This Is My Life

Chapter Eight "Scamp and Vegas!"

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my made up characters!

Saturday, November 3rd

I sat on the bed in the hotel as Nate walked back into the room with coffee and two breakfast sandwiches. "Thought you might be hungry." Nate said quietly sitting the food and coffee on the dresser. He didn't turn around to face me and guilt slammed me. He was hurting because of me and he was upset with me, rightfully so.

"Nate, I'm going to say it again. I'm so sorry I left." I whispered as I put my arms around his waist and laid my head on his back. Nate sighed.

"I know you are." Nate turned and pulled me into an embrace. Relief ran through me. "It's just I don't want to lose you."

I held onto him tighter and wished I could say he wouldn't. But if I was moving back to Virginia in December, would it be true? Would he be willing to work at a long distance relationship? Or would that be the end of us?

"Do you think everyone is going to be upset with me?" Worried thoughts ran through my head at the thought of going back to the Ely house. Would they be angry with me? Would they not want me back? I had just left without a word.

"No one is upset with you if that's what you're asking. Everyone understands what's been going on." Nate assured me and I felt better.

"We should probably be heading back then."

Nate's brown eyes met mine and he smiled softly. "In a minute." He murmured as he leaned in to kiss me.

….

Wednesday, November 14th

I took a deep breath and got out of my truck. The barns and pastures of Gold Dust Ranch were the first things I saw. After two and a half weeks, I decided to return to work. Jed needed me. He wouldn't rush me or ask me but I knew he wanted me to come back.

I saw Ryan leaning against the barn doorway with a smile. "I'm so glad to see you back."

"Thanks, it's nice to see a happy face." I tried to smile back but it was such a hard task. This place was the last time I had Magic alive. My eyes traveled to the ridge where we had last gone up as a team and I came down alone.

"I know it's hard for you to come back." Ryan said quietly as I stood beside him. "I want you to tell me if it's too much to handle."

I shook my head. "I'm going to be okay. I don't want to let you guys down."

"We let you down." Ryan's dark eyes stared at me guiltily. "We should have turned around the moment the horses started to act up."

"We should have done a lot of things but can't change the past." I whispered as I fought the tears. "You just have to move on."

Ryan slipped a piece of paper in my hand and I looked down. It was a check with a large amount of numbers on it. "Ryan, I can't—"

"Please accept it. It'll pay off the vet bills and give you plenty of money to purchase another horse when you're ready or it can go towards other things you'd like it to. Magic was priceless to you I'm sure, but this is what Jed and I came up with that a good horse would cost and you have a lot of options with that money. If you think it's not enough—"

"It's more than enough." I slid the check into my pocket. "Is Jed in his office?

"Yep." I walked past Ryan and made my way into the foremen's office. Jed was just coming out.

"Thank the heavens you are here." Jed muttered his face irritated.

"What's going on?" I walked fast after him as he made his way outside.

"Linc has a horse dealer coming to look at the ponies and I cannot stand the man who is coming. You have a better hold on your temper than I do." Jed told me. I almost wanted to laugh. It was true Jed didn't have much patience and sometimes lost his temper. His first statement worried me.

"A horse dealer? For all the ponies, even Scamp?" Scamp was one of the little Shetland ponies that Linc owned but he was also the sweetest and most adorable one. He was a steel fuzzy grey with a bushy tail and mane. When I was taking care of the ponies, Scamp was always my favorite. "He's selling them all just like that?"

"Yep. One thing you had better learn quickly about Linc is he does not give a damn about any animal—or person—on this ranch but himself. Maybe his kids. Those ponies mean nothing to him, they're just pasture pets."

"Well who's the horse dealer coming out? Why don't you like him?" I was worried for the little ponies. They were used to a spoiled life here at Gold Dust. What if they went to a person who abused them or neglected them? Worse, what if they went to a kill buyer? Horse dealers were known for getting horses and reselling them, that's why most good people avoided them.

"Mr. Kenworthy!" A man's shout interrupted us and I saw a man who looked Native American standing by the ponies pasture. Jed waved to the man as we kept moving towards him.

"Shan Stonerow." Jed informed me quietly. "He lives on the reservation. Not surprised Linc called him Stonerow will take any horse or pony."

"Does he treat them good?" Worry colored my voice. I didn't want the ponies to go to a bad person.

Jed's jaw tightened and I knew the answer myself. I followed Jed quietly and listened as he talked to Mr. Stonerow; Linc came down and joined them after a few minutes.

"That tiny one there—don't know that he'll be good for much. May have to talk to Baldy about him. Doubt he'll want him either." Mr. Stonerow said to Jed and Linc. I saw Jed shake his head and I tried to meet his eyes. Who was Baldy? I knew he was talking about Scamp when he said the tiny one. Scamp was the smallest of the herd.

"Scamp is a really good pony. He could make a great kid's pony." I spoke up. All three turned to look at me. "He's a real sweet pony."

Mr. Stonerow chuckled. "Well thank you for your suggestion. I'll certainly take it into consideration."

For some reason, my cheeks colored. Why did his words feel like they were condescending?

"Jade, why don't you go wait in my office for me?" Jed suggested seeing my expression. I turned and marched away. I couldn't believe it.

…..

"Goodness Jed, what did I just do?" I ran a hand through hair and paced in front of the barn. Jed watched amusedly with Ryan. A small moment of regret was happening to me.

"Seems to me like you purchased a pony named Scamp." Jed laughed and Ryan joined him. I groaned. I had been so worried about Scamp that I had convinced Linc to let me purchase Scamp with a little bit of the money he had given me. He had just ripped up the check and written another one with a smaller amount giving me Scamp's papers and a bill of sale with it. Baldy, I had learned, was a kill buyer in this area. There was no way Scamper was going to a KB. Unfortunately, Linc had sold all the other ponies to Mr. Stonerow.

"What are Luke and Maxine going to say?" I sighed. My whole body felt tense at the thought of upsetting them. "I mean all of a sudden I just come home with a pony. I didn't even ask!"

"If Mr. and Mrs. Ely have a problem with Scamp, he'll just stay here." Ryan assured me.

"Luke and Maxine won't have any problems." Jed added. "Once you explain why you bought him, they'll be more than fine."

"I can't believe I just did that." Why did I do it? I swore I was done with horses after Magic and here I was buying a damn pony.

"Let me hook up one of our trailers to your truck so you can take him on home with you." Jed was enjoying my shock too much. Way too much. The whole time he was hooking up my trailer he was grinning.

I loaded Scamp into the little two-horse trailer and promised to bring the trailer back tomorrow when I came to work. As I drove to Three Ponies, I came up with excuses, arguments, anything to justify me buying Scamp.

I parked the truck and took a deep breath before getting out. Nate walked out of the barn to and met me at the trailer door. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. "Is there a reason you have an empty Gold Dust trailer?"

Before any words could come out of my mouth, Scamp let out a loud neigh from inside the trailer. Nate's eyes widened and he laughed sounding stunned. "Uh, there's a horse in there?"

I sighed in a kind of I-give-up way and swung open the trailer door. "Is that a pony?"

I nodded and snapped the lead on Scamp's halter. "A five year old Shetland pony named Scamp to be precise."

Nate and I started walking towards the barn. "Oh from the herd at Linc's?" Nate's head snapped back to me. "Wait, is he—"

"I bought him." I mumbled and put Scamp into an open stall. "I know it was stupid and I should have asked before I bought him…"

Nate put his hands on my shoulders and he smiled. "No Jade this is perfectly fine. Don't worry about a thing."

Luke and Maxine came in leading horses and I realized they must have went for a ride. They saw us standing at the stall door and stopped. "Who's this little guy?" Maxine asked, handing Nate her reins. She rubbed Scamp's little fuzzy face and kissed his nose.

After a minute of silence, I decided I had to say something. "His name is Scamp. I, ah, bought him from Linc."

I got a view of some raised eyebrows from both Maxine and Luke then rushed to try to explain. "There was this horse dealer there named Shan Stonerow and he was talking about calling some kill buyer to take Scamp and I just couldn't let him go to die!"

Luke shook his head, disgusted. "Guess we shouldn't be surprised Linc would be doing business with Shan Stonerow."

"I don't blame you for buying the little guy." Maxine said, giving her husband a reprimanding look. I'd assume because he was talking badly about a neighbor, even if it was Linc.

"So you're all right with it? I'm sorry I didn't ask but Ryan says if it's an issue, Scamp can stay there." I gripped my hands together tightly. Maxine hugged me then smiled at me a bit teary eyed.

"Jade, it is perfectly okay. I completely understand why you bought him. I couldn't let this adorable little guy go to a known kill buyer either. Scamp is always welcome here."

"Thanks Maxine."

….

Saturday November 17th

"Are you sure this is a good idea? A party?" Nate was trying to convince me to go to a friend of his party in Las Vegas for the night.

"Yes Jade. We've both been working hard at school and at work. We deserve a little fun and Las Vegas is the ultimate fun." Nate was almost pleading. I knew he really wanted to go. Tommy and June were supposed to be there too even though June couldn't drink. I wouldn't drink either—I wasn't into drinking.

"Fine. I'll go." I laughed at his excited expression. "But I'm not drinking or gambling."

Nate laughed. "Sure. You won't have to do either. And we can find a nice place to have breakfast tomorrow morning before we head out." Nate slipped something out of his pocket. "Good thing you said yes too because I've already made our hotel reservations and bought plane tickets."

"Nate!" I couldn't believe he had done that without asking me first or even saying something. Nate grinned sheepishly.

"Well I was about eighty percent sure you would go." He gave me a quick kiss. "Go pack your bags. We have to leave for the airport in thirty minutes."

A few hours later, we landed in Las Vegas and took a cab to the hotel we were staying at for the night. It was a nice hotel and we met up with Nate's friends. Lucy and Jessica, two of my new friends, were there too.

"You're so lucky to be dating Nate. He's so cute." Lucy whispered as the guys walked ahead. I grinned.

"He is cute." I agreed as Nate turned to wink at me. Something strong surged through me that I had never really felt before and I was surprised.

We decided to go to a casino nearby. I made sure to keep talking to June. I didn't want her to feel left out because she was almost six months pregnant. "So how's everything with the baby?" I asked her conversationally.

June seemed happy at my question. "She is great. Growing normally and kicking up a storm. Here, feel this." She grabbed my hand and put it on her stomach. A second later, I felt a strong nudge on my hand and laughed.

"Oh my gosh! Is that her kicking?" The kick was unbelievably strong. It was hard to believe it came from a baby.

"Yes. That's her, I think she's going to be a little soccer player." June chuckled as she rubbed her belly.

"Wow and she does that all the time?"

"A lot of the time it's at night when I'm not as active." June told me.

"How do you get any sleep?" I questioned her. I can't imagine I'd sleep very much if I were feeling that at night.

"It's hard now that I'm farther along but usually I'm so tired by that time, I just pass out." I remembered that she was a teacher's assistant at the local elementary school. That probably did wear her out.

"So how do you feel about being here while you're this far along?" Lucy and Jessica had walked ahead, talking to two of the guys that were Nate's friends.

"I'm okay with it. I know Tommy was excited when Nate asked him if we wanted to come and just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean we should sit at home." June shrugged.

"Well I'm glad you two came tonight. I'm happy not to be the only one who isn't 'partying' with everyone else. Nate was really happy about this and I couldn't really say no. But I've never been a party girl."

"Me either. Tommy can get a little crazy but if I asked him to stay home with me, he would." It was sweet to see them together because they were honestly great high school sweethearts and so much in love.

A few hours in, everyone was enjoying themselves. A few were winning, a few losing. Nate was one of the winners surprisingly. Jessica tapped me on the shoulder. "I brought you and Nate drinks. All on me."

I gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, that's really nice of you."

I took a sip and never noticed anything different about it. That was the first mistake of the night.

Blurs. Flashes. Laughing. Everything was a big blur.

….

Sunday, November 18th

I groaned at the light shining on me and pulled the covers over my head. My head was foggy and I struggled to move. I turned over and my hands landed on a chest. My eyes popped open and Nate was laying there, shirtless, sleeping. I looked down and I had a t-shirt of Nate's on and no pants. Nate had just his boxers on.

Dread ran through me at the thought of what had happened between us last night and I tried to remember what had happened last night. I remembered going to the casino and having fun. Nate winning money. And that was it. As hard as I tried, I couldn't remember anything else.

I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could looking for my pants. I found them but as I reached for them, a shine caught my eye.

There on my left hand, was a diamond ring. Oh crap.

…..

AN: Hey readers! Finally got this up. Like the surprise at the end? I know it's such a cliché thing but this was my plan all along. Should be interesting right? Sh!t always happens in Vegas.

What did you think about her decision to save Scamp? Still enjoying the story?

I would love to see some new reviews on this story if people are still interested!

For those who remember book #6, Rachel accidentally lets out all the ponies and Scamp is actually named Chipper but there's a mistake in the book and she calls Chipper the black and white piebald that they rescue the day they escaped and a gray little pony that was running with Moon. She called them both Chipper so I decided to rename the little gray one. Lila calls him a scamp in the book so I thought it was perfect.

Thank you for reading! –Quinnandseth'sgirl15. Next update: Racing Hearts. Should be. I'll get it up as soon as I can but I have an exam this week and a group discussion so it might not be until the weekend. Thank you all for your patience!