"Mmmm…" Samantha Forster said as she entered the whitewashed ranch house the scents of fried chicken green beans and mashed potatoes filling her nostrils.

"Wash up and sit down dear we were waiting for you" said her grandmother. Her father looked at her as she sat down and began shoveling food into her mouth.

"Are you ever going to wean that filly or are you gonna' let her suckle for the rest of her life?" Dad asked. Sam had swallowed hard, the fried chicken and mashed potatoes she had just swallowed seemed to lump in her throat,

"Your dad's right Sam" said her stepmother Brynna who was trying desperately to feed Sam's half sister Alyssa some of the mashed potatoes.

"You should get a move on or it will be more difficult than it already will be" Brynna sighed and gave up as Alyssa screeched and splattered mashed potatoes all over Brynna's blouse.

"Well I..." Sam began she looked at her father then Brynna and Gram. All were staring at her. "Actually I plan on doing just that tomorrow afternoon." Dad looked surprised "Oh really, and when were you planning to tell us?" Sam spooned more green beans onto her plate. "Tomorrow morning" Sam had been planning no such thing and she could see Dad and Brynna were not fooled.

"Well then," said Brynna "You should be getting to bed if you plan to spend the night with Tempest."

"But I..." Sam stopped. If she angered Dad, Brynna or Gram now she could just forget about having one of her best friends from San Francisco, Kelly Baldwin, out to the ranch. Kelly loved horses as much as Sam did and Sam knew that Kelly and her best friend Jennifer Kenworthy, of Gold Dust Ranch, would get along fabulously. Both girls wanted to be vets and could get very technical when explaining animal husbandry to Sam.

"Okay" said Sam as she got up from the table with her dishes. "I'll get some sleep and tomorrow I'll work with Tempest and wean her." Dad raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak but Brynna nudged him and sent him a look that said 'Leave it alone! She's doing what we told her to!' Dad shrugged instead and said "Goodnight dream your plans for tomorrow cause' I don't have any!" Brynna glared at him and said "Goodnight Sam. I'll be right up to tuck Alyssa in." Gram smiled and gave Sam a peck on the cheek

"Sweet dreams dear." Sam hurried up into her room quickly changed and flung herself down the hall towards the bathroom readied herself for bed and sprinted back into her room landing a perfect dive right between the sheets as soon as Brynna opened the door.

"Hey Sam," Brynna said holding Alyssa. "I need to talk to you about a mustang up at Willow Springs." Willow Springs was the local BLM holding facility for wild horses and burros where Brynna worked as supervisor. Sam's interest was instantly hooked.

"What about it?" she asked. Brynna smiled knowingly. She like her stepdaughter was crazy for the wild horses around the ranch and nearby Calico Mountains.

"Well Sam a very young, about 10 week old, filly was rescued from bramble bushes about a week ago." Sam nodded "But isn't that normal for young foals to be curious?" she asked.

"Well yes" Brynna admitted "But a week later a rancher found her with her hoof stuck between two rocks in the riverbed" Sam could see how that would be dangerous if a flood came or a sudden storm.

"So we pulled her out and sent her back to her herd." Brynna continued "But lately she has been getting into worse and worse trouble, and yesterday we brought her in with two other foals. All three were stuck in quicksand." Sam shivered remembering the time when she had rescued her orphan calf Buddy from the gritty ooze.

"All three are in a holding pen down at Willow Springs and your Dad said it would be Okay if I brought them down here." Wait a minute Sam thought Dad is letting Brynna bring three hard luck foals down to River Bend sight unseen!

"How did you talk him into that?" Sam asked.

"Well really I said that they were going to be part of the HARP program and my executives agree as does HARP." Oh okay that makes more sense. Sam thought,

"When do they arrive?" Sam asked

"Tomorrow morning" Brynna replied.

A/N: Hope everyone likes the changes I've made. Nothing big just the spacing and stuff.