A/N: Happy New Year, readers! Hope you are having a wonderful day, and enjoy this long and thoroughly fun chapter, which is another of my favorites in the story.
(H/C)
The wagon train, as House sarcastically called it, arrived at the stable outside Trenton Saturday morning. The House family in their car had followed Thomas' BMW; Cuddy had suggested all riding together, but he said he wanted to come back after the girls left and see Ember settled in and give her a good grooming. He came over to the Houses' for breakfast, and everybody was ready and waiting to jump in the vehicles when the call came from the shipping company. They were a little over an hour out.
Rachel was sitting forward as far as she could in her car seat, staring out the window as they pulled in, just waiting for the sight of a horse. She didn't have long to wait. The stable parking area already had several cars, a busy Saturday morning just getting started, and as they came to a stop, a woman led a horse out of the open main barn aisle. Rachel was mesmerized as the horse and soon-to-be rider passed within 15 feet of them, heading for one of the outdoor riding rings.
Thomas got out of the BMV quickly and came over, opening the back door on Rachel's side and starting to unbuckle her. Cuddy, getting out of the driver's seat right in front of him, saw a spark of pure excitement and anticipation in his eyes that made him look far more like a kid at Christmas than a 75-year-old man. He was just as wired today as his granddaughter was. She watched him with Rachel, giving her husband time to make his slower exit from the passenger's side and then extract Abby.
"Now don't forget, Rachel," Thomas admonished her as he finished undoing the last strap and picked her up.
"I won't," she promised seriously. They had had another review of ground rules over breakfast, with Susan's disapproval silent but unable to be completely hidden. Any time Rachel was at the stable, she could not run, could not be loud, and had to stay right with an adult. Also, she wasn't going to be allowed to ride Ember, who was too big for her. Thomas made it clear that even he wasn't going to ride Ember today. The mare had had a long trip and would need to settle into her new environment and relax for the rest of the day. Rachel had immediately agreed to all of that. Just seeing Ember would be a dream come true. All of the pictures were about to come to life.
Thomas gave her a hug as he lifted her from the car. "This is going to be fun," he whispered in her ear, and she happily hugged him back.
Setting her down but keeping a close eye on her, he removed the digital camera from around his neck and handed it to his daughter-in-law. "Here you go, Lisa." She had had basic orientation to it earlier. He hoped that the extra layer of distance provided by the lens would help her today. Also, of course, that the pictures themselves would tell their own story to her later, when she had space away from the looming presence of horses to really relive the moment through her daughter's face.
House came around the car, holding Abby's right hand in his left. She was looking around avidly, soaking it up. "You remember, too, Abby," Rachel told her firmly. "Don't scare Ember."
"Okay," Abby agreed, still looking all around. Rachel obviously wasn't sure if she really understood the importance of Ember's feelings, and Thomas intervened before they could get into a minor verbal spat.
"Come on, Rachel. Let's go in the barn." He took her hand. All thoughts of lecturing her sister immediately vanished at the magic invitation. It was like a password to a world she had never in her young life seen, only read about. Let's go in the barn. A cave of hidden treasure wouldn't have excited her more.
Thomas watched his son carefully as they walked toward the aisle. Greg was moving better this morning and had apparently had a good night's sleep, and he, too, had curiosity about this morning's events, though he was trying to pretend it didn't matter. Lisa on the other hand hung back slightly, letting the two men and the two little girls lead. Thomas was looking forward to sharing this world with all of them.
This barn was fairly large and had two long aisles, both with sliding doors open to the pleasant spring morning, plus an indoor ring laid across the far end of the aisles like the top bar of a capital T. They turned into the barn at the first aisle, which had a small sign next to it reading Office. Cuddy couldn't help reading the other sign posted below that, a legal notice with code specifically cited that pointed out that under state law, equine activities had an inherent level of risk and that the barn was not liable for any injuries that might occur to people voluntarily participating in those activities.
The stable manager was just exiting the office, the first room on the left, as they entered the barn. She smiled. "Good morning, Thomas. And these must be your granddaughters." House sighed softly. The old man had had to tell her something, after all, to explain bringing the girls along on this and no doubt several future trips. House knew especially after last night that he couldn't keep even the illusion of a secret about their relationship much longer.
"Yes, this is Rachel, and this is Abby. And my son, Greg, and his wife, Lisa. This is Marilyn McIntyre, the barn manager and main trainer here." Thomas' eyes lingered on his son's for a moment as he made the introductions, and House absorbed the point. He and Cuddy weren't introduced by last names, were simply Greg and Lisa. She knew they were his son and daughter-in-law, but she still didn't know who they were. The privacy as near as possible had still been maintained.
Of course, there was the news still. He waited for any spark of recognition in her eyes that this grumpy, ruffled man with a cane looked familiar, but there was none. Caught in the onslaught of Patrick's exposure of his life, he still had trouble reminding himself that not everybody followed the media rabidly. This woman, he quickly decided as the visit continued, probably was bored by any news that came without four hooves and a mane somewhere in it.
"Good to meet you." Marilyn knelt down, getting on eye level with the kids. "I'm glad you're here. Thomas said you especially like horses, Rachel."
"Yes." It was almost a whisper as she tried to keep from being loud.
Marilyn smiled at her. "So I guess Thomas told you you have to be quiet in here, right? Well, you do, but you don't have to whisper. It's okay to talk, Rachel. Just don't squeal or yell, okay?"
"Okay." Rachel relaxed a little.
"And you have to stay with the adults and listen to us all the time. Can you do that?" Rachel nodded, and Marilyn turned to Abby. "Do you like horses, Abby?"
Abby, as usual, took a moment to think through the question. "Don't know any," she answered finally.
Thomas chuckled, and Marilyn grinned. "Well, I guess you can't know if you like something until you've met it. So why don't we meet a few horses while we're waiting?"
"Yay!" Rachel gave a small hop, but she was careful to keep the volume down.
Marilyn stood up. "Have you heard from the truck?" she asked Thomas.
He looked at his watch. "About 20 minutes, roughly."
"Good. Her stall is all ready, and we've got an empty paddock in the line of turnouts to put her in and let her stretch her legs for a while when she first gets here. You signed the liability release earlier in the week when you brought your tack, so the only detail left is her Coggins test and health papers, and those are on the truck with her. "
Liability release? Cuddy thought.
Marilyn turned down the aisle. Each stall had an opening over the door, and several heads had popped out, looking at them curiously. She stopped at the first stall, giving the occupant a pat on the neck. "This is my own horse, Teddy." Teddy nuzzled her, then stretched his head and neck down as far as they would go over the door, sniffing at the girls.
Rachel reached a hand up, and Thomas picked her up quickly. "Don't reach for his nose, Rachel. You never start with a strange horse by reaching for the nose. Is it all right to pet him, Marilyn?" The manager nodded. "Here, pat him on the neck first." He patted the gleaming bay neck himself, demonstrating, and Rachel gave it several pats herself.
"He's soft," she said.
House came up next to them and picked up Abby. "You want to pet him, Abby?" Abby reached out for a few pats of her own on the neck, obviously running a softness quantification.
Thomas looked over at Cuddy, who was a few feet away. She looked tense. "Pictures, Lisa," he reminded her softly, and she fumbled with the camera, picking it up.
"Teddy likes little girls," Marilyn said. "He's too big for them to ride, but he's friendly. You never try to pet a horse without asking first, though, like Thomas did just now. Not all of them are as friendly. Some of them like to be left alone more."
Abby nodded, and Rachel asked Thomas, "Is Ember friendly?"
"Ember is friendly, but Ember is tall. She's even taller than Teddy here." Cuddy gulped. The horse in front of them already looked like a monster.
"You said she was 17.2?" Marilyn asked Thomas.
"Yes," he said. "Light, though. Not drafty. She's half Thoroughbred, and it shows."
"17.2 what?" House asked, unfamiliar with the units in question.
"Hands. A hand equals 4 inches. Ember is 17 hands plus another 2 inches, or 5 feet 10." Cuddy cringed again, feeling her own petite size.
"Why don't they just call it 17 1/2 hands?" House objected.
Thomas shrugged. "I have tried to learn that, but apparently, it's just tradition." He sounded a little offended at that explanation himself.
"And the other half is Trakehner, you said. She must be beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing her." Marilyn turned away from Teddy with a final pat. "Come on down here, girls, and we'll meet somebody closer to your size."
Only the nose and head were visible on a stretch over the stall door she was approaching. She picked up the halter from the hook beside the door, opened the latch, and walked in. A moment later, she led out a gray pony into the aisle. "This is Dreamer. She's 12 hands."
Rachel pulled Thomas forward eagerly, then remembered and paused. "Can I pet her?"
Marilyn smiled at her. "Yes, you can pet her. Thomas won't even have to pick you up this time."
Dreamer was stretching her neck down, and Rachel reached up to pat it all over. The pony turned her head and snuffled her, and Rachel giggled. "She tickles!" Thomas looked over at his daughter-in-law. She was still standing back, wary even with the smaller pony, but she was at least taking pictures.
House approached with Abby. "Here you go, Abby. Pet her on the neck."
Abby reached up and did so but asked at the same moment, "Why?"
Thomas pointed. "Look at her eyes, Abby? See how her eyes are on the sides of her head? Your eyes are in your face, but hers are set over. If you had eyes where she does, your eyes would just about be in your ears." Rachel giggled at the image, but Abby looked thoughtful, trying to plug that biological fact in.
"They don't have binocular vision," House realized. He'd never actually been close enough to a horse before to consider eye placement. He studied the pony.
"No, they don't," Thomas confirmed. "They have two very wide panoramic fields that don't quite meet, so you get just a few degrees of dead zone directly ahead and directly behind. Their eyes are designed to scan the plains all around for anything approaching while their heads are down grazing."
Abby was still trying to grasp a concept she had no previous example of. "She sees sideways?" she asked.
Marilyn looked impressed. "Yes, she sees sideways. How old is she?"
"Two and a half," House said with pride, getting the answer in just before Thomas could.
"Very articulate as well as observant," Marilyn said. Rachel was clearly the one with the full horse bug, but Abby really was something.
Thomas smiled at his younger granddaughter. "She sees sideways. So when you come up beside her, you're actually right where she can see you best. They don't see detail that well at a distance, but they see movement very well. Then, she'll focus on it with her ears and smell to tell exactly what's coming."
Abby nodded wisely. "She sees sideways." This new fact obviously made her morning. After a moment, she went on. "Belle sees right?"
"Belle sees like we do, since her eyes are in the front of her head. Only she sees a lot better in the dark. Horses see better in the dark than we do, too."
At that moment, the truck was heard approaching. It couldn't have been missed, the sound audible way down the small road. "Ember!" Rachel gave Dreamer a final pat, then pulled Thomas eagerly toward the door. Marilyn laughed and quickly returned the pony to her stall, then followed the group.
Once outside, House confirmed what his ears had told him. This was a full-sized semi, not just a regular horse trailer. It lumbered up, slowing carefully, then swung in through the fortunately wide gate. Marilyn had caught up by this point and directed it to a broad grassy area where there was room to turn back around. The riders up in the ring halted, either reassuring their horses or just watching curiously. The semi stopped with a sigh of brakes as if tired after its long journey.
Thomas carefully let go of Rachel's hand. "I've got to deal with the men and Ember, Rachel. You stay back with your father, okay? You can't run up in the middle of things. You might scare her."
"Okay," she agreed. She retreated a step to be beside her father, and House offered her the little finger on his cane hand to hold. The girls were used to that system and were always careful not to pull him.
The driver jumped down from the semi, clipboard in hand. "Thomas Thornton?" he asked as Thomas approached.
"Yes. How's she doing?"
"She's fine. No problems." The man removed a few sheets from the clipboard. "Here are the health papers."
Thomas passed them on to Marilyn. A door halfway along the side of the semi opened from the inside, and then a ramp folded down. Cuddy eyed the steep angle. "The horse can come down that? Without falling?"
"Easily," Thomas told her. "A lot harder if she had a rider, because we throw their balance off, so it would have to be a good rider, but just coming down herself, not a problem. You need to watch the Man from Snowy River sometime."
The second member of the team appeared again at the top of the ramp. Taking out large "wings" of plywood, he started attaching them to the sides of the ramp, forming walls to give a visual barrier just in case the horse tried to short cut and jump off the side. He double-checked that they were secure, tested the slip-proof mat on the ramp, then disappeared back into the body of the big truck. Thomas came to attention eagerly, watching.
A clatter of hoofbeats, and then Ember appeared in the door. The mare seemed impossibly tall to Cuddy, and she tried to remind herself that at least some of it was an optical illusion right now since Ember was several feet above their position. Cuddy picked up the camera and took a picture just of the horse for Thomas later. She was glad of the camera. It was helping her a little with this morning. She kept an eye on the girls, especially Rachel, but her older daughter was being very serious today, even while excited. They hadn't had a single exuberant gallop lap since leaving home.
Ember was obviously excited; Cuddy didn't need any horse experience to tell that. The mare had her head up like a giraffe, scanning the new and unfamiliar world outside the door. The man holding the rope spoke to her, though Cuddy couldn't catch the words. In the next second, Ember's nostrils suddenly fluttered, and her ears swiveled like radar dishes tuning as her head turned. Then the ears pricked forward, focusing straight on Thomas in the group as her nostrils quivered again. She whinnied loudly and pawed the floor, tugging at the rope.
Rachel took a deep breath as she stared. "Ember," she said, and House was reminded by her tone of the line from the song "Maria." "Say it loud, and there's music playing. Say it soft, and it's almost like praying." Rachel was praying right now.
Ember pawed again, and that time, they all heard the man at her head. "Here!" It was half growl, half command, the tone speaking more than the word. Gentle but firm, he insisted on her attention again. Nothing in the world was an adequate excuse for shenanigans on that steep ramp. Ember sighed and stood still, and Thomas nodded in approval. "He's good," he said.
The driver nodded. "He'll get her down all right. We do this several times a day. This one's not a problem, just a little excited."
They took so long poised at the top, the man making it clear who was in charge of the timetable, that when they finally did move, the descent was almost over before the watchers realized it had started. They came down the ramp swiftly but steadily, walking straight down, and in only a few steps, they arrived on the ground.
Thomas went forward, dropping a soft, "Stay back," behind him. House and the girls, with Cuddy just beyond them, watched as Thomas went to his horse. He touched her - on the neck, House noted - and said something too soft to be heard, and she turned her head and rested it on his shoulder. Letting out a long sigh, the horse visibly seemed to relax before their eyes. He was here. Even if nothing else at all was familiar, he was, and that for Ember was enough. Thomas patted her a few more times, then fished in his pocket for one of the miniature carrots he had stocked up on before leaving his house this morning. Ember crunched it down.
Handing the rope back to the other man, Thomas went around the horse, feeling down each leg carefully for any swelling or heat. House noticed that he kept a hand on the mare's rump as he walked directly behind her, keeping physical contact at the point where he would have been crossing from her left vision field to her right. Arriving back at the head, he gave her another carrot.
The driver stepped up with the clipboard, careful not to let the pages flutter in the soft breeze. "Half down and half on delivery," he said. "We've got your card on file for the second charge, but we need you to sign that you received her."
Thomas signed the paper after giving it a quick scan, and the driver tore off one copy and handed it to him. He folded it and stuffed it into his pocket, and Ember's ears pricked. "Oh, you think there's something else in that pocket?" he teased her, and the transport team laughed. He pulled out another mini carrot.
The man who had brought Ember out looked at his watch. "Better get going," he told his partner. He handed the rope back to Thomas and went over to start disassembling the plywood wings on the ramp.
"Where are you heading now?" Thomas asked curiously.
"Massachusetts, then Maine. This trip, at least. Next, trip, who knows?" The driver shrugged. "One thing about this job, we do see a lot of different places." He gave Ember a final pat on the neck himself. "Lovely mare."
"Thank you." They all heard the clear pride in Thomas' voice. Not the same as with the grandkids, but it wasn't a great deal less. Ember was standing still now, ears focused on him. She was as near as could be to a red horse, and her black mane, tail, and lower legs set it off. Cuddy took another picture for Thomas.
The ramp pulled itself back up against the truck on a hydraulic lift, and the side doors were closed. The driver turned toward his cab. "Thank you, Mr. Thornton. Keep us in mind if you ever need us again."
"I will, but I'm not planning on it."
"We'll give you a chance to move the horse before I start back up."
Marilyn had come up beside Thomas, looking admiringly at Ember and giving her a few soft words. "Thank you. Come on, Thomas. We can put her in the second paddock for now to let her run. " She started for the row of six small paddocks for turnout beyond the driveway, and Thomas followed, Ember walking along easily next to him.
House was slower, of course. By the time he and the girls and Cuddy got there, Thomas had already gone in with the mare, and Marilyn had closed the gate behind them. Thomas unclipped the lead rope and stepped back to the fence.
Ember looked around, scanning the surroundings not only with eyes but with ears and nose. She had small ears for her size, and they were often in motion, at least in the strange environment today. At that moment, the semi started up. The mare bolted as it laboriously turned and pulled out. Flying around the paddock, her tail streaming out behind her, she was the picture of raw, unbridled power. Her hooves thundered on the ground.
"Thomas, watch out!" Cuddy couldn't help calling. He was still in there with her, though standing at the side.
He turned his head to give her a reassuring smile. "She's not going to hurt me, Lisa. She's just stretching her legs and working some kinks out."
Cuddy cringed as the mare pounded by again. She wished he would get out of there, but she was afraid to say anything else, afraid he would turn his head again instead of keeping both eyes squarely on the danger.
House dropped back beside her. "The horse knows where he is, Lisa. She turns shorter on that side every time instead of going clear to the fence. She's leaving room for him."
Cuddy hoped he knew what he was talking about. The truck rumbled off into the distance, and gradually Ember slowed down. She shifted from a gallop down into an extended trot, still doing laps, tail still flying like a flag. Thomas walked along the fence to a trough in the corner of the paddock. "Here, girl," he called.
Ember turned and trotted toward him, and he splashed the water lightly, drawing her attention to it. She took a few swallows, then turned back to nuzzle him, liberally dripping all over the front of his shirt. He chuckled. "Thanks a lot. Just what I needed." She bumped him with her nose again, then suddenly took off on another, shorter gallop spree, throwing a few bucks in. Finally she slowed again, dropping down to a walk. Neck down, she snuffled at the ground, moved a few feet, and then snuffled that section, pawing it with one foreleg as if testing it.
"Watch this, girls!" Thomas called.
Ember buckled at the knees, collapsing to the ground and flipping herself over. Now upside down, she rolled vigorously from side to side, waving her black legs at the sky, driving her back into the dirt. Rachel and Abby both laughed, and even Cuddy had to smile. It looked so ridiculous from an animal that size.
Ember finished rolling, then picked herself back up in two stages, front half, back half. On her feet once again, she shook herself vigorously like a dog after a bath, and dust flew. With a happy snort, she was off again for two more laps, then trotted to Thomas and touched him with her nose, then zoomed off again.
After about ten more minutes of this, with the mare regularly revisiting Thomas briefly, then trotting away, he stepped out from the fence into the middle of the paddock. "Ember," he called. She came to him, and he clipped the lead rope onto her halter, then pulled out another mini carrot to give her. Then he led her over to the gate.
"Come on, girls. You can say hi to her."
Rachel started forward eagerly, nearly pulling her father off balance for a moment before she remembered and waited. House limped up to the gate. This was going to be tricky with both girls on his side. They would simply have to take turns being held up; there was no way this horse was within reach from their level. The old man had his hands full on the other side of the gate with the rope. Cuddy saw her husband's difficulty and started foward, feeling like she was walking into quicksand, sinking deeper at each step, in danger of suffocating before too long.
Marilyn looked at her and quickly moved to the gate instead. "No, you're the designated photographer, Lisa." Cuddy stopped in relief as the barn manager turned to Rachel. "May I give you a boost, Rachel?"
Rachel nodded vigorously - she would have accepted a lift from Atilla the Hun to get closer to Ember. House at first tensed up, taking it as a cripple insult, but then he looked at his wife and fought the resentment down. There was no way, even propping himself against the gate, that he would try to hold both of them next to the horse. One toss of that head, and they'd all go flying. He simply wasn't capable of it, and no point in forcing Cuddy to a full panic attack to make her be the one to help him. Everybody there realized the problem already, including Marilyn.
Marilyn picked up Rachel, holding her up next to the horse. "Hi, Ember," Rachel said softly. She reached out and patted the red neck just below the mare's head as it stuck over the gate. Thomas kept a good hold on the rope and watched Ember's ears. The mare was curious, but that was all. She had seen many little horse-crazy girls at her old stable, even if this one came a little smaller than standard. He looked at Cuddy.
"Pictures, Lisa," he reminded her. Cuddy tried to make herself give up analyzing how close Rachel was and how tall Ember was. She retreated a few steps and focused, once again a little steadied by the distance of the lens.
House carefully braced himself as well as he could in case he needed to move quickly and lifted Abby on the other side. "Here you go, Abby." He saw Thomas' knuckles tighten a little on the rope. The old man wouldn't let the horse turn suddenly and knock him and Abby over. He felt a little reassured by that even while he resented it.
Abby patted Ember a few times, but she seemed more interested in studying the mare's eye, so close to her hand. "She sees sideways," she stated.
"Yes, she does," Thomas said. "She's seeing Rachel on my side right now and you on your side." After a few minutes of patting, Abby wiggled and wanted down. Rachel wasn't close to having enough of this. Thomas reached into his pocket and pulled out another mini carrot, and Ember went into orange alert, ears pricked, at full attention. She started to turn her head to take it, but Thomas and Marilyn between them (the manager caught Ember's halter with her free hand) held her straight.
"Here." Thomas extended the hand that wasn't busy with the rope. "Look, Rachel. This is important. Hold your hand flat. Like this. See how flat my hand is. Don't curl your fingers up at all; Ember might mistake them accidentally for a bite on her way to the carrot if you curl them. Perfectly flat. Just put the carrot on your hand held like that, and Ember will take it off." Rachel studied his hand, trying to copy it adequately. "Okay. Move your hand over under her mouth, but keep it flat." He was ready to pull the mare away if needed, as was Marilyn, but Rachel kept her hand absolutely straight. Ember lipped the carrot off, and Rachel smiled ear to ear.
"She kissed me!"
House rolled his eyes, though he hoped Cuddy had taken a picture of that moment instead of just palpitating. "She kissed the carrot, more like."
"I want 'nother one."
"Let Abby if she wants to," Thomas said. "Do you want to give her a carrot, Abby?"
Abby looked up at her father briefly, then at the horse. "Uh uh," she said. No fear in her voice, but she didn't want up again. House wondered suddenly if she sensed that he was getting tired.
Thomas took her answer at face value. "One more, Rachel. Then we'll take Ember to her stall, and then we'll go have lunch in Trenton somewhere. After that, it's time for you and your parents and sister to go back home." He'd come back to check on the mare again after lunch and groom her.
"No!" Rachel protested sharply. It was the loudest by far she'd gotten so far, and Ember looked at her.
Marilyn took a step away from the horse and set Rachel down, kneeling to face her. "Rachel," she said firmly, "you can't do that. Not if you want to come to my stable. Understand?"
Rachel realized instantly what she'd done. "I'm sorry," she said. "I won't yell. I promise. " She looked up at the mare. "I'm sorry, Ember. I didn't wanna scare you."
Marilyn picked her back up. "It's okay, Rachel. I know this is exciting. But you have to remember to be careful around them, even when you're excited. All right?"
Rachel nodded. Marilyn held her back up next to the horse. "This is the last carrot, and then we're putting her up and leaving," Thomas repeated.
Afraid to protest too much now, Rachel simply said, "Can I come again?"
He smiled at her. "Yes. Some other day. Not today, and it won't be every day. We need to give Ember a chance to settle into her new home." He held out the final carrot. "Keep your hand flat, like I showed you." He looked over to his daughter-in-law. She looked tense but had the camera ready.
Rachel held out the last carrot, keeping her hand flat, and Ember took it gently, crunching it with relish. Rachel gave her neck a few more pats. "Bye, Ember," she said.
Marilyn set her back down next to her father, then opened the gate, and Thomas led Ember out. The group followed them to her stall, where Abby perked back up, commenting on the new nameplate on the stall door, determinedly spelling it out step by step.
"It says that on her halter, too," Thomas told her. "Only you weren't on that side to notice it before." He removed Ember's leather halter and came back out of the stall, latching the door before he pointed out the nameplate on the left cheekpiece. "Right there it says Ember."
Abby spelled it out again, a little faster this time. Rachel ignored the halter, still looking up at the horse herself standing there with her head over the stall door, and even after Thomas picked her up, Rachel watched as long as she could see while they walked back up the aisle toward the cars. As they exited the barn, she said it softly once again just to herself, a prayer, a dream, an explorer on the threshold of a new world.
"Ember."