Bonds of Blood |A Heartland Fanfic

Chapter Twenty Three

Breakfast was fun, if a little chaotic with Katie and Lyndy playing more than eating, Georgie was a little more reserved and she knew the teenager sensed that this was a compromise. Jack was quiet, the kids brought a few quick smiles to his face, but he was watching her and Katie; she knew he was thinking about what he'd confirmed last night.

Lisa had meant what she said, dwelling on it accomplished nothing, and holding a grudge wasn't an option; nor was fighting with the girls' mother. Lou had the better card, and a little bit of Jack's temper; if Lou didn't want to see her side of things it could go very badly. Lou had a second life in New York, there was little other than affection for Heartland stopping her from taking an extended trip to the big city with the girls and Lisa knew that would break her husband's heart.

Georgie might fight it, but Katie was just a little girl who had already been through too much. The last thing she needed was the adults in her life fighting or any reactionary responses from them, if they couldn't get on the same page then space was the better option. And she'd bent over as far as she intended to, she had tried Lou's ideas, tried to understand that the woman wanted to know her side of things and be involved; but she had limits.

Lisa was a little relieved when Jack suggested a movie, instead of volunteering to take Katie home. While she didn't want to deal with Lou, she knew he wasn't ready to; he'd had far less time to process all of it. Lyndy watched the animated show for a little while but drifted off in Jack's arms, when Amy arrived Katie was half asleep too; they sent both girls with her.

Her husband shadowed her down to the barn, leaning against the arena gate to watch Georgie while she filled out the paperwork for the competition coming up. She did a little more paperwork and joined him as the teenager began to work with Diamond. Once they warmed up, she slid her phone into her palm, this time she didn't tell Georgie she was timing her.

"That's pretty good." Jack murmured, glancing over her shoulder as the pair circled, having completed the first round.

"They're fast enough to have a chance; once Diamond gets some experience, they'll be a threat." Lisa told him quietly, she had been breeding horses for speed her entire career; it was better to wait for their stats before getting too excited.

And jumping was not usually her primary focus, but as her ex husband loved to point out, to survive in this market one had to diversify. They would certainly go about it in different ways, and with the last of their business relationship severed she was free to go focus on varying disciplines; rather than other methods. Somehow, she suspected having Georgie around would help with that, if there was something to be done on horseback the teenager wanted to try; it was a fearlessness that most of her trainers did not have.

"When is their first show?"

"Soon." Lisa winced, she knew how little training they would have as a team. "I don't expect them to take it, but I do want to see how the horse responds to the pressure."

Jack nodded, his eyes tracking the horse and rider, he might not be interested in performance horses, but he'd worked with horses his whole life; he had a better eye then plenty of dealers she'd met. When Georgie finished up her husband walked back into the stalls with her, she watched the teenager looking up at him.

…

Lisa seemed content to stay close to home for the first few days, managing the meds again as they both waited for the side effects to hit her. His wife was trying to focus on her work, he suspected she was downplaying her goals for Diamond and Georgie, she watched at least part of each training session and they were ramping up the difficulty constantly, if not with fences then with precision; the mare could jump but was still green and gave Georgie a challenge or two. A big part of her training was discipline, learning to take the angle her rider asked for, to collect a stride rather than go all out; it was an education for both horse and rider.