“No. I’m going to have to do something else. Whether it’s going to be opening up a regular therapy practice or something along those lines, I don’t know. I’ve always loved working with horses, and I’ve never lived anywhere but the farm, so it’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment for me, but you made it through this year and your big adjustment, so I’m sure I’m going to make it through the next year and my adjustments as well.”
She put on a brave smile, and then she lifted a hand. “I need to go in with the kids. You’re welcome to hang around wherever you want. And if you’re up to it, we can get a horse out and you can have a horse of your own to work with. Although, we might not have you riding today.”
“I’ve never ridden before, so I’ll probably take a little bit of extra instruction before I’m able to get up on the back of a horse, so I think I’ll just watch from the side for today.” He almost said maybe next time he’d try riding, but then he remembered that there wasn’t going to be a next time.
She smiled, and he thought he saw sadness in her eyes, but her smile was genuine, and she seemed friendly and not bitter or angry at all. Like she’d accepted the fact that God had taken something away from her, and she was just waiting for Him to show her what He was going to give her as a replacement.
Interesting, since Gilbert had never thought about God replacing his wife. In fact, he hadn’t thought about getting married again at all. He had to admit finding out that his wife had cheated, and then going through the cancer, the treatments, the bad news after bad news, and seeing his children heartbroken as they lost their mother, had left a mark on him.
He hadn’t been heartbroken as much as he’d been…devastated because of his kids, and concerned about his business, and alone as a single dad, rather unsure of what to do, since he’d never parented without his wife, obviously.
Regardless, he got through it, and she would too.
Chapter Nine
Gilbert stood the whole time at the fence, watching. Summer often had parents watch their children’s sessions, and sometimes adults brought friends or relatives or even siblings or kids to watch their sessions as well. In fact, more often than not she had someone standing at the rail watching her. And she long ago ceased to be nervous about it.
She didn’t know why she was very conscious of Gilbert’s eyes on the back of her head at this point. She should be immune to that by now, but she found she wasn’t.
“Good job, Larissa. Cricket is really paying attention to you. Your feet are in the correct position, and you only need to straighten your back just a bit,” she called out to Larissa.
Larissa straightened her back, not realizing she’d been slouching, and continued around the ring. Lucas rode with authority on Thatcher. Thatcher was a great horse, always willing and very careful of whatever load he held. He had been great for Lucas. And she felt like Lucas and Thatcher had bonded. She very seldom had to remind Lucas of anything that he needed to do, and Lucas was always very conscientious and considerate of Thatcher after they were done.
“Good job, Robert. Keep your feet out,” she reminded him as he came around, a big smile on his face. She returned the smile and noted that he obeyed immediately, his feet pointing in the proper direction as he passed her.
It was time for the kids to get off, but she was loathe to end their session. She didn’t have anyone else coming; this was her very last therapy session ever. At least on this farm, with these horses.
She’d almost not gotten through her conversation with Gilbert without crying. She’d fallen in love with each of these horses, and it was going to kill her to see them go in all different directions, but she was serious when she said that they were going to good homes. She really had knocked the price down way below what they were actually worth so that she could sell them before she moved and to good homes, where she knew they would be taken care of. So often, people who didn’t know anything about horses bought them, thinking it would be easy, not realizing that they needed regular farrier care, vaccinations, grooming, their stalls cleaned out on a daily basis, and good, fresh, mold-free hay to eat, which was not cheap.
Often those horses got dumped off at an auction, since the same people who had bought them had no clue on how or where to sell them.
It was just a fact of life, but if she could help it, it wasn’t going to happen to the horses who had served her for years and helped her build her business. It would have been a roaring success if she hadn’t inherited so much debt from her parents.
Regardless, she wasn’t going to think about the what-ifs. She was going to get through this hard part and wait for God to open up His windows of blessing on her. She knew they were going to open, and at any time.
She just didn’t know how or when, and it might not be exactly what she wanted, but she knew it would be exactly what she needed. God was so good that way. He never gave her something she didn’t need. He always had her edificationin mind.
“All right, guys. Let’s dismount, and we’ll untack the horses and brush them out.”
It was her favorite part. She loved riding, always had, but with the horses that she had, there wasn’t anything she loved better than brushing them and making them look beautiful. Their manes and tails were so long and flowing, she would never get tired of looking at them. The way they moved, the way they held their heads, the fluid grace that they had, combined with their beautiful hair and coloring, was enough to make her content to just sit and look at them all day long.
Not that she ever had that kind of time, but she would if she could.
She tried not to think about how this was her last session, her last call to dismount, her last time to watch the children brush out the manes and tails and give Thatcher and Bunny and Cricket all the attention they could, since they would be leaving over the weekend.
“Where are you going?” Robert asked once they had their horses tied up and had started brushing them.
“Today?” she asked, wondering why he wanted to know what her plans were for the day.
“No. Dad said we were going to move here, and I want to know where you’re going?”
“Oh. Right now, I’m going to be moving in with a friend in town, but… I won’t be staying there forever.”
“Why don’t you just stay here with us? You could live here. I would share my bedroom with you. Daddy said I was going to get my own all to myself.”
“Well, that’s very nice of you, Larissa. I appreciate that. But I think you and your daddy and your brothers need a place of your own without me interfering. Plus, if it’s not mine anymore, it’s kind of silly for me to stay here.”
“But I want you here. It won’t be the same without you. And if the horses aren’t in the stalls, and they’re not here to ride, it’s not going to be the same at all.” Lucas made an impassioned plea, whichwas rather out of character. Especially as he’d gotten quieter and quieter.
