𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 [ Adopted by Elizabeth Olsen ]

Chapter 30: "Summer and winter paddocks"

⚠️TW:⚠️ none

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Lizzie's pov:

Okay that's true, we have a couple of routes just in the forest, the  shortest one is 15 minutes, and the longest one we have time for is  about an hour long, there are some even longer routes though."

"We  have some bridle paths (horse riding trails) in the fields, the length  also varies there, you can choose how long you want to make it. Then you  can also take a path to the beach, it's quite far away though, maybe a  bit too long for today. Lastly you can always just ride along the road,  so what do you say?"

"Forest, fields or road?" She asked me. Crap,  I have to choose now? "What do you want to do?" I tried. She let out a  giggle. "I'm asking you here, I don't mind, I promise. It's up to you.  Do you want to walk on dirt, on grass or on asphalt?" She asked me.

"The fields?" I suggested.

Looks like I chose the right thing. Her lips curved up into a smile and her eyes lit up. "Sounds good to me", she smiled.

After leading Luna outside to a mounting block, she quickly hopped on and we were on our way. We made our way behind the barn, to the fields. First, we passed lots of fields with horses in, and Luna was having a jolly old time, whinnying to absolutely everyone.

I jumped the first time she did it, it was a loud sound. But after a while, I started finding it funny and we would both laugh every time Luna made a noise. She did sound cute.

When we passed the fenced fields, we got to the empty ones. Nova told me that these were the horses summer paddocks, but the fencing was taken down every fall so that people could ride there.

"But why do you have separate summer and winter paddocks?" I asked. "In the summer, there are usually no competitions or riding lessons, so most of the horses get a little holiday. Obviously, everyone does it differently, but here at this barn, the horses get a summer holiday."

"Besides, it's good to have two paddocks, so that when the horse eats all of the grass in one field, you can move them to the other one to let the grass grow and to let the other field rest for a bit", Nova explained.

Well, I guess that makes sense. We had also passed a couple of stray cross-county fences. Most of them looked pretty old and run down, and Nova explained that this is where the old cross-country track used to be.

When they renovated the barn, they built a new cross-country track and they moved most of the fences, but some of them are still here. Mostly just the ones which are hard to move, such as the water fences and the ditches.

I had been thinking about something for a while though. When were we going to sign the adoption papers? Miss Riley had said that we could do it whenever, as long as we gave them a little heads up first. I should probably ask Nova about that.

"Nova?" I said softly. She noticed my serious tone and she immediately shifted her attention to me. "Y-Yes?" She asked, her voice a bit shaky. "Don't worry hun, it's nothing bad I promise", I assured, putting my hand on her thigh, trying to provide some comfort.

She flinched away at the contact. I didn't say anything about it, but my heart broke for probably the 100th time for this girl. She had been through so much trauma in her short life, she deserved the world.

I was determined to gain her trust and to get her to open up to me. I knew it was going to take some time, but we'd get there eventually. I wanted her to have someone to trust, an adult. I wanted to be there for her, I wanted her to feel safe with me.

"I was just wondering when you want to go and sign the adoption papers, given you still want that", I asked her. "Umm, I don't know, as soon as possible?" Nova said, almost as a question.

"Okay, that works perfectly", I laughed. "I'll just have to tell Miss Riley and Robbie, how about we try and do it tomorrow?" I suggested. Nova nodded. "Okay, yeah, sounds good", she said, giving me a little smile. We got back to chatting casually, but not before I shot both Miss Riley and Robbie a text.

We soon got to opener fields, and Nova asked if she could trot for a bit. "Of course", I smiled, a bit worried I would have to run beside her. Nova seemed to notice my worries. "Don't worry, you don't have to run beside me, I'll just trot ahead, turn around and trot back", she explained.

"Okay great, thanks", I let out a sigh. I was still a bit tired and really not in the mood to run. "I'll see you then", Nova smiled, trotting off. She trotted a couple hundred metres before slowing down, turning around and coming back.

Luna got a bit excited, throwing her head around and even busting a little move. My breath got stuck in my throat, but Nova just laughed at it.

It's crazy how much I already worry for her. Every time she gets in a potentially dangerous situation, I get really scared for her.

Nova got back to me eventually. "Well, someone's excited this morning", she remarked with a laugh, motioning to Luna who was clearly still full of energy. "Yeah...", I mumbled, still a bit shaken up from Luna's buck.

"I'm not going to fall off if that's what you're worried about", Nova reassured me. "I'm used to her acting like a maniac."

I just nodded, trusting her. "So, every time I'm out here, I always like to go for a little gallop, so if you want to, you can turn around and walk over to that tree over there", she said, pointing to an oak tree a good couple hundred metres away.

"And then I'll come after you at a gallop. This is Luna's favourite part, but don't worry, I'm not going to run you down", she giggled. "Okay, sure....", I replied. "Great! Do you mind taking my phone and maybe filming it? I'd love to have a little video for my instagram", she explained.

"Not at all", I smiled, taking her phone from her.

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Hello, so todays update is a bit late.... Sorry about that. It just completely slipped my mind to update. I don't have internet bc I'm on vacation so I'm not checking my inbox, and it's at over 400 notifications rn. So sorry to any messages I haven't replied to and I'm sorry for not updating yesterday, but I will make sure to open them all when I have time and internet.

Stay safe <3

Love, Frida xx