She smiled up at him. “I didn’t know what I was going to do when I moved back, except the abstract, find a place for me and the kids. I never imagined it would be this place. With you. I didn’t dream that big. You’ve helped me to allow myself to want more.”
He put his arm around her waist and drew her to his side. “From now on, it’s you and me. Let’s always dream big.”
She snuggled into his side. “This is great already.”
Oliver ran up to them. “My turn.”
Mason picked him up and settled him on his hip. “You ready?”
Oliver nodded.
Mason was ready, too, for a life filled with moments like this.
“Danny, rein him in and come to a full stop.”
Danny gently pulled the reins, bringing his horse to a halt. He patted the horse’s neck, then leaned over and hugged him. He sat up straight, keeping hold of the reins. “That was awesome!”
Mason approached and set Oliver on his feet next to the horse, then said to Danny, “Dismount like I taught you.”
Danny swung his leg over the back of the horse and dropped to the ground. He pulled the reins over the horse’s head and stood next to him, holding the horse still.
“Very good.”
Danny beamed him a smile, pleased with the praise. “You can do this,” he encouraged his brother.
Mason took the reins from Danny. “Help your brother mount.” He’d taught Danny how to help Oliver into the saddle. Mason could pick him up and settle him atop the horse, but he wanted the boys to learn to work together.
Danny cupped his hands. Oliver grabbed the saddle, one hand on the front, the other on the back, put his foot in Danny’s hands, and pushed himself up, laying his belly over the saddle, then swinging his leg over the horse and righting himself in a seated position. He clutched the pommel and held on. “Got it.”
“That’s great teamwork.”
Danny adjusted the stirrups so Oliver’s feet rested in them.
Mason pulled the reins over the horse’s head and handed them to Oliver, who adjusted them in his hand like he’d been taught.
“Ready?”
Oliver smiled and nodded, his focus straight ahead.
Mason made a big show of letting go and holding his hands up. “You’re on your own.”
Sierra snapped a photo.
“Walk him around the circle,” Mason coaxed, holding his breath but confident Oliver would ride as well as his big brother.
Oliver lightly tapped his heels into the horse’s side.
Mason chose Kit for his mild temperament. Still, putting one of the boys on him and letting them loose put a knot in his stomach. If something happened, he’d never forgive himself.
But Oliver rode like a champ. He kept the pace slow, happy to just be in the saddle and on his own.
“I’m doing it.” Oliver pulled the reins gently to the left to make the horse turn along the circle curve. Not that he really needed to—the horse had to follow the fence—but Oliver was doing great. Mason couldn’t be more proud.
They gave Oliver a good ten minutes to ride circles around them. His smile never wavered.
“Does this mean we can ride out in the pastures with you on our own now?”
Mason planted his hand on Danny’s riding helmet and stared down at him. “One step at a time. Oliver isn’t quite ready. You both need a little more practice. But soon.”
Just as he said that, Oliver got tired of slow circles and kicked the horse into a nice trot. At first his eyes went wide with surprise, but then he laughed and enjoyed the faster pace.
Sierra took a video, then looked up at him. “What were you saying?”
“They’re fearless.”
“You gave them the tools and training to know they can do it.”
He gave her a worried look. “We’re in trouble with them. You know that, right?”
“I think we can handle it.”
He hoped so. Because if anything happened to one of the boys, he’d be devastated.
This is what it feels like to be a parent.
It hit him all at once. He’d accepted that the boys came with Sierra. He welcomed them in his life. He thought of them as his. But for the first time it really hit him what that meant. A lifetime of worry and hoping that they had safe and happy lives.
Sierra looked up at him and read his mind. “Scary, right? You want everything good for them, but there’s so much that could go wrong, so much that you can’t control. Including that they’re their own people