I then pushed off the bed and headed back to the bathroom with Dair calling behind me, “I packed ye and ye don’t have any jeans.”
“I have riding clothes here,” I called back, picking up my makeup brush again. “I ride when I’m at Treverton, Dair, because, as I’ve said before, I love horses, and I’ll add, I love riding.”
“We’ll ride this afternoon then,” he said.
Riding with Dair on my mother’s estate.
Strike that.
My estate.
Yesterday sucked.
I would never in my life forget seeing Mum in that awful room I could tell they tried to make soothing, but they were doomed to fail. Seeing her lying under a blanket without her signature rosy-pink lipstick on.
Eyes closed.
Lifeless.
No spite.
No snide words forming from her mouth.
No disappointment, emotional manipulation or passive aggressiveness.
Just…
Peace.
To my shock, I didn’t like it.
And I would never in my life forget knowing the day she died—having lived her life the way she had, the last thing one daughter felt compelled to share with her was a vicious slap (and I still winced thinking about that), while the last thing the other daughter experienced from her was the need to be protected from her shenanigans—that a two-year-old little girl had died not even getting a chance to make a life.
No, I would never forget any of that.
But today was…better.
Not great. I wouldn’t be settled until I saw Alex.
But it was better.
And riding with Dair later would make it even more so.
So I wasn’t bouncing with joy with the thought of taking on the day.
But I was no longer a zombie either.
Progress.
I’d take it.
Dair, Dad and Nora following, I flew out the door straight to Alex.
I didn’t have to navigate the gravel in heels on the run for long, she raced to me.
We collided in the middle, wrapped our arms around each other and held on.
I’d seen I had more surprises upon her arrival. Rix wasn’t the only one who came with Alex.
