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Rose had done since the girls found her on the porch.
    Annie Rose sat down beside him. “It’ll be a tough night if they really want to take them in the house, but it will only be for one night, and it will be their decision not to ever bring them inside again.”
    “How tough are we talking about? What’s involved?” he asked, breathing in her scent. Holly had a liked a floral perfume that he’d bought for her on their first anniversary, while Annie Rose smelled fresh and crisp, like apples and cucumbers and fresh air all blended together.
    “You got an old playpen in the attic? Maybe one the girls used when they were babies?”
    “There’s probably more than one up there.”
    “That’s even better. If they put up a fuss to keep them in the house, then bring two down, and we’ll make a makeshift cover for them, so the goats can’t get out. Then they have to put it beside their bed with the rule that they will take care of the goats all night and clean up whatever mess is in the playpen before breakfast tomorrow morning.” She smirked at him, and Mason couldn’t help but crack a smile.
    “That sounds like the voice of experience talking,” he challenged.
    She nodded. “One night with a smelly goat bawling and then cleaning up the playpen the next morning and I was more than ready to take my goat out to the pen with the other goats.”
    “You are a wise woman, but are you big enough to make them actually clean up those playpens? They are tough and there are two of them.”
    “Yes, I am. This could be an interesting summer if you still want me after Tuesday.”
    “You must be pretty sure of those credentials I’m checking out,” he said.
    “I am. Can you get a real pen built for them first thing tomorrow morning? It should be right outside the yard fence, so the girls can get to them easily and yet I can keep watch from the kitchen window. Make it big enough for two goats and two girls to romp and play in it.”

Chapter 3
    The last of the party crowd kicked up a cloud of dust as Doc Emerson drove away from the ranch. The girls and Mason waved good-bye at the gate, and then Gabby tugged at his arm. “Daddy, we can’t leave our goats here, because they’ll fall in the swimming pool and drown, and we can’t put them in the yard, because they can get out of a rail fence.”
    “We’ll put them in the pasture with the new calves until tomorrow. I’ll get Skip to build a pen for them right next to the yard tomorrow morning,” he said.
    “But, Daddy, they will be scared of those big old cows,” Lily fussed.
    “What do you want to do, sleep with goats?” Mason asked. “Have you smelled them? And remember, they don’t use a litter pan like O’Malley.”
    “Not in our beds.” Lily rolled her eyes.
    “We was thinkin’ maybe in the bathtub just for tonight,” Gabby said.
    Annie Rose stopped shoving wrapping paper into an oversized black leaf bag and asked, “What if they accidentally turned on the water and drowned because they couldn’t get out of the tub?”
    “Well, that ain’t going to work, is it?” Lily said quickly.
    Mason’s phone vibrated in his hip pocket and he quickly removed it, held up a finger to the girls, and walked away from wrapping paper, presents, goats, girls, and Annie Rose.
    “Hello, Jeremiah. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until tomorrow,” he said.
    “It only took a couple of phone calls. Annie worked as a nurse in Beaumont. Rose worked as a librarian assistant in West Texas. The rest took a little longer, but we got it sorted out. Nick was dating her when she was Annie and they were even engaged but then she disappeared. According to my sources, he was furious and said that she’d pay for embarrassing him. But about six weeks ago he found a new playmate, who organizes fundraisers for various organizations. That is probably why he was out there in Odessa. Candy James, honest to God, Mason, that is her name, was in charge of that bridal showing in Odessa