His wife cut him off. “That horse is Lauren’s wedding gift to Wade. Am I right?”
Lauren nodded. “If he’ll have us.”
Grady frowned at his wife. “I was just going to say that Wade already owns half of that horse.”
“All the better,” Lauren said, warming to her plan. “Then if I buy your half stake in him, we’ll be joint owners.”
“Say yes, Grady,” Karen prodded.
Grady gave both of them a resigned look. “Fine. Yes. Midnight is all yours. Yours and Wade’s, that is. He’s going to be expecting a check, though. I told him I’d find a buyer for Midnight and the other horses and send him his share of the proceeds.”
Lauren reached for her checkbook. “How much?”
Karen gasped. “You don’t want him to find out that you’ve bought them, do you?”
“No, the check will be to Grady. He can pay Wade. Full value, too. I don’t want any deals.”
Grady’s eyes lit up with feigned avarice. “Now that’s what I like to hear,” he teased. “Of course, if you make that check too big, Wade might not have any incentive to come back.”
“Grady!” Karen protested.
“Except to see Lauren, of course,” he added hurriedly.
“I knew what you meant,” Lauren assured him. “How much?”
He named a figure she knew to be reasonable given the quality of the stock she was buying. She ripped the check out and handed it to him.
“Now all I have to do is buy someplace to keep them,” she said wearily.
“Not until morning,” Karen said emphatically. “We all need a good night’s sleep.”
“Especially you, little mama,” Grady said, his gaze suddenly tender.
“Oh my gosh, I forgot about the baby,” Lauren said with dismay. “Go up to bed right now. You need all the rest you can get.”
Karen scowled at her. “Don’t you start, too. One worrywart in the house is enough. I’m getting plenty of sleep. Lauren’s the one who looks as if she’s been run over by a truck.”
“Thanks so much,” Lauren mocked. “But I’m too wound up to sleep yet. Go on to bed. I’ll clean up the dishes before I come up.”
“It’s three teacups,” Karen countered. “Leave them.”
“It will take me five seconds. Now scoot, you two.”
After they’d gone, Lauren washed the cups, then went onto the porch. It was a clear, starry night with just a hint of fall in the air.
Too restless to sit and enjoy it, she set out on a walk. The moon was bright enough to light the way. She went first to the barn to look in on Midnight. The horse’s ears pricked up the instant she came near.
“Hi, big fellow. Did you miss me?”
He nudged her pockets in search of sugar or carrots.
“Sorry. I forgot.”
As if he understood and forgave her, he simply nudged her again, his big eyes soulful.
“What am I going to do if this plan doesn’t work?” she asked him, sliding her arms around his neck and resting her head against him. Midnight tolerated the gesture, whinnying softly in response.
She drew in a deep breath, relishing the scents of horses and fresh hay and oats. No negative thoughts, she admonished herself. Her plan was going to work. It had to. Her entire future depended on it.
The Grigsby ranch was a disaster, even worse than Lauren had remembered. The Calamity Janes wandered through the empty house with her, clucking under their breath and muttering their certainty that Lauren had finally lost her mind completely.
“Okay, just spit it out,” she said finally. “What are the big objections?”
“It’s falling down,” Cassie said at once.
“The kitchen hasn’t been renovated since the Dark Ages,” Gina said, predictably fixated on the ancient appliances.
“It will cost a fortune to heat, unless you spend a fortune making it more airtight than it is right now,” Emma said, shuddering. “I can feel a breeze standing right here. In another month or so this place will be freezing.”
“Maybe you’re feeling a breeze because the window is open,” Lauren suggested optimistically.
“Nope, the air is coming up through the floor,” Emma retorted, then latched onto Karen’s arm. “Stand here. Is that air or not?”
Karen stood silently where she’d been directed, then nodded. “It’s definitely air.” She turned to Lauren. “Sorry. I cannot lie to a member of the legal profession.”
Lauren shrugged off the problem. “I don’t care. I want it. It’s the best piece of property available.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I called the real estate agent first thing this morning and asked about all the listings in the area before I arranged to pick up the keys to see this one,” she said. “Trust me, if I want a ranch nearby, this is the cream of the crop.”
“It’s a knockdown,” Cassie said, her expression dire. “You’d have to start from scratch. Do you want to spend that much time and money on this?”
Since Lauren had no firm idea where Wade was or when Grady might hear from him, she had all the time in the world. “Yes,” she said very firmly, then one by one looked each of them squarely in the eye to emphasize the point. “And I’m not tearing it down. I’ll renovate it. It’ll be the first good use I’ve had for my money in a long time.”
“Okay, then,” Emma said briskly. “I’ll do the negotiating. Otis Junior is slime. It will be a pleasure taking him to the cleaners.”
“The money goes to Otis Senior,” Lauren reminded her. “He’s up in years and not all that well. He might need it for his care.”
“Good point,” Cassie chimed in.
“Then I’ll have to insist it be put in a trust for just that, so that Otis Junior can’t touch it while his daddy’s alive,” Emma said, pulling her cell phone from her purse to call the real estate agent.
While Emma and the agent negotiated, the others kept on wandering around making notes on all that needed to be done. They came back eventually and handed several sheets of paper to Lauren.
“Just a few starting points,” Gina said with a grin.
