Wild Horses (Sadie's Montana #1)(90)

They groomed their horses, brushed them, cut their manes to perfection, and then at long last were able to shampoo, scrub, and rinse them with the water hose.

Sadie was in awe of Paris after she was finished. Her mane and tail were much lighter, her coat rich and velvety with an amber color that shone in the sun. Her small head and perfectly formed ears were the most beautiful things about her. Accompanied by the arch in her muscular neck, the horse was just too good to really be true.

“Just look at her,” Sadie said in a voice of amazement.

Reuben stepped back, eyed Paris, and nodded.

“You know what?”

“Hmm?”

“If your horse is named Paris, would it be stupid if I named mine something like that?”

“You mean, like ‘London’?”

“No,” Reuben said snorting. “I mean, do you think ‘Paris’ is so … well, you know,” Reuben said, clearly embarrassed.

“What?”

“Well, I think Cody would be a nice name for my horse. You know, Cody, Wyoming.”

“But Cody is a boy’s name.”

“I don’t care. I want to name my horse Cody, for Cody, Wyoming. Besides, you had a horse named Nevaeh, and he was a boy!”

It was all Sadie could do to keep from laughing. He certainly had a point.

She assured Reuben that Cody would be fine. In fact, Cody was a unique name, and she bet him anything his brown mare was the only one in Montana with the name Cody.

Reuben gave her a grin worth remembering.

At work in the ranch kitchen, Sadie sang loudly and twirled around the kitchen holding a wooden spoon until Dorothy told her—quite sourly—that it was all right to be happy, but surely a horse wasn’t worth all that adoration.

Sadie came to a stop beside her and announced, “I’ll calm down now and get to work, but I can hardly contain so much joy! And then, to simply make my cup run over, Reuben rides with me,” she chortled.

Dorothy shook her head.

“You know what? You don’t really fit the mold of what I thought an Amish girl would be like at your age. Aren’t you supposed to be gittin’ married? An’ here you are, as single as the day is long and don’t give two hoots about it.”

Sadie held up a large, shining kettle and scraped the inside with a rubber spatula. Slowly she set it down, turned, and said quietly and honestly, “Dorothy, you know I would love to be married. I’m just as unlucky in love as I am … was … with a horse.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Dorothy shot back.

“Really?”

“Really.”

Sadie put the leftover chili in a large Tupperware bowl and glanced sideways at Dorothy just to check her rate of approval or disapproval.

“Explain it to me,” she ventured, carefully.

Dorothy sat down with a tired sigh, taking the toe of one shoe to dislodge the heel of the other. Then she kicked both her shoes under the table, stretched her short legs, flexed her toes inside the white, cotton Peds she wore, and wagged a short, square finger at Sadie.

“Mind you, they don’t make these shoes the way they used to. I think the Dollar General is shifting too much of their work to China or Taiwan or Mexico or them other places. My feet hurt me awful. But they say they’re puttin’ in a new shoe store in town right next to the bank called ‘Payless’ or somethin’. Might try my next pair from there. Leastways if they have somethin’ similar.”

Sadie nodded sympathetically.

“Now, what was we talking about? Oh, luck or love.”

Dorothy rubbed one knee.

“It’s you pretty ones that have the biggest problems lots a’ times. Too many fish in the sea, and you know you could snag every one of ’em if you wanted to. But yer too prissy. Too pertickler, so you are. Now me, I never had much in the way of looks and was right glad for Jim to come a’ callin’. Told my Mom and Dad he ain’t much to look at, but he’s a decent, solid guy. Turned out I was right as rain, and he done me good for almost 50 years.”

“That’s all I want,” Sadie nodded, soberly.

“Don’t you have anyone at all?”

Sadie hesitated, then nodded.

“I do. His name is Mark.”

“Well, are you dating him now? Is this the same one we looked up those recipes for?”

“Yes. But my mother was ill, and he went back to Pennsylvania. It was sudden … sort of mysterious.”

“If it’s meant to be, he’ll be back.”

Sadie nodded.

“Did I tell you Eva’s coming for Christmas this year?”

“Naw! Go on!”

“Yes! She is!”

“Bless her heart.”

“Time to start the laundry, Dottie, “ Sadie said, glancing at the clock.

“Don’t you ‘Dottie’ me!”





Chapter 25




SADIE BROUGHT THE CURRY comb down across the honey-colored neck, finishing with an elaborate flourish. It was mostly to impress Reuben who was working on a tangle in Cody’s tail, his eyebrows drawn down as he concentrated.

“There!” Sadie said with a bright smile.

Reuben yanked on Cody’s tail before looking up, his eyebrows rising with the movement of his head. He gave a low whistle in a very grown up way, or so he hoped.