"Easy Liberty. Almost there." Liberty let out a pained neigh and looked me in the eye. I had been out here for 3 hours. Soon a small whinny alerted me that her foal had been born. She stood up and drank some water while the foal tried to stand. I decided to name her Freedom. She looked just like her mom. A leopard Appaloosa. Instead of having the common black spots though, they had brown ones. The foal wobbled over to her mom and began to nurse.
I walked out of the stall and latched the door. I saw a new head of hair in the barn as it walked to the tack room. Must be the new boarder. I thought.
"Hey, can you help me? I'm looking for Marie Anderson." I stopped dead, my waist long, blonde curls swaying as I turned. My ocean blue eyes met his brown ones. I felt my freckled face heat up and turn red.
"Umm.. I'm Marie. Can I help you?" I stuttered
"I'm Kyle. I'm looking to take a job here. I wanted to be the guide for the trails. Your mom said there was an opening." His face turned pink and he looked at his feet.
"Sure. I'll go tack up Spartan and Autumn.Then I can show you around." He nodded and followed me to the tack room. I grabbed Spartan's tack and set his saddle on the stand with the bridle draped over it. I walked back to the tack room and grabbed Autumn's tack. When I finished tacking up the horses, he walked over to Spartan.
"Alright, you'll be riding Autumn. I'll take Spartan." He nodded and slipped into the saddle.
I mounted Spartan and walked out of the barn. "Where are you going, Marie?" My mom shouted.
"To show him our trails. Why?"
"The kids jumping lesson? Your sister and Tyler are coming over."
"Oh... umm... Okay." I turned to him. "We'll go after that. Okay?"
"Yeah. Fine with me." he smiled.
"Okay. Follow me." I turned Spartan back to the barn.
I slipped off the western saddle and bridle and slipped on the jumping saddle and bridle. Both horses stood still while I put on their polo wraps that matched their saddle pad. Spartan's where red and Autumn's where lime green. I tacked up River, Paradise and Crimson and waited for the kids to get here.
I heard tires on gravel and went to stand outside the barn. When the 4 wheeler stopped, the twins jumped out and ran to hug me. Their little red curls where pulled into little pigtails. "Aunt Marie!"
"Hey Danny! Hey Jessie! Come give your aunt Marie a big hug!" I smiled at them.
"Jessica! Danielle! Come grab your bags!" Tyler called.
"Easy Ty. Somebody's in a mood." I teased, smiling. He just shook his head with a small smile and handed the girls their overnight bags.
"Marie, are you ever going to stop spoiling my kids? Come here you." he hugged me.
"Nope. Not ever. Jessie and Danny are going to help me with a foal watch. They weren't here this morning to see Liberty foal. She had a filly. Her names Freedom." I smiled back.
He just smiled and went into the house. Then, a pair of hands covered my eyes and a voice said "Guess Who."
I spun around and squeezed my older sister. "Hey. I missed you. I want you to see something."
I pulled her to Liberty's stall. "Oh my gosh! Liberty had her foal! What's her name?"
"Freedom."
"Aww! how cu-"
A shrill pained neigh pierced the air. "Go get the girls Clara!" I yelled. "Its time!"
My sister nodded and sprinted to get the twins. They came in a second later and followed me to Mystic's stall. She was on her side. It really was time. The girls followed me in while my sister got cold water, towels, and a camera. I told the girls to keep her calm. I watched at the front hooves and head came out. My sister came back just as the sack was broken and Mystic stood up. We dried off the foal and took a picture of it. Mystic drank the cold water quickly and her foal began to nurse.
"Alright. Its a boy. Sis, why don't you name him?"
"Okay... How about.... Merlin?"
I nodded and the girls said a quiet 'yes' as they marveled at the little horse they helped bring into the world.
"Alright then. His name is Merlin." My sister smiled.
I heard someone clear their throat and turned around. I had forgotten about Kyle!
"Hey, guys, I want you to meet someone. Um Kyle, these are my nieces, Danny, and Jessie and my sister Clara. Guys, this is our trail director, Kyle."
"Hi." The twins said together.
"Oh my gosh! Clara Anderson is your sister?!" Kyle said.
"Yeah... These are her girls."
"Cool! I watched the Olympics that year! You where amazing! I liked your partner... Maddie? She was a really good rider!" Kyle smiled like a fool and my sister just laughed.
"Thanks. So your the trail director? I learned to ride here and my kids are learning to ride here. Westley and Corban are in the house with their dad."
"Auntie Marie, Can we go riding now?" Danny looked at me.
"Sure." I took the twins' hands and led them to the horses.
So help me, she better not flirt with him... She's married! Why did I care anyway? Because you like him.
I do not!
Do I?
Hey guys. hope you like it! it took me a while. I will update as soon as I can.
~Kassie <3
