Page 51 of Back in the Saddle

“That’s my job.”

She shook her head. “No. That’sourjob.”

What was going on here? One day in my shoes and she was saying the words I’d wanted to hear months ago? I couldn’t understand why she’d waited until now to say these things.

She reached up and pushed hair out of my face. Her fingers lingered on my cheek. “I’m sorry I forgot we were a team. You kept giving, and I kept taking.”

My throat tightened.

“I never wanted to be like your mother. But somehow, I was. I’m sorry.”

She laid her hand on my cheek, and I covered it with mine before I moved my head to the left so I could kiss it.

“You’re not like her, Taylor. You’re here standing in front of me, recognising your faults and apologising for them. My mother has never done that.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“I was wrong too.” I took her free hand. “I gave and gave and didn’t say anything until I got angry. By that time, we were separate teams. I should have spoken up earlier.”

I searched her eyes. She stared right back. I needed to tell her what I’d done. How in the end I’d given away my decision making.

“I let you handle the money because I worked on the farm and I handled everything outside of work and I was sick of it,” I said.

She took a shaky breath. “How did we get here, Ciaron? I never thought we’d be these people.”

“Maybe we forgot we still needed to work for us.”

“Not maybe, we did.”

I nodded. “We did.”

I wrapped her in my arms. We weren’t where we needed to be yet, but we were closer than I thought we’d ever be. And if we didn’t love each other, we wouldn’t have gotten this far. Maybe love was enough.

18

Taylor

Isat in the morning meeting listening to Ciaron. I hadn’t been attending morning meetings as much as I should have, preferring to get on with the day’s work. It meant we were not presenting as a united team. Another casualty of our failing relationship.

“This morning we’re going to move some paddocks. The ones at the top road I’d like to move down to the river paddock,” Ciaron said.

I shifted in my seat. That didn’t make sense. I was sure those horses were due first. So why were we moving them further away from the foaling unit? That was a mistake. If one went into labour out in that paddock, we wouldn’t be able to move them quick enough. They could give birth before we even got to them. A mare’s labour could last less than fifteen minutes.

I bit my lip. Now was not the time to bring it up. He was the broodmare manager and where horses moved to was up to him. He didn’t need to consult me about it. Ciaron paused, his gazestopped on me as he glanced around the room. I trained my face into a neutral look.

After the meeting I drove past the paddock Ciaron was planning to move. The horses there were definitely the ones who were due first. I waited for Ciaron to get back to the office and then made my way to him. He looked up from his desk when I came in.

I sat before I said anything. I didn’t want him to feel like I was standing over the top of him. “That paddock of horses we’re moving. They’re due first. Should we keep them closer to the foaling unit?”

Ciaron shook his head. “They haven’t had fresh grass for a while. This will be their last chance.”

“Is it worth the risk?” I pressed.

“None of them have started to show signs. And at least four of them don’t usually birth early or on time.” His answer came quick. It was obvious he’d thought about it in depth because he’d checked and done his research.

“OK. That makes sense.”

“Thank you for waiting until I came back before asking about my reasoning.”

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