so seldom. His family was well-to-do and traveled for the holidays each year. His schedule had made it impossible for him to take trips to the ranch outside of his family holiday commitments in addition to school priorities. However, he finally found a few free days to take in the ranch.
Belle knew it was also time for them to decide where this six-year relationship was headed. Long-distances, because of an impending residency for another few years, we’re not going to be practical for them. He had made it clear for some time that he would never come to the ranch to live. Likewise, Belle had stated numerous times that city life would not be her first choice. On the other hand, most other topics seemed in line with shared interests, career aspirations, and even how many children they wished to have someday. They’re always seemed to be something natural about the relationship as they had been good friends before it bloomed to other levels. She couldn’t help but hope this visit would be the catalyst for big decisions, as she was ready to start planning for her next ten years.
“I’m hoping we can get some time to just to discuss our future,” Belle finally acknowledged.
“Are you thinking a walk down the aisle is in your near future?” Margaret inquired, with a huge smile.
“I wouldn’t have spent this much time with him if that wasn’t the final goal. I just – I don’t know that I’m ready to uproot and make a city my home,” she said lightly. “Especially as much as he works and how often I will be alone. But I guess when you love someone, you make sacrifices, right?”
“Yeah. If you genuinely love him, your heart will make a choice. I hope that this time with him on the ranch gives you the answers you are looking for,” Margaret replied.
“Me too,” Belle said, standing slightly.
Exhaling, she smiled at her best friend in the world. “I owe you,” she said, rolling her shoulders to lighten the final amount of tension she carried.
“Anytime. What are best friends for, if not to share the load?”
Belle nodded lightly, “There is no one I would rather be walking alongside,” she said turning back toward the door.
As she found the doorknob, she looked up at the picture of Holmer by the door and smiled. “She’s doing you proud,” she said lightly to him before continuing back to her role of keeping the ranch running.
