Page 33 of A Steadfast Heart
The girls drifted to the corral, Tillie sticking to Jo’s side. Jo didn’t come near enough for Kaitlyn to converse with her. She ignored Kaitlyn completely, but at least she wasn’t aggravating her sister.
Nick and Ed appeared from behind the barn, both leading horses. When they saw the crew watching the corral, they changed course and came to stand near Kaitlyn.
David and Drew stepped up to the colt. Drew held the bridle as David ran his hands along the horse’s flanks and pulled on the stirrups just like his father had.
Finally, David put a foot into the stirrup and pulled himself up to stand in it. The colt stood completely steady, even after David lowered back to the ground.
“Remember the first time Drew broke a horse?” Ed wiped his hands on his pants legs. “David looks just like him.”
Kaitlyn’s heart was pounding hard enough for her to feel the pulse in her neck. She hadn’t realized how small David would look on the horse’s back. Slender like a reed.
“How old was he?” she asked Ed.
He shook his head, not understanding the question.
“Drew. The first time he rode,” she clarified.
“Probably a little younger than David,” Nick said.
David raised himself into the stirrup again, paused to read the horse’s body language, then glanced at his pa. Drew nodded, and David swung a leg over the colt, sat straight in the saddle.
Ed’s gaze flicked her way. “He didn’t break anything when he got thrown.”
She must’ve made a small gasp, because Drew turned his head briefly. He’d retreated several feet in their direction, letting David take the colt.
“You two quit telling tales. I didn’t get bucked off that first time.”
Nick guffawed. “Not that time. But remember when he was about fifteen and he got bucked off that black mare we had? Right into a sticker patch? He was dancin’ around, waving at his?—”
“Knock it off,” Drew drawled. He wouldn’t have seemed perturbed by his brothers’ antics except for the fact that his ears were turning pink underneath his hat.
Tillie cheered for David as he had the horse take a few tentative steps forward. Jo almost cracked a smile.
“I can picture you at fifteen,” she said to Drew’s back. “Full of responsibility. Probably running the whole ranch.”
Ed snorted, trying to hide the sound by looking down.
Drew shot him a quick glare.
Nick grinned widely as he said, “Drew wasn’t so responsible when he was David’s age.”
“He spent more hours in the barn than anywhere else,” Ed said.
“Skipped going to the neighbor’s for schooling a coupla times.”
Drew glared at Nick again. “It was one time. And Pa’s mare was foaling.”
“Ma would be looking for him because he hadn’t done his chores, and he’d be out riding,” Ed said.
Drew’s gaze cut to Kaitlyn and then back to David, who was making slow progress around the corral. Drew’s gaze never left his son for long. His posture eased a fraction as Phantom followed David’s commands.
Decades of affection laced the brothers’ teasing. She’d seen it at work these past weeks. Ed and Nick would do anything for Drew. And vice versa.
Something twinged deep inside her. This was family.
Something she’d longed for, for longer than she cared to admit.
She wanted to be a part of it. Be the one they were teasing, have years of stories to tell.
