“They fly to and away, to and away, then chatter at each other and do it again. I asked Connor why the hawks don’t go after them, and he said they have an arrangement. I like that.”
They moved into single file when the path narrowed, and wound by the river where the water thrashed under a broken rope bridge.
“Will they ever fix that?” she wondered.
“I’m doubting it, as people would be foolish enough to walk on it, and end up falling in. You’d be one of them.”
“Who says I’d fall in? And if I did, I’m a strong swimmer.” Because she enjoyed flirting, she sent him a long, under-the-lashes look. “Are you?”
“I live on an isthmus on an island. I’d be a bleeding git not to swim and well.”
“We’ll have to take a dip sometime.” She glanced back again, and remembered her first sight of him, and how striking, how compelling he’d looked—the big, tough man on the big, tough horse.
But she realized he only looked more striking now, seated on the mare he’d brought back to health, his hands light on the reins, her eyes glowing with pride.
“She’s not nervous anymore.”
“I know it. She’s doing fine and well.” He moved up beside Iona as the path allowed.
“I talked to my grandmother last night,” she began. “I couldn’t settle for email anymore, just wanted to hear her voice. She sends you her best.”
“And mine goes back to her.”
“She’s planning to come for a few weeks either this summer or fall. I want her to, but at the same time . . .”
“You worry if we’ve still battles to fight. You want her safe.”
“She’s everything to me. I thought when . . . I talk too much.”
“No doubt of it, but you might as well speak your mind.”
“I was just going to say how Sarah’s mother’s always there for her lessons and her father’s come by twice to watch her. My mother would just drop me off, or more often I’d catch a ride to and from with one of the other students. My father never came. Never once. Rarely to a competition either. But Nan did, whenever she could. She’d drive to wherever they were, whenever she could. Sometimes she’d just be there, and I wouldn’t know she’d planned to come. She paid for the lessons, and the entry fees. I didn’t know that until I was staying with her once, and heard a message on her machine about renewing the contract with the stables.”
“She gave you what you loved.”
“I want her to be proud of me. I guess it’s a lot like Darling. I want to do well, so she can see she didn’t waste the time and effort.”
“Then you’re foolish as well.”
“I know
. Can’t seem to help it.”
She looked out over the lake, away to the elegant rise of the castle, its gardens still caught in the last of winter’s bite. People strolled around, here to see and do and experience from wherever they’d traveled.
She understood it was like the photo of Sarah, a moment she wanted to have. So as they walked the horses along the water, she let everything else go, and took a page from Boyle’s book.
She embraced the silence.
“We should start back,” he said at length. “I don’t want to overwork her.”
“No, and Branna will be expecting me for my lesson.”
“Going well enough then?”
“Yes. Branna might have some quibbles, but I think it’s going just . . . grand.”
She glanced to him with a grin, saw him looking past her with a frown. “What’s wrong?”