Change Rein - Anne Jolin Page 0,10
their horses at stables like ours anymore.” He pauses uncomfortably.
“What’s going on, Dad? Just tell us,” Owen rumbles, leaning back in his chair.
Aurora pulls her chair around before resting a hand on his forearm. “Is everything okay?”
“Daddy?” I prompt.
He looks up at me from across the kitchen table as I lean my elbows onto the wood.
“Share the weight.”
“The barn has been running me into the ground. At the rate we’ve been going, especially with the cost of repairs to prepare for the coming winter, I would have to remortgage the property to keep us afloat.” The hit it’s taking on his pride to tell us this is waging a war of emotions on his face. “However, it would seem lady luck is on our side, which I like to think of as your mother watching out for us. A gentleman has approached me with another offer, but I want us to agree on it as a family.”
Leaning his forearms onto the table, Owen furrows his brow. “What’s the offer?”
“The assistant for a Mr. Tucker out of Edmonton called after dinner. It would seem her boss lost his stable to a fire yesterday.”
Aurora gasps, covering her mouth with her hand at the same time I wince. I know what she’s thinking, because I’m thinking it too. Were any horses hurt?
“Thankfully, no one was injured in the fire, but he’s in need of a property to board his twenty-seven horses that is available immediately. We are one of the few stables in the province with enough space and amenities for Mr. Tucker’s racehorses to continue their usual training and management for the winter during the time it will take him to build a new barn in the old one’s place.
“While Mr. Tucker would employ his trainers and groomers, we will still be shorthanded when it comes to tending to that many horses as well as our own at once. We haven’t had a farmhand in years though. If we were to go through with the offer, I can look into hiring one, but until that should happen, it will require more work from all of us to maintain the property.” He pauses to look us all in the eyes. “You are in no way obligated to saddle yourself with this responsibility. If any of you are uncomfortable with this as a solution, we will not proceed. My children come before my pride.”
Owen is the first to speak. “Next weekend is the windup for the rodeo out in Edmonton, and then I’m done for the year, Dad. I’ll bring the trailer over when that’s done and park it around back.” He tips his cowboy hat towards the man he mirrors so much. “I’m all yours, old man.”
Laying her head on his shoulder, Aurora wraps her arms around one of his. “Me too.”
“Me three,” I say, taking his hand in mine from across the table.
My heart compresses at the thought of the man I love so much harboring this while my dreams bled him dry of money. Sure, Momma had life insurance. Daddy split it among the three of us and into separate trusts, but he never once let any of us dip into that if he could help it. He always said the trusts were a representation of our futures. The money was for us to buy houses and start families of our own with someone who loved us as much as he loved our mother.
“I’ll call Mr. Tucker’s assistant back with our answer then.” The relief surrounding him is palpable in the air.
The only thing more present in our kitchen is love.
I’VE BEEN PACING THE LENGTH of this god-awful hotel room for nearly two hours. While patience has never been a virtue of mine, the lack of it in this moment feels like it’s trying to suffocate me.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I tug at the knot in my tie and flick the top two buttons of my dress shirt open in an effort to promote breathing, as I seem to have forgotten how to do that as well.
It was eager, or perhaps stupid, of me to have jumped the gun like this, but my emotions were a wreck. Reckless is hardly a choice word used to describe my personality, but in this moment, it is of the utmost accuracy. The unsteady roil of feelings trying to purge from my chest are scaring me, and I am feeding their starved attachments like a foolish child.
My iPhone wails on the bedside