Rock-A-Bye Rancher

Daniela de la Cruz sat in her seventh-floor office in Houston, Texas, gripping the telephone until her knuckles ached. "It's not fair," her fourteen-year-old sister complained to her over the phone. "I hate being cooped up in the house, babysitting, when all my friends have the whole summer to do whatever they want and have fun." Lifeisn'tfair, Dani wanted to snap back. Deal with it, Sara. I've had to. At twenty-five, Dani was the youngest and newest associate of Phillips, Crowley and Norman, and she was working her tail off to build a career and make a name for herself. On the outside, it appeared as though the sky was the limit in terms of her upward mobility. But that wasn't the case. Most attorneys in her position didn't have to balance home and career the way she did. "Marcos!" Sara shrieked at her brother, obviously not covering the mouthpiece. "Put that down. You're going to break the lamp." Dani pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping to ward off the headache that began the moment Sara called. "What's your brother doing?" "He's swinging a baseball bat in the house," Sara said. "And he better take it outsideright now,or I'm going to scream." "Sara'smean," the ten-year-old boy shouted in the background. "Ihatebeing stuck with a couple of dumb girls." "I'm notdumb," little Delia said loud enough to be heard through the receiver. If Dani wasn't at work and trying desperately to keep her turbulent home situation a secret, she'd pitch a fit that would rival any of Sara's. Couldn't the teenager understand that Dani was trying her best to keep the kids fed, clothed and safe? Didn't she understand that they all had to pull together? Dani's frustration level was at an all-time high, and she was beginning to feel inept when it came to solving the domestic disputes that were popping up regularly, now that it was summer and the kids were out of school. Before she could respond to her squabbling brood, the intercom buzzed. "Hang on," she told her sister. As the teenager continued to object to the unfairness of life, Dani silenced her with the punch of the hold button. Then she tried to morph into the career-minded attorney she'd professed to be during the job-interview process and connected with the senior partner who wanted to talk to her. "Yes, Martin." "Daniela, can you please come into my office?" "Certainly. I'll just be a moment." She switched lines, reconnecting with her teenage sister, who was still in mid-rant and hadn't realized she'd been on hold. "...and all my friends are going to the mall. But oh, no. Not me. I'm stuck here at the house babysitting a bunch of juvenile ingrates." Dani slowly shook her head and blew out an exasperated sigh. If anyone could relate to Sara's complaints, it was Dani, who'd begun looking after her younger brother and sisters after her stepmother died. When her father passed away nearly two years ago, she'd really had to step up to the plate, accepting the role of single parent. There'd never been a question about what to do with the children. She'd taken custody and tried her best to make a home for them. Her only problem had come in learning how to balance it all. Dani had been in her third year of law school and had almost dropped out to put the family back together again, but a professor had talked her out of it. Somehow she'd pulled it off and had passed the bar. She loved the kids, but now that she was on a partnership track, parenting them was proving to be more difficult each day. "Listen," she told her sister. "I'll see what I can do about lining up someone to help with child care this summer. But right now, I need you to hang in there with me. I can't come home and settle things in person, but I'll try and leave work early today. Maybe I can take Marcos and Delia to dinner and a movie. Then you can have some time with your friends, okayDuarte, Judy is the author of 'Rock-A-Bye Rancher', published 2006 under ISBN 9780373247844 and ISBN 0373247842.