Finding My Soulmate

Chapter 16

Logan was the first to wake up when the car stopped.He yawned and moved to stretch, but felt something heavy on his shoulder. Turning his head to look, he found Grace leaning against him, sleeping peacefully, whilst holding onto his arm. He smiled slightly, looking up at Sam, who had stopped the car. Their eyes met through the back mirror for a moment.

"You finally woke up. Sleeping lovebirds," Sam muttered.
Logan laughed lightly, "Grace is still sleeping."
"Thanks for not giving me away, pal," Sam broke the eye contact and looked away.
"Of course. Why would I tell them? I know what they're like," Logan was surprised at Sam's statement. How he could think about betrayal, Logan didn't know. But he let it slip by.
"I'm going home," Sam had parked the car outside Logan's house. He turned off the engine and tossed the keys to Logan on the back seat, before getting out the car and walking back down the driveway. Logan looked down, carefully taking Grace's hand in his. He rubbed it gently with his thumb. There was a thick, red mark around her wrist. 'I hope they didn't hurt her,' he thought to himself.

After sitting in the car for a few moments, Logan was about to get out the car, when Grace woke up, slowly. She yawned, rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the dim light around her. The sun had long since set, it'd done that on their way home.
"What time is it?" Grace yawned again.
"Past midnight. Let's go inside and then you can continue sleeping," Logan replied.
"Don't wanna," Grace mumbled.
"But you'll get cold out here. Come on."
"No."
Logan sighed, "You're too stubborn. I guess it can't be helped." He put one arm behind her back and one under her knees, and lifted her up and out of the car. With some difficulty he shut the car door, locking it. He then headed over to the front door.
"Good thing you're light as a feather," Logan commented. He was met with no reply. Grace was comfortable, snuggling up against Logan's chest. She breathed in, her noise filling with his scent of faint cologne. It felt comforting being in his arms, and all too soon they were in the house, and he laid her down on the bed.
"Sleep with me," she mumbled.
Logan's eyes widened for a second, before his smile turned into a smirk. Before they'd slept in the same bed, but in each end of it, facing away from each other. If Logan got too close, Grace moved away or pushed him away if she was at the edge.

Logan got ready for bed and got in. Grace moved over to him instantly, cuddling against his chest. Logan laid on his side, one arm under her neck and the other around her. He looked down, and couldn't help but smile. She looked so precious sleeping in his arms. She was curled up, her head near his chest, and her legs tucked up. He closed his eyes with a sigh, as he soon drifted off to sleep.

While Grace left after breakfast the next morning to visit Kathy with the present she had bought, Logan stayed at home. Sam had texted him saying that Grace's father had called and wanted to speak to him, so Logan had decided to call back. The phone was picked up almost straight away. Once John, Grace's father, found out who it was, he was immediately after him, demanding to know what had happened the day before. 'Damn Sam,' Logan thought to himself, as he came up with an excuse. It was terrible, he knew that, but he didn't dare tell him the truth. John also asked when Grace would be coming home, and when they'd get to meet Logan, in which the reply was he'd talk it over with Grace and call him back.

In the meantime Grace had given Kathy her present. The older woman was overjoyed, and thanked her gratefully. Next, she'd headed over to Amy's. She was going to ride both horses for a bit changing turns. She started with Sandy. The mare was happy to see her. Putting the bridle on, Grace didn't bother with a saddle, and swung herself onto the mare's back. She couldn't find Amy anywhere, but figured it would be alright for her to just ride around the arena for a short while. Grace went through the three gaits with Sandy; walk, trot and canter, over some time, before she finished off. Putting Sandy out, she was about to take Midnight out to do the same. The point was just for them to get some exercise and do something else than eat grass.
"Hey," Logan said as Grace swung on. It startled her, so she didn't quite get enough spring in her step, and fell down onto the ground, resulting in a spooked Midnight who stepped aside.
"You scared me!" Grace collected herself off the dust, brushing down her jeans. She regained the reins and swung herself up, this time successfully landing on the mare's back.
Logan laughed it off, "I wasn't exactly quiet when I arrived."
Grace just huffed and looked down at him standing next to Midnight.
"Let me lead you," Logan said, grabbing the reins at the same moment Grace let go of them with a quick reply of, "Go ahead."
"Your father wants you to go home soon. Seems he needs you to help out, since they're busy," Logan said as he walked on.
"Well, it is summer," Grace sighed, "And I suppose I should be getting back. But we'll be far away from each other. How will a long distance relationship work?"
"No problem, because I'm coming with you," Logan said.
"What? Are you sure? What about your farm, and your mother?" Grace asked in reply.
"It'll be fine," he wheezed, "I'll sort it out. Relax."

After walking around the arena for a while, Logan decided to run with Midnight to get her to trot. Grace laughed as Logan struggled to find his footing in the uneven sand underneath him, but was able to run alongside Midnight smoothly. However, he stopped after two rounds, breathing heavily.
"This is hard," he complained.
Grace laughed at him, "You were the one that wanted to."
"I knooow. I give up. You ride yourself," Logan went over to the gate and jumped up so he was sitting on the fence. 

Grace rode around the arena for a while, and afterwards, went with Logan back to his place. It was long past lunch, and the two young adults hungrily grabbed some lunch.
"I need to work with the cattle this afternoon. Do you want to come too?" Logan asked.
"Sure," Grace replied, "What do I need to do?"
"We're herding them in. The calves need tags on them, but we're just helping them get into the paddock. The vet's coming tomorrow and the others will take care of the rest."
"Alright! I've never herded before, but I'll try."
"You can borrow Stormy. He's an experienced gelding, so if you can stay seated, he'll lead you. I'll take Titus, since we don't have extras."
"Okay! Let's finish lunch, and then head out!"

Sam was helping herd the cattle in, too, on his own skittish grey mare. Stormy was a black, sturdy, quarter horse gelding, very calm and trusting. Grace felt comfortable in his saddle, as they headed up the hills. Fortunately, it didn't take them long to find the herd and gather them together. The tricky part was getting them back towards the paddock. Logan would be riding in front, leading the herd, and Sam and Grace would be on each side at the back, herding the cattle and making sure that no strays escaped. Rounding the herd together wasn't too difficult, but when Logan rode in front, it was difficult to keep them in check. Grace sat still, gripping one hand on the western saddle's horn in the front. Stormy moved along gently, but if a cow even thought to run off, Stormy was after him in an instant to stop them.
'He's really good at his job,' Grace thought to herself as she clung onto the saddle, so not to fall off at the black quarter horse's seemingly random spurts to keep the cattle in check.

The ride back to the paddock took longer than the time spent riding out. The cattle weren't too fast, and it took even longer since they often manoeuvred away from the herd, or stopped up to graze. By the time they were back, it was well past afternoon. They managed to get all the cattle to go through the gate, and Sam shut it after them, but not before letting Logan out and free from the cattle, along with his horse.

After letting the horses be free from their work, they waved their goodbyes to Sam and went inside for dinner. After a quick dinner that Logan managed to put together, which tasted great, they both went to the other house in the yard, where Logan's mother lived. Logan wanted to discuss their leave, and although Grace had seen her and waved to her, they hadn't had a chance to have a proper conversation together. 

"Welcome inside!" Logan's mother gestured as she opened the door, "It's nice to finally get to talk to you properly, Grace. Call me Lynn."

"The pleasure is mine," Grace replied politely. They went into the living room and Lynn got her two guests a drink.
As Logan confronted his mother with the idea of going back to Grace's town, which was many miles away, Grace looked around the room. It looked very normal. The floor was covered with a wall to wall carpet, they sat on a black leather couch, with a tv on the wall. There was also a few bookshelves and a desk with a computer on it.

Lynn wasn't against the idea of them going back to where Grace came from, but she wasn't for it, either. She didn't like the idea of spending so many hours and days in the saddle to ride there. She sat for a while, thinking over the situation, before an idea popped into her head.
"Why don't we go there together?" She asked. Both Grace and Logan widened their eyes.
"What do you mean?" Her son asked.
"I mean it. But we'll take the car, and the horse box. There's enough space for three and Grace had two, right? That means you can bring Titus. It doesn't take as long and I'd like to meet Grace's parents, too," Lynn replied, liking her own idea.
"But what about this place? "Who will look after it?" Logan asked.
"We'll ask Henry and Alice to do it," Those were the names of Sam's parents. Grace didn't know, but Logan explained it to her and she nodded briefly.
"Alright," Logan hesitated, but finally agreed to go along with it. "Let's do it."
"When are we leaving?" Grace asked.
"Tomorrow?" Logan and Lynn replied at the same time.
Grace laughed at the similarity between mother and son, "That sounds good to me!"