31. Maggie #2
The gleam in his eye told me this was no ordinary visit to my barn with a horse in tow.
Jack had a plan, and even though I still dwelled on the night before, I was entranced by him.
He opened the back door of the truck to pull out a hard plastic cone with an elastic attached to it.
Shutting the door, he motioned for me to follow him to the back of the trailer.
As I got closer to Jack, I made out the oblong object in his hand.
It was a unicorn horn with pink, white, and purple stripes swirling to the sparkly tip.
“Oh, my God. What are you up to?”
Jack chuckled and shook his head. “Remember when we promised the girls we would show them Neva the Real Live Unicorn? Well, today is that day.”
The air left my lungs for a moment. Because Jack brought a fucking unicorn to please these little girls.
Why did I have any doubts in my mind that he would betray me in any way?
Before he could open the trailer doors to bring Neva out, I pulled Jack into a hug, wrapping my arms around his neck. “You are too good to me.”
He tensed in my arms at my compliment, and reality came rushing back. Avoiding eye contact, Jack pulled out of my grip and turned to undo the metal latches and enter the trailer.
I cleared my throat. “What made you want to do this today?”
Jack shrugged as he pulled the end of Neva’s lead rope to release the knot and led her out of the trailer. “I don’t know. Didn’t have much going on today, so I thought I’d treat them to a Neva visit.”
I shuddered out a breath and tried to shake the uneasy feeling that returned the moment he shut back down. Normally, Jack would notice this behavior and ask if anything was wrong, but he distracted himself with Neva.
“Can you help me put this thing on? I tried to do it at home, but she kept shaking her head when I stretched the elastic around her nose.”
The frustration in his voice arrived as quickly as I approached him and the horse.
I scratched Neva’s forehead with pressure on my middle three fingers and gently traced the divot of her nasal bone.
Drawing light circles across the pink snip on her upper lip, I raised my eyes to make contact with hers.
“Hey, girl. You have some very special fans today who would really like to see you with a unicorn horn, so I’m going to need you to let us put this on you. ”
“If you have this much patience with the horses, I can only imagine how you’re going to be with the baby,” Jack breathed uncomfortably.
The dichotomy of his words and his tone threw me.
I didn’t miss how he called them “the baby,” and not “our little fruit,” which he had taken to calling them a few months ago.
God, all I wanted was to figure out what was wrong.
Jack led Neva to the arena, where Lina encouraged the girls to follow each other while they hit the big arena ball.
His actions felt so black and white, and I was lost in the sea of gray in between.
I trudged behind the pair, focusing on Neva’s strong, thick hindquarters.
She was an appendix, a cross between a Quarter Horse and a Thoroughbred, giving her the speed and stamina of a racehorse and the strength and agility of a barrel horse.
Her hind legs moved in sync with Jack’s as they approached the big wooden gate of the arena.
“Oh my gosh! Look, girls!” Lina gasped in fake surprise and pointed to Jack and Neva. Neva’s ears perked up when she heard Lina’s voice. I swore she spoke horse.
Both girls gasped when they saw the flea-bitten gray with the sparkly unicorn horn on her head.
When Jack opened the gate, Neva’s persona did a one-eighty.
She strutted into the arena like she owned it, her head held high, her ears pointed forward, and she picked up her feet like a dressage horse.
The girls’ eyes lit up, and both their jaws dropped.
“Oh. My. Horsie!” Kellie beamed. “Josie, look! It’s a real unicorn, just like Mr. Jack said he would show us!”
Josie’s face glowed as she urged her horse to approach Neva. She spoke in utter disbelief. “It’s…it’s a real unicorn?” She looked ready to slide off her horse and take Neva to play with her horse toys at home.
“It sure is,” Jack smiled with pride. “I promised I would show her to you. And I heard it was someone’s birthday,” he eyed Lina with a smirk, “So I had to come introduce you to her.”
“What’s her name again?” Kellie asked. “And can I ride her?”
Jack glanced at Lina again with his eyebrows raised. I wasn’t sure he brought any tack, and Neva wasn’t prone to stopping without a strong bit in her mouth.
“I don’t think this unicorn is tamed,” Jack chuckled. “But maybe one day.”
“One day I’m going to be a good enough rider to ride a unicorn.” Kellie showed no disappointment, only glee that her unicorn wish came true.
“Me too,” Josie replied. “This is just so exciting. Happy birthday, Kellie!” She giggled.
“Happy birthday to me!” Kellie laughed along with her sister.
It was little moments like this that made me feel so lucky I was going to be a mom.
I couldn’t wait to show our little fruit Neva the Unicor