“Must be milking,” she said. “But it wouldn’t take three hours.”
She reached around the door and flipped on the light. Angel jumped on the bed and a sheet of paper floated to the floor.
Her name was written on the outside and the next breath caught in her chest like a rock, refusing to move. She picked up the note and carried it to the living room where she melted into a chair. Her heart raced and her breathing returned in short, raspy gasps.
Angel jumped up in her lap and curled up for a nap. Sage made herself open the note and read it, knowing fully well what it would say before she saw the first lines.
Dear Sage,
Your grandmother and I had an agreement. If either of us didn’t want to go through with the sale then we had the option of backing out. I’m calling that option and going back to Ringgold.
Chores are done for the morning. You’ll only have to milk a few days. Sorry that I’ve left you with that job.
I love the ranch. It’s exactly what I want, but I don’t think the whole panhandle of Texas is big enough for both of us. You’ve got my number. Call me if you want to talk.
Creed
She dropped it. Her shaking hand wasn’t blistered but it felt hot. She was on her feet and headed for the front door when she heard the loud thud on the front porch. The noise stopped her in her tracks and then another one hit, shaking the floor under her bare feet.
She jerked the door open and plowed right out onto the porch. Her socks did little to protect her feet from the cold porch, and the cold north wind whistled right through her sweatshirt.
Creed stood at the edge of the porch, looking at the two tiny log cabins. She wanted to shoot him and then hug him, in that exact order. Noel sniffed the larger of the houses and stuck her head in past the leather flap covering the doorway.
“You are leaving?” Sage hugged herself against the wind.
“Looks that way. I was already in the truck and pulling out when I saw the insulation in the back. I don’t leave jobs unfinished. I’ll drill a couple of holes to snake the electric cord into the house and put the bulbs inside the attics. You can move them out when you get ready.”
“I’m not moving them. This was your idea, Creed Riley. You shove them out into the cold.”
“You better get back inside. You’re going to freeze to death,” he said.
“What would you care? You wouldn’t even know about it if I did. I could fall and break an arm and not be able to get to a doctor but you wouldn’t give a damn. You’d be gone. I was a fool to trust you. I was an idiot to think we might have something. Nobody finds their soul mate in two weeks.” Her voice got louder with every word.
She was shocked when he crossed the porch, picked her up, and carried her back inside the house. Her head rested on his chest and through the thick coveralls she could hear his heart thumping every bit as fast as hers. Noel raced inside the house with them and didn’t stop until she was curled up around her hungry puppies, but Sage wasn’t even aware of the dog.
Creed sat down on the sofa with her and grabbed a fluffy throw to wrap around her feet.
“I don’t want to leave,” he said.
Those five words were better to Sage than winning the lottery.
“I don’t want you to go,” she whispered. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I can’t begin to explain, but it all came down on my head at one time.”
“Next time trust me enough to talk to me about it. Don’t shut me out, Sage. Tell me what’s buggin’ you and we’ll work through it together,” he said.
“Is there going to be a next time? You are leaving.”
“I think I’ll stick around for a while.” He grinned. “You don’t like to milk cows and you are too softhearted to put the animals outside. And I’d hate to think those two perfectly fine houses will be sitting empty.”
“I love you,” she said softly.
Creed’s kiss was long, hard, and lingering. She tried to melt her body into his and become one with him but that damn throw was in the way. She tugged it out from between them and tossed it on the floor.
She pulled back. “It’s crazy. I know it is. We’ve known each other less than three weeks.”
“Soul mates know.” His kiss was more demanding, somehow hotter and sweeter at the same time.
“Did you?” she mumbled as his lips left hers and worked their way down to the hollow of her neck.
“I knew before you did.”
She pushed him back and stared into his eyes. They had gone all soft and dreamy like she loved. “When did you know?”
***
He couldn’t very well tell her that he’d finally seen the big picture in a jewelry store with his ex-girlfriend. That he’d figured out he was a lucky man because Macy didn’t marry him because he had been given the time and opportunity to meet Sage, his true soul mate.
“When doesn’t matter, Sage. I love you. I think I always have. I just had to look a long time before I found you.”
“So this is it? We are in a relationship?”
“I am. Are you?” he asked.
“God, I can’t even think with your hands touching my skin,” she said.
“Want me to stop so you can think about it all day?”
“Hell, no! Please don’t stop. Wait!”
He pulled his hands free and sat up. “For what?”
“What are we going to do when Grand comes home? We can’t sleep together in this house with her in the other room, and I don’t ever want to spend another night without you.”
“I guess we’ll clean out the bunkhouse for us or for Miz Ada,” he chuckled.
“It’s not funny. I can’t imagine telling her good night and her knowing I’m sleeping with you.”
“Are you proposing to me, Sage?” Creed asked.
She blushed redder than the shiny bulbs on the Christmas tree. “One baby step at a time, cowboy. I’m damn sure not proposing. I’ve just got one little toe in the commitment pool.”
“Good, because I would have said no.” He laced his fingers in hers and stood up, pulling her toward the bedroom.
“Why? Am I just relationship material and not bride material?” She didn’t hesitate when he headed toward the bedroom.
“No, ma’am, but when there’s a proposal, I’ll do it,” he told her.
She stopped in her tracks and pointed at the puppies. “Creed! Look!”
He looked down and that damned ugly mutt was smiling. And all three puppies were looking up with their little eyes opened up wide.
“Their eyes are open. Stop! We’ve got to look at them.”
Creed was fully aroused and ready to make love to Sage. Tomorrow morning, he’d make breakfast and they’d share it in bed before they had another round of wonderful sex. Then they’d have dinner and go back to the bedroom. Things really were looking wonderful.
They’d just declared their love for each other. It should be a spectacular day. He wished he had a bottle of champagne to celebrate or even a six-pack of beer. But they had been angry with each other when they went to Walmart and neither of them even thought about buying beer or even a bottle of wine.
She dropped his hand and plopped down on the floor beside Noel.
Creed loved Sage.
He had admitted it to himself.
Rings were stuffed down into his luggage, which was in the truck.
He had told her.
Now she wanted to play with three bluetick hounds?
He chuckled and sat down beside her. “Look, Elvis can see now.”
“Just like us,” Creed said.
Her eyebrows knit together. “What does that mean?”
“I love you, Sage.”
“Oh, I get it.” She leaned forward to collect the kiss coming her way. “Symbolic, ain’t it? They open their eyes on the day their house is finished and the day that we finally open ours.”
Creed wanted to rush out to the truck and bring in the velvet box. He wanted to propose to her right there in the
middle of the living room floor with wiggling puppies around them and the lights of the Christmas tree sparkling behind them.
But he couldn’t.
Not until the ranch was paid for and his property. He didn’t want her to ever think for one single minute that he’d used her precious love that way.
“So are you ready to put these critters outside? It’ll only take ten minutes to put the electrical cord through a hole into the house.”
She laid Elvis back down beside his mother and took his hand. “That can wait. I want you to take me to bed, Creed.”
She reached out a hand and he helped her to her feet. She led the way to the bedroom and shut the door behind them.
***
Sage unbuttoned his shirt and slid it from his shoulders. She wasn’t in a hurry. They had all day to put the icing on their declarations of love. And she didn’t care if the M-word wasn’t mentioned for several months. She already knew how she would answer when it did come into play.
His hands trembled as he pulled her sweatshirt up over her head, taking the nightshirt with it. She rolled up on her toes so that their eyes were level and sunk into the depths of his soul.
“Merry Christmas to me,” she singsonged.
“Ditto,” he rasped.
She unfastened his belt buckle and zipper and slipped her hand inside. He groaned. “I don’t want foreplay. I want to feel you, Creed. Make love to me.”
She stepped back and shimmied out of the rest of her clothing and left them lying on the floor. She was already under the covers when he joined her, his lips and body joining hers right along with their hearts and souls.
“I’m so ready and you feel so good,” she said.
“So do you, darlin’. Have I told you in the past two minutes that I’m hopelessly in love with you?”
“Don’t ever leave me, Creed. Promise that you won’t ever leave me.”
“Wild horses couldn’t drag me away from you.”
With that promise he was inside her and the rocking motion of beautiful lovemaking began.
“I love you,” she said, and the words came straight from her heart.
Chapter 19
Sage set a poinsettia on her grandfather’s grave.
“Merry Christmas, Grandpa. Grand is selling the ranch. I’m okay with it now but it took a while for me to come around. She won’t be able to stay away very long because this is where your spirit is. I couldn’t ever stay away from Creed so I know she’ll be back often to visit. She’ll be here in a few days and I’m sure she’ll be around to tell you all her news.”
She went back to the tractor where Creed waited and picked up the next two pots of bright red flowers.
“You okay?” Creed asked.
“Yes, I really am,” she said.
She set one plant in front of her father’s grave and one in front of her mother’s.
“Merry Christmas, Momma and Daddy. Every Christmas I wished I had a momma and daddy like all the other kids. I never told you that, did I? I’m sorry. I should have told you that even though I can barely remember either of you that I did miss you in my life. Grand has been a wonderful parent, but there was a hole in my life and in my heart. Momma, you’ll be glad to know that Creed took care of that, and Daddy, don’t worry, he’s a good man. He’d have to be. Grand picked him out special for me.”
“Thank you,” Creed whispered as he slipped his arms around her from behind and drew her back to his chest.
The sweet strains of “Silent Night” on the tractor radio drifted across the cemetery and filled the canyon.
“Sleep in heavenly peace,” Sage said the words. “Fitting, ain’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am, it surely is.”
The sun setting over the west bank of the canyon cast the last glorious golden rays of the day down upon the three graves. A day had ended but the ones ahead held the promise of something beautiful and real.
***
Creed had expected tears but Sage had handled things better than the first time they’d visited the cemetery. Whatever she said before he joined her had brought peace into her heart and it showed in her face.
She hummed along with the Christmas carols playing from the country station on the radio and kept time by tapping her foot. He still couldn’t believe that she loved him, a plain old cowboy. And she had said it first. To Creed, that meant the whole world. It wasn’t just an answer back to what he had said but it was going out on a limb and saying the words with no idea of how he would respond.
“Chores done… check. Flowers out… check,” he said.
“Supper to be cooked… no check. Making love before supper… definitely,” she teased.
“Which one first? Kitchen or bedroom?”
“Kitchen,” she answered without hesitation.
He cocked his head to one side.
“Has to be that way even if it’s one of my gourmet bologna sandwiches. Once we hit the bedroom, we won’t be finished until morning.”
The deep chuckle turned into laughter. “Honey, I’m not nearly that good.”
She ran a hand up his thigh. “Darlin’, together we really are that good.”
He pulled the tractor through the double doors of the barn and started to turn the engine off but the DJ was talking about tomorrow’s weather so he waited.
“And tomorrow the weatherman says we can look for more of the same. Low temperatures. Sunshine. Some icicles. Not much in the way of melting the snow. It’s looking more and more like we’ll have a white Christmas in the panhandle of Texas, folks.”
“Well, that’s a big surprise,” Sage said. “Hey, I’ll wait for you beside the doors and race you to the house. Loser has to cook supper in the nude.”
Creed turned the key and everything went silent except for the mooing of the cows out back. He’d turned the milk cow out with the herd that morning so the whole barn was empty.
Sage swiped a kiss across his cheek. “I can already see you without a stitch of clothes on because I’m going to win this race.”
“I can’t even keep my boots on?” he asked.
“Not even your socks.”
“Just remember that when I win. The floor is cold without socks. Want to revise the rules?” he asked.
“Nope, nude as the day you were born,” she answered.
“Okay, let’s shut the doors then and get to it. I’m lookin’ forward to supper now. Have you ever had a cowboy make love to you on the kitchen table?” he asked.
She slid off the seat and shivered. “No, I have not.”
“How about the credenza right inside the door?”
“One time. Man that was some hot sex.”
“Could be again if you’d move that nativity scene you put up there the next day,” he said.
She giggled and helped slide the doors shut.
Creed stretched one long leg out and said, “One for the money. Two for the show. Three to get ready, and four to…”
She leaped and he reached out and grabbed her by the seat of her coveralls. “I didn’t say go.”
“You don’t play fair.” She moved away from him at least four feet. “I’m calling it. Three to get ready and four to go!”
Dusk settled on a blur of mustard-colored coveralls and long legs making a dash for the house. She was keeping up with him, step for step. Then he sidestepped twice and tackled her, but instead of bringing her down in the snow, he threw her over his shoulder like a bag of chicken feed and kept running toward the house.
***
The sizzle of chicken frying filled the whole kitchen.
Essie cut out biscuits and put them into a big round cast iron skillet. Ada slid them into the oven and checked the potatoes. They would be ready to mash at the same time the biscuits finished cooking. Green beans with bacon simmered on the back of the stove and a loaf of freshly baked pumpkin bread cooled on the cabinet.
“I’ll set the table while you fix up a fruit salad,” Essie said.
Ada nodded.
&nbs
p; The day before, she had made up her mind. She was giving Creed back his escrow money and backing out of the deal. She’d hire him to stay on at the ranch and even clean out the bunkhouse for him, but she couldn’t leave the canyon. Now she wasn’t so sure that was the right decision.
She looked at the Christmas tree and then at Essie. Surely to God, something would give her a sign. Anything to point her in the right direction. She liked living in Pennsylvania and she would love it when summer came and it wasn’t hot as hell. She loved bantering with Essie and remembering the old times. But she missed Sage.
“Can’t have your cake and eat it too,” Essie said.
“You talkin’ to me?”
“I am. I know it’s been botherin’ you these past few days and I kept my mouth shut. I don’t want you to ever regret leaving, Ada. You know where I stand, but time is getting pretty damn short. You’ve got to make up your mind and not look back.”
Ada swallowed twice, but the lump in her throat refused to budge.
I’ve relied on my Indian sense all these years. Don’t fail me now. Give me a sign. All I want is one little sign to show me how to make this decision. A star floating over the fried chicken with a long banner trailing behind it would be nice. Or writing on the wall. I don’t even care if it’s in orange Crayola.
The back door flew open with such force that Essie grabbed her heart.
Sage’s butt popped up in the air above Creed’s shoulder. Her words came out one at a time between giggles and gasps. “You cheated. Now I don’t get to see you make supper in the…”
He quickly swung her around and her face popped up. She gulped twice and said, “In the kitchen.”
Ada Presley had her sign.
***
“Grand, you are early! And you talked Aunt Essie into coming with you!” Sage hurried across the room and grabbed them both in a three-way hug.
“Surprise,” Essie said. “But I don’t know who got the real surprise. Girl, y’all about scared the bejesus right out of me. You’re supposed to come in gentle-like, not like a tornado blowin’ the door down.”
Mistletoe Cowboy Page 25