“She’s going to meet us out there. Arianna has been throwing seizures, and she wants to make sure they’re at bay before she brings her out,” Brie answers.
“Does that happen often?”
Cal and Brie both nod their heads in agreement. “Unfortunately. Every time we start to think they are under control, it seems like something happens causing them to flare up again,” Cal explains.
“I can’t even imagine what that does to her,” I confess.
“As just an uncle who has seen it and can’t do shit about it, it’s worse than dropping a sledgehammer on your balls.”
I wince. “Nice visual.”
Carter comes up to us and asks, “Everything okay? You look pained.”
“Cal just dropped a sledgehammer on his balls,” Brie jokes.
“So, you saw the way he was flirting with Mia last night?” Carter asks.
“You can’t say shit either, Carter… You, my friend, fell in love with your late wife’s sister,” Brie reminds him, busting his balls.
“But that wasn’t what I was referring to. It was Cal explaining the seizure and watching your niece have one and not being able to do a damn thing to help.”
“A sledgehammer to the balls would be less painful,” Carter confesses.
“Does it hurt her?” I ask. “Arianna, I mean.”
“That’s just it, we don’t know. She can’t really tell us much with the Krabbe damage. That and it’s all that she has known her whole life. She doesn’t know anything different.”
I feel my heart constrict at his revelation. “Once you meet her, you’ll fall in love with her. Ari is amazing!” Brie says cheerfully, changing the somber mood.
“If she’s anything like her mom, I wouldn’t doubt that,” I confess.
“We gotta get out of here and get to the ranch! Aubrey said the girls are driving her crazy!” Carter says with a laugh.
After we decide who’s riding with who, we finally get on our way to the ranch. When we pull up, we find Nonna, Nonno, Ma, Papa, Drew and his girlfriend, Danielle, outside under a tent. I can’t help myself; I keep looking around for the gorgeous woman I spent all night talking to, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. But much to my dismay, I am not seeing her anywhere. I find myself saying a silent little prayer that Arianna is doing better. Yes, I know part of the reason makes me sound like a selfish prick, because I want to see Mia and the other part is that I really do care and don’t want Arianna to throw any more seizures. That makes my heart hurt knowing she goes through that.
“Earth to Dad!” Cooper tries to grab my attention.
I quickly snap my thoughts back to the moment and see Aiden, Cooper and Garrett standing in front of me.
“What’s up?”
“Well, Garrett here was saying that he has never been on a horse before. Can we go for a ride?” Aiden asks.
“Let me ask Cal since he’s watching Garrett until his mom gets here.”
I jog over to Cal. “The boys would like to go for a horseback ride and wanted to know if Garrett could come too.”
“Of course, man, that would mean a lot to him.”
Jogging back over to the boys I give them the good news and then help my two sons get on their respective horses. I help Garrett up on my horse, then I get on the horse behind him. I want him to feel safe since he has never ridden a horse before, but I didn’t want to take anything away from him either. We take off for a leisurely gallop through the meadow. It’s peaceful out here. The wind softly sways the leaves upon the trees, and the grass dances slowly below us.
“Garrett, our dad practically grew up here! It was his first kind of job,” Aiden declares.
“Kind of job?” Garrett asks.
“Well, this ranch is actually on the lodge’s property. These are the horses that we use for the lodge as well. You see that big building over there?” I ask him as I point in the direction.
“Yeah,” Garrett says, nodding.
“That is Backwoods Lodge and Resort. As of Monday, that’s where your mom is going to be working.”
“So, you were like a ranch hand?” Garrett asks.
“I was.” I find myself sharing a few stories with the boys about my brothers and me growing up here. Those were the days.
“Can we head back now? I want to see if my mom made it,” Garrett confesses.
I just met this little boy and he has already taken a piece of my heart. I can tell that he is worried about his mom and sister. He doesn’t like to be separated from them but you can tell he’s used to it to a certain degree.
“Of course, buddy. Let’s go see if your mom and sister arrived!” We ride back to the barn. Jumping down off my horse, I help Garrett down then go to help my boys off their horses.
“Come here.” Garrett motions to me.
“What’s up, buddy?” I say, squatting down to his level.
Garrett grabs me around the neck and pulls me in for a huge hug. “Thank you for including me.”
My heart squeezes. No one has ever thanked me for including them before. This is hands down one of the coolest feelings. “You’re very welcome, anytime! My boys and I love having you along. We would love for you to join us for anything we do. Right, boys?”
“Absolutely! Dad, we should take him with us to the ballgame tomorrow,” Aiden chimes in.
“I’ll have to ask Mia about it.”
Just then, Mia approaches us with this angelic little girl who looks just like her. The little girl is walking around in what looks like an expensive piece of medical equipment.
“What’s that?” Cooper asks curiously.
“That’s my sister’s off-road mobile stander, which is a fancy name for a wheelchair you stand in instead of sit in,” Garrett answers proudly.
“I overheard you say you had to ask Mia… ask me what exactly?” Mia asks.
“I was just thanking Liam for including me on his horseback riding with Aiden and Cooper, and he said I was always welcome.”
“Then I suggested we take him with us to the baseball game tomorrow,” Aiden adds.
“Boys, why don’t you go see what they’re planning for you guys next in the party tent. In the meantime, Mia and I will discuss it,” I suggest.
Cal walks up to us. “I’m taking my niece over there. Nonna and Nonno want to spend time with her while the boys do whatever is next on the agenda.”
Chapter 7
Mia
I wait until the kids are all out of earshot, before saying, “That was really nice of you to take Garrett horseback riding. He has always wanted to go.”
“I was going with my boys anyway. What’s one more? Garrett’s a good kid. I think he, Aiden, and Cooper will get along just fine,” Liam says with a quick smile.
“You asked him to go to a baseball game?”
“No… Aiden asked if we could take him to the baseball game. I would have asked you before I even thought about bringing it up to him. I have kids; I know how that works.”
“You can’t just ask him to do something like that.”