THE JOY OF THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH.
Charity Joy Li lives a quiet life in a small lakeside town deep in the Missouri Ozarks. She knows that practicing dressage with her beloved horse Mariner should be a delight, but her heart can't find joy. Maybe i...
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Charity Joy
Book 3 of He Calls Me by Name
by Michael Winstell
CHAPTER ONE
THE RAIN BEAT DOWN on her head and shoulders, every drop like a tiny fist.
Charity Joy Li tightened her grip on the reins and squeezed her knees against the saddle, even though there was no chance of her falling off. Mariner's hooves smacked the muddy gravel as he plodded down the road, his head hanging low, his mane wet and stringy.
He was just as frustrated as she was. After spending nearly every day of the last five years together, Charity could sense her horse's feelings as if he'd told her himself. She felt bad, though. Her emotions fed into his and vice versa, and she was the first one to get flustered out there in the arena today. She didn't know why he kept leaning right when she was doing everything she could to keep his body vertical. Mrs. Carr, her dressage instructor, was getting irritated as well, but she did a better job at hiding it. One thing to remember in dressage is if you're upset, your horse will be upset, and then you'll ruin the whole day.
Charity let out an exasperated sigh as she looked at the rain-soaked Ozark hills rising up behind her family's home just up the road. Mist drifted through the trees. Charity had always felt like those hills were giants looking down on her family's humble ranch-style home in the valley, and they also keep an eye on the quaint Victorian-style bed-and-breakfast that herparents owned, just a quarter-mile up the road. If someone wanted to see a wide, flat horizon, they'd have to go out on Lake of the Ozarks, a fifteen-minute drive away. Here in the valley, the hills rose on all sides, old and wise after centuries of watching folks come and go.
If they could talk, what would they say to her?
They'd probably tell her to study for her math test.
Charity sat up straight and sucked in a breath through her teeth. She'd forgotten all about the test tomorrow.
Doggone it...
She clenched the reins even tighter. Mariner snorted and twitched his ears. He had probably remembered all about it and hadn't reminded her just out of spite. Charity pursed her lips and squeezed her knees against his flanks to urge him to speed up a bit.
He quickened his steps but only a little. They were both soaked to the bone anyway. It had rained everyday this week, and thankfully it wasn't too cold. The mornings were still a bit chilly sometimes, but the afternoons were pleasant in between the rain showers. Great weather for training.
Now if she could only get this darn beast to cooperate...
Mariner snorted again. Charity pouted. She patted his shoulder.
