'This. Sucks.'
That was all I could think as the eyesore of a yellow boat neared the docks. It was bad enough that there wasn't an airport on the island, meaning the only way in was through sea, but did the boats really have to be this awful? This boat was meant for hauling goods, not people. Not only was I was only one aboard -apart from the man behind the wheel- but I had no where to sit except for either on the metal floor or on top of a crate. Both places were horrible; water kept splashing onto the deck and the boat kept rocking, nearly knocking me off the crate several times in the last four hours.
The ride alone was enough to make anyone annoyed, but me, I was downright miserable. I should have been back in Canada competing with my part-board horse at the summer eventing show right now. Instead, I was stuck on a boat that was on an unstoppable path to an island I didn't want to be at. All of my equestrian friends thought I was crazy for not wanting to come. Jorvik is an equestrian's paradise, but the language was so hard to grasp that not a lot of people came in from the outside. I don't know if I'd call it lucky, but both my mother and I were born on Jorvik. I lived here until I was about seven years old, then my mother packed us up and moved to Canada after a nasty divorce with my father. My father went M.I.A and never called or asked to visit, so I never came back to the island. Until now, and its not by choice.
The boat finally came to a stop, the ramp lowering to meet the wooden dock as the guard rail lifted. Multiple men immediately climbed aboard and began to unload the crates. I didn't say a word to any of them as I slipped past and jumped from the boat onto the dock, pulling my suitcase behind me. It felt weird, having a solid surface be still after four hours of rocking, but it didn't take long for my legs to adjust and remember how to operate.
'...Where is he?'
I lifted a hand to shield my eyes from the sunlight as I looked around the pier. I hadn't seen my uncle in ten years; rarely spoke to him for that matter. However, since receiving the news that I was going to be staying with him, we've been communicating on a daily basis just to arrange my living conditions as well as some other things. He had sent me a picture of himself so I knew who I was looking for... yet there was no one around that resembled the man in the photo at all. The only people I saw were men in uniform unloading boats.
I huffed in annoyance and shoved my hand into the pocket of my jeans for my phone. I stepped to the side of the pier so I wasn't in anyone's way and leaned against the yellow brick wall as I dialed my uncle's phone number. He answered after the second ring.
"Hey there, Rosie." Uncle Carl greeted. "Did ya' make it to Fort Pinta alright?"
"Yeah, I'm in one piece." I replied. "Are you here? I don't see you anywhere."
Uncle Carl clicked his tongue. "Aw, my message must not have reached ya' that far out to sea. I had somethin' come up at the ranch so I had to send Josh to go grab ya' instead."
My eyebrows furrowed at the unfamiliar name. "Josh?"
"He's my best ranch hand. Young guy, he is. You shouldn' have any trouble findin' him."
"But, there are a lot of young guys around-" I stopped talking when I hear voices in the background calling for Uncle Carl.
"I gotta go now, Rosie. See ya' soon!"
The line went dead after that. I mumbled to myself as I returned my phone to it's rightful place. Listening to him call me 'Rosie' was starting to drive me nuts, but I wasn't quite sure how to tell him to stop so I just dealt with it. He was giving me a place to stay, though, so I supposed putting up with a less-then-preferable nickname wasn't the worst thing in the world. Nothing could be worse then that boat ride.
Instead of just waiting around on the corner of the dock, I decided to start looking for this 'Josh' person myself. I wouldn't go far from the pier, but actually trying to spot him would make this experience go faster. The thought of hanging around here all day wasn't sitting well with me.
I made my way to the entrance of the pier. There were plenty of people around, but only one stood out. He looked young, like Uncle Carl said, but still a couple years older than me. Maybe 20? 21? Unlike everyone else hustling around, he was standing in one spot, looking unbothered by all the chaos going on around him. He wasn't wearing clothing like everyone else, either. Instead, he wore a red shirt, blue jeans, brown cowboy boots and of course, a matching cowboy hat that almost hid his blonde hair. He appeared to have a lean build and even from this distance I could tell he was a head taller then me.
I was willing to bet my life that he was Josh.
Taking in a breath, I started towards him. As I got closer, the young man looked my way and smiled.
"Hey there." He greeted, sounding extremely friendly. "I take it you're Rosie?"
I cringed. "Just Rose." I corrected. "'Rosie' is an Uncle Carl thing..."
"Gotcha." He shifted his weight from one leg to the other. "How was your trip?"
A million ways to answer that question raced through my mind, but none of them seemed like an appropriate thing to say to someone I had just met.
"It was okay." I replied with a shrug. "Not my favourite way to travel, but I managed."
"Good attitude. That's exactly what you'll need when living on a ranch."
'Oh joy.'
"I bet you're tuckered out from all that sailing. Come on, let's get ya' home." His eyes fell to my luggage. "Do you want me to take that for you?"
"Ugh, sure..."
I let go of the handle, watching as Josh pushed the extended handle back into place before picking up the entire thing by the other handle. A little bit of a shock, but perhaps he had more muscle then he looked?
"I'm Josh, by the way." He said with another smile. "Welcome to Jorvik, Rose."
I forced a smile back at him. "Thanks."
I followed Josh up the stone incline and into the heart of Fort Pinta. The entire place was walled in and bustling with people. From they way everyone was acting and taking pictures I would have guessed they were tourists, but no one else was on the boat with me so maybe they had been here for a couple days already?
"Have you ever been to Jorvik before?" Josh suddenly asked, pulling my attention from the chaos.
"Yeah." I replied. "I was born here. My mom and I moved away when I was seven."
"Ah. Are you familiar with horses at all?"
I could feel my lips curl into the faintest of smiles. "I love them. I've been leasing this horse for a couple years now, but now that I'm here..." I found myself trailing off.
"Sorry to hear about that." Josh said in a sincere tone. "But there's always a chance you could create another special bond."
"There isn't another horse that could replace what Eagle and I had."
"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way." He glanced over at me. "Every bond between horse and rider is special and irreplaceable. What I meant was that you may find another horse you can build an individual partnership with here."
"That's... not impossible, I guess..."
Josh chuckled. "There's no need to rush. These things can't be forced."
The grey cloud above my head seemed a little lighter now. Part of me wanted so badly to be annoyed with him and with how kind he was being, but it wasn't possible. The burden on my heart felt a little better now, but not completely gone.
Before I knew it, we were passing under a gate and over a stone bridge that led into and out of the fort. On the other side, an old-style wagon was parked on the side of the road. Hitched to the front was a bay and white tobiano draft horse. The horse had a ton of feathers, and the unique coat made me want to believe it was a Gypsy Vanner, or an Irish Cob as some called it, but the mane was cropped so short that I wasn't to sure if my guess was right or not. Standing next to the horse was a muscular man with red hair. His blue uniform looked like that of an officer. The man didn't look very friendly, but Josh smiled a big smile and walked right up to him with no hesitation.
"Thanks for keeping an eye out, Captain." Josh said, setting my luggage down and patting the horse's neck.
"You sure took your sweet time." The man said, his gaze shifting to me. "If I find any damages done, I'll be sending both of you the bill."
With that, the man turned and walked off towards Fort Pinta. I watched his figure retreat for a few seconds before turning my eyes to Josh, shooting him a questioning look.
"Don't mind him. He's just got a lot on his plate, being Fort Pinta's only security guard and all." Josh said. "Anyway, Rose, this is Hershey. He's gonna be our ride to the ranch."
Hershey whinnied and tossed his head.
The blonde boy laughed. "I think he likes you."
I smiled at the horse and rubbed his face, being mindful of the blinkers around his eyes. "He's beautiful. Is he a Gypsy?"
"That he is, though the flashy show life wasn't quite his style. Carl bought him last year to help with ranch work."
'That explains the oddly short mane for his breed.' I thought.
"Well, we should probably get going." Josh said, picking up my bag again. "Are you comfortable riding in the back?"
I shrugged. "I just spent four hours on a boat. What's one carriage ride?"
I followed Josh around back and climbed into the old style wagon. Once my luggage was loaded, Josh sat down out front and got Hershey moving. The road was a tad bumpy, but definitely a lot better then the rocking I had experienced on the boat. Since the wagon was modeled like the ones used in the old west I couldn't see anything around me, so I settled for passing time on my almost out of battery phone. I unlocked the screen and immediately went to my pictures, finding the most recent one I had.
I slid my thumb across the screen in a sad attempt to pet the horse in the photo. This was my last ride on Eagle before packing up and leaving. His owner said I was more then welcome to come visit whenever I came back, but because there was no guarantee how long I would be gone for, she's decided to look for someone else to lease him. It's heartbreaking to know that he's not mine anymore, not that he ever really was, but anyone who loved horses would know what I meant.
I sighed softly and checked my messages next. I only had a few and they were all from friends wishing me safe travels. Nothing from my mother yet, although I doubt she'd be allowed to have her phone in rehab. I'm sure she'd get calling times, but if she would actually call or not was a mystery. She wasn't thrilled that I practically forced her into the program. As horrible as it is to say, if I had known I would have been forced to leave home I never would have pushed it.
"So, what kind of riding do you do?" Josh suddenly asked.
I clicked my phone off and put it away. "English. I'm an eventer."
"You ever ride western?"
"Not since the move to Canada. Uncle Carl used to pony Lisa and I around in a western saddle, but it's been all english since."
Josh hummed. "I'll admit, I don't know how you english riders do it with all that posting and whatnot, but western's a thing worth learning if your up for it."
"I don't think I'll have much of a choice." I leaned back against the wall of the wagon and crossed my arms. "Sorry. I didn't mean for that to come out sounding like I have a grudge against western riding..."
Josh glanced back over his shoulder and smiled. "Didn't sound that way at all."
I shifted across the bench to sit a little closer, that way I could hear him better over the creaking of the wagon. "So, how long have you known Uncle Carl?"
"I met your Uncle a short while before the ranch was built. My mare and I helped him pull his car out of a ditch and we both discovered the other's passion for western riding. I was thinking about packing up and moving back to Wyoming, but when Carl proposed the idea of bringing a western ranch to Jorvik, I couldn't refuse. I'd say Starshine ranch is the best thing to ever come to Jorvik, personally."
"Wyoming?" I asked, genuinely curious.
Josh nodded. "I was born and raised there. Got a lot of memories trail riding out there with my mom, camping out in the wilderness of national parks and such. I love Jorvik but the lack of western presence made it hard to feel at home here, until the ranch that is."
"Do you think you'd ever go back?"
"I'd like to go visit, but no, I can't see myself every leaving Jorvik forever. I got everything I need here now: a ranch to call home, Pearl, great friends, and with the mountains right behind the ranch there's an adventure around every tree."
Even though I've only known Josh for an incredibly short amount of time, it's clear to see that he's truly in love with his life here. Part of me was a little envious of that; I wish I could let myself settle in. However, I don't think I could, especially since I wasn't here by choice.
"Well, would you look at that." Josh suddenly said. "Time sure does fly when you're having fun."
I blinked and looked past Josh at the scenery ahead. The road before the wagon led up to a large gate with a pretty horse ordainment hanging from the top. There wasn't any fences around so the gate stood by its self, but the road changed from stone to dirt as we headed towards it. Not far in the distance, I could see the buildings and stables that occupied the property.
"Welcome to Starshine Ranch, Rose." Josh said happily.