Essie obeyed but she muttered something about her sister being too bossy.
Creed smiled at Sage when she came back into the house. Her nose was scarlet and her knit cap was set off to one side. No doubt Noel had been extra friendly.
She smiled back and winked.
The stone in his heart dissolved completely. She was okay with the sale and their relationship was fine.
“Okay, Sage, get out of that coat and pour some coffee for you and Essie. We’re going to lay out the terms of this sale amongst us.”
Sage stopped long enough to brush a kiss across Creed’s cheek. “Good morning.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her down onto his lap where he kissed her properly. “Good morning, darlin’. Your grandmother has not backed out of the sale.”
“I know. I chose eating my cake.”
A puzzled expression crossed his face.
Essie laughed out loud. “So did Ada, thank God.”
“I’m sure it’ll all make sense someday,” Creed said.
He would have preferred that Sage sit in his lap through the whole discussion of the terms but she stood up. Once her coat was removed she took her place and reached under the table to squeeze his thigh.
“Okay,” Ada began. “I’ll go first. Essie and I had a long talk last night after we went to bed. When I left the canyon I was positively sure about this sale but then the doubts came creepin’ in on me. So we made arrangements to come a few days early so that I could tell Creed I’d changed my mind and wasn’t going to sell out. Seemed only right to give him time to go home to his family for the holidays, and I wanted to be with you, Sage.”
“She was an old bear,” Essie said. “Wanted her cake and wanted to eat it too, just like Sage did.”
Ada shot her sister a dirty look and went on. “Essie and I want to be together in our old age. She wants to be in Shade Gap because that’s her home. I want to be here because this is my home. We couldn’t have it both ways until we got to studying the matter. This is what we’ve come up with and if you are in agreement, we’ll call the lawyer and have him meet us at the courthouse in Claude this afternoon.”
“Why the hurry?” Sage asked.
“Courthouse will be closed on Monday. Tuesday is Christmas, and besides, Essie and I are going back to Shade Gap on Sunday evening. Had to get a red-eye home because all the planes are booked full during the holidays.”
“But Grand, if you were going to back out of the sale, why did Essie come with you? She would have had to fly home all by herself,” Sage asked.
Essie put up a palm. “That was my idea. If I let her out of my sight for a minute she makes the wrong decisions. I had to come along to keep her in remembrance of the fact that I need her to help me.”
“Bullshit! Woman who can climb on the roof don’t need nobody to help her,” Sage said.
“Okay, you caught me. I don’t need her but she needs me.” Essie giggled.
“That’s a load of bullshit for sure,” Ada raised her voice.
“Oh, hush the bitching and tell them the plan,” Essie said.
“Okay, I’m selling you the ranch for the price we agreed upon. But I want to buy this house back from you for the same amount. Not the land it sits on, just the house.”
Creed’s brows knit together. “Explain, please.”
“You are going to give me the rest of the money for the ranch. I’m going to tear up the check because I’m buying my house back from you. Understand that much?”
“But why?”
“Essie and I are going to spend our winters here and our summers at her place. We’ve even written it down on the calendar. We’ll go to Shade Gap after Easter and we’ll come back here after Halloween each year. All but this first year which we plan to spend in Shade Gap. We will come back to Texas for Easter this year and for July Fourth,” Ada said.
“But I’m staying under the air conditioner and knitting. I’m not going outside in that sweltering heat,” Essie declared.
“Then we’ll come for the winter after Halloween. By then I expect you two to have your own house built with the money I’m paying you for this house. There’s over a thousand acres here so you’ve got lots of choices to make about where you want to build and what size house you want, but I don’t want to give up my house.”
Creed nodded. “But you can have this house and we’ll build one, Miz Ada. You don’t have to pay for it.”
“See, Sage, I told you he was a good man.” Ada grinned.
“Stipulation number two coming up,” Essie said.
Ada looked from Sage to Creed. “You’ve got to hire some help. Sage can’t leave her career in the dust to be a rancher’s wife. She’ll resent it in her old age.”
“Agreed,” Creed said without hesitation.
Sage blushed. “No one said anything about a marriage.”
“Any more conditions to the sale?” Creed asked.
“That’s it,” Ada said.
“Then I think the terms are more than generous and I want to add my stipulations to the deal,” Creed said in his slow Texas drawl.
All eyes were on him.
“When I drove up in the front yard three weeks ago, I knew I’d found home. Don’t know if your Indian sense had found its way to me by osmosis or what, but I was at peace for the first time in years. All I wanted for Christmas was a ranch of my own. I didn’t have any idea what all went with the ranch.” He grinned and leaned over to kiss Sage on the cheek.
“Here’s my only condition, Miz Ada. When you two are too old to make the trips back and forth, I want your promise that you will settle here on the Rockin’ C with us and
