Page 70 of When It Reins
I watch her, still holding the horse’s neck, and say, “I don’t think that’s even possible.”
“I can’t believe it, though! Who doesn’t know what gender horse they’re riding?”
I smirk as I untack the horses, making sure they have everything they need to get through the night. We all packed what we needed for them in our packs and found a nice camping spot near the river that runs through the ranch, so the horses could drink from it. I take them one by one to the creek for a drink, and Juniper rants about her misgendering of her horse to Thea, who is laughing at her little sister.
Everyone is pitching in to help set up our campsite. CT, Stetson, and Jax are pitching tents while Logan, Bonnie, Dani, and Felicity are getting the campfire and dinner ready. Thea and Juniper are helping me with the horses because they volunteered to do so.
Seems the Weaver sisters are discovering a new side of themselves.
I watch Juniper and Thea talking a few feet away, the horse I rode all day getting a much-needed drink beside me. The sun is nearly gone, and the light is shit, and somehow Juniper still glows. She is laughing and chatting, using her hands to explain something and making Thea laugh.
It’s then that I know what she is doing.
Before we left, Thea was stressed about leaving their son for her first overnight trip. It had made her emotional, and as we mounted up this morning, she was crying as she did so. Enough that Logan offered to stay behind if she wasn’t ready.
Colter, their son, is safe and sound with his big half sister, his grandma, and his little cousin. But I understand how tough it might be to leave your kid for the first time.
So, now watching the sisters’ interactions, it all makes sense why Juniper was doing what she was. She is distracting her.
I shake my head, amazed once again at the woman I love.
After the horses are taken care of and the food is ready, we all sit around the bonfire, enjoying the quiet night. The cattle are safe in their pasture, so we don’t have to keep a night watch on them and can just enjoy the night.
We pass around food, and the group chats like we’ve all done this a hundred times. No one who saw this group would believe this had never happened. That in the last few years, us brothers and our cousin, Dani, have only just found our ways into settling down.
The thought crosses my mind in a quick blur, and I snatch it, holding it in my hands.Settling down.
I look over at Juniper, who throws her head back and laughs at something one of my brothers says. The firelight gives her a glow as she laughs, and I feel my heart thud in my chest.
Settling down with her would be a breeze for me. I realize it’s as true as the flames of that fire in front of me are hot. There would be no fear or doubt if she asked me to take that next step, if she wanted to make that commitment with me.
I don’t deserve it, or her, but I would take it, hold it in my hand, and bury her love in my chest if I could.
She leans against me, and I move my arm around her, holding her close. I smell the scent of her and lean over, pressingmy mouth to the top of her head and kissing her there. I feel her take a deep breath and relax further into me.
“Stets, you need a sippy cup, buddy?” Logan’s teasing words snap my attention up, and I smirk when I see my youngest brother wiping the beer off of his chin.
Dani laughs and says, “You guys remember when beer shot out of his nose?”
Laughter spills through the group as the memory hits us, and Bonnie gasps. “No! When did that happen?”
“When the dummy was fifteen,” I reply, remembering my little brother trying beer for the first time.
“I didn’t expect her to walk in right after I took the sip!” Stetson defends himself, wisely setting his beer on the ground.
“Okay, wait. There’s a story here, and I want to know it,” Thea declares, grinning and looking much more relaxed leaning against my brother than she had earlier.
“Okay, well, when little Stetsy?—”
“Don’t fucking call me that,” he snaps at Jax.
“Was fifteen, he begged Logan to let him try his beer.” Jax snickers and shakes his head. “Logan was only twenty, but we were all home without Mom.”
“Lue was a baby?” Thea asks Logan, who nods his head in confirmation.
“Just barely one,” he replies, smirking at Stetson. “I had a beer every now and then, and Stetson wasn’t old enough to go off to the bonfires yet.”
I lean closer to Juniper. “We used to have these bonfires when we were teens. The parents knew about them, but some parents had a set age where they allowed it.”
