AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He grinned. "That's gonna happen. I'll go see how she is."
He made his way up the gleaming staircase, still in disbelief this was his. He stepped into the bedroom to see Everleigh sitting on a chair in the corner, putting on tennis shoes.
"Hi. I heard you had some trouble."
"Ah, well, trouble, I'm not sure. But, let's say, Queenie and I had a war of wills today."
He chuckled. "Who won?"
She tied her shoe and stood. "I think I did. But it was neck and neck for a while. She dragged me through a pile of horse shit out in the pasture. She refused to follow commands. She tried stomping me. She was as stubborn as stubborn could be. In the end, I jumped on her back, carefully, and rode her bareback to the barn. I think that surprised her, and in the end, she decided I wasn't so bad. Tomorrow, we'll do things differently."
He wrapped her in a hug and squeezed her close. "You feel good."
Her arms squeezed him back. "You do too. But you smell."
They both started laughing and he stepped back. "I'll go hit the shower."
"I think it's time to eat."
He kissed her lips. "I'm fast. Go on down. Spencer invited Kenna to eat with us. I'm happy you'll finally get to meet her."
"Me too. I'll see you down there."
They sat on the front porch after everyone had gone for the day. It was a nice way to end the day and he hoped they'd always enjoy it.
"Dr. Emily says the horses are all healthy and there's no reason they can't be bred. Tomorrow, I'll start searching for some sires. A couple of the horses have great lineage, so I'll find sires that have equal lineage. We should have quality foals to sell."
"That's wonderful. We don't need to hurry anything along though."
She turned to him with a gorgeous smile on her face. "I'm not in a hurry. It usually takes months to find an appropriate sire and then to get on said sire's schedule. So, it won't happen overnight. Plus, the gestation period for horses is eleven months or so. We won't see foals for a good year and a half."
"Wow. Okay. That will give us some time to get some beef cattle here too. What do you think of chickens?"
"I prefer them fried."
He burst out laughing. "Me, too."
She took a drink of her seltzer. "I think we can manage chickens. We'll need to do a bit of work on the coop though. It seems a bit run-down."
He glanced to his left where the chicken coop stood. The weeds had grown up around and inside it and he could actually see through it in one spot. He nodded. "Yeah, I'll have a couple of the Hickory Hills guys work on the coop tomorrow."
"How are they doing?"
"Fantastic. They're hard workers."
"That's great."
The sun sank into the fields, and he stood and held his hand out to Everleigh. "Let's get some sleep."
Her smile was a combination of good things to come and serenity. He loved that smile.
* * *
He woke to the horses making noise in the barn. He heard the neighing and kicking. It sounded as if something was distressing them. Everleigh sprang out of bed and tossed her clothes on before he could.
"Wait for me, Ev."
She flew down the stairs and out the door. He looked out the window and saw her run across the driveway and to the barn. He grabbed his boots and shot down the stairs. "Fuck."
