Colton clapped his hands. "Let her talk or we'll be here all day. I have things to do, and I want to know what the hell she's so excited about."
Tyson couldn't resist a jab. "You just can't stand not knowing something."
"Sarah may have told you that I put my house on the market."
Sarah winked. "I didn't tell them anything."
Vinia frowned. "But you loved your house. You said you worked hard for it."
"I did. But I love your son more than a house."
Another round of fake groans.
"Continue," Colton urged.
"I've also paid attention around here. And asked questions that were none of my business." She sighed. "Okay, I can't do this gently. My house sold in two days. It was already paid for, so it was all profit to me, and I made well over what I paid for it."
All eyes were on her, still not expecting what she was about to say.
"So, I took it upon myself to go to the bank here in Manitou Springs and paid off your note."
Through various conversations, Ellie had learned that while the ranch had once been paid in full, after a particularly hard winter several years prior, Vinia had been forced to borrow against the homestead to replace equipment, livestock, and roofs. The balloon payment was coming due, which was why the lack of guests was hitting them so hard. None of them would give her the whole story, but she had pieced it together enough to figure out how to help.
Vinia found her voice first. "You did what?"
Ellie bit her lip. "I paid off the ranch. You own it again, out right. You don't owe anything on it."
Sarah's eyes were so wide that Ellie was afraid they were going to pop out. She launched herself off the couch and threw her arms around Ellie. "You are amazing."
"I'm glad you think so, because I have this for you." She handed Sarah an envelope. "This is to help you get the bakery up to par where you want it. Some of the ideas that we talked about are amazing." They had spent a full day visiting all the bakeries they could find, and Ellie had learned that Sarah had a lot of potential ideas for her little bakery to take it to the next level, but she had no source of financing.
Sarah pulled out the gift card and read the note Ellie had written. She burst into tears. "I can't accept this."
"Well, I can't get my money back for a prepaid Visa card, so you pretty much have to."
Sarah looked at the amount again. "This will do everything I want." She squeezed Ellie. "I'm...speechless."
Vinia stood and wiped her hands on her jeans. "I don't know what to say either."
Ellie handed her an envelope like the one she had handed Sarah. "This is yours. To give you operating funds until the guests arrive."
Colton shook his head. "No. This is too much. I can't ask you to... you can't..." His voice trailed off.
Ellie smiled at him. "No one is asking for anything. I'm just doing it."
He stared at his mother as if he totally expected her to back him up.
"No, Cole," Vinia finally said. "We can accept this help, and we will. This isn't charity because she feels sorry for us. Ellie is an absolute angel doing this because she loves this place as much as we do, and I for one won't offend her by looking a gift horse in the mouth. I don't know how to thank you," her voice cracked, and she sank into a chair as the tears started. "You just took so much weight off my shoulders that I can't even explain."
Colton rubbed her shoulder. "It's okay, Mama. We'll find a way to repay her."
"Cole, even with what I've done to help, I still didn't even spend half of what I sold my house for. I'm not bragging; I'm just telling facts."
Vinia held out the gift card. "This is too much. With the note paid off, we'll be okay."
Ellie pursed her lips. "Well, there's more."
At this point, none of them had a clue what else was going to come out of her mouth. Ellie pointed at Vinia. "You're going to need that for extra towels, bedding, supplies."
