Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

Chapter 124

Erika led Sapphire out of the barn, following Nick's lead with Bourbon. They led them up towards the house where their parents were waiting. Nick had talked Arthur into at least letting them travel to New Hanover, which he reluctantly agreed to. The two younger Morgans decided to leave the next morning, seemingly deciding to stay the night with their Aunt Mary-Beth, who had a small house in Valentine.

They packed up the necessities onto their steeds before walking over to their parents.

"You two be careful." Amelia said as she hugged Erika. "I mean it."

"We will, Momma." Erika replied before pulling away.

Amelia huffed out a breath and cupped her daughters cheek. "If anything happens, I swear-"

"Momma." Erika raised an eyebrow at her. "We'll be fine."

"Better be." Arthur said gruffly. "You two look out for each other."

"We will." Nick walked around his sister to hug Amelia. Erika did the same and hugged Arthur. "We have guns on us."

"You're lucky we're letting you do this at all." Arthur kissed the top of Erika's head.

"Don't worry about us, Pa." Nick pulled away from Amelia. "We'll keep an eye on each other."

After their last goodbyes, they headed out. Bourbon snickered and whinnied, followed by Sapphire. They were waiting for Dove and Cowboy. Erika rode ahead, Nick tailing behind her. She slowed Sapphire to a trot, looking back at Nick.

"I can't believe they're actually letting us ride out on our own."

"I can't believe Pa is letting us go to New Hanover."

Erika chuckled a little bit. "It's kind of exciting." She said after a minute. "Never thought we would be able to travel until after we moved out."

Nick took in a big sigh as he leaned back in his saddle a little bit. "I think we should go say hi to Aunt Abigail and Uncle John. What do you think?"

Erika's eyes widened. "Um," she began fiddling with Sapphire's reins, "not yet. After that dream I had, I sort of want to wait a little bit."

Nick looked over at her. "Right. I forgot about that."

Erika cleared her throat. "But we could go visit Luke and Rose."

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "It'll be nice to see them."

——————————————————————————

"I can't believe we let them go out on their own." Amelia said after they disappeared from their view.

"I know." Arthur replied. "It's scary. They're growing up."

"I wish they would go back to when they were little."

"Me and you both." Amelia turned and walked inside the house.

Arthur followed behind her. "Well," he began, "to keep our minds from worrying too much, we could go to Beechers Hope. Pay a visit to the Marstons."

Amelia thought for a moment before nodding. "Sure. Why not?"

They both got dressed and walked out to the barn. Arthur picked up Dove's saddle and threw it over her back, tightening the straps underneath her. Amelia looked over Cowboy carefully.

"Do you think he's ready for a saddle?" Amelia asked, not taking her eyes off her stallion.

Arthur leaned against his stall and looked over his back, inspecting the scrapes that seemed like scabs now. He shook his head. "No, not yet. He needs to heal a little bit more."