Maddie was ready and waiting out on the front porch when a silver truck came up the drive. Placing her hat onto her head, she picked her bag and started over to it as it stopped. 'Hey Colton, thanks so much for this.'

'No problem.' He smiled as she climbed into the passenger seat. 'It'll be great if we have found his owner.'

'How has Rocky been doing?' She asked, closing the door before putting on her seat belt.

'Seems like he's settling in but then again, I don't know much about horses.' He replied as he turned the truck around and started back down the drive. 'My Grandma has been the one doing the majority of his care, they seem to get along well.'

'Good, that's great to hear.'

'I um… I kinda expected you'd come drop by to see him.'

'I was going to but…' She paused. 'I didn't want to after you know, what happened with my mare and you almost running us over.'

'I told you to forget it, didn't I? No harm done.' He glanced over at her. 'So, how is training with your new mustang going?'

'We're taking it slow, yesterday I put a halter on her for the first time.'

'Wow. You've only had her what, four days?'

'Yeah. You know, if you want to see what I've been doing with her, I started a facebook page for her to document her training. It's called Bel's Second Chance, cringy I know but it seemed to fit.'

'I'll check it out.'

'I only started it on Monday but I've already got a few followers. I just want to show people that you don't need to use force to train horses, that there's a better way of doing it.' She glanced at the time. 'If it's not too late when you drop me back home, maybe you can watch us work for a little bit? Until she's had more training, I'm only allowed in the yard with Bel if there's someone there to watch me.'

'Yeah sure, I'd like that.'

'Great.' Maddie leaned back in her chair, resting her head back against the headrest. 'So, you've been in Austin for a week so far. Liking it yet?'

'It's okay I guess.' He shrugged. 'Still wish we didn't have to move from our old home but it is what it is.'

'I hear you there. When I was living with my father, it took me a while to adjust to our new home too. Well, I guess you couldn't really call it a home cause it was just wherever he could find a place to rent out. We moved through fifteen states in four years.'

'So what happened with your dad? You said before the Walkers took you in when he couldn't look after you anymore. Is he away or something?'

She shook her head. 'No… My father passed about six months ago now.'

'Oh, sorry to hear that. What about your mom?'

'She passed when I was eleven.' Maddie replied. 'What about your birth parents? You mentioned you were adopted?'

'I never knew my birth parents, my birth mother put me up for adoption when I was born and the Davidson's adopted me.'

'You were lucky you got adopted into a good family.'

'Yeah well things aren't always what they appear to be…' He brought the truck to a stop at an intersection and looked both ways before continuing on. 'My parents are talking about getting divorced so… With the move and then that…'

'If you want to talk about things,' Maddie started sympathetically after he had been silent for a time. 'I've been told I'm a good listener.'

'So-' He started after a pause, deciding to change the subject. 'other than horses, what else do you like?'

To pass the time, they carried on small talk as they drove to the nursing home, speaking about their interests and a few other things. When they finally arrived they both headed in, speaking with the nurse on the front desk for a few minutes before another nurse came to show them to Mrs. Wilks room.

'Mrs. Wilkis-' The nurse started after she had knocked on the door. 'you have visitors.'

The white haired woman placed the magazine aside, smiling at the two young teenagers who walked in. 'Hello.'

'Afternoon Mrs. Wilkis.' Maddie replied. 'I'm Maddie and this is Colton. He's been helping to look after Rocky.'

After pleasantries were exchanged, Maddie took a seat beside the woman's bed while Colton went to fetch another chair. 'I hope you don't mind my asking,' She started after he had left. 'but have you got any proof of ownership for Rocky?'

'If you open the top drawer, there's an envelope in there with his registration papers.' Edna said, motioning to the bedside table beside her. 'It's all there, I just never got around to updating his details with the registry.'

Taking the papers out of the envelope, she looked them over carefully and compared the details with what she had found on the registry. They were a match. 'I hope you don't mind me being through Mrs. Wilkis.' She said as she returned the envelope to the drawer. 'I just wanted to make sure that we did find Rocky's proper owner.'

'Not at all my dear, I appreciate the effort you've gone to.' She replied. 'And you may call me Edna. How is my precious boy going?'

'He's doing better, we found him last Friday not far from our ranch.' Maddie got up the folder of photos on her phone. 'When we found him it looked like he'd had a bit of a run in with a wire fence but it wasn't too bad. It's almost all healed up now.' She flicked to the photo that Colton had sent her on their way in. 'This is him this morning.'

The old woman's eyes began to mist with tears. 'That's my boy… I've been so worried about him. Been laid up in here for almost six weeks and then he got out about three weeks ago and there was no sign of him…'

Gently she placed her hand on Edna's. 'He's in good hands now, he's being well looked after.'

'Thank you dearie.' She smiled, quickly wiping her eyes. 'Look at me, silly old sentimental woman.'

Maddie chuckled softly. 'I know how much a horse can mean to a person. Rocky must mean a lot to you.'

'He used to belong to my late husband.' Edna explained. 'We were racehorse trainers, Edward and I. Rocky was the first horse we actually owned ourselves though. When he came off the track there was no way we could part with him and after we retired from the racing industry, we moved to a little ranch just outside of Dripping Springs. Rocky came with us, as did a few other horses but when my husband passed a couple years back, I had to sell the rest. I couldn't bear to part with Rocky but now…' She sighed as Colton returned to the room quietly and took a seat beside Maddie. 'My daughter thinks it's best if I move into a retirement village when I get out of here and the ranch is being sold. I'll have to find Rocky a new home.'

'My family-' Colton looked at Maddie and she nodded for him to continue. 'My family and I might be able to help you with that, Mrs. Wilkis-'

'Call me Edna, please.'

'Alright, Edna.' He continued. 'My Grandmother is starting up a horse rescue, Rocky is actually at my family's ranch at the moment. We would be more than happy to keep him there for you.'

'You would? Are you sure?'

'Well, I'll just have to confirm with my folks but we already had decided to keep him if we couldn't find his owner.'

'That would be a huge burden off my mind if I knew Rocky was being well looked after.' She replied. 'There's just one other thing though.'

'That would be?' Maddie questioned.

'Rocky has a couple of companions back at the ranch. A little miniature pony and a goat. They'd have to go with him, the pony has been with him since his racing days and they both kind of adopted the goat.'

'I'll speak with my folks but I'm sure we'll have room for them both too.' Colton replied. 'And we'd be more than happy to keep in touch with you and let you know how he's doing.'

Edna smiled. 'I would really appreciate that.'

After spending some more time with Edna and promising to get back to her with news as soon as they could, Maddie and Colton headed back to the ranch. It had gotten a little awkward when they were leaving when the old lady had assumed the two of them were a romantic item but they quickly cleared that up. It had made Maddie laugh though that Edna thought that Colton was her boyfriend, yes, he was a boy and she could consider him a friend but not a boyfriend in that sense though she did enjoy the time she'd spent with him.

When they arrived back at the ranch, everyone else was still out and since Colton didn't have any plans, he decided he'd stick around for a little while to watch Maddie work with her mare. Again Maddie built on the lessons she had already been teaching the mare but today was also going to add some extra activities to the session.

'Colton, would you mind bringing me the lead rope off the fence please?'

Colton picked up the leadrope, slowly approaching where Maddie stood with the mare. 'Here.'

'Thank you…' She clipped the lead onto the halter then gave Bel a pat, Colton still standing a good distance from the mare. Bel seemed to be calm and quiet, not too bothered by the fact that he was in the yard with her. 'How would you feel about helping me with a new lesson for Bel?'

'What would you need me to do?'

'Not much, just offer her your hand and see if she wants to meet you.' Maddie said while running her hand down the blacks neck. 'So far she hasn't met anyone but me, but since she's alright with you being in here, I'd like to see how she'll respond.'

'Alright…' Colton didn't sound too sure about it but slowly took a couple steps closer to the mustang and held out his hand to her. Bel snorted, taking a step back for a moment but when he didn't react, curiosity once again got the better of her.

A wide smile came to Maddie's lips as Bel stepped back up to Colton, carefully sniffing his hand. 'There you go… See? He's not so scary after all.' She said with a chuckle. 'Good girl… Good girl.

'For a moment there I thought she was going to bolt.' He remarked with a chuckle, the mare gingerly exploring his hand with her muzzle.

'Na, we're past that now. Aren't we girl?'

Bel began to lick his hand and they both laughed.

'I think she likes you.' Maddie stated with amusement. 'How about we see if she'll accept a pat?'

'Alright…' He slowly went to touch the mare's face and placed a hand on her cheek. Bel flinched but didn't pull back and he added a second hand, rubbing beneath the mare's eyes like he had seen Maddie demonstrate earlier. Bel lowered her head after a moment, her eyes closed.

'I'm impressed.' She said with a smile, Colton stepping back after a moment. 'She did really well with that. You might have a touch of a horse whisperer in you too.'

'Oh I don't know about that. Still, it's pretty cool though. Her being only wild a few days ago and now look at her.'

'She's definitely come a long way already.' Maddie agreed as she turned the mare loose once more. 'We'll finish here today though, don't want to push her. There's no rush in training her, I want to do this right the first time.' They both stepped back out of the yard, Bel deciding that after all that, she needed a good roll. Quickly she pulled her phone from her pocket, taking a video to upload to her facebook page. Bel rolled all the way over four times then leapt straight up into the air, bucking and prancing around the yard for a moment.

'Oh Bel…' Maddie chuckled after slipping the phone back into her pocket, resting her arms on the fence as she continued to watch her. The mare came to a stop, turning back to them as if to make sure they were still watching her. 'You are a show off, aren't you?'

Bel tossed her head, pawing the ground.

'So-' Colton turned to Maddie. 'How did you end up with Bel anyway? I would have thought that Mr. Walker would have said no to a horse like her for you.'

'He did but Abeline helped him change his mind and give me a chance with her.' They left the fence and headed to the shelter to fill up Bel's food and water troughs. 'I'd been looking for a horse for a few months and Cordell took me up to the auctions on the weekend. When I saw Bel, I knew she was the one. There are just some horses you bond with from the first moment and she's one of them.'

'How did she get those wounds though?' He wondered as he followed her to the feed room to get the hay.

'Cordell and I didn't win her at auction, we had to buy her off the guy who brought her after. He was beating her with a bullwhip to try and get her to go into his trailer. It's good having a Texas Ranger in the family, Cordell bought her from him with a little persuasion and here she is. He should have been charged for animal cruelty but I'm just glad that we managed to buy her.'

Colton shook his head. 'That's awful. I don't get why people have to be cruel with animals.'

'Neither do I. Animals have feelings too, just like humans. That's why I started the facebook page for Bel. I want to show people there's a better way of training.' She opened a new bale of hay, handing him a few biscuits before picking some up herself. 'If your Grandma is really serious about starting up a horse rescue, I'd be more than happy to help out.'

'I'm sure she'd appreciate the help.' They filled up the hay troughs then went to get the buckets for the water. 'Actually, this morning she mentioned that we're getting low on cream for Rocky's wounds. I said I'd ask if you have any more.'

'Not right now but I can make some up and bring it over in the morning. I'll check him over too, his wound should almost be healed by now anyway.' They finished with the food and water then left the shelter, Maddie opening the gate between the shelter and the outside yard once more. 'Thank you for helping out.' She said to Colton as Bel trotted into the shelter, quickly settling down to her hay. 'And thanks for taking me in to speak with Edna today.'

'It was no trouble at all. I'm glad we found Rocky's owner.' Edna had mentioned that it was her daughter who had heard his found ad on the radio broadcast and told her. 'And hopefully, Grandma will be happy to have the mini and goat come join him.'

'Let me know how it goes, if she says no we'll have to work something else out.' Maddie replied, walking him back to his truck. 'I feel sorry for Edna, she really seems to care about what happens to Rocky.'

'With any luck I'll have an answer by morning.' He remarked as he got into the driver's seat. 'See you tomorrow Maddie.'

'Bye.'

Colton left and Maddie headed into the house, quite happy how the afternoon had turned out. Not only had they found Rocky's owner, but Bel had taken a huge step forward with letting Colton pat her.

A little while later her phone rang with a message and she pulled it from her pocket, a smile touching her lips.

Enjoyed my time with you two today.

Colton had said, a picture of her and Bel attached to his message.

I enjoyed it too. She texted back. Thanks for the photo, this one will be going up on her FB page.

She had just hit send when the front door opened and slipped her phone back into her pocket as Cordell walked in.

'Maddie girl, how was your day?...'

It was still early the next morning when Maddie tacked up one of the work horses to head over to the Davidson's. She'd checked with Bonham first if she could borrow one of the ranch horses as Chester was still not quite ready to be ridden and he'd given her permission to borrow Daisy again.

As she rode over to the Davidson's, her phone began to ring and she quickly pulled it out to answer it. It was Edna's daughter May, informing her that the ranch had been sold and that the miniature horse and goat needed to be moved as quickly as possible. After assuring her that she would speak with the owners of the rescue Rocky was currently at about the issue, May was quite relieved. She said they had a trailer there they could use to transport the two of them, they just needed someone to pick them up.

Gale was out with Rocky changing his bandages when she rode in and she tied her mare up to the hitching post after dismounting. 'Morning.' She called out as she got the cream out from the saddlebags. 'How's this guy doing?'

'His wound is almost healed up.' Gale remarked as she stood, Maddie climbing the fence into the pasture. 'A few more days and I say he'll be right as rain.'

The teen knelt beside the horse's leg to take a look. The wound was looking good and if they were lucky, it probably wouldn't even scar. 'It does look good.'

'That cream of yours is pretty remarkable stuff, I've never seen a wound like that heal so fast.' Gale replied as the teen got up and gave the gelding a pat. 'What do you put in it?'

'Colloidal silver and aloe vera. It was an old home remedy my mom used to use on me as a kid when I got a burn or something. Works really well on animals too.'

'Colloidal silver and aloe vera. I'll have to remember that.' She said as Maddie handed her the jar. 'Colton was saying the two of you went to visit Rocky's owner yesterday.'

'Yes ma'am.' Gale knelt down to apply the salve to the wounds again. 'I um… I had a call while I was on my way over from Mrs. Wilkis's daughter. Did Colton mention to you about a miniature horse and a goat?'

'He did, we spoke about it last night. It shouldn't be any more trouble having them here, especially if Rocky is attached to them. It'll be good for him to have company.'

'And you guys are happy to keep Rocky here permanently?'

'Of course.' She finished wrapping the bandages around the geldings leg and stood, turning Rocky loose into the pasture once more. 'I'm more than happy to keep him here.'

'Oh that's great news. Mrs. Wilkis will be so pleased to hear that. She seems like a really sweet old lady and she's quite worried about what will happen to Rocky.'

'Well she doesn't have to worry anymore.' Gale said as they walked out of the pasture and she closed the gate securely behind them. 'Rocky's in good hands here. You mentioned though you had a call from her daughter?'

She nodded. 'The ranch has been sold, the miniature and the goat need to be moved off the property right away. She said there's a trailer there that can be used but she hasn't got the time to bring them over herself. The Walkers are busy and I don't have my license yet-'

'Colton should be able to help you out this afternoon, his classes finish at two. I've got a couple appointments today otherwise I'd offer to help but I'm sure we can work something out. Have you had breakfast yet?' Without waiting for a reply she continued. 'There's plenty up at the house if you'd like to join us and we can speak to Colton before he leaves for school.'

'Alright.' Maddie smiled. 'That'd be nice.'

'Oh… Oh my gosh…' Maddie exclaimed with a chuckle as she and Colton walked up to the pen where the miniature horse and goat were. 'She's so cute.'

The miniature horse was the spitting image of Rocky, only a much smaller and fatter version. Upon seeing them approaching both the horse and goat raced up to the fence, trying to figure out if they had brought any treats for them.

'Look at her, she's tiny.' The miniature was slightly smaller than the goat and Maddie was completely smitten with her at first sight. The miniature began to nibble at her hand when she held it out to her to sniff and her heart melted. 'Oh you are so cute!' Colton began to chuckle and she glanced back at him. 'Hey, I've never seen a miniature horse in person before.'

He shook his head with amusement. 'Are you like this with all animals?'

'Only the cute ones. By the way, you haven't met my cat yet either. Bubbles was the cutest kitten ever-' She abruptly cut off her sentence at the expression on Colton's face and giggled. 'Sorry, I do get carried away sometimes.'

'Only sometimes?' He teased. 'Back to business though.' He motioned to the miniature and the goat. 'How are we going to get them loaded up onto the trailer?'

'May said their halters were in the shed over there. Guess we'll go see if we can find them.' Leaving the disappointed horse and goat they headed into the shed and started to look around. It was Maddie who spotted the halter first though, hanging up on the wall above the feed containers. 'There they are.'

'Biscuit.' Colton read out the name on the leather halter as Maddie took down the nylon one which by its size, was obviously for the goat. 'Who names their horse 'Biscuit'?'

'I think it suits her.' The goat's halter had Blossom embroidered into the cheek strap. 'Biscuit and Blossom.' She took a look around the tidy feedshed. 'May said that all their gear can go with them, like their rugs and stuff. Perhaps we might load all that up before we load Biscuit and Blossom. Save them standing around in the trailer waiting for us if we loaded them up before the gear.'

'Sounds fine to me.' He remarked.

'I'll grab the rugs, you grab the containers?'

Between the two of them working together, the contents of the feed shed was soon loaded up into the back of Coltont's truck and the front of the trailer. Once they had finished with that, they headed back to the pen where Biscuit and Blossom were.

As soon as they saw them coming with halters, both the horse and goat took off across the pen.

Maddie chuckled. 'It's the little ones that have attitude.' She remarked as Biscuit bucked as she ran. 'I'll go grab some pellets.'

After returning with a bucket and pellets, with a couple shakes, she became their best friend. Colton haltered Biscuit as she caught the goat then they led them both out to the waiting trailer. They loaded without problem, content to munch away at their haynets inside. After making sure that they didn't leave anything behind that the horses and goat would need, they started the trip back to the Davidson ranch.

Dan came out to meet them as they pulled into the yard, Colton introducing Maddie to his father before they went to unload the horse and goat. As soon as the trailer had come into view Rocky had bolted up to the fence, neighing loudly to his friends.

'Sounds like someone's happy to see these guys again.' Maddie remarked with a chuckle as Dan helped Colton lower the trailer ramp. 'Patience Rocky, they're coming.'

'I'll get the gate.' Dan offered once the ramp was down.

'Thanks Dad.' Colton replied as he and Maddie entered the trailer. 'Same as before? You take the goat and I take the mini?'

'Fine by me. Owwww-' She complained as Biscuit let out another ear piercing whinny. 'You're going to give me a headache Biscuit.'

Colton backed Biscuit down off the trailer first, the miniature hardly able to contain her excitement as he led her over to the gate. Maddie followed with Blossom, the goat excited too but more content to follow along without the fuss that Biscuit was putting up. Dan opened the gate for them, shooing Rocky back to allow them to get in and they quickly turned both the miniature and the goat loose then got out of the way.

What a reunion it was between the three friends.

Dan, Colton and Maddie exited the yard as the two horses and goat reacquainted with each other, the three of them watching with amusement as the horses started running around the pasture. Blossom, not wishing to miss out on the action, took off after them, calling out to them loudly.

Maddie took a video on her phone for a minute or so then ended it. 'Edna will be so pleased they're all together again.' She remarked with a smile.

'They are pretty cute together.' Colton agreed then looked at the time. 'I better take that trailer back.'

'I best be getting home too.' She added. 'Nice to meet you, Mr. Millar.'

'Likewise.' Dan nodded. 'Will you be back for dinner Colton?'

'Yes sir.' He turned back to Maddie. 'I can drop you back home if you like.'

She smiled and nodded. 'Thank you, I'd appreciate that.'