CHAPTER TWO
My daddy wasn't a cowboy. At least, I don't think he was. Hell, my daddy probably wasn't even human. He had to be someone like Blue, human in appearance when he wanted to be, but unable to hide his other nature. The day I brought Blue home, just a few weeks after he caught me, Mama had lifted one eyebrow, swore while shaking her head in exasperation, and told me I had too much of my father in me.
That was the first time I realized maybe one of the reasons Mama had hopped on that train north when she was pregnant with me was because she wasn't certain whether I would come out with horns like Blue. Her parents would have drowned me in the river as a devil's child had that happened. Mama has never told me who my father is or what he looks like, but she had apparently spent enough time with him to understand the ways Blue would be different from a regular human. I used to think she hadn't spent much time with him, but now that I think about how she treated Blue--It tells me they were definitely together longer than I'd suspected.
I remember wondering at the time whether I might be able to change shape or something special. There were times when instead of doing my homework, I would sit on the porch trying to find that other shape somewhere inside myself. I wanted to have magic of some sort, even if it wasn't as cool as what Blue could do, but despite all of my attempts and even some begging for Blue to explain how he did it--which he hadn't really been able to put into words I could understand--I still couldn't change my shape. I will admit to some disappointment over that fact, but at the same time, having Blue around had brought more than enough magic into my life.
Mama put sheets on the bed in the guest bedroom and another plate at the dinner table without comment, and then cooked us all dinner. She didn't even grumble when Blue complained about his meat being ruined, just pulled out another portion to serve him raw. She did throw a fit when she realized that Blue wasn't sleeping in the guest bedroom.
Mama realized that before even me. Blue slept in my desk chair for the first two weeks instead of the guest bedroom, as Mama pointed out loudly. As he slowly grew more comfortable with the fact that I fascinated him, he moved to the bed.
You were just as fascinated!
*~*~*
Rin dropped his pen onto his desk with a roll of his eyes. Could he write anything without Blue adding his own comments? Obviously not, but Rin should have expected that. Besides, Blue was telling the truth. He had wondered endlessly about whoever was watching him for weeks and weeks while he struggled through his homework, and that fascination didn't stop just because Blue had finally introduced himself and Mama had let him stay while his lake was frozen over.
It had taken a while for Mama to come to terms with the fact that Blue was male and he and Rin were sharing a bed. With her usual level of perceptiveness, she realized before Rin did that he and Blue had feelings for each other. Rin knew her reticence about gay people was a terrible holdover from her time in the South and Mama tried to be understanding about it, but it was a tough time for all of them, what with Blue discovering that there were humans he didn't want to eat, Rin discovering that his libido hadn't died with the accident like he thought it had, and Mama throwing off more of her past so she could embrace the present with an open mind.
Three years had passed since then. Blue hadn't returned to his lake with the thaw, and Mama hadn't asked him to. These days, Blue was practically her second son. Hell, Mama probably assumed Rin and Blue had had sex multiple times. She didn't understand that swimming was more important to Blue than sex, which had kept them from doing it at the lake, and that nighttime up until now had been about sleeping. It was in the morning that the good stuff happened, when Rin's defenses were lowered and Blue was extra frisky, yet Mama always managed to interrupt before they got anywhere. She was crafty like that.
Rin stood up from his desk before his thoughts could continue in that direction. He shut the journal on Blue's last words without answering them and stowed the journal back on the bookshelf, where Blue could find it later.
The sun was still high in the sky even as the smell of Mama cooking dinner wafted up the stairs. Midsummer was approaching quickly. The days were long and hot, Blue's lake cool and crisp, and the cloud of Rin's seasonal job was hanging over everyone. He didn't want to have to leave the house to go to the job—Blue certainly didn't want Rin to leave—but they needed the money he would bring in.
Mama probably needed help setting the table, so Rin pushed away those unhappy thoughts and headed downstairs. Blue wasn't in the kitchen looking over Mama's shoulders while she sliced cucumbers, which meant he was still outside. Rin snuck past Mama so she wouldn't hand him a spatula and tell him to get to work and went out the back door.
If the front of the house belonged to the horses, with the three large barns, two paddocks, and all the sheds circled around the yard, the back of the house belonged to Blue. Mama had originally decided not to build anything at the back of the house because she wanted there to be an open space for Rin to play as he grew up. She kept the horses out of the backyard, which meant Rin could play to his heart's content without worrying about stepping in something gross or getting trampled. After the accident, they'd barely used any of the space in the front for the horses, and Rin had been too hurt to use the backyard.
Then Blue had arrived.
One day in the middle of spring, not even a year after Blue had moved in, Mama had come home with a packet of seeds and instructions for Blue. Rin and Blue had turned the earth and planted the seeds, and Blue had been amazed to watch cucumbers grow. The garden had expanded a bit since then. Mama had her carrots and beans growing on one side of the yard, but the vast majority of the backyard had been turned into small hills with green cucumber shoots growing up tomato trellises. It was a big deal in the house every year when the first flowers appeared.
When Rin found him, Blue was crooning softly to a thumb-sized cucumber slowly growing. One of Blue's ears flicked in Rin's direction, so Blue knew Rin was there, but he finished his song before turning to grin at Rin.
So, so many cucumbers! he exclaimed happily. I want to eat them!
"Give them one more week, Blue," Rin replied with a smile. Blue was at his cutest when he was happy. "Have you finished singing to them?"
Not singing, Blue grumped. I'm telling them to grow big and delicious so I can eat them. And I have one more hill.
Rin laughed. "Finish quickly. I think Mama's going to be calling us to dinner soon."
Blue nodded and turned back to his cucumbers. Rin watched for a few moments as Blue caressed each slowly growing vegetable and touched each blooming flower. It was beautiful, if slightly creepy. It was like Blue was singing to a baby just moments before tossing it into a pot of boiling water. Definitely creepy, which didn't quite explain why Rin was getting slightly horny watching Blue gently caress cucumbers.
The beans probably needed to be picked, Rin told himself as he forced himself to turn away and walk to the other side of the garden. He bent down to check the pole beans Mama had growing on another trellis.
"What have you done?" a voice snarled. Rin jumped in surprise, almost crushing one of the plants under his feet, and looked up. A man was standing in the middle of the backyard, only a few feet from the garden. He hadn't been there just a second ago. "How dare you ensnare one of our innocents for your cruel purposes!"
"What?" Rin asked, still gaping in surprise. The speed with which he had appeared coupled with his appearance told Rin the man couldn't be human. He was very tall, even taller than Blue, who topped out at six-foot-two. His skin was dusky black. Not the dark-brown color of natural human skin, but an eerie, true black. His ears were also pointed, Rin noticed, but it was a much subtler point than Blue's ears.
"Release him at once!" the man growled. He stalked forward, his entire body vibrating with threat. Rin gulped, he couldn't help it, and tried not to take a step back and crush a plant. "Fine. If you won't release him, I'll curse you. I call upon Danu and beseech her: place a geas on—" A hand appeared over the man's mouth before he could finish his sentence.
The air around Rin felt heavy, like a bad storm was just on the horizon, but it dissipated quickly as a breeze blew through the yard. Blue snarled from behind the stranger. His hand over the stranger's mouth had long claws at the end of his normally blunt fingers, and those claws were digging in. Blood dripped down the stranger's neck.
Don't touch my snack, Blue hissed. He's mine!
He's enspelled you. I'm here to free you and help you return home!
Rin could hear both voices inside his head.
Do I look enspelled to you, idiot drow? He's my snack and I'm going to eat him, not the other way around.
They were quiet for a few moments, glaring at each other. Rin stepped out from the garden and approached Blue.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking warily at the man Blue had called a drow.
Blue whined and stepped back from the stranger, putting his body directly between Rin and the drow. He's being mean, Blue hissed. He growled at the drow again.
"Now look here, both of you," the man said, holding out one hand. Blue tensed.
"Not another move," Mama snarled from behind them. She pumped her shotgun pointedly. Rin didn't turn to look, but he knew Mama must be aiming the gun at the stranger, and that she meant business. "Don't you do anything to hurt my kids."
The man slowly dropped his hand. "You're Lizzy Roark?" he asked, sounding surprised.
"And if I am?" Mama snapped back.
The drow smiled. "I'm Jim O'Malley, from Overhill Stables."
"I know who you are," Mama said. "I also know what you are, dark elf. Get the hell away from my kids!"
Jim's smile faded into a contemplative look. "First off, I'm only half unseelie sidhe, and my seelie father did my rearing. Second, I'm that idiot's guardian." He pointed with his chin at Blue, which was smart, since moving his hands would probably get him shot. "Apparently Blue forgot that he sent me a rather cryptic letter asking if I had any gold stashed around my house. When I stopped by his lake and found him missing, I assumed the worst and went hunting for his captors."
Blue had tilted his head curiously as Jim explained, and he sighed when Jim finished. I forgot, he admitted. But you shouldn't have tried to hurt my snack! Rin is mine!
"Blue," Rin groaned. "Mama, Blue knows him."
Mama snorted. "Of course he does. And now dinner's probably burning because of your damned mix-up." Rin heard the click as she popped the safety back on her gun.
"We can't have that," Jim said smoothly. "How about we all go inside, rescue dinner, and have a little talk about this."
You won't try to hurt Rin again? Blue asked suspiciously.
I won't, Jim replied in Rin's head, but the cold, wary look in his eyes told Rin he probably meant, Not tonight, at least.
Blue let out a soft whinny as he spun on one heel. He grabbed Rin's hand in his and pulled Rin along behind him, past Mama and into the house. He let Rin go in the kitchen so Rin could hurry and rescue a pot full of smoking oil before it caught fire. The chicken tenders Mama had been about to deep-fry were still uncooked on a plate beside the oil. Dinner itself wasn't ruined, but with Jim joining them at the table, Rin didn't think their meal was going to be particularly palatable anyway.
Jim walked into the kitchen from the back door and calmly took a seat at the kitchen table. Rin could hear Mama in the back closet, locking the shotgun away again. She joined them a few moments later and snorted in disgust when she saw the burnt oil. She left the pan pushed aside on a cool burner, and then got out a new pan, filled it with fresh oil, and waited for it to heat up.
"So," she said when no one else spoke up. "Rin and Blue, set the table for four." Rin hurried to obey, knowing the clipped tone to her Southern vowels spelled trouble if he didn't. He got four plates out of the cabinet, then put one back when Blue pulled a plastic-wrapped plate full of raw chicken out of the fridge. Blue put his plate on the table in front of his chair, then returned to the fridge for the bowl of sliced cucumbers while Rin set the rest of the place settings.
The pop and hiss of the oil as Mama dropped the chicken into it was the only sound in the room. They didn't have french fries to go with the chicken fingers, so Rin found an open bag of potato chips in the pantry. He also got out the tossed salad, the dressing, and a pitcher of water from the fridge that Blue had ignored. With the table set, Rin sat next to Blue to wait for Mama to bring the chicken over.
It didn't take too long for Mama to join them with the rest of the food. Rin took some chicken with homemade honey-mustard sauce, some salad, and some chips as the dishes were passed around. Blue ripped the plastic wrap off his food with his usual exuberance. He picked up one of his pieces of chicken with his hands and bit off an end.
Mama's chicken fingers were dipped in egg then breaded in cornflake crumbs and spices before they were fried. Blue's were uncooked, but he crunched just as much as Rin did as they both chewed. The silence grew even heavier as everyone ate instead of speaking.
Mama put her fork down first. She never could abide by stupidity. "I'll tell you right now, Jim O'Malley, Blue here has been a member of my household since he showed up three years ago clutching at Rin's hand and announcing he was living here now because his lake was frozen over."
"Three years?" Jim gasped, turning to glare at Blue. "I've visited you well over a dozen times in the last three years, and you didn't think to mention that you'd moved into the farmhouse with the human and her kid?"
Rin is mine and I'm not sharing him! Blue insisted. His face was earnest and intent, and he reached one chicken-sticky hand across the table to grip Rin's previously clean hand.
"No need to translate that one," Mama sighed with a shake of her head.
They finished eating in silence while Jim and Blue glared at each other. Rin switched his fork to his other hand so Blue could continue holding their sticky fingers together. Knowing Blue had been keeping the fact that he had someone who was supposed to watch over him secret wasn't much of a surprise. The way Blue's mind sometimes worked didn't always make sense to Rin, but that was made Blue unique, and Rin loved that about him. What did have Rin reeling a little bit was the way Mama had tossed her knowledge about Jim out so nonchalantly. Jim was a dark elf, she had said, and she hadn't blinked when Jim corrected her terminology. Rin had no idea what the difference between an unseelie and a seelie sidhe was, but Mama did. Then again, Mama had taken Blue in with barely a blink too. She made him meals with raw meat without fear that he would catch salmonella and had known before Rin that giving Blue cucumbers would make him insanely happy.
Mama knew things about people and creatures that Rin apparently didn't, despite the fact that he had long assumed that he was partly one of those creatures too. She was taking Jim's presence better than when she had realized Rin and Blue were sharing a bed. It was very disconcerting.
They finished dinner without any more conversation. Rin and Blue cleared the table, leaving the dishes next to the sink for Mama to wash. Jim offered to help, but Mama waved him back to his seat.
"The beans do need to be picked," Mama said to Rin with a pointed look. She apparently hadn't missed him sneaking past her earlier to join Blue in the garden instead of offering to help with dinner, and she wasn't impressed. "We'll eat them tomorrow, if you finish picking tonight."
It was summer. The sun was still high in the sky and wouldn't set for another three hours. Normally Rin and Blue would run off to play or swim until it got dark, but with Jim still sitting at the kitchen table, Rin knew Blue wouldn't want to wander far. Picking the beans was also a good way to get Rin and Blue out of the kitchen for a few minutes so Mama and Jim could talk, so Rin didn't argue. He washed his sticky hands—and made Blue wash too—grabbed a bowl from one of the cabinets and led the way outside. He left the back door open behind him and stayed nearby, where he could overhear their conversation.
"Your horses ride good races," he could barely hear Mama saying to Jim.
"Yours used to. I heard about what happened. It was such a shame you didn't win the Saratoga Trainer's Title that year."
"I came in second while I was in the hospital, and the doctors weren't certain Rin would keep his legs. I had more important things to worry about than coming in first," Mama finished scathingly.
"And yet," Jim said slowly, "it's been years since the accident. I'm surprised you haven't gotten back into racing."
Mama laughed, and Rin cringed. "With what money?" she asked Jim coldly. "Everything I had went to medical bills. I sold almost all my horses just so I could keep my house while Rin suffered through physical therapy. Thanks to my own injury, I can't sit a yearling. You think I can get back into the business like this?"
"I think you just need a little help, which is why I'm guessing Blue asked me for gold," Jim said, sounding very satisfied. Rin glanced over to Blue. Rin hadn't missed the increasing number of unpaid bills or the worried wrinkle that was only deepening between Mama's eyebrows, but he hadn't thought Blue would notice them, too. Blue was lost amid his cucumbers again, so Rin didn't ask. "Don't think I missed the stallion in your barn or the two mares in your paddock. You want to try your hand at the Saratoga meet again."
"Did you bother getting a good look at the horse in my barn?" Mama interrupted. "That's Swearing A Blue Streak, also known as Demon Blue. I've got another year to gentle him for breeding or he'll be sent to a dog food factory. I don't want any foals out of that monster, but his owner does."
"And when you collect your breeder's fee, you'll have the funds to start rebuilding your breeding stock and to hire people to do your riding for you," Jim said, his voice full of understanding. "I get it. But I have a different idea. I owe you for taking care of Blue for three years. I'm sure he's caused you endless problems."
Blue snorted quietly in protest, but he didn't look up from his plants. So, he was listening.
"He's pulled his own weight around the house. I've made sure of that," Mama replied sharply, as if Jim were criticizing her parenting.
"But it still can't have been easy with another mouth to feed and body to clothe. Overhill Stables has been around for ninety-five years now and there's only so many times I can claim to be my own son taking on the reins from my father before someone notices the twin-like resemblance between father and son. I need thirty years with my face and name out of the news, but I don't want to stop racing my horses."
"So you want me to take your horses and pretend they're my own?" Mama scoffed. "I'm capable of doing this on my own, thank you very much."
"I'm not giving you my trained racehorses," Jim disagreed. "Just a few mares and stallions—as well as the necessary funds to care for them—that will allow you to restart your breeding program. In two years, you'll have plenty of colts and fillies to train and race, as well as have enough incoming funds for them. You'll be back on your feet again, and any debt Blue has incurred will be cleared. In thirty years, I would like you to return the favor by giving me a few horses to rebuild Overhill with."
"It's a very generous offer," Mama said slowly. "I would bring in my own stock from outside your stable, you understand."
"To strengthen the bloodlines," Jim replied with perfect understanding. "There's a lot of details to work out. For now, how about I ship in one of my mares. She'll be going into heat soon. If you put her into a paddock with Demon, she'll beat him into learning some manners, and that bastard Wesley can suck it."
Mama laughed. She actually laughed. Rin couldn't help scowling at that. There had been so many years where she could barely crack a smile as Rin struggled and the bills piled up, and Jim could make her laugh so easily. It was infuriating. Not only that, but he was offering an easy solution to the problems that had haunted Rin and Mama for years. Rin couldn't help wondering what Jim was really after.
Jim can be mean, but he's not a bad guy, Blue insisted softly. Let him help. Rin sighed, but he couldn't argue with Blue.
"Let me make up the guest bedroom," Mama insisted, her voice moving farther away from the kitchen as she headed deeper into the house. With any chance of overhearing more of their conversation ended, Rin finally turned to the beans and started picking.
*~*~*
I am still just as fascinated by you, Blue.
I knew it! Yooouuuu Luuuuvvvv Meeee!
Stop writing in my diary!
No!
Jim was already sitting at the breakfast table when Rin and Blue made it downstairs the next morning. Mama had pounded on their bedroom door first thing, then yelled through the bathroom door to hurry them up, which had left Rin with blue balls. He was finally beginning to allow himself to think about Blue in a sexual sense without the fear they would end up destroying the wonderful friendship they already had. Instead, Rin was starting to believe taking that next step would only enhance their relationship, and Mama was, probably unconsciously, driving him mad.
She was cooking breakfast at the stove, already dressed in her work uniform, and looked totally innocent, so Rin toned down his glower and tried to enjoy the smell of banana pancakes wafting his way. Mama was filling plates on the counter, so Rin got out silverware and juice glasses for everyone while Blue raided the pantry for the syrup.
"You like pancakes, Blue?" Jim asked curiously.
Much better than cold, slimy fish. Blue happily plunked the bottle of syrup in front of his seat, and then sat down to wait. Mama adds fruit and I pour lots of sugar on top.
"And then he spends the day galloping around the farm because he's sugar-high," Rin finished with a grin.
Mama brought all four plates over to the table. Blue took his syrup first, pouring until there was more syrup than pancake on his plate. Rin waited until Jim and Mama had taken some, then drowned his own pancakes.
"He learned from you," Mama sighed as she looked at Rin's plate. "Anyway, today's chores. First, clean up breakfast. Then I need Tildie and Mary brought back out to the pasture, and Demon brought into the empty paddock. Tildie and Mary's paddock needs to be rolled flat again, and Demon's stall in the barn cleaned. Only once all those chores are finished can you go swimming," she finished sternly, mostly to Blue, although Rin had been known to abscond with Blue to the lake on occasion.
"Yes, Mama," Rin replied when she waited impatiently for an answer.
Blue snorted but nodded. Okay. We'll swim later!
Rin only had a week of freedom left for swimming before his seasonal job started. It was six weeks of pure hell, but it brought in enough money that they didn't have to seriously scrimp during the winter. In winter, there were days the roads were so blocked by snow and ice that Mama couldn't get to work, which meant she wouldn't get paid that day. The extra bit Rin brought in made those snow days a little less terrible. He worked as a security guard for the Saratoga Race Course during the six-week racing season at the end of the summer. It was forty-two hours during a six-day week at ten dollars an hour. It was also the only way Rin could think of to return to the track. He couldn't be at Mama's side as she saddled her horses before the race, but working there was pretty close.
With only one day off a week and the fact that he'd need those full twenty-four hours to recover and prepare for the next six days, swimming just wasn't possible. Blue knew that and Mama knew that, which was one of the reasons she wasn't making them roll both paddocks and sweep out the entire barn.
Mama finished her pancakes and put her plate in the sink. "I'm off. I'll see you tonight," she said with a smile for Rin and Blue. She nodded politely to Jim before leaving the kitchen. Rin heard her car start up a few minutes later.
"So, tell me," Jim said as he leaned back in his chair to watch Blue lick his plate clean, then take Rin's empty but syrup-covered one and lick that too. "How did Lizzy Roark meet up with a sidhe and sire a son?"
Rin scowled at Jim. It was rude to ask questions like that, especially since he had purposefully waited for Mama to leave before asking. Still, this was a good opportunity to find out more about himself. He stood and gathered the dirty dishes before answering.
"What's a sidhe?"
High fairy. Grumpy fairy. Sourpusses. Bleh.
Jim couldn't stop a grin at Blue's words. "Not entirely inaccurate, unfortunately. The fae, or faeries, as Blue has so rudely called us, are a multitude. Blue is a type of fae, a kelpie, but because his form and thoughts are mostly animal in nature, he is considered lesser by those in power."
"That's not right," Rin said. Believing that someone was lesser just because they were a little different very often led to terrible crimes. He started stacking the dishes in the dishwasher as he listened.
Jim shrugged. "It's how it's been for longer than humans have been living outside of caves. Those who think without the influence of an animal mind and who lack the characteristics of an animal are called sidhe. I'm a sidhe, for example. These days, we have two courts. The court you would classify as good is called seelie, and the bad is unseelie. They're not very different, to be perfectly honest, just two sides of the same coin. The seelie generally have ties with life magic, growing things and the like, while the unseelie specialize in death. It's warped the unseelie," he added with a twist to his lips Rin could only identify as sad disgust. "They learned hate along with all manner of death."
Seelie, unseelie. They're all grouchy and cranky, Blue insisted.
"Yeah, but a seelie won't kill you for being grumpy back," Jim said pointedly. Blue snorted and grabbed the syrup bottle off the table to return it to the pantry.
I'm not an animal just because I'm a water horse. Stupid sidhe.
"I think swimming with you is amazing," Rin had to say. Blue sounded depressed and hurt. He had to know that there were people like Rin and Mama who didn't care that he was different.
Blue let out a happy squeal and came bouncing out of the pantry. He threw his arms around Rin from behind, knocking the pan he was washing out of his hands. It dropped into the sing with a clang. Rin grabbed Blue's hands in his own soapy ones and squeezed back.
Love you, Blue whispered into Rin's neck, his breath puffing against Rin's skin, which made Rin have totally inappropriate thoughts for a moment when Jim was watching and they still had chores to do.
"You too, you silly kelpie. Now let me go so I can finish cleaning up." Rin smiled as Blue slowly stepped back. He finished washing the pan and placed it in the drying rack, then dried his own hands on the dish towel hanging over the oven. "Outside?"
Have to move the silly sisters, Blue agreed, leading the way through the house and out the front door. And the Demon, he added with a sigh. Stupid horse.
"Unfortunately, there aren't any stupid horses, just abused ones," Jim explained from behind them as he followed them through the yard and to the paddock. Mary and Tildie whickered and met them at the fence. It looked like Mama had gotten up early to brush Mary and Tildie. Their coats were soft and dust free. Blue whinnied softly at them to say hello. "I've long suspected Wesley and Solomon Stables of neglect and abuse, but there are never any overt signs like scars or starvation on their horses. Just a bad attitude bordering on crazy. Demon is a prime example of their work."
Rin rubbed Mary's nose, her skin soft as velvet under his fingers, and couldn't help agreeing with Jim. Mama had helped out Wesley Stables before with horses they couldn't control. Yes, racehorses were high-strung, but they were generally nice horses that just really loved to run. Horses that would attack their jockey or their handler because the horse was apparently perpetually in a bad mood didn't come along often, so Wesley having so many was a big red flag. And Mama probably knew that, too. She had signed a contract with a devil by agreeing to take on Demon, but she was desperate, and Wesley had to have known that.
Rin hated the entire situation. They desperately needed the money, but every time he was reminded of the man that had put Demon in their barn, he couldn't help gritting his teeth. He took a deep breath and let it out, trying to let the soothing feeling of Mary's nose under his hand calm the angry emotions roiling inside, tightening his stomach and chest.
You need to walk, Blue insisted, glancing down at Rin's legs. I'll deal with Demon.
Blue wasn't oblivious to the thoughts spinning through Rin's head, but he always managed to keep the important things forefront in his own mind. Rin let the last of his ire fade away, determined to emulate Blue's stoic acceptance of Demon. It wasn't as if there was anything either of them could do to change the situation, so they just had to make the best of it.
"You're sure?" Rin asked. Rin knew that Blue remembered their first year living together, when the physical therapy had really started paying off and Rin had slowly started to walk without the braces and crutches. Blue didn't want Rin to backslide any more than Rin did, so every once in a while, he made Rin walk all the way to the lake or to the pasture for additional practice. Rin would never be able to do all the things he could before the accident, but he could run and he could certainly walk the distance to the lake and back without too much trouble.
Blue nodded and headed toward the barn. Rin had to hurry and get the mares away before Blue muscled Demon outside and Demon saw them. There were dozens of halters inside the tack shed, some in better repair than others. Rin grabbed two of the good ones and hurried back to the paddock.
Mary and Tildie were well trained. They both lowered their heads so Rin could fasten the halters. He hooked a lead onto both and led them out of the paddock and into the yard. It wasn't a long walk to the pasture. The hardest part was knowing that a few years before, Rin would have hopped onto one of the horses' backs and gotten there in five minutes instead of the fifteen it took on foot. He couldn't do that now. The only horse he could ride was Blue, which was a real shame. Rin wouldn't change what he had with Blue now for anything, but he loved to ride and if he hadn't gotten hurt, maybe he would be racing at Saratoga instead of working there.
Mama wasn't tall, just five-foot-five, and Rin had no idea how tall his father might have been, but he had turned out short. Perhaps the accident had stunted his growth, like Mama believed. Rin had no way of knowing the truth, but he was barely five-foot-three, extremely short for a guy. He was also wire-thin thanks to all his time running around with Blue and the fact that Mama couldn't afford to overfeed him. He could have been a jockey if he had the strength in his legs to match his frame, although if he had the muscle he would probably be too heavy, so it was a silly idea to cling to either way.
Besides, if Rin were riding other horses every day, Blue would get jealous, and that might end badly for everyone.
So, Rin walked to the pasture. He was slow enough that Mary and Tildie would pause on their leads to grab some grass to munch on as they walked. There would be plenty of that in the pasture too, but they didn't care. The fence eventually came into sight, and Rin hurried to the gate. He unlatched it and swung it open so Mary and Tildie could wander inside. They let Rin remove their halters before hurrying off to find the choicest bit of grass to have for their third breakfast.
Mama had chosen to fence the pasture barely a year before the accident. It was the largest flat piece of land on her property, and it had a small stream running through it. It was perfect to give her horses some space to run around and actually be horses, although back when she had dozens of horses, only the mares and the occasional gelding had use of the paddock. Stallions would fight if they were together, so Mama had always kept them well apart.
Most racehorses never saw the outside of their barn stall except when they were led outside for training. Mama hated that practice vehemently. She didn't have the space to give every stallion his own pasture, but the mares had been allowed to run, and she'd done what she could for the rest too.
Rin walked back down the path toward the farmhouse. There were still chores to do. He shouldn't spend the morning reminiscing, or they would never get the chance to go swimming.
Jim was wandering around the farm muttering to himself when Rin got back. He went in and out of each barn, shed, and paddock at least three times while Rin grabbed the heavy roller from its hook inside one of those sheds and began pushing it through the paddock Mary and Tildie had left churned up. Hoof scars, rabbit holes, and anything else in the ground that might trip up a horse vanished beneath the roller. Demon was sulking in the other paddock. Apparently Blue had given him a talking-to he didn't appreciate. Blue was making unhappy noises from inside the barn. He wasn't a fan of mucking out stalls, but he would do it if it meant Rin was getting the exercise and practice his legs needed.
It didn't take long to finish the paddock. It was large enough for ten horses to peacefully share, but the roller was efficient as Rin pushed it along. He was tired and sweaty by the time he hung the roller back on its hook, but he still grabbed the bag of grass seed lying nearby. He walked up and down the paddock again, gently tossing seed around. He made sure to cover any spots that looked particularly well chewed. Once that was finished, he put away the bag of grass seed and pulled out the hose to water the paddock and start the new grass growing. It was more than Mama had told him to do, but if Rin didn't do it now, Mama would have to do it when she got home from an exhausting day of waitressing. Besides, Blue had already hauled out the mucky hay and was going beyond his own chores by sweeping out the entire barn. Rin could do no less.
Swimming? Blue asked when Rin started winding up the hose. He'd appeared in the barn doorway, looking dusty and hopeful.
"Let me make sure Demon's feed bin is full and then yes, let's go swimming," Rin agreed.
Blue squealed happily and spun on his heels to go put the broom away. Rin hurried with the hose and went to check Demon's feed.
"You want to come with us?" Rin asked Jim when Jim poked his head out of one of the sheds to investigate Blue's noise.
"He doesn't let me go into the water," Jim replied with a shrug. "He'd try to eat me, you understand. Blue wouldn't be able to help it. You're special, clearly," he added with a wide grin.
Rin ducked his head, glad he wasn't prone to blushing. Blue came rushing over before Rin had to come up with a reply. He shifted forms and then waited impatiently for Rin to climb on, all under the curiously watchful eye of Jim, and then they galloped off to Blue's lake.