He smiled, but the act looked nervous, like he couldn’t gauge my reaction clearly. If I had to be honest, I couldn’t either.

“You don’t have to pay for a dime of it. He’s got a place to live and hay to eat, I just didn’t want to overstep.”

“You’re not. It’s just…”

“You’re shocked.”

I nodded, but before I could get another word out, Avery came barreling down the hall toward us. “Mama! I wanna open gifts!”

I turned to her as Callan dropped one of his arms from around my waist. “Okay. Let’s go open gifts.” 

She squealed with her friends behind her, then they all took off toward the living room. I looked back to Callan. “She’s going to love it.”

“You think so?” His voice was a bit shaky, like he was anxious for our reactions.

“Of course, she is. I know I already do.”

“You’re not mad?”

I shook my head. “Just in disbelief, is all. I never thought Avery would have the opportunity to have her own horse, and now you’re making that come true, and it’s just… a lot to take in.” Expressing how happy I was over the whole thing was hard to put into words. Obviously, I was surprised, but it was clear he’d fallen for her as quickly as he had with me.

It was my own dream to find someone who loved Avery as much as I did, and if I wasn’t sure before, I was now. He loved her like his own.

That’s all I ever wanted.

“You tell me if I’m ever too much,” he said.

“Hey,” I whispered, combing my fingers through his hair and bringing his face slightly closer to mine. “You’re never too much.” I knew what it felt like to feel like you were taking up too much space and wanted to shrink in on yourself. “You make life a lot more bearable, and I don’t think I could ever get tired of you, even if I tried.”

A small smile pulled at his mouth. “Right back at you, baby.”

“Mama!” Avery called from the other room.

“We better go out there,” I said, dropping my arms.

He nodded, intertwining his fingers with mine, and led us down the hall to twelve little girls all gathered around the table full of gifts. 

Brandy sidled up next to us and muttered, “Gone a long time, huh?”

My cheeks heated as I elbowed her arm, eliciting a giggle from her. It was at that moment I realized I’d forgotten to put my underwear back on, and my hand instinctively smoothed down the folds of my dress, straightening them out as if everyone could tell.

“Can I open them now?” Avery asked, every pair of eyes on us.

I cleared my throat. “Go ahead,” I answered, and she got to work unwrapping the gifts, all of her friends gasping and chatting about each one she opened.

After about seven gifts, she grabbed Callan’s, smiling at him after she saw his name on the tag.

She reached into the bag and pulled out the stuffed animal, the fur a dark brown with white socks on each leg near the hooves. It had a little white stripe down the nose, and a black mane and tail.

“I love it! It looks like the horsey I drew,” she said, not knowing it would be real in just a matter of days.

Callan had his arm wrapped around me where we stood as he told her, “The real one will be at the ranch next week.”

It took her a moment to process what he said, and then her mouth popped open as her eyes turned the size of saucers. “A real live horse?”

He nodded. “You can name it, too.”

“Really?” she squealed, her little hands gripping the stuffed animal so tight.

“Anything you want.” His smile couldn’t have been bigger if it tried, and I got the feeling he didn’t just mean that in regards to the name of the horse.

Avery ran over, throwing her arms around him. He hugged her back, and I swore I saw a sheen in his eyes reflecting in the sunlight.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice muffled in his shirt.

“Of course, Aves. Happy birthday.”

She released him, angling her head back to look up at him. “The best birthday ever.”

And when she turned back to her gifts, joining her friends again, I knew, without a doubt, that she was telling the truth.

It didn’t make me feel bad in any way that I wasn’t able to get her those things.

After all, parenting was supposed to be a joint task, and the fact that she now had a father-like figure to be there for her in ways that I couldn’t made my heart threaten to burst with my admiration for him. 

After never getting the feeling of being a family with her father, it felt nice to feel it with Callan.

It didn’t matter who her dad was—Callan loved her for who she was. 

And that’s all I had ever wanted.

35

Sage

The afternoon sun beat down on us the following Saturday as we prepared the horses for the Bottom of the Buckle Horse Rescue parade. Callan was supposed to pick Avery’s horse up on Thursday, but the seller had an emergency so he had to push it to next week. Thankfully, Avery was looking forward to the parade and fair tonight, so she wasn’t too bummed about the delay.

The county fair took place once a year in the next town over, and everyone from the surrounding towns showed up. The community always helped set everything up and volunteered to work booths if they needed extra hands, and the same went for the preparation of the parade. 

A few of the ranch horses were here, which would be ridden by Callan and Lennon, and the rescues they brought along would be led by volunteers behind them. Charlotte and another volunteer typically held the banner, but this year, Avery would be doing it with her instead. 

Avery had wanted to ride one of the horses, but Charlotte explained to her that it was a bit too risky with the chance that they could spook at something, given it was a busy event.

They only brought the rescue horses that were more used to people and noises, and never the skittish ones. They didn’t want to spook them and have a horse running loose. The parade would only be a few minutes anyway, with it being a short walk down the main road through this town, then they’d be loaded back into the trailer to take home. 

The awareness the parade brought to the rescue helped a ton, so they always opted to take part in it. Donations would flood in for months after, which made a huge difference in the coverage of medical bills and feed. 

I made my way back over to Avery where she was brushing pink glitter paint into the mane of Callan’s horse. He’d given her free rein to decorate Ace however she liked, so she took advantage of that and wanted his entire mane and tail to be pink.