by Erin Wright
“Oh. Right. Of course.” Kylie hid her grin behind her hand. “Well, Genny with a G, are you ready to saddle Sonny up?”
“Yes, please!” Thrilled that the topic was back to what she loved most of all – riding horses – Genny grabbed Kylie’s hand and began dragging her across the barn to where the tack was stored.
Kylie was a bit rusty on how to saddle up a horse, but with Genny’s guidance, they got it done. Genny led Sonny over to the mounting block and swung up onto his back, grinning like she’d just won the Kentucky Derby. With a click of the tongue and a light tap on the sides of the horse, Sonny began ambling towards the open door of the barn and out onto the worn, dirt oval to join the stream of other horses and riders.
Kylie followed her out into the sunshine and over to the fence to lean against it, watching the horses plod by, grins and shouts from the kids over the sheer joy of it all. A few were working on cantering, which Kylie thought looked like a good way to bounce all of your teeth out of your head if you didn’t know what you were doing, but hell, the kids looked like they were loving it, so who was she to question their choices?
Her eyes were drawn to a slender, Hispanic boy with large brown eyes and a look of total concentration on his face. He was young, of course, maybe ten or twelve years old, but Kylie could already tell he was going to be a heartbreaker when he grew up. Amidst the yelling and laughter of the other students, he seemed overly serious, as if every move he made was a life-or-death decision.
“Kylie, Kylie, look!” Genny hollered, pulling her attention away and back towards the girl bouncing along on Sonny. “I’m gantering!”
Kylie just smiled and waved, hiding her laughter at the mispronunciation. Genny was a force to be reckoned with, even if she didn’t know how to pronounce every word properly.
Way too quickly, it was time to wrap up and the children began leading the horses inside to unsaddle them and brush them down. Parents began arriving, and heroics were shared as the kids began regaling them with all of their derring do.
Kylie watched as Genny began telling her tired-looking mother all about the excitement of the day, waving goodbye to Kylie as she left, never missing a beat in her story.
Kylie then saw the county deputy – April? Abigail? Annie? Something with an A – arrive, holding hands with the oldest Miller boy. They were both way older than Kylie – she’d probably been a babe in arms when they were graduating from high school – but their love for each other appeared to still be just as strong as ever. She wondered when they’d gotten married. Had they been married since high school? Probably. They had that aurora of stable love about them, as if they knew what the other person was going to do or say even before it happened.
The quiet Hispanic boy Kylie had been watching earlier went hurrying over to the couple and began chattering up a storm about riding Ladybug and he’d saddled her all by himself and he rode faster than the other kids and…
She was completely fascinated by the abrupt personality change. Before the Millers had shown up, she hadn’t seen him say a word to anyone, but now, he was lit up like a Christmas tree.
Once he’d finally wound down, Mr. Miller looped his arm around the boy’s shoulders and said with a big grin, “C’mon, Juan, let’s head home. Mom’s got dinner in the oven already, and you know she won’t put up with us being late for dinner.”
“Hey, I heard that,” Mrs. Miller said, laughing. “You make me sound like an ogre!” They continued their playful banter out the door and into the sunlight. Kylie watched them go, her curiosity piqued. Had the Millers adopted Juan? It sure sounded like it.
Once again, she was regretting not being plugged into the Long Valley Gossip Network. There was a real difference between knowing all of the gossip, and being the center of all of the gossip. One was significantly more pleasurable than the other, that was for damn sure.
Finally, all of the kids were gone and it was just her and Adam left in the barn. “So, what did you think?” he asked as he came striding over to pull her into his arms. Before she could say anything, he leaned down and gave her a thorough kiss. “I’ve been waiting for hours to do that,” he told her with a lazy grin when he pulled away.
She couldn’t help the silly answering smile that spread across her face. “Me too,” she said, and then blushed. She still wasn’t used to the idea that Adam Whitaker was her boyfriend. “Anyway,” she said, hurrying on before her face could turn a brilliant tomato red, “I can see why you do this, but also why you’re exhausted from it! These kids…they’re amazing. A real handful, but amazing. Speaking of the kids, what’s the story with Juan? Was he adopted by the Millers?”
Adam nodded slowly. “His parents weren’t stand-up citizens, to put it mildly, and when Juan first started coming to camp, he had a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas. He was in the foster care system at that point, and boy, was he pissed at everyone. Defensive, snarky, always having to one-up everyone around him…he wasn’t the most popular kid in the class, let’s put it that way.” They began wandering around the barn and cleaning up, putting stray pieces of tack and brushes away as they talked.
“So in January of last year,” Adam continued, “Wyatt started helping me with these classes, and he and Juan hit it off. Wyatt said that Juan was his mini-me; he understood the attitude for what it was – a front to hide pain and fear behind. Anyway, so after Wyatt and Abby got married last September, they started the paperwork to adopt him.” Oh. So they definitely haven’t been together since high school. Whoops… “He’s living with them full-time but the legal system moves slowly, and the adoption isn’t official yet. They’re hoping it will be this fall. It sure is funny to see a guy that you graduated with grow and change as much as Wyatt Miller has.” Adam shook his head in disbelief. “Actually, Juan and Wyatt have both done a shit-ton of changing, and all for the better. I think we have Abby to thank for that.”
“Hold on, you graduated with Wyatt Miller?” Kylie said, her stomach dropping to around her toes. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that there was an age gap between them, but when Adam said something like that so casually… “But, but Wyatt is old!” she protested.
Adam threw his head back and laughed. “I’ll be sure not to share that assessment with him, or with Abby. She’s only three years younger than Wyatt and me.”
“Sorry,” Kylie mumbled, her cheeks red with embarrassment. “I know that you’re older than me, but sometimes…I guess I just forget how much older.”
Adam pulled her back into his arms, wrapping them around her and snuggling her up against his chest. “An adult is an adult,” he said seriously to the top of her head, his warm breath blowing over the part in her hair, like air kisses. “It’s not like you’re 12 and I’m 28. We’re both adults, and we are legally and morally a-okay to love each other. Just…uh…leave all mention of how old you think someone is when you’re hanging out with my friends.”
Kylie nodded, rubbing her face up against his chest as she did so. “Deal,” she mumbled, suddenly feeling exhausted beyond all reason. “Why am I so tired?” she asked rhetorically around a huge yawn.
“It takes a lot out of a person to grow another human being inside of them,” Adam said seriously, pulling back and looking down at her with concern. “Are you okay to drive home? Or do you want to go inside my mom’s house and take a nap before you drive back?”
“I’m all right,” she insisted, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll go home and sleep this off. It’s not that far of a drive.”
Adam led her out into the brilliant summer sunshine and slid the barn doors closed behind them. “Well, I’m going to be a hovering pain in the ass and follow you back to your place, just in case. If you need to talk to me while you drive, you can always put your phone on speakerphone and we can chat as I follow you.”
“No, no, I’m good,” Kylie insisted. She gave him one last kiss goodbye and climbed into the Marquis. True to his word, he followed her all the way back. She waved goodbye to him as she unlocked the f
ront door and stumbled inside, heading for the couch and dropping like a rock onto it. Her eyes closed and she fell asleep almost instantly, out like a light.
She awoke, disoriented in the darkness. The sun must’ve set long ago, which meant…Oh shit! She sat straight up on the couch, fumbling for her phone where she’d dropped it on the hardwood floor when she’d done her swan dive onto the couch. Yup, 10:22 at night. Dammit. She was late feeding and milking the animals. They were going to be unhappy with her, that was for sure. She hadn’t even managed to get her shoes off when she’d gotten home, so at least she was able to save that step and just hurry out the backdoor towards the barn.
Except, Dumbass and Skunk weren’t lowing their displeasure into the summer night, and the barn door between the pasture and the barn appeared to already be closed. Kylie squinted through the darkness, trying to figure out if it was closed, or if the shadows were just playing tricks on her. She opened up the main door to the barn and stepped inside to find all of the animals bedded down for the night, and pails of milk in the fridge, along with a fresh carton of eggs.
Kylie looked at it all, shaking her head in wonder. If there was one thing Adam was good at, it was showing her that he loved her through his actions, not just his words.
She flipped off the light and closed the door behind her, heading back towards the house, a smile of joy and love spreading across her lips. After six months of listening to Norman declare his love for her, only to find out that he was actually married…protestations of love didn’t mean much to her. Words were easy to say, and completely meaningless if the person saying them was a jackass.
But actions…Adam was thoughtful and kind in a way that Norman could never even dream of being. More than Adam’s inadvertent declaration of love earlier that week, his actions yelled his love for her from the rooftops.
Kylie climbed the stairs to her bedroom, shucked off her shoes, and crawled into bed, still in her clothes. She didn’t care; right now, she could sleep anywhere, anytime.
She drifted right back to sleep and dreamt sexy dreams of a cowboy with whiskey brown eyes, cradling a baby in his arms.
Chapter 29
Adam
“Hey, Adam,” Wyatt’s voice came through the phone loud and clear, “I just realized that it’s coming up on a year since the last check-up of Maggie Mae. Are you gonna be anywhere in the vicinity of my farm in the next day or two?”
Adam cradled his phone between his ear and shoulder as he cleaned out Hero’s hoof. “Yup. I’m out at your brother’s place right now, actually, so I can be over right after this.”
“Great, see you then.”
Adam hung up and slipped his phone back into his shirt pocket before getting back to work on Hero’s hoof. When Wyatt had been locked up in the Long Valley County Jail for months by the local judge who had a vendetta against him, his loyal and faithful dog, Maggie Mae, had just about starved herself to death, refusing to eat without Wyatt there beside her. Ever since then, Wyatt had insisted on yearly wellness checks of his dog, certainly not something most farmers and ranchers in the area did. It was good to see a person love his dog as much as the dog loved that person.
Some people took a dog’s love for granted, but not Wyatt.
Adam stood up and patted Hero’s hindquarters. “All done, handsome,” he told the gelding. “Ready for some sweet grass?” He led the horse out of the barn and out into the adjoining pasture, waiting for a moment to be sure that he was settling in happily, and then looked around for Declan.
There was no sight of him, though; hell, Declan was probably off kissing his new wife, Iris. They were two lovebirds who could hardly keep their hands off each other. Just a couple of months earlier, it’d been hard for Adam to see the lovestruck gazes they were sending each other, but now…well, it reminded him a bit of him and Kylie.
Just a little bit.
Obviously, Adam and Kylie’s lovestruck gazes to each other weren’t nearly as painfully clear for everyone to see, though, or as vomit-inducing.
Obviously.
Oh well, Adam could catch up with Declan later. He really should be heading out to the Cowell’s place again to check on their mare’s progress instead of going over to Wyatt’s, but hell, Wyatt’s farm was just a hop, skip, and a jump away. It wouldn’t take him long to look Maggie Mae over, and then he could hurry over to the Cowell’s with no one the wiser about his detour.
He pulled up in front of Wyatt’s new place – a giant of a house that Wyatt had built specifically so he and Abby could adopt a “whole passel” of foster children and give them a true home. Like Adam had told Kylie a couple of weeks ago, watching Wyatt change and grow over the last 18 months had been a sight to behold, and in some ways, Adam was still in disbelief. A good disbelief, but one nonetheless. He’d always known Wyatt had a heart of gold, but he’d buried it so far down, it had required some heavy-duty mining equipment to get to it, and a whole lot of patience.
Luckily for the world, Abby was just stubborn enough for the job. Adam figured Wyatt ought to be down on his knees daily, thanking God for sending him Abby. Getting that lucky just didn’t happen every day.
Maggie Mae came darting out of the shop, circling Adam’s truck, her tail wagging enthusiastically. She sure seemed healthy, but of course, looks could always be deceiving. Adam grabbed his vet bag and swung out of the truck, giving the loving cattle dog a brisk pat on the head before heading into the shop. Wyatt looked up from the workbench, and shot Adam a huge smile.
“Thanks for coming over today,” Wyatt said, striding over and shaking hands with Adam. “She looks like the picture of health, of course,” he gestured down at Maggie Mae that’d made her way back inside and was sitting loyally next to him, “but you never know. I—” He cocked his head. “Hold on,” he said, moving towards the shop door and poking his head out. This time, Adam could hear it, too – Abby was asking him something, her voice floating on the breeze. “The wife calls!” Wyatt said to Adam over his shoulder with an easy grin. “I’ll be right back.”
Maggie Mae began to follow Wyatt, but he stopped her. “Stay,” he told her, and she sat down with a whine as she watched him go. Adam laughed a little to himself. It was hard to know who loved Wyatt more – his dog, his wife, or his soon-to-be adopted son. It was quite the contest at this point.
When Wyatt had left, Adam knelt in front of the sweet mutt and began doing a quick inspection, checking her teeth and tongue, then moving to check her pupils and their responsiveness—
“Hi, Dr. Whitaker,” a softly accented voice said behind him shyly. Adam swung his head around, astounded that Juan had snuck up on him like that.
“Hey, Juan!” he said with a laugh, turning back to Maggie Mae to continue his examination. “You’re sure good at sneaking up on a person. What’s happenin’?”
“Ummm…I wanted to ask you a question,” Juan said seriously. Adam began feeling up and down Maggie’s legs to make sure there weren’t any lumps or tender spots to be found.
“Yeah?” he said distractedly. “What’s going on?”
“I have…I have a friend at school, and he’s Mexican but his adopted parents are white and all of the kids at school are teasing him and asking him if he’s Mexican or white now and…well, he doesn’t know what to say to them.”
Adam’s hands stilled over Maggie Mae’s glossy coat as Juan’s story fully registered in his mind. His heart hurt as he turned towards the overly serious boy, who was busy digging the toe of his shoe into the dirt covering the concrete floor.
He absentmindedly began petting Maggie Mae as his mind raced, trying to find the right words to say. “Has your friend talked to his parents about this yet?”
Juan shook his head frantically. “He really likes his parents and he doesn’t want them to be angry or sad or somethin’, you know? That’s why I—he thought I should ask you what to do. And then I can tell him.”
Adam’s stomach twisted with dread and anger. If this was already starting, what was it
going to be like when Juan hit junior high?
“What grade are you and your friend in?” he asked softly, studying the worried boy in front of him.
“Fourth grade. Well, school just finished. I’ll be in fifth grade next year. And my friend, too,” he added hastily.
Adam fought to hide his smile. Juan could be many things when he grew up, but a professional liar wasn’t one of them.
Instead, he just nodded slowly. “I have a good friend who teaches fifth grade – Miss Lambert. Do you know her?”
Juan nodded enthusiastically. “She’s cool! When she does recess duty, she actually talks to the kids instead of just yelling all the time.”
“She is a real nice lady – she even owns horses of her own. I helped her mare Wildflower give birth to a little foal not too long ago. Anyway, is most of this happening at school?”
Juan nodded again, back to kicking the dirt. “Yeah, during recess and stuff.”
“Well, I think it’s real important that your friend gets Miss Lambert as a teacher this next school year, and if other kids start in on that shi–crap,” he quickly corrected himself, “your friend can tell Miss Lambert and get help.”
“But…is he white? Or is he Mexican?” Juan whispered, his eyes huge as he stared at Adam pleadingly.
Oh God, oh God, oh God, I don’t even know how to approach this topic…
“Did you know that I went to school for eight years to be a vet?” he asked Juan rhetorically. Juan shook his head anyway. “In all of that time in school, not once did a teacher say that a black dog needed to have different treatment than a white or spotted dog. You know why?” Juan shook his head again. “Because there is no difference at all underneath the skin. If you look at the muscle or the bones or the heart or the liver, they’re exactly the same, no matter what color the skin is on top. It’s true for animals, and it’s true for humans.
