Sassy Cowgirl Kisses by Kathy Fawcett
Chapter 30
“Oh Lordy, what have I gone and done, what am I doing here?”
Sassy eyed the ranch house from the open-top Jeep as she slowly approached.
Kat was waiting on this mail, but she couldn’t seem to make the car go any faster than five miles per hour. Any slower and she’d be going backwards—part of her wanted to do just that. Turn the other way and drive through the night back to her home, and her mother.
Hearing her heart pound, Sassy took a few cleansing breaths, then guided the Jeep to the circular driveway near the covered front door.
The front of the ranch house made it appear almost normal in size, though still quite elegant with its iron and wood beams. But Ash had pointed out the back of the house that day they went to the creek, and it was like an iceberg. Most of the house was built into the bluff and hidden from view.
From the back, it looked more like a conference center with wings, decks, and massive picture windows. Sassy thought she could slip in one of the lower doors and never be noticed for weeks in such a place.
Surely Kat must have a mighty league of support staff to keep such a place so pristine. The landscaping alone looked like it was ready for a magazine photo shoot.
As she parked, Sassy thought about her own family home in south Illinois. It was almost ridiculous that her mother had a housekeeper and gardener, but then again, she couldn’t picture her mother doing much except flipping through magazines. And they had the money.
“Whatever makes your mama happy,” her daddy would say, indulgently. He was that way with Sassy, too, though seemed to have higher expectations of his daughter than his wife.
“Whatever makes you stronger, smarter, and more prepared,” he would say as a barometer for her interests.
“Prepared for what?” Sassy would ask when she was young, only to receive a sad smile in return by way of an answer.
For this,she knew now, walking towards the massive double door. For a time when she was a fatherless child; practically alone in the world and tasked with carrying out her daddy’s final wish.