Mia“Grayson!” Mia screamed again, urging her horse to go after him. Her horse refused to budge. She had no idea what she was going to do, but Grayson was in big trouble. The horse was flying across the meadow and he was barely hanging on, his hands tangled in the mane and his little legs gripping on tight.Carter was three steps ahead of her. He knew what to do and had his horse ready to go. Using his larger horse's speed, he easily caught up to Grayson's panicked mare. He was able to use his own horse to slow down the terrified mare and finally bring her to a stop.“Grayson!” Mia finally got her horse to stop being afraid of whatever he saw in the grass and she galloped him over to where Grayson was. His poor little face was sheet white and his eyes the size of dinner plates. Carter helped him unclench his hands from the mane and slide down onto the hard ground where his knees promptly gave out.Mia was off her horse and hugging the boy as fast as she could move. Grayson shook like

MiaThe sun slowly slid down behind the mountains, pulling them up over herself like they were a giant blanket. The sky was awash with pinks and golds that reflected off the snow capped peaks making the world look more like a painting than real life. Mia took a deep breath in and tried to save this moment. It was going to be their second to last time on the ranch, and she wanted to remember it like this.The window was basically paid off. Even if Carter only had paid the kids the barest of wages and purchased the most expensive window possible, the work was still done. They were only on the schedule one more time. It made Mia's heart ache in a way she hadn't been expecting. She found herself looking forward to these trips. Though, if she was really being honest with herself, it was seeing Carter that she really looked forward to, not the horses and watching the kids work.“Mia?” Laura asked, touching her arm and pulling her away from the sunset. She wore a hopeful smile. “I wanted to

CarterEverything was quiet in the black of the night. The barn was dark and the only sound was the gentle breaths of breathing creatures. Moonlight softly filtered through an open window and the electric lantern was turned down as low as possible while they waited. Carter was sure that he was the only one awake in the entire world, and right now, that was okay with him.Mia was sleeping on his shoulder. He didn't dare move, despite the fact that his nose itched, his right foot was asleep, and there was a piece of straw poking at his left ankle. The last thing in the entire world that he wanted was to wake her up and have her move away from him. The way her body pressed against his, even just platonically, was heaven.He smiled at her as she slept. They'd been sitting on the bench, talking about the kids and cars and various other topics. The conversation had drifted back to his cars, and she'd asked him some questions that took a while to explain. He'd started talking and realized sh

MiaMia stood in the stall, taking it all in and enjoying the quiet that came after the birth. Lily was still asking both Laura and the vet questions about the birth process and the science of what had just happened. She was so excited it looked like she might never sleep again. The two boys had passed back out in the hay again.Carter was in the birthing stall watching the foal. The little stallion stood on wobbly but determined feet. He was working on getting his walking legs steady. Carter stood off to the side, watching him with proud eyes.He'd make such a good father, the thought came to Mia. She shook it away. He didn't want kids.She turned from him and checked on the boys. They had woken up and been excited to watch the birth. Alexander said it was gross and Grayson's eyes had gotten bigger than Mia had ever seen, but they'd done well. They'd certainly learned something and she was glad they'd experienced the miracle of life. It was something she'd never seen before either.S

MiaThe doorbell chimed. This time, it made Mia grin and race to the door to get it. She opened the door, fully expecting to see Carter. She had a feeling he'd be wearing some sort of fancy suit and look like a million bucks. She was rather excited to see how he cleaned up.But, he wasn't at the door. She tried not to show her disappointment to the uniformed man standing at her door.“Ms. Amesworth?” the man asked. He wore a crisp blue uniform with matching hat. “Your transportation, ma'am.”He turned and motioned to a huge stretch limo taking up half the apartment complex's parking. Mia's eyebrows went up in surprise.“Just let me grab my purse,” she told him, reaching inside and picking up her small handbag. It was the nicest one she owned. It was a knock-off, but it looked real enough that she hoped it wouldn't look too strange with the dress.She followed the uniformed driver out to the limo. As she walked, she could hear blinds going up as people peeked out of their windows to ta