Page 101 of A Beach House Beginning

He bought Hope a horse? Her own Miracle? Christa stood beside Hope’s chair, trying her best to comprehend why he would do such a thing.

He had looked at dozens of horses, Hank said, until he’d found the perfect one. The idea of Jace taking such care and energy for her daughter—a girl she had ordered him to stay away from—sent her reeling, her emotions a wild, jumbled, choking mess inside her.

Oh, heavens. She loved him.

This was no crush, no mere physical attraction.

She was in love with Jace McCandless. And he was going to break her heart.

The rest of the therapy session passed in a blur. She was barely aware of her surroundings, only of the exuberant joy on Hope’s features as she rode around the arena on her own horse.

Christa was still in a daze when Hank joined her at the railing.

“She’s a real beauty, isn’t she?”

She gave him a sidelong look. “The horse or my baby girl?”

Hank guffawed. “Take your pick. They’re both winners in my book.”

She managed a smile, but it faded quickly. “We can’t possibly accept such a gift, Hank. Surely you understand that.”

He held up his hands. “You’re gonna have to take that up with McCandless. I’m just the middleman. I should tell you, though, he figured you’d say that and he told me to tell you the gift is nonnegotiable and nonreturnable. He suggested you leave her here and board her at our place while Hope still needs the horse therapy—that way your girl will have a warm, secure place to ride all year long until she’s ready to take off on her own. He figured it would be safer that way, for a few more months, anyway.”

Christa closed her eyes, overwhelmed all over again.

“And don’t you worry about the cost of boarding her or the cost of Hope’s therapy. You’ve got enough on your plate. That’s all been taken care of.”

Jace again. She knew he must have worked things out with Hank. She had ordered him out of their lives, but somehow he had still managed to find a way to have a lasting impact.

She wanted to sit right there in the hay and heaven knows what else and just sob.

“How can I accept such a gift?”

Hank patted her hand, and the compassion in his eyes brought those tears ever closer to the surface. “It’s not for you, is it? It’s for Hope.”

That seemed to say everything. Yes, his gift had been for Hope. But she remembered that last searing kiss, the tenderness in it she hadn’t dared let herself believe, and she knew some part of his gift had been forher, as well.

“He’s a good man, isn’t he?” she murmured, unable to take her eyes from Hope.

Hank was quiet for a moment. “Yeah,” he finally said. “His heart’s always been in the right place. I think he just lost sight of that for a while. But you and Hope helped him find it again.”

He walked away, and she spent the rest of the hour trying to make sense of that. When Hope and Milagra approached the mounting block at the end of the session, Christa hurried to join them.

“I love her, Mom,” Hope gushed after she was helped off but before she transferred to her wheelchair. “She’s beautiful. The best horse ever!”

To her surprise, Hope threw her arms around her mother and hugged her tight, and Christa returned the embrace, a lump in her throat.

She couldn’t help remembering those tension-filled days before Hope’s injury, when they seemed to fight about everything—much as Christa had done with her own mother when she had been Hope’s age.

She could never look at the accident and its horrific consequences with anything resembling gratitude, but she had to admit many blessings had come into their lives they would have otherwise missed.

Her relationship with Hope had been forever changed. There was a bond between them that would never have been forged without the trials of the last five months.

She could say the same for her relationship with Ellen. Living in her mother’s home as an adult had its challenges, but they were vastly outweighed by all they had gained. She had truly come to know her mother and had discovered a hundred things to admire in her—things she had always been too busy and too distracted to notice before.

Hope’s accident had taught Christa just how intertwined her life was with so many others. Caregivers, therapists, medical professionals, wonderful neighbors, strangers who had reached out to them.

People like Jace, who had entered their lives completely by chance and had left them forever changed.

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