Chapter 36 of "Breaking Through"
A/N: Right after 35. ((Disclaimer: none of them are mine except Bret and his family...I made them up myself.)) ********* Chapter 36 *********
~~Nigel~~ As I calmed down, I sank my head into my hands and sighed deeply. My breath was coming shakily and ragged, and the pain of the slashes I'd made in my arm was getting to where I could feel them throbbing in anger as blood coursed through my veins. I had a headache from yelling, my voice was raw, and I had a terrible feeling of guilt in the pit of my stomach as I realized what I had screamed at Jordan.
~~Bret~~ I walked up the beaten dirt path to the barn, and slowly looked around as I did so. When I didn't see Nigel anywhere, I figured he was either in the barn or around back. As I walked to the back, I stopped when I saw a pack of cigarettes lying on the ground, a lighter a few feet from them. I picked them up and continued walking. I rounded the corner of the barn and stopped when I saw Nigel, head bowed. He looked like hell, just from what I could see.
Standing in silence, I just stared at him for a few moments before clearing my throat to get his attention.
~~Nigel~~ Turning my head, it took me a minute to realize just who was standing there. I didn't bother standing - didn't really need to, he came to me - but I merely looked him in the eyes and nodded. Bret sat on the ground next to me and stared straight ahead before handing me the pack of cigarettes and the lighter. I took them from him and set them on the ground as I looked at him. "Hey."
"Hey." Bret smiled weakly at me. "You alright?" He reached over and placed his hand on my knee.
"No. I'm not." I leaned my head against the wall of the barn and shut my eyes. "I just screwed myself over."
"She understands..."
"She what?" I looked over at him. "How would you..."
"I met her when she was coming down the hill to the house. She told me that she made you mad and you two fought...she doesn't know what she did though." He glanced at me. "What'd she do?"
"Nothing really..." I racked my brain back through my outburst to figure out what she had done. And then I shivered and winced. "Wait...she touched it." I nodded. "She yelled my name to get my attention and touched it." Grabbing at the pack of cigarettes, I pulled one out and lit it, drawing it to my lips and inhaling. I held my breath for a minute before blowing a stream of smoke into the air. "That's all it took."
"Does she know?" Bret took the lighter from my hand, pulled his own pack of smokes out, and lit it.
"Yeah...she knows about what happened but she doesn't know not to touch it." I took another drag off the cigarette. "Don't know why it bugged me though...dozens of people have touched it and it hasn't set me off like it used to..."
He thought for a moment. "Maybe it was because she yelled your name."
"Probably." I finished the cigarette and threw the remnants on the ground.
"Nigel...listen...I know that you're mad at her but she's honestly scared that she hurt you." Bret looked over at me. "You have to tell her."
I shook my head. "Not yet. It's...not the right time yet." I looked over at him, and a slight smiled played at my lips. "Have you been riding lately, Mr. Williamson?"
He grinned. "Why...no I haven't...I don't keep horses at my property right now..." Bret stood and helped me stand up as he finished his cigarette. "Mr. Townsend?"
I laughed at him. "It's DOCTOR Townsend to you, mate." We headed inside the barn and grabbed the tack for the horses off the wall.
"English or Western?" Bret looked at both saddles. "Loser's choice."
Raising an eyebrow, I grabbed a western saddle off the wall. "I've always ridden western Bret...you should know that...and I'm not a loser." Walking to the what I had chosen earlier as the horse that I would ride if Jordan and I went out, I nodded. "I want this one."
"Fine by me." Bret grabbed the other Western saddle off the wall. "You know...if we get caught racing..." he winked at me mischievously.
"What can she do? We're grown men." I threw my saddle onto the horse's back and smiled. "Let her try and give us a switching."
"Right." Bret saddled up his horse, then placed the bridle and reins on. "So same rules as always?"
I slipped the bridle and reins onto my horse and nodded. "Down from the far end of the pasture, then turn and come back up the road. First one past the mailbox wins." I laughed and tied my horse to the rail as I went to open the main door to the barn. I pushed the door upwards and coughed as a flurry of dust rained down on me. Glancing down at the house, I noticed that the curtains into the kitchen were open and I could see everyone gathered around the table. "Hey...Bret-"
"Yeah?" He had his horse by the reins and had mine in his other hand. He walked both of them to the main door of the barn and looked where I was looking. As we stood there looking down at the house, I saw Jordan turn and look out the window at us before turning back to the group at the table.
"I think we've got a problem..." I grinned and took the reins from him.
~~Jordan~~ I glanced up at the table and saw Nigel and Bret standing at the main door to the barn, Bret holding two horses. Smiling, I turned to Janice and motioned to the boys. "Are they supposed to be doing that?" I winked at her.
She turned and saw Bret hand Nigel a pair of reins. Standing, she shook her head. "If those boys even try to pull that stunt one more time..." Wiping her hands on her apron, she walked towards the back door. Carolyn and I followed, the children staying on the couch and watching TV.
We walked out the back door and into the warm midday sun and I had to stop from laughing at the way Janice was glaring at them.
~~Nigel~~ Ignoring the glare from our aunt, I held Bret's horse still as he climbed up onto him, him then in turn doing the same for me. I looked over at Bret and smiled. "I think we need to run the big one if they're all watching...what do you think?" I led the horse out into the sun and turned for the far end of the pasture.
"I concur." Bret followed me, as we had the horses go slowly to avoid being found out too quickly, even though we knew that she knew what we were planning. We were farther away from the house when we sent them into a slow trot to warm up their legs.
"Boys!!!" Janice yelled after us. "Don't you even!!!"
Wagging my eyebrows at Bret, I motioned with my head. "There right?" I was nodding towards a large boulder, which we would always officially start our races at. Trot past that, turn around, trot up to it, and once you were past it was full out from there.
"Yeah. And head for the far side of the pasture, turn, head for the road, then turn at the road and go for the mailbox." He smiled at me. "She's going to kill us."
We both turned around and faced the boulder, pulling our horses to a stop. "I know. But why live if you don't live dangerously?" I winked at him and then nudged my horse into a trot.
He caught up to me and we both eyed each other and then the boulder which was slowly approaching.
~~Jordan~~ I laughed out loud and covered my face as Janice huffed in anger.
"Those boy's don't realize that racing those horses is dangerous...especially on the road." She looked at me and shook her head.
"It looks like they're racing through the field." I saw no indication of them racing on the road.
"Believe me, love, they'll get there." She turned and watched as they neared the boulder. "Oh well..."
~~Nigel~~ As soon as my horse's nose had passed the stone marker, I kicked him in the ribs and sent him into a gallop, throwing a glance to my side where Bret was keeping an even pace with me. It took a few seconds to get up to top speed, but soon we were thundering through the soft dirt and sending clumps of mud flying behind us. As we neared the first turn, I realized that I was on the outside of the turn and Bret could make up time by cutting me off.
Jerking the reins to the right and nudging the horse to go faster, I swerved in front of him and took the inside as he had to catch up on the outside. Laughing as I heard him curse at me in Gaelic, I didn't even look back as I forced the horse into the turn. The horse nearly lost his footing in the soft earth, but he merely double stepped and went wide in the turn. As Bret blazed past me, I growled and lowered my head closer to the horses neck as we headed for the road and the more important turn.
~~Jordan~~ I gasped when Nigel's horse almost fell, and I heard Janice mutter a prayer when he didn't. I felt her hand on my arm and she motioned for us to walk around the to the front of the house.
"Come...we don't want to miss the finish now do we?" We walked around the house and stood on the porch, directly even with the mailbox.
I looked down the road and saw the horses flying down the hill, about to make the turn on the road. My eyes caught the outline of a fence in their path and I gasped. "The fence!"
Janice turned and looked. "Bloody Hell. The city put that in a few years ago...neither of them know about it..." She turned her attention to the horses. "And they'll be too stupid to notice."
~~Nigel~~ As I caught up to Bret slowly, I noticed that same fence that Jordan was currently noticing a half mile down the road. "Bret!" I called out. "The fence!"
Bret turned back to look at me but then whipped his head forwards. There was no way he could stop in time, so there was only one option. "Go over it!"
I swallowed hard and leaned into the form that Bret had tried to teach me on countless occasions. I'd never actually jumped a rail before and managed to hold onto the horse. I was following behind him and I knew that if I tried to slow down that the horse wouldn't be able to do it, so I nudged him in the ribs and tried to pick up the pace.
~~Jordan~~ I looked at them as they continued to ride at the fence. "They're not going to stop are they."
Janice shook her head. "Bret knows how to jump rails and fences." She looked over at me. "Nigel doesn't ride in Boston does he?"
"Not that I've ever known." Stepping back to be next to her I kept my eyes on them while speaking. "Nigel...does he know how to jump?"
"No. He never could learn. Bret was teaching him all the time...Nigel would come back in the house all beat up and bruised. He couldn't land the jump." She looked at the boys. "I hope he learns quick."
~~Bret~~ As I rapidly approached the fence, I made sure that the horse saw it and knew how high it was. I raised myself up and took a breath, praying that the horse wouldn't falter and throw me. When I cleared the fence, the horse hit the soft dirt of the road and nearly fell in the mud before I turned him and got out of the way for Nigel. "Please...let him hang on..." I watched as Nigel's horse took a soaring leap and headed for the ground, I noticed that Nigel's form was still as horrible as it always had been , so I slowed and got ready to pick him up off the ground.
~~Nigel~~ As the hooves hit the slick mud, I felt my body lurch forwards, but I dug my heels into the stirrups and held my body to the horse's back, and I stayed put. Turning the horse, I grinned at Bret and nudged him back into a gallop, heading full tilt for the mailbox.
Bret let out a yell and sent his horse into a gallop as well. "I never thought you would land that!" He yelled over the sound of the wind rushing through my ears.
"Neither did I!" I yelled back before urging my horse faster. Bret edged slightly ahead and thundered through a water puddle, sending spray back into my face. "Not fair!"
"Nothing's fair!"
I leaned down and let the horse take full control, praying that we would reach the mailbox tied or leading. As we came near the house, I noticed that Jordan and the others were gathered on the porch. We rode hard, but when it came down to it, his horse was leading mine as we flew past the mailbox. Bret turned and grinned at me as he won, raising a fist in the air.
I shook my head but quickly noticed that there was a huge puddle in the middle of the road and I knew that the horses wouldn't go through it. Pulling hard on my reins, I tried to get my horse to stop before he got scared. Bret looked at me quizzically before turning and seeing the puddle in front of him. As my horse came to a stop.
The glint of the sun on the water caused his horse to get scared, stop short and turn, causing Bret to lose his balance and fall off the side of the saddle and hit the soft ground with a thud. As soon as Bret was on the ground, the horse took off running up the road. I took one look at Bret who was lying on the ground and nudged my horse around the puddle before heading after his horse.
After I had caught it, I rode back to the house and tied both horses to the porch rail securely before heading into the house to see how Bret was. As I pulled the door closed behind me, I heard voices and laughter coming from the kitchen. I walked into the room and saw Bret sitting at the table with an bag of ice on his arm and a glass of whiskey in front of him, while Jordan, Carolyn, and my aunt were busy cooking something at the stove.
"Bret...you okay mate?" I looked over at him as I sat down at the table in the chair across from him.
"Yeah...just scratched up my arm and threw out my shoulder." He looked at me. "But I still won...and I can't believe you cleared that fence! You want a drink?" he pushed the whiskey bottle towards me.
"Nah...not right now...I was actually going to see if Jordan maybe wanted to go out and ride since you're a little incapable." I smiled at him.
He lowered his voice. "You have to tell her."
"I know."
TBC....
A/N: Right after 35. ((Disclaimer: none of them are mine except Bret and his family...I made them up myself.)) ********* Chapter 36 *********
~~Nigel~~ As I calmed down, I sank my head into my hands and sighed deeply. My breath was coming shakily and ragged, and the pain of the slashes I'd made in my arm was getting to where I could feel them throbbing in anger as blood coursed through my veins. I had a headache from yelling, my voice was raw, and I had a terrible feeling of guilt in the pit of my stomach as I realized what I had screamed at Jordan.
~~Bret~~ I walked up the beaten dirt path to the barn, and slowly looked around as I did so. When I didn't see Nigel anywhere, I figured he was either in the barn or around back. As I walked to the back, I stopped when I saw a pack of cigarettes lying on the ground, a lighter a few feet from them. I picked them up and continued walking. I rounded the corner of the barn and stopped when I saw Nigel, head bowed. He looked like hell, just from what I could see.
Standing in silence, I just stared at him for a few moments before clearing my throat to get his attention.
~~Nigel~~ Turning my head, it took me a minute to realize just who was standing there. I didn't bother standing - didn't really need to, he came to me - but I merely looked him in the eyes and nodded. Bret sat on the ground next to me and stared straight ahead before handing me the pack of cigarettes and the lighter. I took them from him and set them on the ground as I looked at him. "Hey."
"Hey." Bret smiled weakly at me. "You alright?" He reached over and placed his hand on my knee.
"No. I'm not." I leaned my head against the wall of the barn and shut my eyes. "I just screwed myself over."
"She understands..."
"She what?" I looked over at him. "How would you..."
"I met her when she was coming down the hill to the house. She told me that she made you mad and you two fought...she doesn't know what she did though." He glanced at me. "What'd she do?"
"Nothing really..." I racked my brain back through my outburst to figure out what she had done. And then I shivered and winced. "Wait...she touched it." I nodded. "She yelled my name to get my attention and touched it." Grabbing at the pack of cigarettes, I pulled one out and lit it, drawing it to my lips and inhaling. I held my breath for a minute before blowing a stream of smoke into the air. "That's all it took."
"Does she know?" Bret took the lighter from my hand, pulled his own pack of smokes out, and lit it.
"Yeah...she knows about what happened but she doesn't know not to touch it." I took another drag off the cigarette. "Don't know why it bugged me though...dozens of people have touched it and it hasn't set me off like it used to..."
He thought for a moment. "Maybe it was because she yelled your name."
"Probably." I finished the cigarette and threw the remnants on the ground.
"Nigel...listen...I know that you're mad at her but she's honestly scared that she hurt you." Bret looked over at me. "You have to tell her."
I shook my head. "Not yet. It's...not the right time yet." I looked over at him, and a slight smiled played at my lips. "Have you been riding lately, Mr. Williamson?"
He grinned. "Why...no I haven't...I don't keep horses at my property right now..." Bret stood and helped me stand up as he finished his cigarette. "Mr. Townsend?"
I laughed at him. "It's DOCTOR Townsend to you, mate." We headed inside the barn and grabbed the tack for the horses off the wall.
"English or Western?" Bret looked at both saddles. "Loser's choice."
Raising an eyebrow, I grabbed a western saddle off the wall. "I've always ridden western Bret...you should know that...and I'm not a loser." Walking to the what I had chosen earlier as the horse that I would ride if Jordan and I went out, I nodded. "I want this one."
"Fine by me." Bret grabbed the other Western saddle off the wall. "You know...if we get caught racing..." he winked at me mischievously.
"What can she do? We're grown men." I threw my saddle onto the horse's back and smiled. "Let her try and give us a switching."
"Right." Bret saddled up his horse, then placed the bridle and reins on. "So same rules as always?"
I slipped the bridle and reins onto my horse and nodded. "Down from the far end of the pasture, then turn and come back up the road. First one past the mailbox wins." I laughed and tied my horse to the rail as I went to open the main door to the barn. I pushed the door upwards and coughed as a flurry of dust rained down on me. Glancing down at the house, I noticed that the curtains into the kitchen were open and I could see everyone gathered around the table. "Hey...Bret-"
"Yeah?" He had his horse by the reins and had mine in his other hand. He walked both of them to the main door of the barn and looked where I was looking. As we stood there looking down at the house, I saw Jordan turn and look out the window at us before turning back to the group at the table.
"I think we've got a problem..." I grinned and took the reins from him.
~~Jordan~~ I glanced up at the table and saw Nigel and Bret standing at the main door to the barn, Bret holding two horses. Smiling, I turned to Janice and motioned to the boys. "Are they supposed to be doing that?" I winked at her.
She turned and saw Bret hand Nigel a pair of reins. Standing, she shook her head. "If those boys even try to pull that stunt one more time..." Wiping her hands on her apron, she walked towards the back door. Carolyn and I followed, the children staying on the couch and watching TV.
We walked out the back door and into the warm midday sun and I had to stop from laughing at the way Janice was glaring at them.
~~Nigel~~ Ignoring the glare from our aunt, I held Bret's horse still as he climbed up onto him, him then in turn doing the same for me. I looked over at Bret and smiled. "I think we need to run the big one if they're all watching...what do you think?" I led the horse out into the sun and turned for the far end of the pasture.
"I concur." Bret followed me, as we had the horses go slowly to avoid being found out too quickly, even though we knew that she knew what we were planning. We were farther away from the house when we sent them into a slow trot to warm up their legs.
"Boys!!!" Janice yelled after us. "Don't you even!!!"
Wagging my eyebrows at Bret, I motioned with my head. "There right?" I was nodding towards a large boulder, which we would always officially start our races at. Trot past that, turn around, trot up to it, and once you were past it was full out from there.
"Yeah. And head for the far side of the pasture, turn, head for the road, then turn at the road and go for the mailbox." He smiled at me. "She's going to kill us."
We both turned around and faced the boulder, pulling our horses to a stop. "I know. But why live if you don't live dangerously?" I winked at him and then nudged my horse into a trot.
He caught up to me and we both eyed each other and then the boulder which was slowly approaching.
~~Jordan~~ I laughed out loud and covered my face as Janice huffed in anger.
"Those boy's don't realize that racing those horses is dangerous...especially on the road." She looked at me and shook her head.
"It looks like they're racing through the field." I saw no indication of them racing on the road.
"Believe me, love, they'll get there." She turned and watched as they neared the boulder. "Oh well..."
~~Nigel~~ As soon as my horse's nose had passed the stone marker, I kicked him in the ribs and sent him into a gallop, throwing a glance to my side where Bret was keeping an even pace with me. It took a few seconds to get up to top speed, but soon we were thundering through the soft dirt and sending clumps of mud flying behind us. As we neared the first turn, I realized that I was on the outside of the turn and Bret could make up time by cutting me off.
Jerking the reins to the right and nudging the horse to go faster, I swerved in front of him and took the inside as he had to catch up on the outside. Laughing as I heard him curse at me in Gaelic, I didn't even look back as I forced the horse into the turn. The horse nearly lost his footing in the soft earth, but he merely double stepped and went wide in the turn. As Bret blazed past me, I growled and lowered my head closer to the horses neck as we headed for the road and the more important turn.
~~Jordan~~ I gasped when Nigel's horse almost fell, and I heard Janice mutter a prayer when he didn't. I felt her hand on my arm and she motioned for us to walk around the to the front of the house.
"Come...we don't want to miss the finish now do we?" We walked around the house and stood on the porch, directly even with the mailbox.
I looked down the road and saw the horses flying down the hill, about to make the turn on the road. My eyes caught the outline of a fence in their path and I gasped. "The fence!"
Janice turned and looked. "Bloody Hell. The city put that in a few years ago...neither of them know about it..." She turned her attention to the horses. "And they'll be too stupid to notice."
~~Nigel~~ As I caught up to Bret slowly, I noticed that same fence that Jordan was currently noticing a half mile down the road. "Bret!" I called out. "The fence!"
Bret turned back to look at me but then whipped his head forwards. There was no way he could stop in time, so there was only one option. "Go over it!"
I swallowed hard and leaned into the form that Bret had tried to teach me on countless occasions. I'd never actually jumped a rail before and managed to hold onto the horse. I was following behind him and I knew that if I tried to slow down that the horse wouldn't be able to do it, so I nudged him in the ribs and tried to pick up the pace.
~~Jordan~~ I looked at them as they continued to ride at the fence. "They're not going to stop are they."
Janice shook her head. "Bret knows how to jump rails and fences." She looked over at me. "Nigel doesn't ride in Boston does he?"
"Not that I've ever known." Stepping back to be next to her I kept my eyes on them while speaking. "Nigel...does he know how to jump?"
"No. He never could learn. Bret was teaching him all the time...Nigel would come back in the house all beat up and bruised. He couldn't land the jump." She looked at the boys. "I hope he learns quick."
~~Bret~~ As I rapidly approached the fence, I made sure that the horse saw it and knew how high it was. I raised myself up and took a breath, praying that the horse wouldn't falter and throw me. When I cleared the fence, the horse hit the soft dirt of the road and nearly fell in the mud before I turned him and got out of the way for Nigel. "Please...let him hang on..." I watched as Nigel's horse took a soaring leap and headed for the ground, I noticed that Nigel's form was still as horrible as it always had been , so I slowed and got ready to pick him up off the ground.
~~Nigel~~ As the hooves hit the slick mud, I felt my body lurch forwards, but I dug my heels into the stirrups and held my body to the horse's back, and I stayed put. Turning the horse, I grinned at Bret and nudged him back into a gallop, heading full tilt for the mailbox.
Bret let out a yell and sent his horse into a gallop as well. "I never thought you would land that!" He yelled over the sound of the wind rushing through my ears.
"Neither did I!" I yelled back before urging my horse faster. Bret edged slightly ahead and thundered through a water puddle, sending spray back into my face. "Not fair!"
"Nothing's fair!"
I leaned down and let the horse take full control, praying that we would reach the mailbox tied or leading. As we came near the house, I noticed that Jordan and the others were gathered on the porch. We rode hard, but when it came down to it, his horse was leading mine as we flew past the mailbox. Bret turned and grinned at me as he won, raising a fist in the air.
I shook my head but quickly noticed that there was a huge puddle in the middle of the road and I knew that the horses wouldn't go through it. Pulling hard on my reins, I tried to get my horse to stop before he got scared. Bret looked at me quizzically before turning and seeing the puddle in front of him. As my horse came to a stop.
The glint of the sun on the water caused his horse to get scared, stop short and turn, causing Bret to lose his balance and fall off the side of the saddle and hit the soft ground with a thud. As soon as Bret was on the ground, the horse took off running up the road. I took one look at Bret who was lying on the ground and nudged my horse around the puddle before heading after his horse.
After I had caught it, I rode back to the house and tied both horses to the porch rail securely before heading into the house to see how Bret was. As I pulled the door closed behind me, I heard voices and laughter coming from the kitchen. I walked into the room and saw Bret sitting at the table with an bag of ice on his arm and a glass of whiskey in front of him, while Jordan, Carolyn, and my aunt were busy cooking something at the stove.
"Bret...you okay mate?" I looked over at him as I sat down at the table in the chair across from him.
"Yeah...just scratched up my arm and threw out my shoulder." He looked at me. "But I still won...and I can't believe you cleared that fence! You want a drink?" he pushed the whiskey bottle towards me.
"Nah...not right now...I was actually going to see if Jordan maybe wanted to go out and ride since you're a little incapable." I smiled at him.
He lowered his voice. "You have to tell her."
"I know."
TBC....