Page 46 of Defending Casey

If he was worried that Nora wasn’t going to like what he said, he shouldn’t have been.

Nora let out a cheer and then clapped her hand over her mouth, darting her eyes back and forth at all the horses.

The result was nothing short of a miracle and a measure of good training. None of the horses spooked. They were all quite content to wait where they were, and Hale breathed out a sigh of relief. It was just another indication that his life was moving in the right direction.

* * *

Casey hadn’t had suchan amazing day for a long, long time. The trail was one of the easiest for both hikers and riders and she hadn’t been down to the Dutton Mine in years. Sharing the experience with Nora and Hale made the whole thing a dream. They’d stopped for an early lunch in the shade under some cottonwood trees and then they’d walked around the remains of the Dutton Mining Company. Once a bustling enterprise which employed hundreds of people, it was now a collection of buildings that looked more like wooden skeletons instead of whole structures.

They’d all made an agreement to stay away from the structures not just because of the possible danger of the remaining walls falling apart, but there were wild animals, or rather, wild reptiles that used the shade to keep the bright sun off of their bodies during the day.

The restriction didn’t take away any of the fun from their adventure, but the sun had tired them out a bit.

“Okay, okay,” Casey called out to Hale and Nora who were picking their way up and over a series of earthen ‘hills’ that sent rocks rolling away from their booted feet. “I think it’s time to start back, the sun is going to burn you, baby!”

Hale pointed at himself. “Me?”

Giggling, Nora shook her head. “She means me, daddy!”

Hale looked so disappointed that Nora ran back to give him a hug.

Casey rolled her eyes as she untangled the reins for Scout and George from a branch of the tree that they’d looped the reins around. She couldn’t help but appreciate how well trained the two horses were. Savannah wasn’t a horse who usually took to an unfamiliar male, horse or human, but her mare had no problems being around the two horses which Hale had selected.

They were, strangely enough, easy around each other, like they’d been that way for ages.

She walked up beside Hale and shook her head.

“I told you that we should go.”

Hale heard the pointed tone in her words and gave her a wincing smile. “I know. It’s my fault. I reached out and tickled her and she moved away and when I went after her, she just kept going.”

Casey leaned against his arm. “It’s a lesson you have to learn. Give Nora a loophole in a rule and she’ll take it and run like there’s no tomorrow.”

Casey could tell that he felt bad, it was written all over his face.

“Sorry.”

She shrugged it off. “You’ll learn. She’s super smart so she’s not just using selective hearing regarding the rules, sometimes she takes things a little too literally and that’s when we can spend hours going over the idea of the letter of the rule and the point behind it.”

Hale laughed and she sighed, loving the sound of it.

“Mom! Dad! Look!”

They both turned at Nora’s laughter and Casey felt her heart drop into her stomach. “Watch where you’re-”

Nora tripped over something on the ground in front of her and tumbled to the ground.

The instant Nora sat up and grabbed at her knee, Casey started forward.

“Stop.”

Hale’s hand clapped down on her shoulder, and she tried to shake it off.

“Case, stop!”

She heard the command in his voice and stopped.

“Nora? Sweetie. Don’t move.”

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