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“Don’t look so surprised that I figured it out,” she said. “After all, I’m the one who made you the offer.”
Until now, Rome hadn’t given much thought to the text he’d received from Mimi over a month ago. At first, he’d thought it was a prank. But then, Decker had told him Mimi really had sent the text. She’d sent one to Casey too. They’d both had a good laugh over Mimi’s audacity, but Rome had also thought it was sweet. She loved her granddaughters and wanted them to move closer to her. You didn’t get any closer than the Remington Ranch. Rome hated to be the one to crush her dream. But there was no way around it.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Mimi. But I’m not going to marry Cloe. I’m never getting married again.”
“Not even for this ranch?”
He cleared his throat. “I don’t think this is your ranch to give.”
“Like hell it’s not. My name is on the deed.”
Talk about feeling like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. All he could do was stare at the little woman and try to speak. “W-W-What?”
“While my son runs this ranch, I’m the one who owns it. Every last acre.”
“So you’re the one selling this ranch?”
“Hell, no, I’m not selling it!”
He was struggling to understand. “But I thought the ranch was in debt.”
“According to what Cloe tells me, up to the barn’s rooftop. But I don’t care. Let the loan shark my son tricked me into signing a loan with try to repossess this ranch and he’ll find himself staring down the end of my husband’s shotgun. This is Holiday land and it will remain Holiday land. If not in my name, then in the name of my great-grandchildren’s daddy—once he pays off the debt and we get the title back. If that daddy isn’t going to be you, I figure your brother will be smart enough to take me up on my offer.”
Rome was too stunned to do more than stare at her in disbelief.
“Rome? Mimi? What’s going on?”
Rome turned to see Cloe walking toward them. She was bundled up in a knee-length puffy coat and a knit beanie that covered most of her hair. Those green eyes zeroed in on him. “I went to Cooper Springs, but you weren’t there. Did I misunderstand where we were meeting?”
“I was there. We must have missed each other. I came here to see if you were okay.”
“And ended up climbing our trellis and breaking it,” Mimi said.
Cloe glanced at the trellis lying on the ground. “You climbed my grandmother’s honeysuckle trellis?”
“I thought it was your window. Your grandmother made me realize my mistake.”
Mimi sniffed. “I thought it was some pervert trying to get a peek so I whacked him over the head with my Bible.”
A smile broke over Cloe’s face and her dimples popped for a brief second before she bit her plump bottom lip and tried not to laugh. “Are you okay?”
Mimi answered for him. “He’s fine, but he probably should get on home and take a couple aspirins.”
He knew when he was being dismissed and Mimi was right. He did need some aspirins. Not to mention, time to absorb what he’d just learned. Mimi owned the ranch?
“It is late,” Cloe said. “I guess we’ll have to stargaze another night.”
Mimi shook her head. “Absolutely not. Not when Rome has just informed me he’s not interested in marriage. Therefore, he’s not welcome to stargaze with my granddaughter.”
Cloe eyes widened. “Mimi!”
“Don’t you Mimi me, Clover Fields Holiday. Rome is after something with all his trellis-climbing and wedding-flirting, but it’s not anything decent. I won’t have you giving away the applecart without it being paid for.”
Cloe closed her eyes and groaned. Rome figured it was time to make his exit. He tugged on his hat. “I best be going. Good night, ladies.”
He headed back the way he’d come, his mind a swirl of thoughts. Mimi owned the ranch and had no intentions of selling it. But it sounded like she didn’t have a choice if foreclosure was an option. No wonder she had come up with the crazy plan to marry off one of her granddaughters. She was desperate to keep a ranch that had been in her family for over a century. Rome knew he would do whatever was necessary to save his family’s ranch. But he couldn’t see any of the sisters being willing to go along with their grandmother’s ridiculous plan.
Suddenly, he pictured Cloe dressed in a cat suit with a tie and a top hat, miserably trailing behind Thing One and Thing Two. Cloe standing at the Hellhole bar sipping a Dr Pepper and looking like she’d rather be anywhere else while Hallie and Sweetie drank, danced, and flirted. Cloe with a bright smile pinned on her face as she fixed Sweetie’s veil and fluffed the trail of her wedding dress—all while Cloe’s own heart was broken.
