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“I dunno, I guess I just haven’t seen your ugly mug in a while and figured I’d come make sure you didn’t have the pox or something.”
“The pox? Isn’t that like a sixteenth century thing?”
“I don’t know. I just want to check you out to make sure you aren’t going to die anytime soon.”
“Why? You think you’re going to inherit something?”
“I don’t want anything.”
Her voice sounded a little depressed, and it made him look at her.
“Anything?”
“Nothing money can buy anyway. You know, there’s more important things than money in the world.”
“Oh. Wow, that’s wise coming from a twelve-year-old.”
“I’m fifteen.”
He grinned. He figured if he gave her an age that was younger than what she was, she’d get all offended, and he could hear in her voice that she was annoyed. He couldn’t help teasing her. He liked to get her riled up. She was so cute. Although, there was something else about it, something that drove him to want to tease her when he didn’t typically have that problem with anyone else.
Although there was something serious he wanted to talk to her about.
“I forgot you’re getting so old. Where’s your walker?”
“Shut up, Dixie. Why did I come out here to help you anyway?”
He stopped the horses, and Becky was already walking toward the back of them to unhook the traces and the carriage tongue.
He tied them at the hook he had for that purpose before he followed her back.
“You know, I’m heading to college in the fall.”
“I know. I heard.”
Of course she did. It was a small town. She knew everything about him probably.
“Then you heard that I was hoping you would take over my carriage business while I was gone.”
Her head jerked up at that. He knew she hadn’t heard. He hadn’t talked to anyone about it. Not even Griff or Chi, although they probably suspected.
“Really?” There was excitement she couldn’t contain in her eyes, and then they lowered. “But I could never afford horses like this.”
“Oh, I wasn’t going to sell it to you. I just wanted you to take care of everything while I was gone.”
“What do you mean? Feed your horses?”
“Do the bookings, buy the feed, muck out their stalls, make sure they have pasture, and when they don’t, feed them hay. Take care of their hooves, polish the carriage, and all the things I do.”
“But... But how?” Then she shook her head. “Of course I’ll do it. Do you really trust me?”
He looked down into her upturned face. Despite the fact that she was fifteen and growing up almost before his eyes, there was something childish and insecure about the look that she gave him. Like she was that homeless little girl, who was just searching for a family to love her and would do anything she could to hold onto the one person she had in the world, her sister. The little girl who was hungry and didn’t have anyone who cared whether she ate or not.
She’d grown by leaps and bounds since Luke and Kristin had adopted her, and he knew they loved her beyond words. He heard Griff and Chi talking about it, and he’d seen with his own eyes the sacrifices they made for the girls they had.
But he supposed that maybe Becky was like him. There would always be some scars from the things that she’d gone through.
He wanted to protect her, wanted to ease that hurt, wanted to reassure her that there was at least one person who would always love her.
