“I don’t know. Do you? You’re more attached to it than I am, but I like it now that it’s ours and we all meet up there.”
“I don’t want to sell, but it’s a lot of money to turn down. Should we think about it?” Kate wasn’t sure.
“I guess we have to. We’d both be pretty well fixed with that kind of money.”
“Do you want to ask Peter about it?”
“No,” Caroline said emphatically. “I don’t. This is our decision. We can decide for ourselves.” She didn’t defer to him now the way she had before. She had her own mind, and had found her own voice.
“Why don’t you sleep on it, and I will too,” Kate suggested. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
It was a long twenty-four hours after that. Caroline turned the numbers around in her mind again and again, and so did Kate. Kate wrote it down, and Caroline thought about all the things she could do with it, a bigger house, especially now with a baby coming, but Peter could provide that. She didn’t need that kind of money, no one did, but it would be nice to have. And it would give her independence from Peter, since she and Kate were now land rich and cash poor, as their father had said.
They both fell asleep and woke up early. Kate hardly slept all night, and Caroline got up at four A.M., and sat in the kitchen, thinking about it. She finally called Kate at six.
“What do you think?” Kate asked her, worried about what they’d do if they disagreed.
“I know this sounds crazy, and you may hate me for it,” Caroline said cautiously. “I’ll probably regret it for the rest of my life, but I love the place, Kate. It’s our home, and our roots, and it’s part of Dad. I don’t want to sell. I don’t care how much money they offer us, I want to keep it.” She sounded agonized when she said it.
“Oh, thank God, that’s what I think too. I thought you’d kill me for spoiling it for you,” Kate said.
They were both laughing with relief.
“I’ll call the realtor this morning. Thank you, Caro. I think we’re doing the right thing. How can we sell this?”
“I hope we never do,” Caroline said with feeling, and they hung up, and Peter came in a few minutes later, looking for her.
“What are you doing up so early?” he asked her, looking suspicious, he had heard her laughing.
“I was talking to Kate.”
“What about?”
“Ranch business.”
“Oh.” He nodded and smiled at her. “How are you feeling?” She was three months pregnant and everything was fine. He had gone to the doctor with her and the sonogram looked great. One healthy baby. Not twins, which was a relief, since women her age frequently had multiple births. And from a test she’d had, they knew now it was a girl.
“I feel great,” Caroline said, delighted with their decision not to sell the ranch.
“I’m going to be the oldest father at nursery school, and in a wheelchair for her college graduation.”
“No, we’re not. And even if we are, so what? It’s a gift. It was meant to be. It happened when we got back together.” She was excited about it now after the initial shock. And they had told Morgan and Billy. They weren’t thrilled, but they were okay with it, which was good enough. Morgan would be out of the house and in college when the baby was a year old anyway, and Billy would leave when she was five. It was a sign of hope and renewal. It was the baby of their reconciliation, Caroline couldn’t turn that away, and it meant a lot to Peter too. They were both grateful to be back together.
“Are you coming back to bed?” Peter asked with a look of particular interest and she laughed.
“If you make it worth my while,” she whispered.
“That’s how you got in trouble in the first place,” he reminded her, and they both laughed, closed their bedroom door and locked it. They had an hour before she had to wake the kids, and they could do a lot with that.
A few minutes later, they did. And even better than that, Kate and Caroline were keeping the ranch. And that was something to celebrate!
Chapter 18
On Memorial Day weekend, three weeks after the actual anniversary, they unveiled the memorial to their father, James “JT” Tucker, it said with his dates. Founder of Tucker Ranch, beloved father, companion,