North Oak, Book 1 - BORN TO RUN

Chapter 6: The Flash

THE FLASH

Steven pointed the remote at his television, rewinding footage of a horse racing and watching it repeatedly. He hunkered down in his favorite recliner, toes curling as a jockey and bay filly in North Oak's colors wove between horses on the screen.

He broke from his trance when his wife squeezed his shoulder, lowering a plate of brownies to the end table beside him. "What are you doing?"

He rewound the footage again and played it. "She only got to ride her a few times."

The horse and jockey wove between the pack again.

"Did you see that?" he asked, waving the remote wildly. He rewound the footage, and played it on quarter speed. Frame by frame the horse and rider bounded into a hole that hadn't been there a moment ago, then shot out of it just as quickly. It closed behind them. They overtook the horse in third, then second, and started chewing up the distance between them and the leader stride by stride. Steven grinned. "God, she was good."

"They came out of nowhere."

He stopped the replay just as the two athletes drew abreast with the leader at the finish line. Steven bowed his head and rubbed his temples. His wife stroked his hair. Steven's voice was strained when he spoke. "She was like a flash of light. Blazing. Brilliant. She had so much potential. So much life still ahead of her." His shoulders tensed, then shuddered. "And then God took her away," he choked. "I feel like I've been grasping at straws ever since."

Amber crouched beside him, drawing him close to her over the side of the recliner. She rubbed his back as he let silent tears roll. "At least you still have Venus Galaxies. You and Angie still have a legacy together."

Steven pulled himself together, drawing his wife to a spot beside him in the armchair. She snuggled close. Amber took the remote from him and shut the T.V. off. 

He drew a deep breath. "I can't tell you how long I sat beside Alexandra's bed in the hospital staring at her file. I still can't believe who she is."

"Have you sent off the DNA test?"

"I got it back before she woke up."

Amber tangled her fingers in her husband's graying hair gently. "What did it say?"

His eyes lifted to hers. "Angelina was supposed to inherit the farm. Any child she had has a right to North Oak, but when she passed, it shifted into our hands. We can't let that change."

"And you intend to keep the girl here?"

Steven's jaw tensed. 

Amber sat up and looked him straight on. "That's a dangerous game, sweetheart."

He shifted uncomfortably, fixing his eyes on the blank television. "I want my family together, but the farm is mine."

"Steven, you can't have the cake and eat it too. It's all going to come out eventually."

Steven got out of the chair, his wife's eyes still boring into him. He grabbed a brownie from the plate she had brought, broke it in two, bit one, and stuffed the other in his wife's mouth.

He braced himself on the arms of the recliner where Amber sat, and chewed, then left a brownie crumb freckled kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight."

Brooke proved an adept tutor for Alex, and aside from saddle upkeep, Alex picked up basics effortlessly. She was surprised how easy it was to her, like breathing. But the work was hard and made her sore and tired.