The other Dutton

Coming home

I stood by the fence as Travis showed us reaning  horses. I loved to watch them reain. Out of all competitions  done with horses it would be the third one on my list. Barrels being number one of course then cutting.

"Witch one first John?"

"Surprise me." Dad said from the side of me. Rip stood on my other side.

"Hey Andrea! Bring him! He's a NHRA futurity winner. AQHA world champian." He keeped talking about the horse. He was impressive but I had my eye on another one. My eye was on the palamino.

"What about the palamino?" I asked.

"That's Custom-Made Gun. That's the horse Kate McCutcheon's winning everything on. Hey Tim bring him down! He's angry and mean. You gotta have ypur big boy pants on while you ride that one." My eyes lit up when he said that. I liked my horses with a little fire in them.

"Why don't we just breed the one Kayce gave you?" Jamie said.

"No one can ride him except Kayce and Carly." I sent them both a wink. I had tried the stallion the other day. He tested me but once he knew I was in charge he calmed right down. I had enjoy riding him.  "Whitch one do you like Rip?"

"I like that 5 million dollar basterd that just spun a hole in the ground but in ain't my money."

"What about you Carly?"

"The angry one. Custom-Made Gun." Suddenly an idea came. "Hey Travis!" I called. He trotted his horse over to me.

"What's up little dutton?" I rolled my eyes at the nickname.

"Think I could try Custom?" I asked.

"Sure be my guess. Travis!" I smiled my thanks as I slid through the fence.

"What boss?" Tim asked as he stopped in front of me.

"Let her ride him." I went and grabbed the headstall so that he could get down.

"No way. I've heard Beth Dutton doesn't even ride." My face fell. If it's one thing I hated was people calling me Beth and thinking I was her. Did I love Beth? Hell  yes.  But we were not the same. I could hear dad and Rip chuckle about what was going to happen.

"I ain't Beth Dutton. The names Carly Dutton. Might of heard of me before." I said petting Custom' s face. I lifted my head so that our eyes met.

"I'm so sorry Miss. Dutton. I didn't know."

"Get off the damn horse." He nodded and got off. I took the reins and got on. At first he fought me to see if I would make him do what I wanted. After a bit he was doing everything I wanted with small cues.

I got off and handed him back.

"What ya think?" Travis asked.

"I like him. But it's up to my dad. We will see you later Travis." I said with a wave as I headed out of the arena. I caught Rip smiling at me as he left. I smiled back and winked at him. He shook his head as he walked away.

I noticed that my dad was talking to a girl beside her was Tate. Must be Monica. I still wasn't a fan of her. I walked into the main house. I knew Gator had made cookies and I wanted one. I finished pulling my hair back in to a low poney tail as I walked into the kitchen. I was just going to grab one when a blur ran towards the cookies. He remind me of Kayce. So much that it wasn't even funny.

"Aren't these huge Aunt Carly?" He asked looking at me with big brown eyes.

"What?" I was taken back. He called me Aunt Carly.

"I said aren't they huge?"

"Ya kid they are." He nodded excitedly and ran back out. Just like his dad. I thought as I picked one up and took a bite. He then came back grabbed another one and ran off.

As I saddled Star I heard my dad and Tate laughing as they threw rocks into the watering trough. I was not so thrilled because i knew that would be taking those out later. I had learned that Kayce had a run in with the law. I threw the reins over Star head and mounted. As I rode out I watched Kayce and dad leave. Tate was still sitting but had a sad look on his face.

"Hey Tate come here." He stood and walked over. "Want to help me with something?"

"Sure!" He said excitedly. I shook my head. He was a very hiper kid.

"You know how to work on of these?" I asked leaning down and handing him a stop watch. He gave me a look that said yes duh. "Alright see that pen with the barrels set up? Go climb on the fence by the gate. Your going to time me. As soon as I cross the gate start it and when I cross it coming back stop it. Got it?"

"Yep!" He raced over and did as he was told. Outside of the pen I warmed Star up. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Warming her up. Always warm up your horse. If you don't they could get hurt."

"Ok. Are you going to run barrels?"

"Yes sir."

"Cool. Dad said your really good. One of the best in the world." I smiled. So Kayce did tell him about me. I set Star up to run.

"Ready Tate?"

"Ready!" I let Star lose. We raced around the three barrels and came racing home.

"How fast Tate?"

"17." I ran a couple more time before I quit.

"Thanks Tate." I said a grabbed the watch from him."

"You welcome Aunt Carly." He got off the fence and walked off. I smiled as I dismounted.

"Who know I would like him so much?" I asked Star as I took the saddle off of her." She snorted at me. "He reminds me of Kayce when we were young. Those we the good old days." I said as I out her in her stall. I threw flakes of hay to the horses and then shut the tops of their stalls. I then went up to the house.

Rip wasn't in yet. So I set to work on getting dinner ready. It was about 9 when Rip walked in the front door.

"Hey baby where you been?" He came and wrapped me in a hug from behind me.

"Branding a new guy."

"I didn't know we had a new guy." I said leaning into him.

"Just went and picked him up."

"From where?" I asked as I stirred the potatoes.

"Prison." My eyes went wide.

"Prison. What is my dad thinking?" I asked myself.