She was sitting in the middle of the bed in his red and black plaid shirt. It had been in the laundry and he’d hung up all his shirts after they’d dried, so why was she wearing it?
“Look!” She was fairly well bouncing. “Wake up, Creed.”
He looked where she was pointing. She’d made a hollow in the bedspread and there were three wiggling kittens. Where had she gotten more kittens? Was she going to be one of those old eccentric women who took in cats by the dozens now that she’d found how much she liked them?
He rubbed his eyes. “Where did you get those?”
“In the barn,” she said happily.
“Why were you in the barn this time of night?”
She touched his forearm. “Creed! These are Angel’s babies.”
Angel landed in the middle of the bed, made sure her kittens were all right, turned around a couple of times on the spare pillow, and then lay down.
She held Rudy. “And their eyes are open. Look, they can see!”
Sure enough the kitten’s eyes were wide open but it wasn’t Rudy’s eyes that made him smile; it was Sage’s. If she got that excited about kittens, what would she do the first time her child did something fantastic—like clasp her finger or make goo-goo noises?
“Well, I’ll be damned. They’re some really smart kittens to open their eyes this early.”
“You think so? I thought he looked a little slow,” Sage said.
Creed’s laughter bounced off the bedroom walls and the cows out in the feedlot probably heard the commotion. “He’s got to get adjusted to the world. Right now everything is probably one big blur, even his momma. By Christmas, they’ll be playing and biting each other’s ears.”
“They’ll fight?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. That’s what siblings do.”
“Did you bite your brothers’ ears?”
Creed threw back his head and laughed again. “Not exactly, but that didn’t mean we didn’t spit on our knuckles and have it out.”
He took Rudy from her and held the cat close to his chest. “You aren’t going to have to take special classes at the kitty school, are you, Rudy? You’ll learn how to catch barn rats and climb trees and get As on all your report cards. Yes, sir, you’re going to be a smart kitten when you go to school.”
Sage shivered.
“I promise,” Creed said.
“It’s not that. My feet are cold.”
“Then get under the covers and sit beside me.”
She handed the other two kittens to him and repositioned herself so that she was covered from the waist down. He laid the kittens back in her lap and kissed her on the cheek.
“You’re going to make a great mother, Sage.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I’ve never been around babies in my life except at church, and then there was April, but I was just a little girl back then,” she rambled. “I’m going to put them back in their bed now.”
“And then you’ll come back to bed with me?”
She shook her head. “Not in Grand’s bed. You can come over to my room, but Grand would haunt me if I…”
“I’m not asking you to have sex with me. I just want you to feel your body next to mine,” he said.
She looked at the four bedposts as if hunting for something.
Creed laid a hand over hers. “She hasn’t haunted me one single night, but I’ll gladly come to your room.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Chapter 14
Sage was always glad to see April. They talked weekly when she wasn’t at the ranch, and when she was they saw each other often. But on Friday morning when she showed up with a big flat box and an even bigger smile, Sage wanted to kick her off the front porch.
Tradition.
It was a bitch.
On the day before the Canyon Rose Christmas party, April always brought her new dress to model. Afterwards, she and Sage would talk shoes, hairstyles, and cowboys. That Thursday morning, Sage didn’t want to talk about any of those things and she sure didn’t want Creed to see the petite April strutting around in a deep blue velvet dress that hugged every one of her tiny curves.
One look at her using the living room floor like a model’s runway and Creed wouldn’t want to be seen with the tall gangly giant called Sage. Even April’s name brought up visions of minty green leaves and new life, whereas the name Sage would remind Creed of a pungent aroma coming from an ugly green powder.
April plopped the box down on the kitchen table and pulled out a dark