The Lady On Top

3

The car pulled to a stop in front of the double door garage before Emilia stepped out and stretched. Taking a deep breath, she looked around her property. Situated in front of a picturesque mountain view stood a modern ranch style house. The bungalow featured huge bottom to ceiling windows, allowing for the natural light to penetrate and brighten the house up. Whereas most of the ranch houses used timber as exterior siding, Emilia had remodeled hers using shades of brown concrete fibre boards, giving it a more city-like look. The landscaping consisted of a mx between rock gardens and flower gardens as well as a few shrubs.

Before she could take a step towards the front door, it bursted open and out came a middle aged woman with an apron. Behind her were excited barks from two dogs.

"Mia!" the woman exclaimed as she took Emilia into a tight hug. "Boy, have we missed you! Let me look at you," she said as she moved back a little and gave her a quick appraisal.

Emilia laughed, "I am well, Teddy. And you saw me two weeks ago!"

"Oh, hush!" the woman said as she placed a soft kiss on her cheek. "Welcome home, sweetheart." She turned to the man who was standing next to Emilia, a gentle blush tainting her cheeks. "Hello, husband."

Emilia shook her head and walked towards the barking dogs, leaving the couple alone so that they could greet each other properly. "Hey, boys! Have you been good to Teddy?" she asked as the dogs rubbed against her. After the greeting which involved a few licks and barks, Emilia made her way to her room for a quick freshening up.

She always loved this room. It reminded her so much of her mother and her room at the house her stepfather decided to steal from her. Her mother was a girly girl. She loved the pinks, the frills, the pillows and all the trimmings. Using an old photograph that she was able to keep from the little that her stepfather allowed her to take, she recreated everything. Starting with the huge bed with a white headboard. There were a few pink accents all over the room. From the pink throw pillows and throw to the pink bordered picture frames. The only difference from this room to the one she had when she was younger was that the white dominated, and the pink was very faint.

Sighing, she removed her shoes and walked to the adjoining bathroom. After a quick face wash, she made her way out of the room, walking barefooted to the kitchen where she found Theodora by the oven.

"There you are!" Theodora smiled as she straightened up, rubbing her hands on the apron that hid her hips. "The cookies will be ready in the next 20 minutes. In the meantime, you can have a look at the record book as usual." Theodora opened one of the cupboards on the central workspace and handed over a black diary to Emilia.

Emilia laughed. "Teddy, I always tell you to use the computer in the study to record all this," she shook her head as she opened the diary and quickly scanned the content. All the information could have been added into the spreadsheet that she had created specifically for Theodora.

"Oh please! I tried opening the bloody thing a week ago and it just wouldn't cooperate with me! All the numbers I entered were wrong for some reason as it kept giving me a value whatever message apart from the number I had fed into it!" Theodora huffed, seeming upset about the computer. "All that technology is for you young people. I am a paper and pen kinda girl,"

Emilia smiled and continued to peruse over the notes that Theodora had jotted down. Theodora was amazing. She was thorough with the information she jotted down, which made it easier for Emilia to plan a course of action in regards to the different horses. After checking on the progress of the horses she already knew, she moved to the new ones.

Her ranch offered three main services: boarding for those who stay and work in the city or have had to travel, training for the horse shows, including the rodeo as well as breeding services. The latter came about when a young girl could not part with her horse when her family was moving to the city. Emilia knew the love for an animal as she remembered her first ever pet that her mother had gotten her. Seeing the tears in the young girl's eyes propelled her to start boarding services. The girl made sure she was always at the farm every summer holidays.