Author's Note:
Thank you sooooo much to BlowYouAway and our Guest for reviewing and a HUGE, MASSIVE thank you and virtual hug goes to Kavazya for being the very first person to review. You've all made me a very happy me :D . Sorry it has taken me so long to update, I have been very busy with uni and trying to find a job all summer (to no avail). Also, I apologise in advance for slow future updates, I am now back at uni for an jam-packed second year and also have a job on campus. So lots of my time will be taken up with those and updates will be slow, but I promise to update as soon as I finish writing chapters.
Now I know some parts of my last chapter were a little vague and probably didn't make a lot of sense, but bear with me. All will be revealed soon enough. I doubt many questions will be answered in this (much longer!) chapter, but I will be writing from multiple POVs (including Jake's and Aldyth's). For the moment though I am sticking to Sam's POV, which will probably just create more questions than it answers. Deal with it :P .
This is my first multiple POV story so please cut me a little slack. Anyway, please review and enjoy. :)
Chapter 2 (Sam POV):
I looked down into the Phantom's secret valley from the 'skyward entrance' as I called it. It was the same place at the top of one of the Calico Mountains, even on the same side, where I'd had to climb out of the secret valley when I had gotten trapped in there by an avalanche just before the Jake's last Christmas in Darton county prior to his leaving for college. I still have trouble believing that around four and a half years have past since then. It feels like forever and yet like no time at all since then. As I look down my eyes meet the Phantom's as he gazes up at us. He bobs his head up and down a few times as if approving of my current company. I smile. The Phantom's approval means the world to me. As much as I have tried to keep my distance from him over the last four and a half years for the sake of his safety, the few times we have been together we have bonded in a way I never thought possible. It's almost like I am a mare in his herd, his favourite mare to be exact, but one he allows to come and go as I please. I see his neck extend in my direction and his lips vibrate a few seconds before his whinny is carried to my ears by the light breeze. Yes, he definitely approves of my choice in company. I look back to where Tempest is ground tied and nibbling on the mountain grass. Her delicate head lifts and she nickers at me. Ah, so she's finally decided that the one whose arms are wrapped around me belong to is good enough for me. For a while now I've been worried that she'd never believe he was good enough for me. I whisper my thanks to her and her now-fully-white body shivers in response. A movement from just to the side of her catches my eye. Tempest's stark contrast, with her jet black coat and disagreeable attitude, tosses her head as if to say, "I've seen this coming forever. Took you guys long enough!"
I bet you did Witch, I bet you did, I retort mentally. I feel the arms surrounding me tighten slightly and hear a contented intake of air as the owner of said arms breathes in my scent. I tilt my head as I look up at him and beam with joy. "I love you Jake," I murmur softly, not wanting to disturb the pure peace and tranquility of the moment. Jake smiles back and opens his mouth to reply, "BEEP BEEP BEEP!"
BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Unwillingly I am brought into the conscious world by my annoyingly relentless alarm clock.
Why do the most wonderful dreams always have to be interrupted just before the best part?! I shout in my head. Five a.m., time to start the day. At least today will be fun. Dad and I have been hired to train a troublesome mare and today said mare will arrive at exactly 9 AM. I can't wait! After Jake left I slowly took his place by my Dad's side training horses, and I just can't help feeling excited with every new horse we're hired to train. With thoughts of all the horses I have trained with Dad over the past four years in my mind I rolled out of bed and got ready for the day ahead.
Before I knew it it was ten to nine, and I excitedly made my way over to the corral where Dad was just finishing up some last minute preparations for the mare's arrival. "We've got ten minutes before Miss Cavanough arrives with her horse Dad. Is there anything else you need me to do?" I asked. Dad likes it when I try to keep busy, and since the training of this horse will be mostly my responsibility, I want to make sure he believes I'm fully prepared.
"Think we're about done 'ere. Just gotta wait for her to arrive now," he replied being a typical buckaroo and using as few words as possible. I went into the barn to see Tempest while waiting for Miss Cavanough, and soon enough I heard the sound of tires clunking over the bridge that marks the entrance to Riverbend Ranch. She pulled up near the corral and stepped out. Dad was close by and walked up to greet her, "Morning, I'm Wyatt Forster."
"Chelsie Cavanough. It's good to finally meet you in person." They shook hands just as I arrived on the scene. "Oh, and you must be Samantha. Glad to meet you."
"You too. And it's just Sam, thanks," I replied warmly, accepting her offered hand.
"Sam, alright then. Shall I get Ruby out for you?" Miss Cavanough asked my father.
"Just put her in the corral so we can have a look at her," he replied, then turning to me instructed, "Sam, get the gate." I opened the gate and Ruby was let loose inside the corral. Miss Cavanough, Dad and I then watched her check out her new surroundings through the fence. Ruby was a quarter horse/arab cross at eight years of age that lived up to her name with her gleaming reddish chestnut coat. She seemed to have beautiful temperament as well as being quiet and gentle. I couldn't understand what was wrong with this mare, so I asked Miss Cavanough, "Excuse me Miss Cavanough…"
"Oh please, call me Chelsie," she interrupted.
"Chelsie," I continued, "what exactly is Ruby's problem? To me she seems like a perfectly good horse."
Chelsie sighed before explaining, "Well, outside of being led short distances, no more than about fifty yards at best, she doesn't seem to understand what you're asking of her, and when you don't give up and leave her be after a minute, she acts ups. Laying her ears back, a few nips, nothing too serious, but she hasn't got any training or experience being a working horse. A while back I tried training her with some ground work and after a few minutes she ended up kicking me, but that's the worst of it. She really is a wonderful horse, that is, until you ask her to do something other than her own thing.
Like I told your dad over the phone, I bought her off this middle-aged couple about six months ago. I don't think they knew how to train her properly and were probably getting a little too old as well. So when she began putting up a bit of resistance when they were working with her, I believe they just gave up and left her out to pasture. See, she's a very gentle and lovely horse that seems quiet, but in reality she's full of life. She was probably a bit much for them to handle, and after a while they probably just forgot about her.
I lived near the back fence of her pasture for about two years and would go see her everyday. When I realised that her owners didn't use her for anything and she just spent all of her time out in that pasture I offered to buy her. Her owners said that they had no need for her and she was just chewing through money, with all the vet check-up bills, pasture upkeep and the like. They ended up selling her to me for a really low price, much less than I would have expected. Now, it was about about a month after that when I realised her troublesome ways and the little attitude she has too. I didn't know at the time that she hadn't ever been trained and her owners never told me when I bought her. I have trained horses before so I gave it a try, but we got nowhere. So I went looking for a proper trainer and heard about your father. And, well, here we are." I continued watching Ruby and started thinking about how to address her problem. The easiest way would be to train her as if we were breaking her I decided.
It was late in the afternoon when my own personal slice of hell decided to show up. I was walking out of the barn after finishing up with Ruby for the day when I saw an all too familiar truck with an all too familiar driver roll across the bridge at the entrance to the ranch. Jake Ely. It was Jake Ely's truck rolling into the ranch yard. Why did he have to show up now? I'd had such a good day and Ruby and I had made far more progress than I thought we would have today, and now Jake has to show up and put a huge dampener on it all. I mean, he was and still is my best friend, who I am madly in love with, and I so badly want to spend time with him. But at the moment his very presence was breaking my heart and making my entire body ache. Granted it was only because of that girl Aldyth he brought home with him, but that didn't make it any easier for me. As he parked his truck and hopped out I had a fleeting thought of running and hiding so I wouldn't have to face my heartache after such a brilliant day.
He's been your best friend since the day you were born! Just get over yourself, you never told him how you truly felt so what did you expect? Now cowgirl up and go talk to him! I chastised myself. I took a deep calming breath, but just as I was about to call out a greeting to him, Aldyth stepped out from the passenger side and my heart sank. Suddenly it was all too much, I could feel my heart shattering and all I could do was turn and race back into the barn. I busied myself with cleaning all the tack in the tack room to take my mind off it all and hoped that he hadn't seen me.
I was already scrubbing my second saddle clean when the tack room door was opened and someone walked through. The person didn't say anything and just walked over to the bench where all the tools were kept, so I just stayed silent and continued cleaning the saddle, assuming it was one of the ranch hands. "Why did you run away before?" he asked. I was stunned into silence. My head whipped around to see Jake standing there, looking out the window. My heart sank before it started trying to beat out of my chest. After a minute of silence he turned to look at me. Quickly I looked back down at the saddle I was cleaning, avoiding his gaze at all costs. I knew that he could read me easily and that the moment we made eye contact he would be able to weasel any information he wanted out of me. Let alone the fact that my heart would break further, if that as even possible. Jake remained silent, knowing that it often led to me simply blurting out everything that was on my mind. Two could play at that game. Things had changed after he left for college, meaning that it took a lot more than a little silence for me to spill any sort of details. He was not going to win this time. The silence dragged on for several minutes before he sighed, walked over to me and said softly, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I replied.
"Then why are you crying?" he questioned. I wiped at my face and sure enough, there were tears.
"I must have gotten something in my eye. I'm not crying." It was partly true, I hadn't realised I was crying until he mentioned it. The shattered pieces of my heart were shattering even further though and the hole in my chest felt like it was being ripped into by ravenous dogs. He released an exasperated sigh, "Then why did you run away from me?"
"I didn't," I retorted, "I just… remembered Dad asked me to clean all the tack. That's all," he didn't look convinced but didn't push the point either. One of Jake's many new animal friends then decided to join us. It was a golden coloured dog, a labrador I believe. It trotted straight up to Jake and nudged his leg, barking quietly a couple times. He smiled down at it and ruffled its ears. "Thanks," he said to it. I rolled my eyes and traded the now clean saddle for another one. Jake seemed to have suddenly picked up a whole zoo while he was away at college. It was unlike him, and the way he talked to them was even weirder. He spoke to them all as if they were people, something he used to tease me about all the time. Nobody seemed to know where all these animals came from or why they followed Jake around, and he never offered an explanation. I wanted to ask, but simply being in the same room as him at the moment was hard enough, let alone having a full blown conversation where I would probably have to drag every last word out of him.
We sat in silence for a few minutes while I continued cleaning saddles and Jake quietly talked to his dog. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but it did sound like the dog was replying by the way it kept making noises back at him. And the weirdness continues. After I had finished cleaning my fourth saddle Dad walked into the barn. "Dinner's ready kids. Come inside and wash up now," he instructed. I got up, put the saddle away, and followed Jake into the two story ranch house for dinner.