Desperado

by Hardesty Victoria; Perez Nancy;

  “I think his favorite dish is my chicken casserole, isn’t it?” she asked Sharon. “If so, I need to go to the store for a few things, but I also need some supplies for the cake and ice cream. What are his favorite cake and ice cream?”

  Sharon thought about it a minute, “You’re right about the chicken casserole. We all love it. If I were to pick his favorite cake, I think it would have to be carrot cake. He does like to share his cake with Desperado you know,” she laughed. “Probably with the cream cheese icing and vanilla bean ice cream. That just sounds wonderful. How about we go this morning. I’ll catch up on my paperwork this afternoon.”

  Hilda spent a lot of time thinking about her circumstances early in the morning while she had her coffee on her private patio. She was almost 80 years old and she had no idea how much time she had left. Her bank account was more than enough to meet her personal needs. She’d talked to the insurance company about the destruction of her property and knew that would add another sizeable amount to it. Sadly, she also understood that her own children had no interest in the property they’d been raised on or the horses she owned. They’d both moved away and set up their own lives and didn’t have much time for her or the things they’d been raised with. It had always been Jan’s dream that his son would take over the breeding and training business he started all those years ago.

  Her son was not interested. He started his own successful business and spent all his energies on that with no time left for horses, breeding, training or much else. His wife wasn’t raised with horses and had no interest in them. She loved to travel. After their children left home she spent her time traveling with her husband as he worked on his business. In between business trips, they visited far off places around the world.

  Her daughter left for college in Denver right after high school. She met and married her husband before she graduated. She dropped out of college to begin her family and regretted never finishing. Because of that, she insisted her own children get their education. She and her husband moved so they were close to the University. Her kids could live at home while getting their education. She and her husband poured all their extra money into that. Their money went for tuition, books, and lab fees at the University and the cars they bought for the kids to get them there. Fortunately, her husband was a high-level executive with a computer firm and made plenty of money.

  Neither of her children needed money. They were both doing very well. If she left everything to them, they would sell it immediately. The land, the horses and everything she and Jan had lived for would be gone. It made her sad. Nothing she and Jan worked for so hard and for so many years would continue. Their legacy would be parceled out and sold in an instant.

  It occurred to her that there might be a way to preserve that legacy. She could leave them each some money but the land and the horses she could leave to someone who would appreciate them more.

  Desperado, the best horse they’d ever bred, should go to someone who would appreciate him for what he is. Todd loves that horse. He will take care of him and do the right things with him. He would not be sold and taken away so Todd could never see him again.

  Annabella was the result of many years of breeding. She and Jan studied pedigrees, did inciteful breeding for several generations to produce her. She was still young enough to have a few more foals.

  Her 40 acres was right down the road from Cold Water Creek Ranch. It might make a wonderful home for Todd in a few years and might help Chris and Sharon in the meantime. They would never cut it up and sell off the pieces. They appreciated the value of the land in a way her children did not.

  She made her decision. She didn’t need to put the ownership of the horses in her will. She had their registration papers in her hand. All she had to do was sign off the back and hand them over to whoever she chose. She would have to visit the lawyer to provide for the money for her children and leave the land to those she wanted to have it.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  When Todd woke up three days later he was excited. It was his fifteenth birthday and his dad promised to go for a trail ride with him. They didn’t get to do that very often and Todd really enjoyed spending time away from the ranch with his Dad.

  He came downstairs dressed and ready to go and had a quick breakfast of cold cereal at the kitchen table while his parents finished their coffee.

  “Dad, where do you want to ride today?” he asked eagerly.

  “There are several places that might be fun,” his dad said. “We could cross the highway and ride south toward the Flatirons if you want. I don’t think you and I ever rode that direction.”

  “Oh, man, that would be fun! How long do you think it would take us to get to the Flatirons?” Todd asked him.

  “I don’t know if we can get all the way to the Flatirons in one day, Todd. They are about twenty miles from here. That would make a forty mile ride in one day. We’re not riding endurance horses, you know,” he said with a laugh. “You’re going to have to take your phone with us. We might need the GPS to get us back home.”

  “Aren’t there trails in that area you used to ride with Mom?” Todd asked.

  “Sure there are, but it’s been a few years since we rode that way, you know. I don’t think your Mom and I had much of a chance to get away on horseback for very long since you were born. That’s been fifteen years now, son!” Chris reminded him.

  Todd grinned at his dad. “I know. Guess I’m growing up,” he laughed. “Let’s get going. Gramma Hilda sort of let me know there might be a nice dinner tonight when we get back. I can’t wait to see what she’s planned for my birthday. I don’t know how we got along without her for so long. She’s been a big help to Mom and she sure knows her way around a kitchen.”

  “You’re right Todd. She’s been a big help here. I’m glad we asked her to stay with us,” Sharon said. “Now you two get going. She and I’ve got work to do.”

  Todd and Chris walked to the barn and began brushing down their horses before tacking them up for the ride. The minute they walked out the mudroom door, Hilda walked into the kitchen. She pulled the cream cheese out of the refrigerator to soften, started peeling and grating the carrots and soaking the raisins. Her carrot cake was famous. It was spicy and moist and her cream cheese frosting about the best anyone ever tasted.

  Chris and Todd walked down the highway a short way until Chris saw the trail on the opposite side. They waited for an opening in the traffic and crossed to the east side of the highway. The trail they followed meandered into the woods and around settlements most of the way. They rode side by side and talked. They didn’t get a lot of time for talking like this. Todd told his dad he wanted to eventually take over the reins of Cold Water Creek Ranch the same way Chris had when his dad got too old to do the work. Todd wanted to go to the University of Colorado for a degree in agriculture with a minor in equine after high school. He felt it would prepare him for running the ranch better. He hoped to go to the campus in Boulder so he didn’t have to leave home for school. In the meantime, he only had three more years he could ride in the Youth Division classes and he wanted to take full advantage of that. He told his dad he wanted to start working with him more closely with the training of young horses so he could learn more from him.

  Chris encouraged his son’s aspirations. He’d gone to California for school rather than stay at home and he saw the advantages of studying from home. He explained, however, he’d met Sharon while going to college and he never regretted that. Had he remained in Colorado for school he might never have met her at all. “She could have been swept off her feet by some California surfer type if I hadn’t decided to go to school in California, you know,” Chris laughed. “You just never know what’s around the next corner. All you can do is be prepared for anything.”

  “Oh, Dad, I can’t see Mom as a surfer girl,” Todd laughed.

  “You didn’t see the woman I met then,” Chris told him. “She wore her hair long and straight and wore short flowery dresses and Birkenstock
s every day. She was sweet and I thought she was beautiful.”

  “Do you have any pictures of that?” Todd laughed. “I’d love to see those!”

  “Probably somewhere we do. I’ll have to find them for you sometime. When we got here to Colorado was the first time I ever saw her in jeans and boots. She was even more beautiful to me. Then I found out she could ride the hair off any of my horses and I just couldn’t let her go.”

  The two turned back toward the ranch about noon and took their time. They talked about Desperado and how impressed Todd was with his bravery. They talked about what the kids did while they were in the canyon. They talked about anything and everything. It was one of the few times they had like that in their busy worlds and both enjoyed it and didn’t want it to end. Chris was very proud of the young man his son was becoming. Todd respected his father even more after hearing about his own youth on the ranch and how he’d gradually taken over for his father as Grandpa O’Neal became older and able to do less. It was fun hearing about Grandma O’Neal too. She was gone before Todd was born so he’d never met her. Chris described how tough his mother had been and how hard she’d worked to keep the ranch going. These were stories he’d never heard before.

  Desperado enjoyed the ride with Chris and Todd. The talk they had was easy and comfortable between them. Then Desperado thought he saw something that made his heart beat a little faster. Off in the distance, he saw a couple of does watching them from a small clearing. One of the does had a white marking on her face. It had to be Blaze! She survived! He was almost giddy with happiness. His steps became a little stronger and he breathed a lot easier. He hoped he would get a chance to talk to her again sometime. He felt a whole lot better knowing she’d gotten away from the fire.

  When Chris and Todd got back to the ranch after their long ride, they untacked their horses, brushed them down and bathed them before putting them in their stalls. They gave their horses treats before heading for the house.

  Walking through the mudroom door, the smells from the kitchen made them both hungry. They quickly stripped off their boots and walked into the kitchen. The smells there were even better and their stomachs growled. “We’re really hungry, Gramma Hilda!” Todd exclaimed. “Boy, it sure smells good in here.”

  “Wash up,” Hilda told them. “I’m about to put dinner on the table.”

  Chris and Todd washed their hands and faces in the kitchen sink, drying off with paper towels and hurried to sit down at the kitchen table. Sharon brought glasses of milk and sat down herself. Hilda brought out the large casserole dish in oven-gloved hands and sat with them. “Dig in!” she encouraged.

  Hilda’s chicken noodle casserole was even better when flavored with a good case of hunger. It was half devoured on the first round and Chris and Todd helped themselves to a second plateful. There was little talking at the table at first. Everyone was too busy eating to talk.

  “Did you two have a good ride,” Sharon finally asked them.

  “Mom, it was the best! Dad and I don’t get a chance to do that very often. I think we need to make time and maybe you should come too,” Todd answered after swallowing another bite. “I’ve never been south-east of the ranch. The country there drops down a lot but the views are sure pretty. We didn’t get to the Flatirons. I’d like to trailer the horses down and ride around them sometime. Lots of guys go there to climb the rocks. I’d just like to ride there.”

  “I have cake and ice cream for dessert tonight,” Hilda told them. “Finish up your plates and I’ll bring out the cake.”

  Sharon and Hilda gathered the plates from dinner and took them to the sink. Hilda pulled the cake from the refrigerator and stopped long enough to put fifteen candles on it, each candle in the middle of a tiny orange and green carrot she’d piped on the cake around the “Happy Birthday Todd.” She lit the candles before bringing the cake to the table. She set the cake down in front of Todd. “Blow ‘em out so we can see how many years it will take to get your wish,” she encouraged him. “You know it is one year for every time you have to blow to get them all out.”

  Todd smiled and blew all fifteen candles out in one breath. “Guess my wish will come true now. I don’t have to wait another year or two.”

  Hilda handed Chris a large envelope and then she handed a similar one to Todd. “This is my gift to you. After you open it, I’ll explain,” she said.

  Both of them slid their fingers under the envelope flap and pulled out the paper inside. Chris looked puzzled. Todd looked shocked. Sharon watched curiously. Hilda sat and smiled at them.

  “Todd, this is the signed registration paperwork for Desperado. I want you to have him as your own. You’ve earned it. He’s the best horse Jan and I ever bred and I know that Jan would agree with this. Take care of him, son. He’s a treasure!”

  Tears formed in Todd’s eyes but he refused to let them drop. He jumped up from his chair and pulled Hilda from hers. He hugged her nearly enough to crush her but couldn’t find his voice. He struggled to keep his tears and wiped a few of them off on her shoulder. He finally pulled back and held her shoulders in his hands. “Is this for real Gramma Hilda?”

  “Yes, it’s for real. Now git out there and hug your horse!” she told him.

  Todd ran for the mudroom, pulled on his boots and ran to the barn.

  Hilda looked over at Chris and Sharon. “I have some things for you too,” she said. “Now let me explain. Annabella is the best mare Jan and I bred and it took us thirty-some years to get her. I don’t want all that work and effort sold to just anyone with a few dollars when my time comes. I want you to have her. Jan and I studied breeding and I can help you there. We can use Annabella to produce another Desperado for you if you’ll take my breeding advice. The other piece of paper in your envelope is the title to my forty acres. I don’t want that parceled out. That’s equally important to me. I think you and Sharon can use it to develop your breeding facility, and maybe do more boarding if you’d like. I will also help you with some of the replacement costs for barns. My hope is the facility will provide a home for Todd and his family someday. It should become part of Cold Water Creek Ranch. I’ve thought a lot about this so don’t try to change my mind. I’m an old woman and I don’t want all the years of work Jan and I put into the breeding of Arabian horses going to waste. I think you and your son are the perfect ones to pick it up and run with it after I’m gone.”

  Todd pulled the door open on Desperado’s stall, stepped in and threw his arms around Desperado’s neck. “You are mine! All mine! You aren’t going anywhere! You and I can be together forever!” He pressed his face into the silken neck as he spoke. Dark stains from his tears marked Desperado’s neck. Desperado was shaken. Did he hear that right? Did Todd just tell him he now belonged to Todd and he would never be shipped away from here or be sold to that horrid bunny-kicker man? When he felt Todd’s tears on his neck and he felt the boy’s emotion in his hug, he knew. He and Todd would always be together. He raised his head, stretched his neck and let the whole ranch know about his happiness in that scream of joy. The three adults still sitting at the kitchen table heard it and smiled at one another. Desperado turned his neck and pressed Todd’s body close to his.