Page 57 of Taking What Was His

Instead of Diego’s rearing, and acting out, Loki simply looked like she was dancing and prancing in place.

“That’s so cool.”

Roman nodded at one of his nephews. She was so beautiful he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

The bell sounded, and they were off. Instead of running the course, they seemed to float over it. Everybody in the arena looked on.

Beth jumped the last one and raced over to Sandra. After the applause, people started to walk away. She and Sandra talked for a bit, and then Sandra pointed toward the family.

Roman chuckled when her mouth dropped open when she saw who all was there. She rode over. He could tell she was tearing up and trying to fight back her sobs, making his heart jerk painfully in his chest.

****

“Oh, my gosh, you guys. I can’t believe you’re all here,” Beth exclaimed.

Roman’s mom, Theresa, smiled. “We wouldn’t have missed it. It was beautiful and scary to watch at the same time.”

It made everyone laugh.

She looked at the kids and grinned. “Who would like a ride?” She laughed when the cheers went up. She looked at Jayden. “Will you walk them around the arena?”

“Sure, Mom.” He scrambled over the fence.

“Does anyone know about horses or is anyone afraid of them?”

The wives present and most of the kids said they were comfortable with the animal.

“Could you three women help the kids on and off, and Jayden will walk around with them. If someone could walk on the side to make sure the little ones don’t fall off, we can put a few kids on at a time.”

“The horse won’t mind?” Theresa asked.

Beth grinned. “No, Loki loves children. She’s the one I used to teach Jayden how to ride.” She got off the horse and handed the reins to Jayden. She grinned at her son. “You want to take a quick spin? You haven’t been on in a while, and I’ll get everyone organized.”

Jayden grinned. He jumped on and started around the arena.

Beth turned back to the family. “Since there’s so many of you, would you mind if I called for another horse? Tiny is extremely sweet. He’s big, but very gentle.”

Theresa and a few of the adults nodded.

Beth whistled for one of the guys.

“Hey, boss?”

“Mike, would you go get Tiny for us?”

The young man grinned. “Ah, you’ve got some budding riders there.”

Beth looked at the moms and grinned. “That’s something that will have to be discussed later.”

She walked down the fence and opened a small gate. “You all can come in here. If anyone gets nervous, just say something. I grew up with the beasts. If you’ve never been around them, it can be very intimidating.”

The women laughed, agreed, and corralled the kids in the corner.

Beth turned back to Roman, his mother, and a few brothers. “Any of you want to ride?”

All four shook their heads. “Nope, we’re good,” Tysen said and grinned.

“Hey,” Roman said to his brother and pointed to Sandra standing on the other side of the arena. “That’s the one I was talking about.”