Chapter Eighteen
As soon as I got out of the car at Rodrigo’s ranch, Star nickered. Instead of knocking on the front door of the house, I crossed the open space to the corral where the mare was waiting, her head over the top fence rail. She watched my progress, nodding as I got closer.
It was another glorious day with temperatures in the low sixties, a perfect riding day. It was the kind of day that begged me to plant my butt in a saddle and let the horse wander where it may.
Star nuzzled my hair with her nose as I rubbed her head. She stuck her head down as far as she could, searching for whatever I’d brought with me. Obligingly, I pulled out a carrot and gave it to her.
“You’re spoiling that horse,” Rodrigo said as he approached.
“She deserves it, don’t you, girl,” I cooed to the animal.
“She doesn’t even bother with me anymore,” he said. “Always on the lookout for your car. You probably didn’t see, but as soon as your car was visible on the drive, she started racing back and forth in the corral.”
“That’s because she’s a smart girl,” I said. “She knows who loves her.”
“I better be careful or you’ll steal her right out from under me.”
“And exactly where am I going to put her?” I asked. “The RV barely fits under overpasses as it is, so the roof is out. My sisters won’t put up with her in the living room. And I can’t tow a horse trailer along with the car.” I rubbed my head against Star’s cheek. “But don’t worry,” I mock whispered. “I’ll come back and get you. Us girls have to stick together.”
The horse’s ears were twitching back and forth as I spoke, and she nickered her approval when I stopped speaking.
I gave Rodrigo a triumphant grin.
“Or you could just stay here,” he said.
“My sisters wouldn’t approve of that either.”
“I think they could be persuaded. After all, they have their own men now, don’t they?”
“They’ve fallen. It’s true. But I don’t need a man. Not anymore.” I flexed my arm muscle. “I’ve got it covered.”
He laughed .
“I’m sure you do,” he said. “But it’s more fun with two.”
“Are we going to ride or are you going to stand there jabbering all day like an old woman?” I asked with a grin.
“I’ve got the trailer ready. Antonia packed us a lunch.”
“Of course she did. I’m in love with that woman,” I said.
“Are you going to steal her along with my horse?” he asked.
“It’s something to consider,” I said and slipped through the rails.
Grabbing one of the leads hanging over the fence, I snapped it onto a ring in Star’s halter and led her into the barn.
~ ~ ~
Rodrigo knew how to handle a trailer. He was at ease on the major roads, and careful on the dirt stretch we traveled to get to a place we could pull off and park. He backed the horses out, then handed the reins to me. “Take them over there while I turn this thing around. It’s a lot easier to do it now than when we return.”
I led the horses to where he’d indicated, and watched him jockey the trailer around, not an easy feat in rough country. The effort required a good deal of backing up which can be a difficult skill to learn. It was one of the reasons I’d voted for a Class A motorhome and not a trailer. Even then, I’d spent a lot of time practicing solo in a near empty parking lot before I let my sisters load one item into that rig.
Now, after driving around the country for some time, I felt at ease. True there were tricky situations, especially in heavy traffic around cities, or in states that seemed to have abandoned their highways to the elements, but at least now I felt comfortable.
Rodrigo took his reins and swung into the saddle in a smooth move that indicated how good a horseman he was. My own trip to the top of Star was a little less graceful.
“There’s a spot not too far up the trail where we can let the horses out to run,” he said.
“Any trees?” I asked.
“Not unless you stray off the path.”
“I’ll try not to do that.”
As soon as we reached the spot, I didn’t give him a chance. I dug my heels into Star’s flanks, bent over, and let her loose.
She flew like the wind, racing like I’d imagined the Black Stallion, another famous fictional Arabian, raced across the desert. Her mane flew up in the air, and I imagined her tail streamed out behind her. As I rode, I loosened the reins and let her have her head. She stretched out even farther, and it took all the strength I had in my legs to hang on.
I could hear Rodrigo shouting behind me, but didn’t know what he was saying.
My limbs began to protest, and I gently pulled on the reins.
Star tossed her head, but didn’t slow.
This time I put on more pressure.
With a snort, she slowed a little.
Ahead, I could see the path turn in front of the remains of a rusted barbed wire fence. If we hit that, it was going to be nasty for both of us. I didn’t want to think of what that wire would do to Star’s legs.
I pulled the rein to turn her and hung on with all my might.
Somehow we made the turn, but she definitely didn’t want to slow down.
I hated to do it, but I yanked hard on the reins.
This time, she got the message, slowing from a gallop to a trot, and finally a walk.
“Good girl,” I said, patting her damp withers. “That’s what you’re supposed to do.”
Rodrigo came up beside me. “I forgot to tell you, sometimes she gets the bit in her teeth and is hard to stop.”
“Gee, thanks for letting me know,” I said.
“You stayed on,” he said.
“Just barely.”
“But you did.”
“Yeah.” I felt good about being able to do that, but I knew I was going to be ready for the RV park’s hot tub later that night.
Too bad I couldn’t stay in one of his guest rooms and indulge in one of those immaculately clean bathtubs.
He took the lead again as we guided our horses at a walk. As we went down the path, Star’s breathing slowed, and her gait became more rhythmic. I looked around me, enjoying the scenery and letting my mind drift into a peaceful nothingness. All the petty problems of my life and the more serious ones of the world around me failed to penetrate my good mood.
We rode for about a half hour through live oaks and denser patches of mesquite. A few times as we were riding, Rodrigo pointed off to the side. With his help I was able to see a few deer in the shadows. But when I pulled up beside him, I was the one who spotted a small owl in one of the trees.
“Wow,” he said. “How did you see that? ”
“My dad taught me to hunt. Well, he taught all of us, but I’m the only one it stuck with. We’d do at least one trip every fall.”
“Remind me never to get you mad at me,” he said, his grin wreathing his face in laugh lines. His shoulders were relaxed as well, far more so than was usual when there were other people around.
“This seems like a good place to have lunch,” he said, pointing to a rock cropping a little farther up the trail. “What do you say?”
“I’m ready.”
“Good.”
It didn’t take us long to set up our lunch. Once again, Antonia had packed a delicious repast.
“You’re spoiled,” I told him. “No woman will ever be able to compete with her.”
“She won’t have to,” he said. “I’ve promised her a lifetime job.”
“Wow,” I said. “A woman gets you and Antonia? Why are you still single?”
“You know why,” he said, leaning closer, putting his hand under my chin, and dropping a kiss on my lips. “Because the woman I want has this stupid idea of going home to Montana.”
“It’s where I belong,” I said.
“You belong wherever you want to be.”
“Besides, I wouldn’t last more than a few weeks.”
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“Either Trixie Lynn would slip a stiletto between my ribs or your sister-in-law would call in a favor and a professional hit would take me out.”
He laughed. “You have a dim view of my friends and relatives.”
“Oh, no. I’m being realistic. Or maybe they would band together to ‘rub me out.’”
“Rub you out? Where do you get these ideas?”
“Hmm.” I inspected the chicken-stuffed wrap Rodrigo handed me. “Trixie Lynn and your sister-in-law would be a formidable pair. But then they’d have to duke it out to see who got you.”
“You have an over-active imagination,” he said.
“Just laying out the possibilities.”
“I don’t care what they do to each other,” he said. “I don’t want either Trixie Lynn or my wife’s cousin.” He looked pointedly at me.
“Got it.” I took a big bite of the wrap. “How does she do this?” I said when I’d finished chewing and swallowing.
“I have no idea.” Rodrigo gulped some water from his bottle. “If you had to do your marriage over again, what would you do differently?”
“You mean other than not marry Michael?”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“I’ve got my reasons,” I said.
“Which are?”
I sighed.
“It’s okay,” he said. “You don’t need to tell me. But I’ve come to believe we make the best decisions we can at the time we make them. Maybe it’s God’s will.” He shrugged. “Maybe it isn’t. After all, He gave us free will so we could make our own decisions.”
I nodded.
My dad hadn’t liked Michael much, but hadn’t done anything beyond telling me his opinion. He left it up to me to choose my path. When I married Michael, Dad welcomed him into the family with no explicit reservation.
But Dad had been right in the long term.
I glanced at Rodrigo.
Someday, it would be nice to tell him the whole story. From everything I knew about him so far, he would understand. He would be a safe place to share my story—all of it.
But that wasn’t going to happen. No matter how much I was falling in love with him, I needed to go home and live my life on my own terms.
That was simply the way it was.