Chapter 8
Jack came into the kitchen as Maggie was stirring up the dressing for the Asian Cole Slaw for the evening. Aaron and Lauren were working together to cut up a huge watermelon into chunks. Cait had the messy job of making hamburger patties. "Sorry for bringing this up now," he said. Maggie turned to look at him. "What are the chances of going up to Mountain Lake tomorrow as a family like we did a couple years ago?"
Maggie smiled at him. "What are the chances your mom already thought of that with the food she bought?"
Jack just shook his head with a smile. "Thanks mom," he smiled at Cait, putting his arm around her.
"Any time bud," she smiled back. "We all could use that time together. You just get your brothers on board. We're a lean, mean sandwich making machine before we go to bed tonight. Dad and Uncle Jake will get the coolers packed up."
Jack winked at her. "I'll get grandpa on that," he beamed.
"Wise decision my Jedi Knight," Cait smiled back.
"Whoa," Jack said. "I'm a Jedi Knight now?"
Cait smiled at him. "After your chat with dad this afternoon? Yes you are," she said, bowing her head at him. Jack threw his arms around her waist. "Rightly earned," Cait said, kissing his head. She then gently hip-checked him to get him out of the kitchen. "Get grandpa on board with the plan. I've got burgers to finish making."
Jack bowed at her. "Yes my Master," he smiled and scurried off.
Aaron looked over his shoulder at her. "You're good Doc," he smiled.
"Damn," Maggie muttered under her breath.
"Grandma," Lauren asked.
"Grandpa and I will get our sleep interrupted tonight."
Aaron smiled her. "That's the plan."
"I like that plan," Cait smiled.
"Shit," Maggie muttered. Aaron winked at a huge smiling Cait. Lauren laughed at all of them.
-00CM00-
The next morning, the family pulled up to the stable. Miquel had all the horses ready, with the big Belgium pack horse loaded with the coolers and supplies. Jake smiled at him, pulling a pair of pliers out his back jeans pocket. "Way ahead of you Miquel," Jake said in Hispanic and smiled. Miquel nodded at Lauren.
"Babe, you OK," Matt said, looking at her.
She looked at him. "Matt, I've been on a horse before; but nothing like this."
Jake smiled at her. "Hang back with me Lauren. I've got Duke," he nodded at the pack horse. "It's a slow and easy pace in my world."
Jack looked around and smiled at Miquel. "Stella is for Lauren?"
"Si Jack," Miquel smiled at him. They shared a fist bump. Miquel beamed and gave him a leg up to get on Haley, handing him her reins.
"Gracias Miquel," Jack smiled.
Miquel smiled at him. "De nada Jack. You enjoy your day." Jack beamed at him and moved Haley away from the fence. Aaron, Cait and Mike were already mounted.
Matt got Lauren up in the saddle. He and Miquel got the stirrups adjusted to her legs. She smiled at Jake. "I'm all yours."
"You stay with Senor Jake and you'll be fine," Miquel smiled, handing her the reins. "Madre Stella will take care of the rest."
"Gracias Miquel," Lauren smiled. Matt mounted his horse and helped Lauren away from the fence.
When they got to the top of the first plateau, Matt talked Lauren through pulling Stella to a leisurely halt. Cait took off on Lightning. Matt smiled at Lauren and pointed as Cait and Lightning flew through the pasture past the grazing cattle.
"OMG," Lauren said. "She can ride like that?"
Jake joined them. "She can ride my ass into the ground." Lauren shook her head at Matt as he smiled at his mother riding Lightning across that pasture.
"That's just special dad," Jack smiled at him.
Aaron rubbed his shoulder. "Yes it is," he smiled.
Three hours and two pit stops later along the way, Jack helped Mike tether Duke to the line of trees the rest were already tied to.
Lauren shook her head. Jarrod put his arm around her waist with a smile. "This is just simply beautiful country." She kissed Jarrod's cheek. "I love it here."
"Welcome home," he smiled, pulling her into a hug.
The family picnic by the lake naturally transgressed into another session of Beans and Mudgie memories. They all cried a little and laughed a lot. Cait's story of coming home to still puppy Beans with the kitchen trash can swing top lid around her neck had them all rolling with laughter.
The laughter dying down, Mike looked at all of them that were finishing eating their apples and stood up. "You know what; I miss them both as much as everyone else." He paused. "But let's be honest." Everyone looked at him. "I know, I'm the scientist; the pragmatic. That said Mudg was fourteen years old. And as much we all hate to admit it, he was slowing down."
"Uncle Dave made the same comment to your mom and me," Aaron said, looking at him.
"And Beans," Mike smiled. "She was my ears when I slept." Mike shook his head with a deeper smile. "There were more mornings than I care to admit I didn't like her when my alarm went off and she chased me out of bed. All eleven years of her life." They all lightly laughed. "And she always slept on the floor by my bed." He sadly shook his head. "But the last few months, she wanted to sleep on my bed; even though I could see it was starting to hurt her jumping up on the bed. She wanted a softer, more comfortable spot to sleep."
"What are you saying Mike," Matt said.
Cait smiled. "Labs above ten years old are genetically prone to hip problems."
Mike pointed at her and shook his head. "I won't say the 'hate' word about the bastard that killed them."
Jack looked at Cait. "I'm good mom," he smiled. Cait smiled at him.
"Thanks bro," Mike smiled. "But maybe, just maybe he let us off with not having to deal with this grief later when we were faced with that toughest decision about a pet. I know that doesn't lessen the pain and hurt we're feeling. I'm feeling it too." He shrugged. "But I have to, in my heart, be honest." Everyone turned quiet and thought for a bit. He looked at Aaron. "And then I'm glad you put that bastard down dad." He looked at Cait. "You can psychoanalyze that all you want mom. That's how I feel."
Cait shook her head. "That's being honest Mike. And your dad and I will never fault any of you for speaking you minds." She looked at him. "Actually that's a healthy thing to do. Keeping things bottled up is what causes the problems."
"And if some keep doing it," Aaron said, "they become my team and my problem." Mike pointed at him.
Jarrod stood up. "You spoke truth to power today Michael," he said, smiling at his grandson. "I'm proud of you," pulling Mike into a hug.
Mike buried his head into his grandfather's neck. "It still doesn't take away the hurt grandpa," he whispered.
"I know Mike," Jarrod whispered back. "Yet your eloquent words started the healing process," he said, rubbing Mike's back.
Jarrod release his hug of Mike, still holding his arm around his shoulder. Mike brushed a tear away. Jarrod looked at Jack. "Don't you have a job to do with a reward for our rides?" Mike smiled.
"They all get our apple cores," Jack smiled, brushing away his own tear. But first, he went to Mike and hugged him. When Jack moved away, Cait handed him a plastic bag to gather them up from everyone. Lauren joined Jack in feeding the cores to the horses.
As they all mounted up, Jarrod looked at Cait. "Hey you."
"Dad?"
"You've been holding out on us."
Cait shook her head. "I'm lost dad."
"This biggest waterfall on the property is a mile away. You don't know that?"
Cait smiled. "Yes dad, I do. How do you?"
"What all my grandkids have taught me about my computer is finally paying off," he smiled.
Cait frowned a bit. "The ride down from there is more than steep dad. It's not for occasional riders."
Jarrod smiled at her. "We're a family. We'll take care of each other."
Cait looked at the sun to get her directional bearings and then the mountain formation. "It's this way," she pointed. They rode through grassy flatland for a while. Then Cait and Lightning led them through a ticket of growing saplings. Jack looked around in his saddle at Aaron behind him. "Is that the falls I'm hearing dad?"
"Yes it is bud," he smiled. The closer they got, the bigger the roar of the falls resounded through the woods.
Cait followed the sound to another grassy plain. The water coming over the large falls echoed through the area.
"Wow," Jack said, riding up next to her and stopping Haley. He shook his head at the magnificence.
"You have been holding out on us Doc," Aaron smiled, riding to her other side, rubbing her back.
"No Aaron," she smiled. "I'm not joking about the ride down. Lauren is a rookie rider. We either follow the stream or head back the way we came up. That will take us two hours longer. If we follow the stream, we've got to cross it soon before the trees get too dense on this side. That's going to be tricky."
Aaron rubbed her shoulder. "You take the lead Doc; we'll all be fine." The three older kids pulled out their cellphones to take video of the waterfall.
Jake shook his head at Jarrod. "Did you know this was here dad?"
Jarrod shook his head back. "Not until I did a Google earth search."
Jake looked at him. "Holy shit dad. Welcome to the twenty first century." The all laughed as they enjoyed the majestic beauty.
Cait looked around. "We ready to head out?"
"I'm ready for a swim," Mike said. "And I know that water is too damn cold to do it here." Jarrod pointed at him for remembering the lesson he gave Mike a couple years ago.
Jake looked around. "Matt, you help Lauren. Mike, keep an eye on grandma. Dad you ride up front with Cait as a back-up guide. I've got Duke."
Jarrod looked at him. "You done giving the orders around here Jake, being the youngest of my kids?" The Hotchner boys snickered.
"Yeah dad, I think I pretty much got it all covered," Jake said with his con artist smile. Jarrod just shook his head as Cait and Jake laughed at him. Maggie smiled at Aaron. The rest laughed.
Cait lend them downstream a ways until she found a small, level pool in the flowing water. "I'll cross it first and test it out," Jarrod said. He nudged Blackie into the water. After he crossed he turned Blackie to look at the rest. "The bottom is a bit slick. Just go slow and you'll be OK." Cait talked Jack and Lauren over as Jake helped them get started. Everyone safely crossed except Jake. He let the rope tied to the pack horse loose from his saddlehorn and tossed it to Jarrod. Jarrod caught it.
Jake looked at the animal. "Stay Duke." The pack horse stayed put as Jake crossed.
With Jake safely across, Jarrod gave the line a little tug. "Come on Duke." The big horse stepped in, slid a little and halted. Jack started to say something. "It's OK," Cait smiled at him, rubbing his shoulder. "Duke knows what he's doing." Duke steadied himself and then easily crossed.
"Guess I still got some things to learn about horses," Jack said.
Matt gently pushed his head. "Just Duke bro," he smiled at Jack.
About forty minutes later they came to a level area of the countryside. Cait led the group away from the stream. "Doc," Aaron questioned, riding behind her with Jack.
"I'm giving the horses' front legs a rest from going down the incline."
Jack looked at his dad. "She's good." Aaron smiled. They went a quarter mile to the west and then Cait headed them back down. At the second plateau, Cait headed them back towards the stream. When they reached it, they dismounted for a break. The horses lined up to drink from the cool water.
Aaron and Cait walked upstream from them with a bunch of water bottles with Matt and Mike joining them. Cait walked into the stream with her lined boots and took the first bottle from Aaron. She filled it and then switched, taking the next empty one. Jake brought enough empty bottles for rest as the boys brought filled ones to the break spot and passed them around. Jack came back from the small stand of trees with Jarrod. "Now I can drink some," he smiled. After filling water bottles for everyone, Aaron, Jake, Matt and Mike followed their path in.
When they returned, Cait smiled at them. "Girls time." She, Lauren and Maggie headed into the woods.
A bit later they were all standing around, enjoying the afternoon. Jake beaded a look at Matt and Lauren. "Thanks for waking me up last night," he growled.
"You weren't the only one," Jarrod grumbled. Aaron put his arm around Cait's shoulder as they both smiled at him.
"There's something to be said about not being able to hear at night," Mike smiled. They all laughed.
Three hours later, the pool was getting a workout.
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A/N: Told ya you'd get fun. ;) :D
Miquel giving Jack a leg up is helping Jack reach the saddle stirrup on the now fully grow horse. Jack is still young, and a little short to do that on his own. Once Jack gets his foot in the stirrup, he can get into the saddle on his own.
And for the record – Mike's little "speech" is why I made the decision I did in Chapter 5. With the underlying storyline of Mr. Scratch, I dealt with something now, instead of later; and gives my continuing storyline new life. That is – new ideas for me. :D