Because of Fate (Book 1 of Because of Series)

Chapter 11- Bryson's POV

"Are you all ready to go?" Margaret asked while she walked over to us, offering us a tight lipped smile. She cleared her throat and moved a hand through her hair before she held out her hand for Gallant.

"Yes," Blake said and nodded while I handed Margaret Gallant's lead rope before he handed me Sprite's lead rope. He looked at Admiral before he looked at her, pressing his lips into a thin line. "Are you sure that Admiral will follow Sprite to the pasture?" he asked and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yes," she said and nodded in confirmation. "He won't try to leave us alone while we are walking to the pasture."

Blake nodded and pressed his lips into a thinner line before he looked at me and raised an eyebrow in question. "Where do you think we should put them?" he asked and cocked his head while he studied me.

"Back pasture," I said before I looked at Margaret. "It'll be a long walk. Do you mind?" I raised an eyebrow in question, and she instantly shook her head no.

"I do not mind where you put us. I am just grateful that you are letting us live here for now."

"You can stay as long as you need, Mags," Blake said, and I shot him an annoyed look but did not say a word. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow in question. "Right?" he asked and cocked his head while he stared at me.

I bit back an annoyed sigh and slowly nodded. "Yes," I confirmed, and my voice grew colder. "You can stay for as long as you need if you do a good job with helping out my niece and nephews."

Maragaret's smile faltered just a tad, but she kept smiling while she looked at me. "Of course," she said and nodded.

She cleared her throat and looked down before she looked at me. "Can you go ahead and lead the way, please?" she asked. "I would like to put up my horses so that I could help with my brother and daughter as well as the dogs."

"Sure, follow us," my brother said and nodded. He shot me an annoyed look before he started to walk toward the back pasture with Bonnie, and I started to follow him with Sprite, grateful that she didn't try and fight me.

"Walk on, Admiral," Margaret said with a click of her tongue when the other horse didn't move but continued to look around with wide eyes and ears pricked forward. She flicked Gallant's lead rope at his rump to get him to start moving.

The other horse snorted and jerked his head upward but started to follow Sprite without her telling him to do it again. He flicked his tail and shook his head, and Margaret bit back an amused snort while he did so.

"Very funny, boy," she teased before she started to follow us with Gallant walking after her.

"So are you going to need food for them?" Blake asked and looked at Margaret. "We can supply some as well as hay for you if you need it."

Margaret shook her head. "No," she said. "I have enough for a couple of days, but I will need to go to the feed store to get some food soon." She shrugged and grimaced. "My boss also wanted for me to call her after I get settled in somewhere so that she could send stuff over." She shrugged and grimaced. "I had to be picky about what I needed to pack and had to leave almost everything of mine, my brother's, and my daughter's stuff behind.

"Was it a lot?" I asked, and she shrugged and grimaced.

"We've downsized quite a bit, so it's not a lot of stuff. I want to say that each of us has about four plastic totes each, and two of mine are basically homeware stuff."

"Why?" Blake asked. He furrowed his brows and cocked his head while he stared at me. "Don't you keep your trophies and stuff?"

"I did, but my parents threw most of it out when I got pregnant with Maybell. I started to leave most of my stuff at the barn then because I did not trust them or my ex-fiancee."

"Fiancee?" I asked and raised an eyebrow in question while I pressed my lips into a thin line and nodded.

"Yes," she said and cleared her throat, hesitating. She licked her lips and didn't look at them. "My daughter's father was my ex-fiancee, but he had cheated on me, so..." She trailed off, and I had a feeling that she shrugged and grimaced.

"How many times?" Blake asked. He cleared his throat and looked at me, biting back a small smile. "If you don't mind me asking."

"I... don't mind, but I don't want to be pitied if that makes sense," she said, and I could tell that she was hesitating. "In all honesty, I don't have time for that. It's not going to help anything, and ya..."

I pressed my lips into a thin line and didn't say a word. A part of me wanted her to continue but a part of me understood why she wouldn't.

I also didn't like to be pitied...

She cleared her throat and shifted the lead rope from one hand to the other. "But anyway, I do not know how many people he had cheated on me with. I know that after I had May, he did not want anything to do with me in that way." She snorted and shook her head, pursing her lips in annoyance. "Hell, he didn't really want to deal with me or her at all and only stayed to "play the part of a father" without being the father."

"Damn," Blake said and moved a hand through his hair, and she bit back a small laugh and nodded in confirmation. "What is he doing now?"

"Hooking up with my twin," she said with a small shrug and grimace, and I couldn't help but look at her, making sure that my face was blank while I did so.

Maraget bit back a bitter smile and nodded before she gestured for me to turn around so that her horse wouldn't go that way, and I did what I was told to do, holding back an eye roll. She cleared her throat and shrugged with a small grimace on her face. "Other than that, I do not know, and I do not care. I have my daughter, and that's all that matters. He gave up his rights after a year long fight."

"And what about your brother?" Blake asked and looked back at us before he looked forward so that he wouldn't hurt anything. "Do you have full custody of him?"

"Yes," she said and nodded in confirmation. "That fight for full custody also took a year. Thankfully, it happened at the same time as May's case, so I was able to legally get them at the same time."

"Why?" I asked and raised an eyebrow in question, not knowing why she would give up her life to take care of her brother.

But wasn't that what I was doing in raising my nephews and niece? Wasn't I giving up my future..?

I shot that thought down and continued to walk toward the way that we needed to go, not knowing why I wanted to ask this but did it anyway. "What about your future? Don't you want to go to college? What about finding a high paying job or whatever?"

Margaret bit back a small smile and sighed, shaking her head. "Unfortunately, my future had changed by getting pregnant at a young age," she said. "And I do not care about having a high paying job or anything like that. I never did."

She paused and cleared her throat. "But anyway, that mistake that changed my future was the best damn thing that happened to me, for it taught me that I could still be something, love something, and not have any kind of strings attached in one way or another." She shrugged and grimaced, pressing her lips into a thin line. "I just had to learn it the hard way..."