Emily emerged, waving happily.
Brooke eyed S3teph, who shrugged. “I asked if she wanted to chaperone.”
“That was nice of you.”
“Maybe not,” Steph said ruefully. “This is kind of a wild crowd.”
And it was, but Brooke had the best time. Between her, Adam, Steph, Tyler, and some of the more experienced kids in the crowd, they got everybody comfortable on horses. There were a few old mares and geldings who would follow the other horses with no guidance, and those were given to the greenhorns. The dogs raced around wildly while the chaperones smiled and called out pointers. Soon they were riding through the scenic beauty of her ranch, and Brooke felt so proud and humble at what her ancestors had created in this mountain valley. Water tumbled through ice down Silver Creek, glistening in the sun. Slow-moving herds of cattle lowed and raised their heads from behind fences as the battalion of riders went by. The riders were able to climb a bit into the foothills on a gently sloping path, and Valentine Valley spread out before them, the spires of the churches and town hall pointing into the blue sky.
Adam was surprised how much he enjoyed the afternoon with the kids. They were eager to learn, even if a few of them tended to talk when they were supposed to be listening. He felt . . . peaceful, bringing up the tail end of the line, Ranger trotting at his side.
After oating the horses and turning them loose in the pasture, the kids gathered to start on the bonfire. Adam drove the sleigh, taking groups of two or three kids out at a time, while the others roasted hot dogs and gulped hot chocolate. Tyler asked to ride alongside him to learn about driving the sleigh. Adam suspected it was to avoid some of the other kids, but he wouldn’t force Tyler to participate.
Once they were gliding through the countryside, they couldn’t quite hear the chattering of the three girls behind them, as the wind scattered their words. Instead, the bells chimed softly along the sleigh, and the snow and ice crunched and crackled beneath them.
Due to the secret that hung between them, Tyler’s joyriding with the Thalberg ATV, the kid was usually defensive and close to crossing the line into insolence. Adam knew he himself had probably behaved the same way with Coach McKee at the beginning. It was hard to believe he ever resented Coach, for they got along great now. Adam had been lucky enough to work beside him several times at the Huang house.
“So what was it like being a soldier?” Tyler suddenly asked.
Adam raised an eyebrow at the kid.
“If you don’t mind me askin’,” he shot back, frowning.
“I don’t mind.” And surprisingly, he didn’t. “I hated it for a while in boot camp, but when I made it through that, I was proud of myself and the skills the Marines had taught me. I felt like a warrior, the first line of defense for my country. Marines are often the first called in when there’s a problem.”
“I bet you were happy when you killed the bad guys.”
“A Marine celebrates surviving, not the killing,” Adam said quietly. “It’s not like a video game—you know for every person lost, there’s someone grieving.”
“But when they’re trying to kill you—”
“You do what you have to. But you don’t enjoy it.”
Tyler said nothing for a few minutes, watching Adam’s hands on the reins. “Did you get hurt?” he finally asked.
“I did. But some of my friends died, so my injury is just a scar that reminds me to be glad I’m alive.”
And he was glad to be alive, he thought. Not just glad to have survived, but to be alive, to experience life—to be with Brooke.
“It doesn’t sound like it’s good to be a soldier,” the kid said dubiously.
“I’m honored to have served my country, Tyler, to have made a difference. There’s always a risk, of course, but if a guy wants every day to be challenging, to experience incredible pride in what he’s accomplished, then he becomes a Marine.” Now he sounded like a recruiting officer, but he didn’t want to give the kid only one side about life in the military.
Tyler gave him a considering glance, then nodded and looked ahead to the mountains.
When they returned to the house, Adam couldn’t help but notice how Tyler kept himself on the outside of this group of kids. Since he was doing his community service, the club chaperones had agreed