Chapter 11

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A day had passed since Jaylyn’s tiring nine hour and seven minute trip from New York to Houston, Texas. At least on the drive from Houston to Breckenridge she had been able to talk to Marv, the old ‘family friend’ and her old neighbor. Now though his wife Natalia was waking her up as she called her out for breakfast, which from the smell was sausage, bacon, eggs, and waffles.

            “Mornin’ Jaylyn.” Natalia called to her cheerfully. “Hope you had a nice rest.”

            “Yeah, thanks again for letting me crash here for a few days.” She replied.

            “Oh, it’s no trouble, the kids missed you and I’d be lying if I said Marv and I hadn’t as well.”

            “Speaking of Marv and your kids where are they?” Jaylyn looked over her shoulder, before she’d moved Jacob and Leah had loved to sneak up behind her in attempt to scare her.

            “Marv left early for work and you know kids, always under foot, so I sent them outside to play.”

            Jaylyn grinned as memories of being neighbors with her extremely distant family came back to her. Natalia stuck her head out the window and shouted for her son and daughter, who came running in sounding like a stampede, to eat and bombard Jaylyn with questions. Their mother silenced them while Jaylyn made sure to promise the kids to tell them everything they wanted to know after they left to practice riding lessons.

            “So is Aurora settled in here?” Jaylyn asked referring to her horse.

            “She’s happy with the others.” Natalia assured her. “Though I must say the first few weeks you left she missed you terribly.”

            “I’ll be sure to take vacations here more often then.” She smiled while Jacob and Leah cheered.

            Once breakfast was over Jaylyn was rushed out of the house by Jacob while Leah followed behind at a slower pace to keep her dignity, Jaylyn grabbed her English riding gear, minus the helmet as that would be unbearable to wear in this heat, and put it on before stepping back outside to see Leah in her western gear and Jacob wearing English as well.

            “I see your brother prefers the English riding.” Jaylyn commented as she picked up Aurora’s saddle.

            Leah looked over at her. “Yeah, I don’t understand why ether… if you ask me he was ether dropped on the head or switched at birth.”

            The six year old looked up at his sister with a scowl. “For your information my style is much more refined and dignified that yours.”

            “That is a matter of opinion depending on a person’s preferences.” Jaylyn chided lightly before a fight broke out.

            She left the siblings to saddle their own horses, or in Jacob’s case a pony, to tack up Aurora. Her horse saw Jaylyn and immediately ran over and made a bowing motion like Jaylyn had taught her as a greeting, considering as a foal Aurora had always tried ramming her in the shoulder. “Hey girl, I missed you too.”

            A few minutes later they were out in the low-lying grassy field, Jacob on his gray pony to her left and Leah on her chestnut horse to her right. “So what do you two want to know first?”

            “What was New York like?” Jacob burst out.

            “Loud, busy, lots of cars and tall buildings. Nothing like it is here.” Jaylyn replied. “New York is never fully asleep and the stars are usually covered by clouds… it’s also freezing there at the moment.”

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