Chapter 14

I smiled as I turned into the driveway of our new home. We’d gone to see it while the family was with us. I think we intimidated the real estate agent when we showed up en masse. You could almost see the numbers running through her head as she tried to calculate the net worth of the group before her. I don’t think she could count that high.

It was a very nice cottage, if you count five bedrooms as being a cottage. A low rambling structure with a lot of old-world charm, one look at Katie and Sissy as they explored made me hope I wouldn’t get gouged too deeply. It came with forty acres, several outbuildings, and a ten-stall barn with an attached one-bedroom apartment to house a groom. There were two ponds and a nice stream running along the edge of the property. Best of all, for the girls anyway, was that it was less than a mile from Henry and Chelsea. Katie was already planning on riding her horse back and forth.

I almost grunted when the realtor told me the owners were asking a million three for it. Chelsea just grinned. “That’s overpriced and you know it. You tell the owners we’ll give 875,000 and not a cent more.”

She wanted to argue, but Chelsea made her write up the offer before we left. I never thought I’d live to see myself spending that much on a house but I could afford it. I knew I could get a little over 400,000 for my old house, and I had enough money in the bank to pay cash for the rest of it if I wanted.

Sissy was stunned at the price, but she wanted it bad enough to offer to pay for part of it. I surprised her when I said no. “It’s my responsibility to provide for my family. We need to keep the money you’re earning for other things. College funds come to mind right off the bat. We can afford it, honey, so stop worrying.” She never brought it up again.

We ended up having to pay 920, 000 for it. I used the money from the sale of my old house, put a large down payment on it from my savings, and financed 250,000. The payments weren’t much higher than my old one.

Sissy did use some of her money to furnish and decorate the house. She asked my input and I laughed. “It’s your house, decorate it any way you want. If I don’t like it, I’ll suggest changes. The same rules will apply to my studio.”

I was splurging, building a 1000 square foot studio with a lot of natural lighting. It fit into the landscape very well, almost invisible from the house. I could write it all off on taxes as a work expense, so I didn’t feel too guilty about spending the money.

We were three months from the wedding and had been in the house for about four, living a life of bliss and love. Sissy had taken over the attached barn apartment and turned it into her office. We would get up, get Katie off to school, then go to our respective work areas, meeting for lunch, which often included a quick bout of lovemaking. Sissy said it inspired her. It just made me tired but I vowed to start going back to the gym to build up my stamina. When Katie got home, we would talk about her day, I sometimes showed them what I was painting, and Sissy would talk about the story she was working on. Sissy and Katie usually saddled up two or three times a week and made the quick ride to see Chelsea and Henry. There was a trail that cut through three properties and they could ride in safety without worrying about traffic. Gracie was living in our barn and Sissy would ride her. Katie had brought her horse home as soon as possible. Henry and Chelsea rode over at least once a week, usually on the weekends, and would spend the afternoon with us. Mom and Maddy were frequent guests, to the point of having designated bedrooms. Claire, Anne, Clayton, and Clark were often present. It was like Katie had seven grandparents, a situation she had no problem with. I was surprised she stayed as levelheaded as she did.

Sissy had four stories ready for her editors. She had three more in varying degrees of completion and was wanting to write a full-length book if she could find the right subject, maybe something about little girls and horses. Her six months were almost up, and her house was pushing her to get something out.

The editor loved two of the stories, saying they would take very little revision. She felt the others needed work. Sissy wasn’t offended. The woman was paid for her expertise and opinion and if she said they weren’t ready, that was it. The publishers were wanting to publish both works as soon as possible. One would work well with younger children, the other was directed more at the “tween” market. It was a calculated risk, statistics showed girls between 11 and 14 were a really large share of current readers, even over adult markets.