Ever After (5 page)

‘Well… I know they are like totally loaded, like old money loaded. His grandfather founded some major medical kind of thing. I forgot what it was. His dad is the owner of like two major companies and in the stock market and all that stuff. I also heard he’s been going to school in Europe for the past few years…how cool is that?” They look at each other. I am hoping they aren’t planning to set me up with him. “He has gorgeous wavy black hair, and is about six feet tall or close to it.” Kara rattles on. I tried to listen, tried to act as if I cared, but anymore talking about boys was not high on my agenda at all.

“You’re quiet Corrine, what’s up?” Beth scans my face. I shrug my shoulders, trying to hide my feelings.

“Oh just tired; it’s nothing.” I sit back with a sigh.

“I have an idea.” Kara gets up clapping her hands together. “Let’s go meet the new guy and his family.” Her face lights up. “We could bring over cookies or something, you know, be neighborly and all that.”

“Oh hell no, you guys go meet him. I am not.” I groan. The whole deal sounded like sheer torture to me.

“Corrine, you can’t tell me you’re not a little curious.” Kara pushes. I luck out. We hear Gram come in; our party is over for now. Gram is a stickler for me getting my rest, so the girls would have to call it a night. All of us hugged and promised to call each other. As I closed the door, I took a deep breath, glad all the talk of this
new
guy
next door was over.

Chapter 4

Fate Steps In

My doctor had told me I was making progress. I really couldn’t tell myself. I had expected to be back at school by now. I had thought wrong. I didn’t realize how much stress going back would cause me. I thought it would be easy, but apparently, I was wrong. It seems I wasn’t as strong as I felt and my doctors knew it.

My therapist had a meeting with my dad and me. She had evaluated me and had decided I was still mentally unstable to deal with typical social situations. I was nuts in other words, how nice for me (
not
). I had really thought I was ready, well, most of the time. I didn’t think everyday social situations would freak me out, but my therapist clearly did.

I still had some nightmares, and a few panic attacks, and the thought of meeting new people made me want to hide in a hole. My doctor assured me in a few more months those would lessen and going back to school would be an option. I had decided to go ride Windy again despite the cold after hearing this depressing news. I needed to get out of the house desperately before I suffocated. Hearing I was basically mentally unstable, made we want to run and hide. My only escape now was a good long ride on my horse.

The next morning I planned a long trail ride out in the back of our property. I woke up with a supreme headache as usual. I gulped down three Tylenol and hoped for the best. I wanted to spend the day alone and that meant riding all day. I headed down to grab a bite to eat before I headed to the barns. Gram was my only company, thankfully when I got to the kitchen. I found a pop tart in the cabinet to eat; she was reading the newspaper and drinking her coffee.

“What are you up to today honey?” She smiled, her blue eyes fixed on me.

“I’m going riding. I need to get out of the house for a while today.” I munched away as she folded her paper up.

“Watch the weather.” She frowned. “I feel snow moving in. I get the aches you know, in my knees.” I only nodded. My mouth was full.

“Okay, I’m not going to be out too far so don’t worry. Just along the tree line.”

“I have to drive a friend to the doctor in an hour so take your cell phone if you have any problems.” She kissed my forehead and hurried out the door.

I thought she was gone but she was back just a few seconds later, a worried look on her face. “Corrine, are you feeling well? I just had a feeling you were not.”

My eyes got wide I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m fine; nothing to report.”

She stares at me, her face tense. “You’re not thinking of harming yourself, are you?” She asked. Her voice wavering. “I know the news about school was bad yesterday. I know you wanted to go back.”

I take her hand. “No, Gram. I’m not going to do anything. I’m over that now.” I tried to reassure her, even though honestly I didn’t know if my words were really true. “You can go out, I will be fine.” I smile at her and she hugs me tightly.

“You stay near the house okay? No riding near the river. I have an uneasy feeling about you being out that far. It’s muddy down there and your horse could slip.” She lifts my chin with her finger. “You promise me that.”

“Yes. I will stay close to the house Gram, you worry too much.” I give her a big smile. Satisfied she hugs me to death again and takes off out the back door to the garage.

I had loved horses ever since I was eight years old, and on my tenth birthday, my dad gave me Wind Song or Windy for short. She is a six-year-old mare. Windy is the sweetest tempered horse I had ever seen. She put up with me as I learned to ride and as I got better we started doing horse shows and even placed a few times. My stepmother hated horses. She thought Dad giving me her was dangerous and reckless of him. The fact Dad raised show horses and we have fourteen other horses on our estate apparently slipped her mind.

I could ride any of them and get hurt, not just Windy. I spent hours as my dad trained me to ride, and he even hired a lady to teach me when he was out of town. I was a very skilled rider and no amount of complaining from Sara was ever going to stop me from doing it. I wasn’t going to do horse shows right now anyway; I just needed some air and time to think.

I ran upstairs and put on old jeans and a pale blue zip-up sweatshirt and a white knit hat since it was somewhat cold outside. I hurried. I didn’t want to run into Sara who was due back from her brunch with the women’s club. I made my way to the barns. We had four total on our property. One was an indoor riding ring, and all of them were a good distance from the main house.

I see Sam, our barn manager and Kyle, one of our stable hands. They are talking to the Ferrier, as they look over one our show horse’s hooves.

“Hey there Corrine.” Sam yells over to me. “It’s good to see you out, you want me to saddle Windy?”

“No I have it. I will be out by the woods if anyone is looking for me.” I yell back across the barn. He nods with a grin and goes back to his work with the other men.

I find Windy’s stall, she comes over to me nuzzling my arm as I lead her out to saddle her. I quickly get the saddle on her adjusting the straps and saddle pad. The saddle is hand-tooled leather with my name on the side. A gift from Dad for my fifteenth birthday. I lead her out to the paddock. I can smell someone burning leaves as a brisk wind picks up. I smile thinking, what a perfect day to ride. The leaves crunch under my feet as a cold breeze blows. It’s stirring up dust in the area outside the barn.

The fall colors are brilliant now. The trees are decked out in red, orange, and gold. I jump up into the saddle and guide Windy to the thick tree line along a well-worn trail. I start thinking about school. I know I need to get back. Weeks have passed since the first semester started. The school counselor had called checking on me to see if I was going to be back this session. I hadn’t called her back yet. I needed to get things back on track, or as close as I could to any kind of track, if that was possible for me.

Windy walks along at an easy pace. I let my mind wander, and before I know it, we are edging the river. I quickly pull back on the reins and stop her, remembering Gran’s warning. I know I had promised her to stay away from this area. The colors of the leaves are brighter next to the riverbank so I decide to just take part of the lower trail, go back up the bank, and head home. I wouldn’t really be breaking my promise if I stayed away from the water.

I carefully guide Windy to the lower trail; it runs next to the river, but not to close. I can see it’s muddy so I try to keep her on the path. I stop for a while and look at the leaves and their colors. I listen to the bubbling sound of the river and all the birds singing. It seems almost un real here, and I really don’t want to go. I take a deep breath of cool fall air, the kind of crisp air that makes you glad to be alive. I sigh since a thought like that hasn’t crossed my mind in months it makes me smile.

I sit in the silence and take another deep breath and a gut wrenching pain suddenly rips through my head. I grab the saddle, curling over onto Windy’s shoulder. I feel her shift uneasily sensing I’m in pain, she’s tossing her head. “Windy… oh God.” I gasp, tears stream down my cheeks.

I try to see to get down out of the saddle; afraid she will spook and throw me off. I get tunnel vision; blackness is closing in on me. My ears are ringing. I break out into a sweat. I try to breathe. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” I say to myself. “God help me.” I gasp. Then I feel another pain so intense I collapse sliding off the horse and landing with a thud next to the rocky river bank.

I lay there unable to move, barely able to see. I hear the birds still and the water…was I dead? I didn’t know. I could still hear so I figured I was alive. I could hear Windy near me munching grass and the wind blowing in the trees. The wind was getting stronger, and then I remembered Gran’s warning about snow or a storm. I tried to take a deep breath…but my side hurt too much.

I could also hear another horse approaching me. I started to panic who could be out here? I struggled to see. My vision was cloudy. I pulled myself up on one elbow, but the pain in the back of my head hurt too bad. I dropped back down, trying to push the hair out of my eyes. I look at my hand after touching the back of my head. It is covered in blood. I must have hit my head on a sharp rock or something. “Oh God.” I sigh. I’m going to die out here, I think to myself.

“Well I am definitely not God, but are you okay?” A voice makes me jump, causing me more pain in my leg now. Oh hell, what else was wrong with me I wonder?

“Go away… I’m fine whoever you are.” I gasp. “Get away from me.” I try to get up slipping in the mud. I start to cry, my head hurts too bad to try to get away from this guy. I did not need another head injury; my brain was going to be mush after this. “Oh crap.” I mutter, blinking hard trying to see whom this is talking to me.

“Here let me help you. You’re hurt really bad.” I felt my heart race. He was probably a serial killer or a rapist. I would be locked in his basement, tortured for months if I didn’t get up, and run right now. I start to cry harder as I try to scoot away.

I feel a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. I will not hurt you I promise. Let me get you some help.” I stopped trying to get away now knowing it’s useless. I squint, trying to see his face. He has an accent…like someone from Europe. I can’t think of anyone I know from there. He’s kneeling in the mud next to me. Before I can see him better, everything goes black.

I couldn’t open my eyes, speak, or move for what seemed like forever. I felt suddenly very cold and my body started to shiver. I groaned, wanting this agony to end. I could hear thunder in the distance and the cold wind on my face. The storm Gran had warned me about was indeed moving in and I was here by the river where I promised her I wouldn’t be. I felt my body covered by something. It made me feel warmer whatever it was. I could smell a woodsy scent, some kind of incredible smelling cologne I thought to myself as I took a deep breath in. The low calm voice returned. It started to make sense to me now as I strained to listen, to understand what was being said to me now.

“We have to get you out of here. It’s going to storm shortly.” I tried to respond but my mouth opened and nothing came out. I could feel arms wrapped around me. This stranger was holding me close to him, but I felt no fear, as I should have. I rubbed my eyes slowly. I had to see who he was and what was going on. I struggled to focus and as I blinked hard, he finally came in to view. I took a sharp breath.

He had the most stunning blue eyes I had ever seen before in my whole life. His face was almost angelic. He looked like a model or a Greek god…maybe something from one of the books Gram had on mythology in her room. I couldn’t even speak as we stared into each other’s eyes. He seemed as shocked as I was and unable to speak just like me. I knew I should have been terrified to be this close to a guy I didn’t know, but I was perfectly calm. I thought I heard him gasp slightly when I did; his breathing had increased like mine.

“I um…thanks for helping me.” God, I felt like an idiot totally tongue-tied in front of this majorly cute guy. He just smiled at me. “I kind of fell. I guess.”

“I saw that. I figured I had better stop and check on you, it was a very bad fall you took. You’ve hurt yourself badly I’m afraid.”

“I think I hit my head.” I winced as I touched the back of my head. I pulled my hand in front of my face to look at it more blood covered my fingers. I saw him pull back instantly. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the blood all over my hand. He looked at me, his face tense and hard. He seemed like he was suddenly angry. I felt a jolt of fear not understanding his reaction. He took a deep breath and looked away briefly.