Healing Hearts at Heartland
By: Ryu Katanna
Beta:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter Three
"Are you sure you shouldn't have gone to see Brian before we left? The only people you told about leaving were Lindsay, Melanie, Debbie, and Daphne." Lisa asked as she didn't believe for a moment her nephew was giving up on the man; not after seeing the look in his eyes when looking at that picture the night before.
"I am. I'm going to give them my number once I get a phone, but I'll write to Brian. Brian is still angry with me right now. I think I'm going to take a bit of a step back. He cares about me, I know he does, but he can't even admit it to himself yet. So, I'm not cutting off contact completely, but I'll give him the one thing I think we both need." Justin said as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sipped at his coffee in the to-go cup he held onto like he would die if he lost it.
"And what is it you both need?" Lisa asked curiously as she slowed down to make the turn into Fairfield Stables.
"Time." Justin answered as he perked up at the familiar sight as Lisa drove down the driveway.
Yesterday had been a very long day. They had gotten packed up before they checked out of the hotel and loaded their bags into the rental car. Knowing that Justin needed coffee to function properly in the morning, Lisa had driven them to the Liberty Diner where Debbie was just coming in for her shift. She'd stopped to talk to them for a few moments, and they had told her that Justin would be moving in with Lisa. Debbie had been relieved to know that Justin was going to live with family who cared about him. She'd seen too many teens end up on the streets after coming out. Debbie had given Lisa and Justin her number and made him swear to check in with her and let her know how he was doing.
Justin had directed Lisa to Lindsay and Melanie's house after that. They had been happy to know he was alright after hearing that he had been kicked out of Brian's loft. Luckily, it had been Melanie's day off and they had visited with the girls for several hours. Lisa had been delighted to hear how he had met them from Mel while Lindsay had told him about how she's spoken to Brian at breakfast the day before.
Justin was honestly grateful for having met the two when he had. Lindsay and Melanie had been welcoming toward him since that day he and Daphne had seen them and he'd offered to help with their bags. They had both tried to get Justin to look at guys younger than Brian until the art show at the gay and lesbian center. The problem was that Justin had no interest in guys closer to his age. He knew what he wanted, and that was Brian. It seemed like that had gotten through to Lindsay and Melanie at least as they had stopped pushing him to look elsewhere since though his age was still brought up.
They had eaten lunch with the girls while Justin had held onto Gus for as long as he could. He would miss the little guy while he was away. Mel had given him a look when he'd presented the baby with his old gus-bear, but Lindsay had smiled as she took the bear gently and promised to take care of it. Before they left, Mel had told him to make sure to call them after he'd gotten settled. That they didn't want to lose contact with him and would be interested to hear what he got up to outside the city.
Dealing with the school had been a hassle in itself as Justin's mom hadn't called them like she had said she would. They'd had to call Jennifer who had come down to the school. He's had to listen to her plead with him again to come home. To just follow Craig's rules until he'd finished Dartmouth; which led to another argument because he didn't want to attend Dartmouth. He had never wanted to attend Dartmouth. Justin honestly thought that the secretary in the office had moved more slowly than she could have just so she could watch the drama unfold as Lisa tried to mediate and defend Justin's choices. Classes were letting out for the day by the time Justin had finally gotten his transcripts and his belonging from his locker.
He'd made sure to stop Daphne on the way to her car. They hadn't had long to talk since she was supposed to go right home while she was still grounded. He'd managed to tell her what had happened and that he was leaving. She'd made him swear to call her as soon as he could. Daphne had left looking like she would cry, but there had been nothing Justin could do with so little time.
Since it was already well into the afternoon by that point, Lisa and Justin decided to head to the airport to wait for their flight, but first Justin had her stop at the corner of Tremont. He'd run in to slip an envelope into Brian's mailbox before running back out to the car. He'd written a letter to Brian the night before and sealed both the letter as well as Brian's credit card into the envelope. Justin had taken the card with the plan to run away to New York before he'd decided to call Lisa. He'd hoped that Brian would come after him if he did, but he'd since thought better of it, and so wanted to return the 'borrowed' card.
They had managed to sleep during the seven-hour flight with only one stop. It was just after five in the morning, but Justin knew that there would be no point in trying to go back to sleep. The days started very early at Fairfield Stables with plenty to do. Hence why he was clinging desperately to his coffee. Which, he realized when he went to take another drink, was now empty.
"Why don't you take your things to your room? I'll brew us another pot of coffee and see what we can have for breakfast." Lisa asked as she held back a chuckle at seeing him pout at the empty cup when she parked in front of the ranch-style house.
"Okay." Justin mumbled as he tiredly got out and opened the back door to get his bags.
Lisa was a step ahead of him as she unlocked and opened the door. Justin shuffled off his shoes and hung his jacket in the entry as he made his way through the kitchen and into the hall. Lisa had always had the second biggest bedroom set aside for Justin since he'd spent his summers with her since he was little. He opened his door and shuffled inside to set his bags on the teal blue and black comforter. Giving one longing look at the pillows, Justin turned and left the room to make his way to the kitchen where he could smell coffee starting to brew.
"The stablehands should be starting to turn out the horses soon. What do you want for breakfast? We have eggs and bacon, bran muffins, bagels, and maple yogurt." Lisa asked as she shuffled around the kitchen pulling down two coffee mugs from the cabinet.
"Muffins with some yogurt sounds good." He mumbled as he accepted the mug from her before pouring in the coffee and adding a bit of cream and sugar that was next to the machine.
"Muffins are over by the stove." She told him as she grabbed two small plates, bowls, and spoons before setting them on the table.
"Got it." Justin replied as he set his coffee cup down on the breakfast bar, opening the fridge to pull out the container of yogurt before moving to grab the muffins, and then returning to the breakfast bar where Lisa had already laid out the dishes.
"Thank you." She said as she took the yogurt from him and opened it to scoop several spoonfuls into each bowl while Justing opened the muffin container and set two on her plate and three on his own.
"Anything we have to do today other than the usual?" Justin asked as he sat down on the stool next to her and accepted the bowl and spoon she handed to him.
"I need to head over to Briar Ridge later. I bought a new mare recently; Promise. Unfortunately, she's been unrideable. She won't even let anyone saddle her. So I'm going to have Val Stanton see if one of her trainers can do anything." Lisa told him as they started their breakfast.
"Are you sure about asking them to help? I've heard their methods are a little heavy-handed, and Ashley Stanton is... Well..." He winced as he remembered the girl; having met the spoiled princess a few times at jumping competitions.
"Yes, I know what you think of her." She said with a wry chuckle as she remembered how he'd tried to get away from the girl who was known to openly flirt and chase after attractive boys.
"I just thought to give it a chance. Promise is valuable but as aggressive as she has been when someone tries riding her it's only a matter of time before she hurts herself or someone else. It's just so odd because the woman I bought her from sang her praises about how gentle she was with her grandson who's blind." Lisa explained and Justin knew she must be worried about this horse.
"Alright. Is it okay if I pass on going to Briar Ridge with you? I'll help load Promise into the trailer, but I really don't want to be running from Miss Obnauxious today." Justin said as he finish his muffin and stood to rinse their finished dishes in the sink.
"That's perfectly fine. There's something else I wanted you to work on if you'd like a project. I think you'll enjoy the challenge.
"Oh, a challenge? What is it?" He asked as he opened the dishwasher and put everything inside after he'd finished rinsing them off.
"I have a stubborn three-year-old colt who no one has been able to break. He'll accept the halter and lead, but once anyone tries working with him he either gets aggressive or he bolts. He's jumped over the fence of the paddock doing so the last time and dragged Albert several feet. I had to stop anyone else from trying because I don't want him to hurt himself or someone else." She told him knowing that he'd worked with a few stubborn horses before, and this time she wanted to give him something to focus on so as not to brood over what had happened in Pittsburgh.
"The paddock fences are almost six feet high! How well did he clear it?" Justin asked in interest as he knew that thoroughbreds could jump seven feet, but not all were talented or that motivated to do so, and most were content to stay within the fences.
"He soared right over. You're used to thinking outside the box, and you're good at gaining trust with the animals you work with, which is something no one has been able to establish with this one. What do you think? Are you up for the challenge?" She asked with a laugh at seeing how interested he was as he grabbed his work hoodie from the hook where he'd left it and picked up some of the sugar cubes from the box she'd left near the door to put them in his pocket.
"You know I am. Was he born here?" Justin asked as they got ready and left the house to start walking toward the stables.
"He was. You actually were here to help with that one as well. Duchess is his dam, and his sire is Nova." She told him as she walked and he almost bounced.
"Three years ago... Ah, I think I remember. The night of that big storm. It was the first time I'd helped instead of just watching, and I ended up covered in allantoic fluid. It was Nova and Duchess who produced Gallant Prince as well, wasn't it?" Just asked as he remembered their conversation about the stallion two days before.
"They were. They'd already produced one exceptional foal so I decided to give it another attempt. I ended up with a stubborn horse instead." She replied bemusedly as she directed him to the smallest of the five stables that were located on this section of acreage.
The stables were separated by groups. One stable housed the pregnant mares. The breeding actually took place at the stud farm where the stallions were housed, but they were returned here after pregnancy was confirmed to birth their foals. Another stable held the females with nursing foals. The stalls inside that stable were a bit bigger than the other four stables to give both the dam and foal room for movement.
The third stable held the resting mares that had weaned foals until they were ready for breeding again. It held the most stalls as his aunt believed in giving the mares a year of rest between foals to recuperate. The smallest stable only had a few stalls. That was where Lisa kept her pleasure horse, Ben's jumping horse named Red, and whichever horse Justin was training over the summers.
The last stable was where the weanling foals, fillies, and colts were housed before they were sold on or moved to another acreage of land owned by his aunt where they were trained mostly for racing. Though Lisa and Dan had divorced they were still in business together. Dan owned Brookland Stables as well as one of the stud farms Lisa sent a few of the mares to be bred. They hadn't made for the best partners in marriage, but they worked well enough with business. Usually.
"I told the stablehands to move him to the smallest stable as well as to not turn him out with the others today before we boarded the plane. We'll take him to the round pen so his stall can the cleaned and you can see what you'll be working with." She told him as they entered to see that the people assigned to this stable had already managed to turn out the rest of the horses and were getting started on mucking out the stalls.
"Actually, I think I'll start with building trust first. If he's as stubborn as you say I'll need to get him to look to me as his leader before I can work with him properly." Justin said as he passed a few of the stablehands who were busy mucking out the now-empty stalls.
"That's fine. You know what you're doing by now I reckon. He's over here." She said as she picked up the halter and long lead before handing them both to him and gesturing toward the stall.
Justin accepted them as he stepped toward the stall to get his first look at the horse his aunt had asked for help with. Looking toward the sound of movement his brows raised in appreciation. The colt was absolutely beautiful. He had remembered the foal being black like his sire, whereas Gallant Prince had gotten his dark brown coloring from their dam. Though he did have a white spot on his forehead and another on his snout that was similar to his dam. He also appeared to be very spirited and confident as he moved around his stall gracefully.
"Damn, he's beautiful." Justin said as he walked up to the door of the stall and waited to see how the colt would respond to his presence.
The horse took notice of him right away and came right over as he sniffed heavily, taking in Justin's scent. This horse certainly wasn't shy as he let Justin put the harness on him easily. It was obvious that the horse was used to this daily routine and was even eager to leave the stall. Justin couldn't blame him. Horses were herd animals, and natural roamers, but the stables kept them safe at night from predators. Clipping the lead to the harness, Justin unlatched the door and led him out. Lisa stayed at a respectful distance looking alert for any signs of aggression toward her nephew.
"I think we'll start with a walk in the pasture first. Let him get used to me." Justin said as he kept a grip on the lead with one hand near the harness to direct him, and the other on the other end of the lead.
Instead of leading him toward the front door that would take them to the paddocks and the round pen, Justin lead the colt in the other direction to where the stable opened into the pasture. The horse followed directions easily enough as Justin made sure he was the one leading and not the other way around. If the horse started to lead then Justin would make them halt in their walk to correct him.
"Do they usually try the saddle first? They haven't tried mounting him bareback?" Justin asked as he tried to ignore the sexual connotations of what he'd just said; Brian would have jumped at the chance to tease him about it if he were there.
"They couldn't even get him saddled without him bolting or rearing so I don't think they tried." Lisa replied knowing that her people there at the stables tried to get a horse used to the saddle first.
"Okay. I'll try building trust with him for a few days before I work with him in the round pen. See how well he does with me before I start work on desensitizing him to having the saddle blanket or some of my weight on his back." He said as released his hand near the halter, but held onto the end of the lead to give the horse the room he needed to graze.
"However you want to do it. I take it you want to take over his feeding and care as well." She stated, remembering how he'd built trust with the horses he'd worked with before.
"Yeah. When did you want to load Promise into the trailer?" Justin asked as he wanted to have time to come up with a schedule to lay the foundation with the colt he would be working with.
"Don't worry about it. I'll have Eddy help me. Did you want the speak with Albert? He's the one that has been in charge of him." Lisa said as she watched both horse and teen feel each other out.
"I'll talk to him later." Justin said as he got the colt's attention by approaching him and petting his back though he didn't break eye contact until the horse accepted this change and went back to grazing.
"I'll see you in a while then." Lisa said before she turned and left him with the colt.
123
Justin groaned as he pulled himself out of bed a few days later to the beeping of his alarm. The digital display read that it was only five in the morning. This was one thing that he had never missed about the summers when he stayed with his aunt. Living here meant being up early enough to rise with the sun as by the time breakfast was over the stables would be busy with morning chores. He never had anything against it, but it did take him a while to adjust to the early mornings until he was used to it again.
Dragging himself out of bed, Justin turned off his alarm before stumbling into the en-suite bathroom. He stripped quickly as he turned on the shower and left it to heat up for a minute before getting in. Washing quickly, he took only a moment to enjoy the feeling of the hot water soothing his muscles. This was another thing he hated about adjusting to life at his aunt's. He would be fine once he'd adjusted to the physical work once more, but it would take at least a week or two after having spent a leisurely time in Pittsburgh in comparison.
He'd spent most of his first few days here with the colt. He'd spoken with Albert and had taken over the colt's feeding times as well as his grooming. He'd been running on little sleep that first day as he fed, groomed, and started trying to gain the black horse's trust. Justin hadn't even had time to relax after he'd gotten the colt bedded down for the night.
Upon returning to the house and having dinner with Lisa he'd still had to unpack his bags, put his things away, and make several calls to let Debbie and Daphne, as well as Melanie and Lindsay, that they had arrived safely. Then he had started on his next letter to Brian only to be interrupted as he was reminded that they would need to do night checks before they went to bed. It had taken a while with so many horses, and by the time he'd gotten back to his room, it was all he could do to shuffle out of his clothes and into a pair of sleep pants before curling up in his bed.
He'd only just finished the letter the night before.
"Breakfast, Justin." Lisa's voice called through his bedroom door as he stepped out of the shower to dry off and get dressed.
"I'm almost ready." He replied as he changed into clean underwear, a pair of jeans, and a long-sleeved shirt and pulled on a pair of socks.
"Good morning." Lisa greeted him in the kitchen as she held out a freshly poured cup of coffee before gesturing for him to have a seat at the breakfast counter where there were already two plates with warm bagels laid out.
"Thanks… Good morning, Aunt Lisa." Justin replied quietly as he sat down to drink his coffee and spread cream cheese on his bagel.
"I know you're planning to work with the colt again today, but we do need to talk about school. Going to a private school was good for something; with the curriculum being advanced compared to public schools. If you want to graduate early then you have enough credits to do so, or you could choose to go to public school and finish the year. I'll leave the choice up to you." Lisa said before she waited for what he would say.
"I don't know. It doesn't really make sense to start a new school part-way into my senior year when I already have what I need to graduate. I know a few people my age around here from the summer show circuit, so we're friendly enough, but it would be different going to the same school with them." Justin said as he frowned thoughtfully at his bagel that he'd torn into smaller pieces.
"It would. You should also think about what you want to do after high school. I know you've talked about going to art school." Lisa said as she picked up her coffee mug.
"I wanted to go to the Pittsburgh Institute of Fine Arts, but I knew dad would never go for it. That was another fight we've been having. He wanted me to go to Dartmouth to study business. I've never wanted to do that, but he said he wouldn't pay for art school, and he makes too much money for me to get financial aid." Justin sighed as he dropped the piece of bagel back onto his plate before sitting back in his chair to stare into his coffee cup broodingly.
"Then I met Brian and all of this happened. I don't plan to give up on him no matter what I do, but how can I make this work when I'm so far away? I'll have my art anywhere whether I go to school for it or not, but I don't think I want to make it my job. I mean, I want to be able to make money, but I want to create because I can. Not because I won't have a roof over my head or food to eat if I don't. Do you know what I mean?" Justin asked as he looked up at his and pleaded for her to understand.
"I do. You've always been smart, Justin. You'll figure out what is best for you. You don't have to worry about money though. I've had money set aside for you since you were little, and I've added your winnings to it over the years. Dan and I made some good investments with it that have had profitable returns. You should also have your trust fund from my mother when you turn twenty-one in a few years." Lisa told him only to see surprise and confusion in his expression.
"You did? Wait... What trust fund? All I knew was that Grandma Rose left mom some money that she sunk into dad's store." Justin said as he set his empty mug down.
"Mmm-hmm. Dan and I didn't agree on much in our marriage, but one thing we did agree on investing in your, Ben's, Molly's, and his two nieces' futures. We've been adding to the accounts on birthdays and Christmas. Yours has a bit more than the others because we added the winnings from your shows, the fees for training the horses you worked with, for your work around here, and the two races last summer. We just never told you or the other kids about it. I thought you knew about the trust funds your grandmother had set up for you, Molly, and Ben though." Lisa said feeling a little confused as she knew about them since her lawyer had been the executor of her mother's estate as she and her mother both had the same lawyer.
"No, this is the first time I've heard about any of it." Justin denied as he bit his lip in frustration.
"Looks like I'll have to talk to my sister. Your parents should have told you about it by now." Lisa frowned as she wondered, again, what in the hell her sister and brother-in-law were thinking.
"Dad's not in charge of the money, is he?" Justin asked a little worriedly knowing that if he was he may have to fight him legally to get the trust turned over to him even after he'd turned twenty-one.
He knew that his dad could be spitful like that, and after what had been saying before he left...
"No, don't you worry about that. Mom never liked Craig and didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. She named me trustee for both your and Molly's trusts." She reassured him and his shoulders sagged in relief that he wouldn't have to argue with his parents about yet another thing.
"Okay. Sorry, I just don't trust either of my parents right now." He admitted before feeling her hand rub over his back comfortingly.
"That's alright. I can understand after the talk we had a few days ago with them. Anyway, I don't want you to worry about money when you decide what you want to do. If you're careful and make some good investments then I don't see you having any trouble no matter what you decide to do in the future. The money left for your mom, uncle and I wasn't much compared to what she left for you kids. She wanted to be sure you three were taken care of." She told him as he smile gratefully.
"Thanks, Aunt Lisa. I was worried about what I was going to do." Justin admitted and Lisa smiled sadly at how the few weeks since his father had thrown him out must have felt for her nephew.
"No problem. For now, you should think about what you want to do about school. Then we'll need to see about getting you a car. You're going to need one of your own if you want to go anywhere around here. A cell phone too. One that can make international calls so we can keep in touch even when I need to go back to Europe, and you can talk to your friends in Pittsburgh." She said and Justin smiled as he got up to clear away the dishes.
"Alright. When do you plan on leaving again? I mean, I know you usually leave for a few months between fall and winter to look at new breed stock for the spring. I'd half thought I wouldn't be able to get ahold of you if you'd already left." Justin admitted as he rinsed the plates and refilled his coffee before offering to do the same for her.
"No thank you, I'm alright. As for leaving, I think I'll wait until after your birthday. Though I don't like the idea of you being here alone for weeks or months at a time. I suppose you could always come with me if you don't have school." She said thoughtfully and Justin smiled back gratefully over the rim of his cup.
"I would love to, but I think I would rather stay here. Maybe go back to Pittsburg to visit once a month if I can. Debbie has offered to let me stay with her and Vic for a few days if I visit. Which she insists on." Justin explained with a chuckle knowing that Lisa had approved of Debbie.
"It's fine if you want to go visit. I just don't want to leave you here with only Dan to depend on if something happens." Lisa explained her reasoning and Justin nodded in understanding.
If Justin were to need to go to the hospital for whatever reason while Lisa was overseas then he wouldn't be able to depend on Dan being there either. Oh, there was no bad blood between Justin and Dan after his divorce from Lisa. It was just that the man was often busy, and traveled for work as well. He could be an ass, Justin knew that, but he'd never treated him badly. Dan would be there for Justin if he could, but there was never a guarantee he would be available.
"I see your point. We'll figure something out. It's still a couple of months away." Justin said as he turned to rinse his empty cup before loading the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.
"Take a day or two to think about school. Let me know what you want to do." Lisa said as she slipped on her boots and picked up her jacket.
"I will." He replied as he followed her lead in getting his boots and hoodie.
"We'll need to get you some clothes as well. You don't have anything suitable for winter in Alberta." She mumbled as they left the house.
123456
Well, there is chapter three for you. I just got the editing done, but I've been distracted by other work I have in progress. Updates for this fic may be a bit sporadic as it's more of a back-burner work when I'm blocked for others I'm working on. Anyway, let me know what you thought!
~Ryu