Friday afternoon when Jack picked Bobby up from school, the trailer was hitched to the back of his truck.
Standing by the schoolyard fence with his classmates, Bobby smiled a bit smugly. "Told y'all I was getting a horse."
Amy rolled her eyes and carefully removed her cherry lollipop from her mouth. "Yer gettin' it from my daddy."
A little blond boy gave her a dismissive look. "It don't matter where he's gettin' it from, he's gettin' a horse."
Amy crossed her arms, lollipop irritatedly back in her mouth, and grumbled something about how she had lots of horses.
Bobby stuck out his tongue and ran over to his father's truck just as Robin pulled up in her purple International Harvester Scout.
At Micheal's stables, Zeke, the mostly competent teenaged ranchhand, gave Jack a dead serious. "That horse keeps trying to kill me, I'm tellin' you."
"He probably just don't like you."
Jack paid Micheal while Ennis, accompanied by Zeke, led/wrestled/bribed the Friesian stallion up into the trailer. When the gate rattled shut, Bobby, who had been watching from the bed of the truck clapped. Ennis smiled and nodded at Bobby.
Robin's two sons, twins Tsali and Will, got home from middle school, laughing, smiling with a friendly warmth at Jack, Ennis, and Bobby, and patting the Friesian through the bars of the trailer.
Bobby elected to ride home with Ennis, bouncing excitedly in his seat as they followed Jack with the trailer.
Once they had gotten back to the ranch, Jack led the now-slightly-more-cooperative horse to the stable he'd spent the previous day making usable. After some settling the stallion was perfectly happy to stand there eating, ignoring the rest of the world, so the two men and Bobby went in to have dinner. Bobby took a big bite of his grilled cheese and bacon sandwich. "Our horse needs a name."
Einnis's chewing slowed thoughtfully. "Yeah, he does."
There was a beat of silence. Jack shrugged. "How 'bout one of our middle names?"
Bobby shook his head. "Jonathan is not a horse name."
"What about my middle name, Carter?"
Bobby just shook his head more.
"Well, alright then. Ennis?"
"Don't got one."
Jack gave him a questioning look. "Really?"
Ennis shrugged. Another short silence passed and Ennis took a sip of his beer. "How about Nero?"
Jack looked slightly confused. "The Roman guy?"
Bobby looked quite confused. "Who?"
Ennis half shrugged. "Yeah, he was emperor or king or somethin' a most of Europe a real long time ago. Anyway, his name means black."
"Well, I like that." Jack looked to Bobby for approval.
Bobby grinned and nodded. "Our horse is Nero!"
Jack smiled and ruffled his son's hair.
A while later, after dinner, Jack carried a dozing Bobby upstairs and tucked him into bed then came back down to fall into bed himself. Ennis came to bed shortly afterward, his hair damp from showering. He grumbled something irritably about Jack having been right and it was getting cold again.
Jack wrapped one arm across Ennis's chest and nuzzled his face into the other man's soft blond curls. "I'm glad for cold weather." He kissed Ennis's neck. "If it weren't for cold weather, your damn pride never woulda let you sleep with me."
Ennis made a half irritated sound. "Shut up."
Jack chuckled. "Oh, c'mon, cowboy. You know I'm kiddin' you. I ain't wrong, but I ain't real serious."
Ennis snorted. He knew Jack was right, but he didn't feel like admitting it. Actually, he just didn't want to talk about the more intimate parts of their secret at all. Jack's hand was resting on Ennis's shoulder, Ennis laced their calloused fingers. "Just go to sleep, darlin'."
The next morning after breakfast, Ennis saddled Nero and rode the stallion around the fenced field nearest the house. Jack leaned against the fence with Bobby, watching. After a while, he called to Ennis, "Get off, let me have a go."
Ennis rode up by the fence and dismounted. Jack hopped over the fence, swung himself up into the saddle, and proceeded to thoroughly show off. Bobby cheered while Ennis shook his head and laughed. No one was ever going to get the rodeo out of Jack.
Later, the two men cut up a couple of the downed trees Jack had found, piled the wood near the house, and propped a crude, hand-painted sign at the road end of the driveway. As they got into Ennis's truck to head back to the house, Jack said, "You're right, it's a real good horse."
"I know."
Jack smacked his shoulder.
A/N: I'm finding myself disinclined to refer to Jack and Ennis as "lovers" but at the same time that seems to be the most fitting description. I don't know, what do guys think? Drop a review and let me know.
And of course, any other comments or questions are more than welcome.
