“Hey,” Axel said as he came around the corner. He took long strides toward me with his cowboy hat on his head, his boots clanking against the pavement. I could swear my stomach fluttered every time I laid eyes on this man. I’d known him most of my life, yet his presence still did something to me. “Did you get to show your mom the plans for the business?”
“She did. It’s quite amazing what you two are building out here,” Mom said.
He scooped me up without saying a word and sat on the chair as he settled me on his lap. “She’s amazing.”
“She is.” My mother smiled.
We spent the next thirty minutes chatting, just the three of us, before she said she had to meet Emilia at the flower shop. She’d hired her to design the new house, and they were working on ideas.
“Did you have a nice visit with your mom?” he asked.
I knew Axel worried because my relationship with both my father and my brother was strained. I knew he didn’t like the things they’d done, but he also knew they were my family, so he encouraged me to work on things with them.
And I was thrilled to have my mother living here again.
My family was finding our new normal, and it would take time to heal from all the hurt. But I did believe we would get there eventually.
“We had a great visit. I’m so happy she’s back. And she and my father have the weirdest friendship, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was happy about it. It wasn’t that long ago that I didn’t think they could be in the same room without killing one another.”
“Time has a way of healing, doesn’t it?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around me a little tighter.
“It does.”
“Can I show you something?” he said against my ear before nipping at the sensitive skin, making my head fall back with a laugh.
“That depends, Cowboy. Where are you taking me?”
He set me on my feet and interlaced his fingers with mine. “Trust me. You want to see this.”
We walked into the barn, and I gasped when he opened the first stall. I moved toward the beautiful brown baby horse as he lay in the corner.
“Got a call about a colt that had been neglected and was in need of a home. He’s around fourteen months.”
“Is he a thoroughbred?” I moved slowly toward him, and he made no attempt to move. I bent down and stroked the top of his head. “Hey there, little guy.”
“He is.” Axel lowered himself as well to look at him.
“He’s beautiful,” I said. “We’re going to give you a great home, buddy.”
“Wrenny, are you in here?” Melody’s voice came from outside the stall.
“Will you bring her in here?” I asked as I continued stroking the colt’s head.
Axel stood and returned with his niece and Archer, who stood in the doorway.
“Come here, I want to show you something.”
“Is he a pony?” Melody asked as she came to sit beside me. She had a comfort with horses that I recognized.
“He’s over a year old and he’s a boy, so we call him a colt,” I said as I took her hand in mine and ran it along his back. “He’s sweet, huh?”
“He’s very sweet. Where’s his mama?”
“We don’t know much about him,” Axel said from behind us. “Just that he needed a good home.”
“Daddy, he’s just like me. He doesn’t have a mama, either,” she whispered, and I glanced over to see Archer wince at her words.
Ever since she’d started kindergarten, the topic of her not having a mother had come up a few times. He’d been caught off guard by how much she talked about it now.
