A Silver Lining by Beth D. Carter Read Free Book Online Page B

to prove she was more than just a pretty face and more than Old Man Hart's granddaughter. This ranch and this competition provided a platform unlike anything else in her life, though she still struggled to understand how to balance on it. Every day seemed to be getting a tad easier, and when she clicked the last stall's latch, she knew she had just accomplished something tremendously huge.
    Heather had no idea of the time as she deposited the last of the manure into the recycling compound, but her stomach rumbled loudly. She made her way back to the house, taking her time to really look around the spread of the land. The recycling compost lay at the far end of everything, probably because of the smell. A dirt path led back to the immediate happenings of the ranch, several outbuildings, and fenced-off areas. The main horse barn lay farther away, nearer to the main house, with the arena some distance away to the right of everything. Beyond that were pastures, green grass as far as the eye could see, with the landscape dotted with cows. She had never thought of it before, but where did all the cows go at night? Were they rounded up and brought into a large holding area, or did they just stay out to graze all the time? She had vague ideas from seeing movies and from books she'd read, but they were questions she honestly never thought she'd ask her whole life.
    People were everywhere, performing tasks she couldn't even begin to fathom. She heard laughter, yelling, talking, animals baying, and hammering, a cacophony of sounds all merging together that made her feel left out. This was a world she hadn't grown up in, could never fully understand, and yet something inside her wiggled to be understood and to understand, even if she didn't really know exactly what.
    As she walked slowly back to the house, she saw a crowd gathering over by a fenced-off area of yard and hollers rising from the spectators. Curious, she went over to see the goings-on. Tristan sat on the back of a chestnut-colored horse, one end of a rope around his saddle horn and the other end pulled tight on the bridle of a wildly bucking horse. The unbroken horse neighed in protest, rearing on hind legs and pawing the air. Tristan kept the rope taut, but allowed his own horse to move with the bucking horse enough as to not cause it damage or allow it to hurt itself. Men stood around watching the duel between man and beast, as magnificent to watch as it was sad, because Heather saw the freedom in the horse who didn't want to be broken.
    She turned away, left the men cheering behind, and continued toward the house. She walked through the kitchen, not saying a word to Mabel, who sat at the table cutting vegetables, and went up the stairs. She entered her grandfather's bedroom, ignoring the DO NOT DISTURB sign, and sat next to his bed. He lay sleeping, his face still a mask of pain, even in rest. His labored breathing hurt her ears. He looked sunken and sallow as his body slowly imploded upon itself.
    If things had been different, if her father had stayed at this ranch and let her grow up here, then she wouldn't have run from watching the horse being broke, and it wouldn't have taken her three days to clean forty stalls. If she had grown up a part of this land, would she have been stronger? A better judge of character?
    Would she still have an unbearable sin eating at her soul?
    She didn't know how long she stayed by her grandfather's side, but she didn't leave until night had fallen completely and Mabel had come to check on the old man and shooed her out.
    Perhaps it said something morbid about her that the only man she felt truly comfortable around happened to be at death's door.
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Chapter Ten
    "I'm impressed."
    "Shut up, Duke,” Tristan absently said, his words devoid of any passion. He was quite used to telling his friend to shut up.
    "She got up early to finish all the stalls. Not bad for a city girl."
    "It took her three days.” Tristan