Chapter 21 Remember stars are blind

Two sleeping bags were lying near the fencing, which captured the cow. Stevie already had take place in one of them, and not much later Alex had joined. It was getting pretty dark already and stars were sparkling across the sky.

'Hey, you've brought wine!' Stevie said surprised and pleased. 'Yes, do you want some?' Alex poured some red wine in two glasses. Not much later the two had settle down and watched the sky as they drank the wine.

'It has something romantic', Stevie concluded. 'Well, I know how to please a woman'. Stevie looked at a grinning Alex. 'No you don't'. 'Oh nice, and what are you doing here with me. And don't tell me just because of the cow'. She smirked. 'To learn you how to please a woman.' It made Alex shake his head. He just knew he loved those teasing ways of her.

It got later and after they had paid a quick check on the cow, making sure it was drinking enough, they lay down covered in their sleeping bags, close to each other. Stevie was gazing at the stars again. 'It's such a beautiful sight', she said. 'Yes it is', Alex agreed and he remembered the fact Claire had one star and once in a while he had stared at the stars after she had passed away, remembering her. And he decided to share his thought.

Stevie looked at him when he was talking about it. It had something sad, but also something beautiful. She was glad he was telling her this, but she still could hear sadness in his voice when he said her name.

'Alex', she said softly, 'what if ... well ...'. She couldn't find the right words. 'What?' Alex asked when he looked at her. 'No, nothing'. But he could see there was something and encouraged her to tell him. 'Well, you know with Dave and Tess. That didn't worked out cause of, well you know'. He understood where she was aiming at. 'He wasn't ready'. She rose up a bit, leaning on her elbow, to look him straight in his eyes. 'Do you think you're ready?' She just asked, and it made her insecure about his reaction. A gentle assuring expression showed up on Alex' face. 'I think I am ... and if it happens to be not, I could need a friend.' It had made Stevie's eyes teary. She so wanted to take all his sadness away. 'It's ok', he said.

He pulled her close, as far as the sleeping bags allowed to. The embrace stayed and it made Stevie feel save with him holding her. 'Can you remember when we first met?', she asked. He nodded. 'Yes, I can still picture that little red daredevil ... thinking of it you still are'. She pinched him softly. 'I can remember you falling flat on your face', she laughed, 'still thinking you were some kind of rodeo star'. 'Hey I was!'.

Memories:

She could remember the moment they had first met. It was one of the rodeo competitions. She was hardly sixteen, while Alex was eighteen. She had met Claire and Alex at the same time and they had become her friends the months after it, mostly seeing each other at the rodeos. She was taking care of Rose, wanting to earn money, and it had always been her dream to become a rodeo star. Though that dream got interrupted big time when she got pregnant, but she started to life that dream again. And she was good at it.

She could remember that evening as vivid as today, the day after the incident with Rose and her parents deciding to 'give' Rose to Michelle. When her best friend Tracey had left town to go to her friends at her old place, she didn't know where to go. Tracey and Stevie had known each other for a long time, but her friend had moved away a couple of years ago and had just moved back half a year ago. She was one of the few people that knew about Rose, not exactly what happened but she knew of her existence. Stevie's parents hadn't been proud of her, and they were glad they had a reason to give Michelle custody over Rose.

Stevie wanted to talk to Claire, cause they had become close friends within a sec. A thing Alex still was surprised with, cause Claire wasn't that easy in picking her friends. He could remember the little red devil. A tough girl, always in to have fun, and how hard she fell of her horse he never had seen her cry. Except from that night.

He had seen the tears in her eyes when she asked where Claire was. 'She's not here, her dad wanted her to stay at home', Alex had said. Stevie had just taken off, but he could see she was really upset. He went after her finding her near the lake, sitting in the grass, crying. Though she had tried to hide her tears from him. While he sat beside her he said he could bring her to Claire if she wanted to, but she had refused the offer. Instead he just sat next to her, trying to comfort her.

'What's wrong?' 'Nothing', she had said resolute, brushing away the tears on her cheek. 'You can tell me.' 'No I can't ...' Hearing that he knew she wouldn't say a thing. 'Whatever happened I'm sure everything will be ok'. As he had said that he had put his arm around her, first a bit insecure, but when he noticed she liked it, it became stronger. She couldn't tell him about Rose, some time later she had told Claire about her, but Alex only had found out what really was bothering her that night years later, when she had returned.

She didn't know how long they had sat there near the water, but it had felt comforting. After that she had started to get feelings for him, but she had neglected them cause she wanted to focus on Rose, and somewhere she had the idea that Claire had feelings for him too. It wasn't much later when Alex had fallen in love with Tracey.

The girl didn't wanted Stevie around any longer when she became his girlfriend. It had drawn Stevie closer to Claire, when they both had seen how Tracey had broken Alex' heart. Though he tried to give the impression he didn't cared that much, she and Claire knew it had hurt him. It was months after that when Alex' track record started to grow immensely and she didn't wanted to be part of his list. Years later they had lost contact, when Stevie started to travel more, hoping to find a place to call home, a place for her and Rosie. Though she had stayed in contact with Claire as much as she could. She hadn't seen Claire for five years when she had turned up at Drovers again.

The last time she and Alex had met was even more than seven years ago. Not much later she met Jarred. But when she saw Alex again, she couldn't do anything else than notice he had truly become a man, a handsome one. A second later she had realized Alex and Claire were a couple.

Alex though never really questioned Stevie as his girlfriend. Somewhere she still seemed so young when they first met and she was definitely a dare devil, maybe she was too wild for him; maybe it was Claire's presence. He didn't know. Tracey had been her age but seemed different, more a girly girl, more girlfriend material. After that he had dated almost any girl near him, except for Claire and Stevie.

Will be continued ...