That weekend, Julia decided to take a walk to clear her head. She put on her mucky cowboy boots, a pair of jeans, a dusky pink fleece and wrapped a long, pink and lavender-striped scarf around her neck. The day was bright, sunny and bitter cold.
The children had gone to the stables with Douglas to ride. Douglas was spending an extraordinary (for him) amount of time at home and had made a habit of being home on the weekends.
Julia found this most annoying, even though there was once a time, not very long ago, when she demanded that he be at home more.
She tried to avoid them. She wanted to avoid them. But she found, as if they had minds of their own, after only fifteen minutes her feet took her toward the stables.
Lizzie and Willie were already in their saddles with Ruby sitting alone on a beautiful, shining chestnut horse. As Julia approached, she watched Douglas swing expertly up in the saddle behind Ruby and her heart did a little flip.
She told her feet to turn left. They refused. She told them to turn right. They, again, refused. Before she could begin to escape, Lizzie saw her.
“Hey, Auntie Jewel!” she shouted.
Douglas had his back to her and, at Lizzie’s call, he whirled the animal around expertly so he could watch her arrival.
“Don’t mind me,” Julia called. “You guys go on. I’m on my way to –”
“You should let Uncle Douglas teach you how to ride,” Lizzie suggested, obviously thrilled at her wonderful idea.
Julia sighed. Lizzie was definitely beginning to be a problem.
If she was truthful with herself, which she was being less and less these days, she would have admitted that she wanted to see him. However, she did not want a riding lesson. She loved horses, she loved all animals, she just didn’t particularly like riding them. She wouldn’t have wanted to ride a camel either. Or an elephant. Definitely not a horse.
“That’s okay.” She was amongst them now, all of them looking down at her. She gently stroked the soft muzzle of Willie’s horse (a beautiful grey which Julia knew Gavin liked to ride). “I’m good on my own two feet.”
But she heard rather than saw Douglas hit the ground and then Ruby was moved from Douglas’s horse to the front of Willie’s.
Julia watched in alarm.
“Is that wise?” she asked Douglas.
“He’s strong and he’s good in the saddle. She’ll be fine,” Douglas replied with confidence and Julia stiffened as he came toward her. “Now let’s see about you.”
Julia glanced at Willie whose face was glowing at his uncle’s compliment. It almost made her want to give in but then she saw Douglas leading the big chestnut toward her. The horse was bigger than all the others and Julia took a step back.
“They can sense fear,” Douglas informed her.
“I know!” she snapped. “I’ve seen enough cowboy movies. They always say that in the cowboy movies.”
Douglas grinned.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
That was when he smiled.
“Oh all right,” she gave in, mainly because the children were there and she was trying to retain as much dignity as she could considering she knew she was going to lose it all in mere minutes. “What do I do?”
While she had both feet planted firmly on the ground (thankfully) and Douglas adjusted the stirrups, he patiently and competently explained what she should do. She listened as intently as she could considering how much she loved his voice and what it did to her insides. As this went on, the children cantered around them, giving them a wide berth.
“You ready to go up?” Douglas asked, motioning to the horse with his head.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she grumbled, reaching out as he taught her and taking the reins and the pommel, putting her left foot in the stirrup.
She was pleased she’d heaved herself up to straighten her leg but it all fell apart somehow and she began to fall backward. She didn’t go down as Douglas’s hand found her bottom and gave her a firm push. She ignored the hot imprint his hand left like a brand on her behind, swung her leg over and forced her foot in the opposite stirrup.
He continued instructing her as he walked her and the horse around in circles, his hand on the horse’s halter. She never took her hands off the pommel but did as he said in every other way. When he suggested she take her hands from the saddlehorn, she tried it but immediately felt herself sliding off so she grabbed on again.
“You have to use your legs,” he noted.