Page 49 of Dirty Ginger

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Amelia kept hold of Beckett’s hand, all but dragging him out of the house. It became pretty clear that since she’d last seen Beckett, he’d obviously had a change of heart about not sharing his pain with others, since he had his mother’s ring ready to give to her. She loved knowing that one day she’d take his name and they’d have a family, but today she was going to change his life forever in the best way possible. That she was going to do what her sisters did for her. What Pops did for her.

Beckett stared at the horse trailer with his name written on the side before glancing sidelong at her. “I don’t understand what’s happening here.”

“Well, you see,” she said, hugging his arm, bouncing on her toes. “There was still that issue with the check I didn’t want to take from you. The money that I know will always remain an issue between us that neither of us wants the other to take responsibility for. So, I did one better. I used the money for a good cause.”

“I noticed you cashed the check,” he said, his brows furrowed tight. “And was glad for it, but…” He rubbed his chin, staring at the decal on the side of the gooseneck trailer before he focused on her again. “What is happening right now?”

She laughed at the blatant confusion swirling in his eyes. “I used the money to buy this horse trailer,” she told him, and waited for his response.

He looked at Nash, as if he had the answers Beckett was looking to find, staring on in bewilderment. When Nash just grinned, Beckett asked her, “Why would you buy me a horse trailer?”

She twined her fingers in his, squinting at the sun in her eyes. “Over the past few days, I realized that I had Pops and my sisters always pushing me to do more, to chase my dreams, to never stop believing in myself. So that everyday I’m living my best life.”

Beckett tilted his head, pursing his lips as he brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “I’m glad you had people to influence you, but I have no idea what that has to do with a horse trailer.”

“This might clear this up a bit,” Nash said. He moved to the trailer’s side door and opened it. Autumn stuck her head out, and Larry had his head low enough to be seen too. “I figured that Autumn needed a buddy if she’s going to live with you, and Amelia said she fell in love with Larry. We don’t mind lending him out until you get some more horses on the property and find Amelia a good horse to join you on your rides.”

Beckett’s mouth parted, but he got interrupted as a couple of Nash’s cowboys drove up. One truck had hay bales in the back. Another had grain, tack and farm supplies. As the trucks headed for the barn, Nash continued, “I’ve brought enough over to give you time to get these two settled and get yourself up and running.” He gestured at Amelia. “Smart lady you’ve got here, setting all this up for you.”

Amelia smiled, glad for Nash. When he heard her plan, he’d jumped on board fully, doing more than she even expected. Nash had all the contacts, so he made buying the trailer easy. She glanced to Beckett again, finding him scratching his cheek, so she set to explaining. “The plan is this: you’re going to train with Autumn, and then when you’re both ready, you’re going to return to the rodeo. Nash said she’s fast and can totally do this with you. This trailer will get you there and back to me.”

Beckett blinked. “I’m going to return to the rodeo?”

“Yup,” she said, so sure in this next step. “And if you’re not going to do it for yourself, then you’re going to do it for me. Because this is your dream. This was always your dream, and you deserve to at least have a shot at achieving it.”

He slowly shook his head, though his eyes danced with a renewed light. “This is crazy. I’ve been out of the rodeo for so long. I’m too old for this. I haven’t been training that hard, just throwing rope around for fun.”

“So, what?” she countered. “You get back in it. You train hard again. You can most certainly do this. You can give yourself the right to go back to something you love and try again.”

Beckett glanced out as a couple of the cowboys took Autumn and Larry off the trailer and headed toward the paddock with the shelter. All of which was still in perfect condition, which told Amelia she was right about this. He’d been in limbo, always waiting but never acting to fulfill his dream again, but this was Beckett’s chance. When he looked her way again, he arched an eyebrow. “How will I pay my bills? You don’t get paid for training. I won’t make any money until I start winning.”

“You’ll be sponsored.”

Beckett jerked his head back to Nash, who grinned at him and said, “Blackshaw Cattle and Blackshaw Horse Training are sponsoring you for the next two years. You’ll wear our brands.”

Amelia felt the tears threaten to rise but stuffed them away, as this was even news to her. Nash was a retired professional bull rider with a big name in the rodeo. Wearing his brand would bring other sponsorships.

“Nash,” Beckett said, slowly. “I can’t—”

“It’s already done,” Nash said, not leaving any room to argue. He left his spot by the trailer to settle at the bottom of the porch steps. “I’d like you to continue working for me, if you’re interested. I’ll send you some horses that can live here, and we’ll keep the same arrangement when the horse sells. But when you’re competing, we’ll simply take the sales horses out of the equation, and you can focus on training.”

Beckett looked on as the cowboys began taking the hay bales into the barn. “This is insane,” he told them.

“It’s not insane,” Amelia snapped, shaking his arm. “It’s right. It’s time to go back to what you were meant to do. You deserve this, Beckett. You deserve to fight for this dream and make it happen.”

Beckett blew out a long breath, staring out at his land then wrapped an arm around her neck. “You did this? All for me?”

“Yes, because I love you and I want you to be happy.”

“Christ, Amelia, do I love you.” Suddenly, she was gathered in his arms. He hugged her so tight she could barely breath, but she didn’t want it any other way. “I can’t believe you did this all for me. What if I don’t succeed? It’s a lot to risk.”

“You will succeed,” she said, without a single doubt in her mind.

Beckett just shook his head like he was having a hard time processing all this. Tight in his arms, he asked Nash, “You sure about this?”

Nash nodded, stepping up to the last porch step and grinned. “Not a doubt in my mind. Just do me proud when you’re out there kicking ass.” He gestured back at Autumn. “She’s fast and has talent and trusts you. Trust her back. With her breeding, she’ll get you in the top rankings.”

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