Chapter Twenty One

Georgie grabbed her bag off the bed and hurried downstairs, it was a PA day and she got to ride all day, voices in the kitchen made her pause. Amy and Lou were talking, or maybe arguing; things had been tense between them for a couple days now. More so since Jack was at Fairfield most of the time.

While she wasn't sure that was a bad thing it seemed to confuse her mom; but it annoyed Amy. "Lou I really need to get some work done."

"I'm sorry Amy, I am trying to get some work done before I take Katie to ballet; I arranged a private class for her before Lisa backed out." She heard the annoyance in her mom's voice. "Katie's heart is set on it and who knows if she is going to get another chance."

"Lou she's got a chance now, maybe you should just give Lisa a minute to breathe and appreciate today." Amy's voice was different, there was irritation in it and Georgie stayed where she was. "You don't get it, you can't."

"And you can?"

"Not in the same way, Lou I can't imagine what she's thinking but I know what its like to wake up in the hospital and not know how you got there. When I was blind, I was scared but being able to see again didn't fix everything, it didn't make everything right." It wasn't annoyance or anger now and Georgie swallowed hard; she didn't think about what had happened to Amy very often. "I needed time, and I took it, Lou no one tried to force me right back into it. Does it even occur to you that Lisa might just need time? Maybe her doctor wants it, or maybe she does."

There was a long moment of silence and Georgie tucked her own chin down. Finally, she heard her mother's voice. "Where are you going?"

"To call Lisa." Amy's voice faded, and she heard the door slam.

Georgie waited a few moments and slipped down, quietly passing her mother at the table and headed for the truck. She had a feeling Amy had given them both something to think about. Her instructions were scrawled on the whiteboard, Lisa's scrawling hand writing had ordered her tasks, but she suspected it was Mike who had drawn an arrow to move Diamond up the list.

She worked for awhile, it was relaxing to ride, tacking the horses and brushing them after. It gave her time to think, at lunch she went up to eat with everybody and as they went back to work, she paused, crossing to Lisa's office.

The door was open, and Lisa worked at her laptop with a playpen by the desk. Georgie glanced at Lisa before easing over to the playpen, Lyndy was awake, playing happily with a little stuffed rabbit toy; she seemed to like to chew on it. Upon seeing her Lyndy dropped the toy and pulled herself up; reaching to her.

Lifting the toddler onto her hip she rocked her, someone was fighting her nap. It was a good thing that Amy had brought Lyndy over, her little cousin was content here and loved Lisa; maybe babysitting would remind her how much she missed home.

One wall seemed to contrast the rest of the office, the photos were arranged in various frames; some were in color. Most were winner circle photos and she realized that Lisa was in almost none of them.

As she looked closer Lyndy reached out for one and Georgie barely stopped her knocking it off; wincing as she glanced at Lisa. Taking a safe step back as Lisa rose, rounding the desk; lightly touching Lyndy's back. "It's okay, I loved these photos as a child."

"Are these of your dad?" Georgie asked, she didn't know a lot about Lisa's family.

"Some, and my grandpa. My family started Fairfield with one horse, my dad was the one who got us started breeding; his dream was to expand it. But he never got the chance, he would have been proud to see his goal realized." Lisa pointed out one of the black and white photos as she spoke of her grandpa and another when it was her dad.

Georgie looked closely at one little photo and noticed two little girls standing next to one of the men. Maybe it was Lisa and her sister when they were kids. "Is that you?"

"Ah, yes. That was taken out here, in front of the old barn. The horse, Fairfield Fury was the first in our studbook, Dad bought him as a colt; he had great bloodlines and was incredible on the track." Lisa smiled, taking Lyndy's hand as she reached for her.

"Wow." Georgie looked at the different pictures for another moment before handing her cousin to Lisa.

The little girl fit easily onto her hip and Georgie paused before returning to work. Fairfield horses raced all over the world, there had been a buzz around the barn as a young stud sold this week. Nobody knew exactly how much the deal had been for, but Georgie knew it was not something they talked about at home. Lisa negotiated big deals and then sat at the kitchen table with Jack or balanced Lyndy on her hip doing housework.

It was business, just like her parents' work, only with high performance horses. This was her livelihood, it was different then what Amy did, but it still mattered. The horses might be worth thousands, raised and trained to champions; but they were treated well and Lisa cared. As she tacked up Diamond, a horse some owners might not have bothered to retrain, Georgie agreed with her, she had stuck to Lisa's schedule; Mike had set up the arena while he waited.

…

Keeping Lyndy on her hip Lisa went down to watch Georgie and Diamond; there was a competition coming up; it was a speed trial. Similar to jumps races, or at least as close as she was going to get locally, she already knew distance wasn't an issue for Diamond. It would be handling the jumps, getting the right pace between them; and responding to her rider.

Mike had trot poles on one side and two low cross rails on the other wall; about eight strides apart. An easy set up as Diamond learned some discipline. But it was good for Georgie, she wanted to jockey and she was handling a racehorse; one who was closer to the track than any she had worked so far. The mare was giving Georgie a challenge, charging the trot poles and leaping over the low cross rails; tossing her head as Georgie held her back.

Lisa frowned as Diamond cleared the low cross rail high again, she motioned Mike over. "Change it up, close up the rails; add a couple."

"I could raise them a bit."

She shook her head, not yet, Diamond was jumping enough without giving her reason to jump higher. Already Georgie was being knocked forward on her neck, Lisa didn't want to see the teen dumped off. While Georgie circled the mare, Mike moved the jumps before motioning her to go. Diamond took every bit of rein Georgie gave, it wasn't a smooth run but slowing the pace of her schooling wasn't going to help.

"That horse is bored." Lisa turned, Amy stood a few feet behind her watching the pair. "How many times has she done that exercise?"

"That's only her second round today." Lisa murmured, watching Amy tilt her head.

"May I?"

She nodded and watched as Amy shifted the training session, closing the jumps even more and moving two onto the diagonal, and a few trot poles onto the other. Then spoke to Georgie, whatever she told the teen seemed to help, Diamond was still pushing her pace but was giving her rider a little more control.

Lisa roamed away, she liked to watch training sessions to get an idea where a horse was and how the team responded to each other. Perhaps she tended to watch over Georgie a little more, but she did worry that she made the teenager uneasy when things weren't going well; which didn't help when Diamond was being difficult.

She set Lyndy back in her playpen and turned back to her current project, she had been getting a lot done the past few days. Work was easy, right now that was what she was sure of, and it gave her somewhere to relax a little.

"Hi." Amy knocked lightly as she stepped in. "Thank you for watching her today; I really appreciate it."

"Amy, it's not problem. I am staying at Fairfield for a little while, but that doesn't mean I won't watch her." Lisa eased back in her chair as the young woman scooped up her daughter. "You can call any time."

Amy shifted Lyndy, trying to balance. Lisa rose and nudged her aside, the playpen could be a nightmare to move even without a child in arms. Folding it up and stuffing it into the carrying bag as Amy bundled the toddler into her coat.

"Lisa, it is important to me that Lyndy know who my mom, and her great grandma were; they shaped who I am. But they will only ever be people she hears about." Lisa swallowed hard, a shiver going up her spine as she cautioned herself to listen. Amy didn't confide in her often and but she'd had more than enough this week.

Amy continued. "My grandma taught me so many things, and there are others she tried to teach me; when she could catch me long enough. I want that for Lyndy, someone to teach her things I can't, who will give her another opinion and be safe for her to vent, and to keep her secrets. Mom and Grandma would be happy to know Grandpa isn't alone, and that we still have someone to go to; someone who steps up for us. I am really glad that Lyndy has that too. She will know about the women she is named for but I'm glad she has someone here to hold her close and anchor her when she needs more than her mom; because I did, and I loved it."

Her throat closed. Lisa didn't have words, it came out of left field, but it felt so good to hear Amy say that. She only wrapped an arm around the young woman and pulled her close, Lyndy babbled happily at being held between them.

She saw them off agreeing to keep Lyndy again the day after tomorrow, and headed up to the house, work was done for the evening and for the first time in several days she felt somewhat centered. Not everything was falling apart, or at the very least a few things were settling back into place.

There were plenty of days when she cherished the quiet moments she got with her husband when the house was hectic, between kids and activities; but this place was too quiet. It had been nice to babysit today, Lyndy was a happy, cuddly little girl who made her smile. But her house wasn't quite as quiet now.

Jack would be here soon, Lisa couldn't deny that it was comforting to have him close. She set about making them something for supper, her husband came in and went to change. He was moving stiffly, and she suspected he had been out in the cold all day; probably in the saddle.

When she glanced up, she found her husband watching her. "What?"

"Nothing, it's good to see you smile." Jack shook his head and approached her, Lisa relaxed as his hand slid along her hip; pressing a kiss to her cheek. "That smells good."