Putting the Heart Before the Horse

He stepped over to the truck bed and pulled aside the blanket that was covering his surprise. Hope looked in confusion at the mass of nylon fabric in his hands. “Impromptu sewing class? Now I’m really running out of guesses.”

“Does this help?” He handed her a spindle with string wrapped around it, one end leading into the fabric he held.

She stared at the fabric, then looked up at the sky. “Oh, I think I’ve figured it out!”

“Hold on to that, okay?” He took a few steps backward, shaking out the fabric until he found what he was looking for. Lifting his hands above his head, he shook the fabric out. “Ready?”

As the kite caught the wind, it rapidly rose above the two of them and unfurled, more and more of its shape was revealed, until it finally reached its full extension.

“Oh, how beautiful!” Hope gasped, holding the spindle loosely in her fingers as the kite rose, extending the string more and more.

The turquoise dragon floated above them, its wings outspread and its tail dancing in the wind. Orange stripes on the wings and down the tail blazed out against the blue sky, almost blurring as the kite swooped and dived.

“Isn’t it great? It’s the one I got Ava two years ago, the one I told you about. She let me borrow it, but I had to promise not to lose it and to bring it right back to her when I was done.” It had also helped that it was for “Miss Hope,” who was currently in Ava’s favor for having let Ava pepper her with questions about the recent plane ride.

“Here, do you want to try?” Hope offered him the spindle.

He stepped over to her and pressed his chest against her back, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Why don’t we try it like this?”

She hummed happily and relaxed into him, resting her head on his shoulder. For several minutes they stood their together, perfectly content to watch the kite and enjoy each other’s closeness. Even though the kite flew through the sky and he ran on the land in his stallion form, watching the kite gave him the same feeling of motion and freedom.

“It’s funny,” Hope said. “Until we were in that toy store, I hadn’t thought about flying kites in years.”

She trailed off, but it felt like she still had something else to say. He waited, silently encouraging her, but not wanting to push her.

“I guess I forgot stuff like that. Good

memories. I spent so long feeling like I’d lost him—lost my home—that all of the good stuff started seeming...small. Unimportant.”

“I’m sure your dad did the best he could,” he said gently.

“He did,” Hope said. “I wish I’d made sure he knew that.”

“He knew you loved him,” Josh assured her. “And he knew what a treasure you were. Just like I do.”

She nestled closer into his embrace, and he wrapped his hands around hers on the spindle. As the wind blew harder, the kite tugged at the string, but together, they held it steady.

***

After another excellent and hearty dinner, Hope felt a bit like she could feel herself gaining weight as she sat there. Her insecurity twinged, but she reminded herself that Josh appreciated her curves. And he’d been the one to offer her a second helping of the apple cobbler.

In fact, no one around the table had given any sign that they worried about their weight. None of the women talked about being “bad” when they had a cookie, or “cheating” when they had a second bread roll. Everyone worked hard on the ranch, or at their other jobs, and they enjoyed the good meals provided for them.

Hope resolved to try and follow their example. Enjoying the meals was the easy part, and she definitely had that down.

She went searching for Josh and found him on one of the sofas, reading a book to Ava. She watched them for a moment, loving how cute he was with his nephews and nieces, as he spoke in a funny voice to make Ava laugh. Hope couldn’t help laughing herself.

“Hey,” he said, looking up with a sweet smile. Her stomach leapt at the sight of it, and she wondered if he’d always have that effect on her.

“I thought I might go out and walk for a little bit, look at the stars.”

“You want company?”

“I’m good, I think. Is that okay?” she asked, suddenly worried that he’d take offense.

“Sure. Let out a yell if you need anything.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she leaned down and kissed him briefly. He caressed her cheek as she pulled away.