Chapter 17
May 12th
"Is it safe to come in, babe?" asked Riley after he knocked on Nicole's bedroom door.
"It is," replied Nicole as she opened her door, "I was just about to get up anyway."
"I can't believe your dad last night. He's not up, is he?"
"No."
"Good. He will let me stay for breakfast, won't he?"
"Don't know, but you are going to stay anyway," said Nicole, surprised with what she just said.
Riley smiled and then he leaned in and gave Nicole a passionate kiss on the lips. Riley then cupped Nicole's face in his hands and kissed her on the forehead. Nicole was still so glad that she wasn't scared when Riley did this to her, and she found that she really liked kissing her boyfriend. She was also glad that Riley respected her and he never pushed her into doing anything she didn't want to do. Riley proved that to Nicole last night. He could have snuck her into his room last but, but he didn't and Nicole was so proud of him.
"I have to groom the horses before I have my breakfast," said Nicole after she was released from Riley's grip, "but you are welcome to find something you want. I think you know where everything is. Well, everything that you need."
"I think I will pass on that, babe. I don't want to be alone in the kitchen when your dad gets up," replied Riley.
"So, what will you do in the meantime?"
"I will just come out with you."
"Okay."
Nicole and Riley returned to their rooms to put on some clothes and then they went out to the paddock. Riley smiled when he saw Blue and Nicole was glad that he liked the horse. But why couldn't Riley like Ruby or Lightning? Why, out of all the horses, did he have to like her father's horse? He was the one person who didn't like Riley. But at least Riley understood that Blue was Mr Walker's horse.
"I heard you talking last night," said Nicole as she tethered the three horses to the fence, "I didn't know you talk in your sleep."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, babe," replied Riley, giving Nicole the curry comb after she pointed to it.
Nicole smiled a thank you, "no, you didn't disturb me. I was awake."
"And I wasn't talking in my sleep," said Riley, "I was talking to Amy."
"What were you talking about?"
"I told her that she is my best friend, but she needs to mind her own business. She had no right telling your dad about my past."
Nicole nodded her head.
"If anyone should have told him, it should have been me or you, preferably me," Riley continued.
"And what did Amy say after you told her off?" asked Nicole.
"Well, she said that she was sorry for hurting me, but she was not sorry for looking out for a friend."
"A friend? I didn't know we were friends."
"Neither did I, but you are best friends with her sister."
"I know. I like Amy, don't get me wrong, but I have never really considered us friends," said Nicole.
"Well, I told her that she doesn't need to look out for you because you are perfectly capable of looking out for yourself. I can't believe she had the nerve to imply the fact that I am going to hurt you."
Nicole nodded her head. She knew that Riley wasn't going to hurt her and Riley knew that he wasn't going to hurt her. Why did people have to make up their own stories? Nicole knew that Riley loved her and he had even told her that, so why did people have to be so judgmental? Nicole hated it how she had to worry about what other people were thinking of her relationship.
"Do you think she will get over it?" Nicole asked after she untied Lightning and let him loose in the paddock. Nicole then moved onto grooming Ruby.
"I hope so," replied Riley.
"I do too."
"Shouldn't your dad groom his own horse?"
"No, it's okay. He knows that I love Blue as much as him. And besides, it is not like dad never grooms his own horse. I just like to do it for him sometimes."
"Oh, right."
It wasn't long before Nicole had finished grooming all of the horses, after she told Riley a few times to stop making Blue want to play. Riley said he couldn't help it because he thought it was so funny when he tickled the horse's muzzle, and getting a lick in return. But Nicole was able to finish her work and Blue was soon back in the paddock.
Nicole and Riley then headed inside to make themselves some breakfast. Mr Walker was already at the bench making himself a coffee. He nodded a hello to Riley as he hugged his daughter and gave her a good morning kiss. Nicole then sighed with frustration. Why couldn't her father just learn to like Riley?
It wasn't fair.
...
Isabella was up early that morning, eager to get back to RayBourne. She wanted to spend time with her horse and also Hannah. After the talk she had with Tasha yesterday, she could see that the only thing that would help her would be to be with her horse. When Isabella had finished gathering her things, she walked down the stairs, ready and waiting to go. And she was surprised when she saw Mr Wilson.
Again.
"You're here again?" she asked.
"Yes," replied Mr Wilson, "I thought you would like to spend some time with your big brother."
Isabella couldn't help but smile when Mr Wilson called himself her big brother. She loved him as a brother and it was so exciting that they felt as though they were real siblings.
"So, are you taking me back to RayBourne?" asked Isabella.
Mr Wilson nodded his head.
"Well, I should let Tony and Elizabeth know."
"No need to," said Mr Wilson, placing his hand on Isabella's shoulder to get her leave, "it's already done."
"Oh, okay. Well, I am ready to go, then."
"Okay, let's go."
"Can I drive?" Isabella asked as she and Mr Wilson walked to his car.
"Still learning?" Mr Wilson smiled.
"Not exactly."
Mr Wilson was confused.
"I got my license in RayBourne. I can drive anywhere I want now."
"Congratulations. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Slipped my mind?"
"Sure it did."
"I just didn't know how to tell you, and when I would get the chance."
"Well, that's great. I am happy for you."
Mr Wilson then tossed the keys to Isabella and she was so glad she was able to catch them without embarrassing herself. Isabella was glad that she could drive and she was glad that her name change was also successful. She was now Isabella Roberts-Doyle and Isabella liked this feeling. She felt that her new last name suited her. At first, Isabella felt a little guilty about changing her name because she was worried that she would forget about her parents, but she now knew this wasn't the case. She could never forget her parents and they would never forget her.
"Watch your speed, Isabella," said Mr Wilson when Isabella was on the road.
Isabella looked at the speed dial and she slowed down. It seemed her thoughts about her parents and her last name were distracting her more than she thought, "whoops."
"Just be careful," Mr Wilson said, "do you want a speeding fine?"
"No, but I wasn't going that fast."
"You were going fast enough that you would have been pulled over by the police if they saw you. So just be careful."
"Yeah, okay, I will. Sorry."
"That's okay."
Isabella smiled.
This drive back was going to be fun.
...
When Isabella and Mr Wilson made it to RayBourne, Isabella insisted that she show Mr Wilson around. The students were not allowed to bring visitors during the week, but weekends were fine. Isabella would often see the other students bringing friends and partners to stay the weekend. Isabella had often thought about who she would like to come and visit her on the weekend, and she was glad that Mr Wilson was her first visitor.
"Its so...horsey," said Mr Wilson, wrinkling his nose.
"I know. Isn't it great?" replied Isabella with a smile.
"Define great," said Mr Wilson, moving aside when someone walked their horse past him.
Isabella snorted with laughter. Mr Wilson insisted that he moved out of the way in courtesy, but Isabella could swear that he was nervous.
"It has been such a long time since I have been on a university campus," said Mr Wilson.
"Try four years," replied Isabella with a grin, "not a very long time if you ask me."
"Okay, it only feels like it has been a long time."
Isabella smiled, "we will go and put my stuff away, you can have a look at my room, and then we will go and find Hannah. I think she said something about going for a ride and I told her to wait for me."
Mr Wilson nodded and then he followed Isabella in the direction of the student accommodation. When they arrived, Isabella put her stuff on the end of her bed and gave Mr Wilson a little tour. Mr Wilson said he was liking what he was seeing and he was glad Isabella was having a good time.
"Maybe I should have considered living on campus," said Mr Wilson, still looking around.
"Why?" replied Isabella.
"If this is what living on campus is like, I should have done it. It would have been so much easier for me."
"But you only went to Langheights. It is not that far away."
"Still a lot of travelling. I don't know how Tasha does it."
"I think it is so she can spend time with Adam."
"She has been seeing an awful lot of him lately," said Mr Wilson.
Isabella smiled, "she's in love."
Mr Wilson nodded.
"Come on," said Isabella, "let's find Hannah."
...
It wasn't long before Isabella and Mr Wilson found Hannah, ready and waiting to go on a ride. But Isabella didn't know the red headed girl who was standing next to Hannah, or the brown haired boy that was with them.
"Look, Isabella," Hannah beamed, "I found some friends while you were away."
Isabella smiled. It was typical of Hannah to say something like that.
"Are you going to introduce us?" asked Isabella. She really did want to meet these new friends.
"Oh, yes, this," said Hannah, pointing to the girl, "is Maddison Watson."
Isabella smiled an acknowledgement to Maddison. She seemed nice enough.
"And this," said Hannah, "is Ryan Barnes."
"Hey," Ryan said.
Isabella nodded another acknowledgement. These two sounded and looked like nice people and Isabella was keen to see if she would end up being friends with them.
"Now are you going to introduce us?" asked Maddison, pointing to Mr Wilson.
Isabella smiled, "yes. This is my brother, Ian Wilson, who I like to call Mr Wilson."
After Mr Wilson said hello to everyone, he placed his hands on Isabella's shoulders and he told her that he needed to head home.
"Okay, well, thanks for bringing me back," said Isabella.
"That's okay, and I will see you later," replied Mr Wilson as he turned to head back to his car.
"Wait," called Hannah.
Mr Wilson turned around and looked at Hannah, wondering what she was going to say.
"Why don't you come on a ride with us?" asked Hannah.
Isabella looked at Hannah. She knew that Mr Wilson didn't like horses and yet she was asking him to go for a ride. But then Isabella remembered Hannah did say that she was going to get Mr Wilson to like horses and she wanted to try now.
"I think I'll pass," said Mr Wilson.
"Oh, come on, you will love it. And won't it be a good excise to spend some time with your sister?"
Mr Wilson then looked at Isabella, "I think I will leave the horse riding to her."
Isabella looked at Mr Wilson and smiled, "okay," she said, "you don't have to come on a ride with us so you can go."
"Yeah, okay, well, I will see you later."
"Okay, bye."
Part of Isabella thought that Hannah's plan was good; getting Mr Wilson to ride would make him like horses, but the other part of Isabella was telling her that it was too big a step for Mr Wilson to take on the road of liking horses. Isabella would get him to like horses one day. She knew it would eventually happen.
"Do you mind if Ryan and Maddie come on our ride with us?" asked Hannah after Mr Wilson was gone.
"No, not at all," replied Isabella. She was eager to see which horses belonged to Maddison and Ryan.
"Great," said Hannah, "I saddled Storm for you so we are ready to go."
"Thanks, Hannah."
"You're welcome."
Everyone headed into the barn to see the horses were all tethered so they were standing just outside of their stalls and it wasn't long before everyone was on the trail.
It was time to look at the horses.
Maddison's horse was a gorgeous chestnut with two socks and a star. She kind of reminded Isabella about Ruby.
"Your horse is beautiful," said Isabella.
"Thank you," replied Maddison, "her name is Siarra."
"She reminds me of my best friend's horse at home. She has a chestnut mare called Ruby."
"She sounds so sweet. Chestnut is my favourite colour horse."
"Personally," Isabella smiled, "I would have to say my favourite colour is black."
"Bold colours are out of season," said Ryan as he trotted his skewbald mare over to the girls.
Isabella looked at the mare. She looked to be a young horse who was quite frisky. At the beginning of the trail ride, Isabella saw that Ryan was fighting with the mare to get her started and to let her know that he was the boss. Isabella felt a little sorry for him and she wondered why all horses couldn't have been as calm as Storm.
"Says you with the skewbald," said Maddison.
"This is Sheebah," Ryan introduced his horse, "and she likes to think she is the boss, as you would have witnessed before."
"Not to be rude, Ryan, but you ride a mare?" asked Isabella.
"It's okay, I get it all the time, but I say don't judge a horse by it's gender. I did have a stallion before Sheebah, but he died so my parents brought me a new horse. I was expecting another stallion, but they came home with a mare. I didn't mind. Sheebah might be handful, but she is fun to ride and I am having a blast training her."
"So, she is only young?"
"She is, only five. And wait, don't you ride a stallion?"
"Yes."
"And you want to know why I ride a mare. You ride a stallion."
"Okay, okay, you ride a mare and I ride a stallion. I get it now."
Ryan smiled warmly at Isabella and Isabella liked his smile. She had never had a boy smile like this at her before. It was making Isabella think that he liked her and now she wondered if he really did.
Isabella was also enjoying getting to know Maddison and Ryan. After they finished talking about horses, they started talking about one another. Maddison informed Isabella that she was from a town that was far away from RayBourne. It was so far away that she had to travel a whole day to get there. Maddison said she didn't mind, though because she really wanted to study with horses and RayBourne was the best university she could have gone to.
Then Maddison started talking about her family. She said that she had a brother and sister, and she was the oldest. She said that she loved her brother and sister, but it was good to have a break from them.
Then it was Ryan's turn to talk. He said that he wasn't from a town too far away, but he chose to live on campus so he could be with his horse. Seeing as she was so young, Ryan didn't want to make Sheebah travel in the float every week just to get to RayBourne. He also said that he was an only child and he lived on a large acreage with a lot of horses and two border collies.
And now it was Isabella's turn to tell Maddison and Ryan about herself and they said they felt so sorry for her.
"I am sorry, Isabella," said Maddison, "but not to be rude, you said that Mr Wilson, Ian, was your brother."
"He is my foster brother, but I like to say he is my real brother," replied Isabella.
"Oh, that's nice."
"Thanks."
Isabella then looked to Sheebah and then she looked at Ryan. Ryan looked like he was having a little bit of trouble with Sheebah again. She was walking next to the other horses but she was bouncing around and tossing her head. It looked like she needed to run, but Ryan was not letting her go any faster than a walk.
"Hey, Ryan," said Isabella, "why don't we find a place where we can canter? Sheebah looks like she needs a good run."
"I won't say no to that," replied Ryan, "and neither will Sheebah."
And with that, everyone was off.
...
At the end of the day, Riley announced to Nicole that he really should be going home and let Nicole get some study done. Riley kissed his girlfriend goodbye, nervous said goodbye to Mr Walker and then headed home, satisfied that he had a good time with Nicole.
And when he was gone, Mr Walker patted the seat on the couch next to him, "come and sit down, honey," he said.
Nicole ominously sat next to her father and she looked at him. She didn't look him directly in the eye, just past his ear to make it look like she was looking at him.
"I know you like Riley, and you want to continue seeing him, don't you?" Mr Walker said.
Nicole nodded her head.
"And I am glad that he respected my wishes last night and followed my rules."
"So, you trust him? You trust that he won't hurt me or use me?" asked Nicole.
"I didn't say that, honey, but he proved that he does listen and respect what I say."
"Okay?"
"But I still have my concerns, but I will try and learn to trust him. But you are my daughter and I am going to protect you no matter what."
"I understand that, but I want to continue seeing Riley."
"I know, and I know that I won't be able to stop you."
"So, you are going to let me keep seeing him? You will accept that he is my boyfriend?"
"I will," Mr Walker dipped his head.
Nicole was so happy.
She was so happy, in fact, that she wrapped her arms around her father and gave him a huge hug. She never felt that she would be so happy about her father letting her continue her relationship, but she was and that made her smile.