Stronger Than Ever

Chapter 1: Time to Relax — Or Not

As I slid into the house, I heard an exasperated voice complain, “Augh! There’s still so much to do! I can’t do it!”

I grinned as I took off my boots. I recognized that voice. It belonged to Hailee, my fiancee. I walked into the kitchen and saw Hailee sitting at the kitchen table with her mom, swamped by papers. She smiled when she saw me and stood up to come greet me with a kiss. “How are the horses?”

“Good,” I answered. “How are you?”

“Frustrated,” she replied with a wry smile. “I had no idea there was still so much to do! I thought we were done!”

“I’m just glad I’m not you,” I answered, smiling. Hailee smiled. “You still have to help, you know,”she reminded me.

“Right. See, I would, but there’s just so much to do in the barn,” I teased. Hailee grinned, her green eyes sparkling. “Nice try.”

“Worth a shot,” I agreed.

Hailee’s mom cleared her throat pointedly. “If you two want to get married sometime this decade, I suggest you finish going over your plans.”

“Aw, Mom!” came Hailee’s muffled voice as she buried herself against me.

Hailee’s mom watched her daughter with a look of mingled exasperation and amusement on her face. I could feel Hailee’s shoulders shaking with laughter. She knew she was annoying her mom and she loved it. She hadn’t really grown up.

Hailee’s dad strode into the house just as I turned Hailee back towards the pile of papers on the table. “Come on, Hailee, I’ll help,” I told her, earning a grateful smile.

Hailee’s dad kissed her on the top of the head. “So, what are we doing today?”

Hailee made a face. “Revising the guest list. Then we’re pretty much done. Finally.”

I smiled. About time, I thought to myself. Hailee and I had been engaged for about six months now. I had proposed to her at Christmas, and now it was early June. We had set the wedding date for a day in mid-June.

Hailee was muttering feverishly to herself. “OK, the invitations went out last week, and the florist and the caterer and the rental people know the date . . . “

”Hailee,” I said gently but firmly, “Relax. The wedding plans are just fine. The final fitting for all the outfits for the people in the wedding party is tomorrow, and then there’s just a couple of weeks to relax a bit before the wedding.”

Hailee smiled weakly. “Thanks, Ian.”

I smiled, squeezing her shoulders reassuringly. “No problem. I’m always there for you. You know that.”

She smiled and let her head rest on my shoulder.

Hailee’s mom walked in, announcing that supper was almost ready. “Hungry?” she asked with a smile, knowing the answer.

Hailee picked up the papers and quickly set them aside, getting them out of the way, while I set the table. Then we sat down to wait just as Joanna walked in, a little windblown from the wind outside, but happy nonetheless.

“Wow, is it ever warm outside, even with the wind! Am I too late for supper?”

Hailee smiled. “Of course not. Jess should be here any minute.”

Sure enough, a second later, the door opened again and Jess Bowden, Hailee’s best friend since middle school, bounded into the house, her blue eyes sparkling and her black curls bouncing. “Hi guys!” she said cheerfully — even more cheerfully than usual.

Hailee noticed. “Jess, why are you so happy?”

Jess turned pink. “Max asked me to move in with him,” she explained.

Jess had been dating Max Hayes for three years now. They had met when he, Jess and Hailee had been in their freshman year at university. Hailee, of course, had already been dating me, but Jess and Max had met in one of their shared classes. At first, they’d fought nonstop, until Hailee and a friend of Max’s had set the two up on a blind date. They’d been dating ever since.

“Good for you, Jess,” I said with a smile.

She beamed at me. “Thanks, Ian. Max would have come tonight, but he’s stuck working late at the office.” She made a face. Max worked as a lawyer in a highly successful firm, while Jess worked as a veterinary assistant in town. How they’d ended up taking similar classes in university was a mystery, even to them.

Suddenly, the door opened yet again, and in came Max. At Jess’s questioning but happy look, he explained with a smile that he’d finished work sooner than expected.

Tall, blond and handsome, Max’s fair good looks contrasted sharply with Jess’s dark looks. They made a great couple despite their differences.

Jess broke away from the welcoming kiss she’d been giving Max. “So, did we miss supper?”

Hailee’s mom, Ann, walked in carrying a steaming casserole dish that was giving off terrific smells. “Nope. Right on time.”

The atmosphere around the table was friendly and warm.

Jess suddenly asked, “Hailee, what’s your dress look like?” She had been asking this frequently lately, trying to surprise Hailee into answering. Apparently no one knew what Hailee’s wedding dress looked like except Hailee herself.

Hailee grinned. “Sorry, Jess. I’m not telling.”

Jess smacked the table lightly in frustration while the rest of us grinned. “Why not?” she demanded.

“Well, for one thing, Ian’s right here —”

“He’ll cover his ears,” said Jess.

I grinned. “What, don’t I get a say in the matter?”

“Nope, you don’t,” said Jess.

“—and for another reason,” continued Hailee as though she hadn’t been interrupted, “you have to wait.”

“But the wedding is two weeks away!” wailed Jess.

Hailee and I exchanged grins. “Then that’s two weeks to wait,” she answered.

“Don’t worry, Jess,” I said with a wide grin. “I’m going crazy with waiting too.”

“We all are,” said Ann, smiling fondly at her daughter.

Joanna grinned easily. “I’m just happy to be a bridesmaid. I don’t wanna get married just yet.”

Hailee elbowed Joanna in the ribs. “Well, I needed someone to be a bridesmaid other than Jess!”

Joanna smiled widely, knowing it was a joke.

“So, how are the horses?” asked Hailee’s dad, Dan.

I smiled. “Good. I worked Shimmer on the lunge line. She’s in great shape, and we should be able to sell her soon, but with her hyper moods, it’d be best if she went to an experienced rider.”

“We had a call about Sliver today,” piped up Hailee. “It was a seventeen-year-old looking for a good, willing horse to train for three-day eventing. I told her we’d get back to her.”

I nodded thoughtfully. Sliver was a good horse, a big black male — a stallion now that he’d turned four — and despite his enormous size, he was a good, gentle, willing horse who would do anything if asked. He was also strongly built, so he would be able to withstand the rigors of three-day eventing, which involved stadium jumping, dressage tests and cross-country jumping, all specially planned to test the horse and its rider. Sliver would love the challenge, I knew.

“Sliver would be good for three-day eventing,” I said finally.

Hailee nodded. “That’s what I thought. So, I’ll call her back and make an appointment for her to see Sliver.”

Everyone agreed.

“So, it looks like the farm’s expanding some more,” said Dan.

“Yeah, it is,” I agreed. “We’ve got almost more horses than stalls and everyone is doing enough work for two people.”

Hailee had taken a business course while at university and took care of the bookkeeping and such for the farm as well as helping in the barn, and she now spoke up. “We could afford to hire another stable hand. We’ve got a decent amount of money saved, and if we sell Sliver and Shimmer we’ll have even more to replace that money, and there’s Candlelight who’s ready to go too.”

“Great,” said Ann easily as she dished out second helpings. “If it’s OK with everyone, I’ll put an ad in the paper tomorrow.”

Once again, everyone agreed.

When the meal ended, everyone helped with the dishes before deciding to leave and give Hailee’s parents some peace.

As Jess, Max and Joanna left, Hailee and I walked down to the barn to check on the horses one last time before going in for the night. Hailee stopped us first at Poetry in Motion’s stall. Motion had her head over the stall door and whinnied loudly as she saw us — or more specifically, Hailee — approaching. Within a moment, the other horses were loudly demanding a treat as well. Hailee had none, but she petted each silky nose as she passed. I also paused to pet Dream, my horse.

Hailee stopped us next at Charcoal Haze’s stall. The dark gray horse had been bred for the first time this year and was due in a month or so, as she had been refusing to accept any stallions. She had been bred late, and would be having her foal late. In the racing industry, that would be a problem, but Hailee was planning on keeping the foal and training it from the ground up. The problem would be getting the foal to survive a rough Canadian prairie winter.

Hailee slipped into the stall and rested her hand against Charcoal’s flank. After a moment, a huge smile split her face. “Ian,” she said in a low voice. “I can feel the foal kicking inside her.”

I slid into the stall with Hailee. Charcoal snorted, delighted at all the attention. “She didn’t eat as much as she usually does,” I remarked.

“No,” agreed Hailee. “She could be getting closer to foaling.”

We exchanged smiles, then left the barn to let the horses sleep.

Back at the house, Hailee and I quickly got into our nightclothes and slid into bed. Hailee settled in close, her long hair tickling my bare skin.

In no time at all, we were fast asleep.

END OF CHAPTER 1: Time to Relax — Or Not

A/N: I know, I know, this is a sort of boring chapter. I swear it gets better. Honest! I’m not disappointing you purposely, it’s just that there’s no first kiss to make the chapter more interesting. And no offense intended here, but you gotta admit the married life IS sort of boring. More to come! The wedding takes place in the next chapter.

— L. of L.