Bucky's Hope (A Bucky Barnes Love Story)

Chapter 15

Third Person POV:

It has been over a month since Bucky arrived at the ranch and everyone has been surprised by the changes they have seen. But no one is more surprised than Bucky himself because for the first time in 70 years he is genuinely happy and all he has to do is look at Hope and he instantly smiles. For the past month, Bucky and Hope have gotten closer since they are together so much, a lot of it is from Hope teaching Bucky how to ride. His first lesson was a mess that ended in Bucky falling off the horse and landing in a nearby mud puddle. Hope, of course, checked that he was okay but not without laughing, normally Bucky would have been mad at her for laughing at him but when he saw how her eyes lit up as she laughed he couldn't be mad, after that it took a while but he was able to get the hang of it.

Today was a fairly quiet day so all the guys were out helping with the construction of the indoor training area. Hope was out in the training pen with Midnight as she has a show jumping competition coming up in a few weeks and she was preparing for it. She was doing a couple of jumps when she saw a car coming down towards the house, she smiled when she recognized it immediately. Just as the car drove past her, Hope had Midnight move away from the course to get a running start and they jumped over the pen fence with ease and rode after the car that was now parked in from of the house. Before the driver could get out, Hope stopped next to the car, jumped off of Midnight, and opened the back door.

Hope's POV:

I squealed with delight as I pulled my Goddaughter Emma out of her car seat.

"There is my favorite girl, oh how I have missed you," I squeezed her lightly as I hugged her.

"Wow, I see that I have been replaced," Kaitlyn said when got out of the car.

"Sorry, but you can't beat Emma's cuddles, they are my favorite."

I held Emma as Midnight came over to us, she stretched her little hand out to Midnight and he bent his head down allowing her to touch him, she squealed when she felt him.

"Who is that Emma, is that your favorite horse?"

"You're going to turn her into a mini-you, aren't you?"

"Uh, yes I am, she already loves Midnight."

"She's not even a year old yet."

"Doesn't matter, I know that she loves it here," I grabbed Midnight's reins and started to walk off back to the barn when Kaitlyn called out to me.

"Can I at least have my baby back?"

"Nope, she's mine now," I heard Kaitlyn laugh as she headed into the house while I went to the barn with Emma and Midnight.

I was happy to see that Dylan was in there, "hey, can you untack Midnight for me?"

"Sure thing boss, do you need anything else?"

"Nope, once you're done, I'll take him back to the field, I'll be by the gate in the meantime."

"You got it," Dylan took Midnight's reins from me and when to untack him.

I walked over to the gate and found that Shadowfax was there as well, he whinnied when he saw me. Shadowfax has improved greatly since I brought him to the ranch. It took a while but we got him to a healthy weight, and his coat had grown back beautifully that he almost is unrecognizable, but I can tell that he is very happy here, I had decided to not rehome him and instead to let him stay here. He was still wary about letting certain people get near him, but so far he is comfortable with me, James, and surprisingly Morgan, I smile every time I think about her reaction when she first met him, it was the most adorable thing ever.