New Hoofprints in the Snow, page 3
“Mi abuela is my grandmother, Abuela Sylvia. Ramon’s my brother. He’s in a wheelchair. About three years ago, he was hurt playing football. Someone tackled him, and he landed the wrong way and severed his spine. Something like that anyway.”
“Oh God. Can he walk at all?” After her father died, Emma’s mother had a difficult time trying to get their life together after that. It had taken some time before the rescue was opened, and now, with the hippotherapy clinic that she wanted to start, everything seemed to finally be falling into place. In preparation for the clinic, both Emma and her mother had taken a class to learn how hippotherapy worked, and she’d seen firsthand just how much help people confined to a wheelchair could need.
“No, they don’t think he’ll ever walk again. But he’s in physical therapy for it anyway. That and to keep the muscles he can use from atrophying any more than they have to due to him being in the chair all the time. Mom’s always hoping that the therapy might work, might help him be able to walk again. Dad, though… Dad thinks it’s pointless.” Maia shrugged. “I hear them arguing every now and then.”
“What’s Ramon think?”
“No one really knows. He’s in his room a lot of the time—at least when he’s not in school. His emotions are erratic these days. One minute he’s happy; the next, he’s sad. Or angry. I think he’s had a lot of problems adjusting to being in that chair all the time. Even now, and as I said, it’s been three years.”
“What about his friends? Do they help?”
“Friends?” Maia said, then scoffed. “They stopped coming around about six months after the accident. Started giving him the excuse that the coach had them practicing a lot. After a while I think he just gave up and didn’t try to contact them anymore.”
“Did you say he was in physical therapy? You know we’re starting a hippotherapy program, right?”
“Yeah, you mentioned it in your e-mail. Do you really think Selena will be a good candidate for it?” Maia’s face brightened.
“I do. I really do.” Emma was suddenly determined to do Selena’s training herself—whatever the mare needed—just so her mother would keep her for the program and Maia would keep coming out. “She could always use some more training and desensitizing, but I think she’s going to work out great. But that’s not where I was going with that. What about your brother? Do you think your brother would be interested in hippotherapy instead of a regular physical therapy program? We have our own therapist who comes in once a week to talk with Mom about it, and I think Mom’s about ready to start finding clients. Think Ramon might be interested?”
“That’s a great idea!” Maia’s face lit up and just as quickly fell. “Wait, how much is it going to cost? That’s what my parents will ask.”
“I don’t know. But I can talk with Mom and see what we could work out.” Emma didn’t want to see her idea fall apart before they really had time to try it. “Insurance should cover some of it, I think. Well, some do and some don’t. You’ll have to talk to your parents about it.”
“We still have some kind of insurance. I don’t know what it is, but something has to be helping us with Ramon’s medical bills. Also, I could pick out stalls or clean up the pasture if you want.” Maia sounded more excited by the minute.
“That might work, but I’ll have to talk with Mom,” Emma said. “I wish I could promise you something, but it’s all her decision.” Most likely, it wouldn’t be a problem. Cleaning was one of the many things that volunteers were supposed to do around the center, but no one ever wanted to do it. Grooming and riding were a lot more fun than mucking out stalls.
“Let me talk to Ramon about it first.” Maia looked away from Emma to the pasture. “Before we have to stop for the day, can we go riding in the pasture? The barrels were fun and all, but….” She bit her lower lip.
The adorable look melted Emma’s heart and she grinned, knowing exactly what Maia wanted to do. She looked at her watch. “Sure. The open house is supposed to go on for a while yet.” She turned Carl toward the gate. “Come on.”
A bright smile spread across Maia’s face. “Thanks.”
Once they were through the gate that separated the big pasture from the rest of the property, they urged the two horses forward. Both Carl and Selena quickly reached full speed, galloping across the flat grassland.
When Maia laughed, it was the happiest sound Emma had heard in a long time.
5
“SO, WHAT do you think?” Maia asked her mother once she finished outlining Emma’s idea for Ramon’s hippotherapy at the center. They’d driven almost to Falcon by the time she’d gotten everything out. As her mother thought about the situation, Maia sat quietly, hoping she’d say yes. It was the first time they’d made the drive through their old town that she hadn’t felt a pang of longing and loss. She hoped that this would be a better way to help her brother, and if she could get this all worked out, she’d be able to spend more time with Selena. And Emma. When not worried about money or schoolwork, she often daydreamed about riding across the pasture on Selena, with Emma on Carl, not a care in the world. She still hated that Selena lived fifty miles away, but she knew Emma would take care of her.
Her mother pursed her lips as she pressed the pedal, and the car accelerated away from the stoplight on the western edge of town, entering the long stretch of road that would carry them into Colorado Springs. “It’s a possibility, mija. That’s all I can really say right now. He’s not getting any better the way things are currently. Maybe your horse therapy idea would help him. But we’ll have to check with your father’s insurance and see if they’ll cover it.”
“Don’t forget I might be able to work off some of the cost too,” Maia reminded her, watching the pastures on her side of the road go by. Often there were antelope in the pastures, but so far, she had only seen a few cows and horses.
“I know, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you want to help Ramon.” Her mother smiled at her a moment before looking back out at the road in front of them. “You value your family. Your father and I tried really hard to instill that in both of you.” She grabbed the closest of Maia’s hands and squeezed. “I’m so proud of you and the woman you’re becoming.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Maia squeezed her hand back. Her mother’s pride in her was important.
“Cassie Bailey seems like a very nice lady, runs a clean barn. I like that a lot. You seem to like Emma too.”
Maia nodded and was very glad it was dark enough that her mother couldn’t see her blush. “Emma’s great. It’s only been a little while, but it kinda feels like she’s been around forever.” At one point while they’d been riding, she wondered what it would be like to have Emma around more often. They got along extremely well, better than she normally did with new people. Emma was the kind of girl that Maia was attracted to. The kind she wanted to get to know better. The kind of girl that would make her forget completely about Billy. She was smart, pretty… I wonder if she… if she likes girls too.
“Good. I’m glad that you’ve got a new friend.”
Maia glanced out the window just in time to see a herd of pronghorn antelope racing near the fence parallel to the road. The antelope were another thing she missed now that they lived with Abuela Sylvia. There wasn’t as much wildlife in Fountain as there was in Falcon.
They were a few blocks from home before her mom said anything else. “Maia, please don’t mention this to Ramon just yet.”
Maia looked at her mother for a moment. “Why?”
“I don’t want to get his hopes up. He used to love riding Selena when you were busy with schoolwork or other things. If we can’t do it, I don’t want to disappoint him again. We’ve been through a lot over the past few years, most of it bad.” She let out a long, slow sigh. “This could be really great for both of you. Might even mean some good brother-sister time for you. You two used to enjoy hanging out with each other. If this program doesn’t happen, then we’ll just be disappointing him again. I don’t want to do that.”
Reaching over the console between them, Maia patted her mother’s leg. “Okay. I’ll keep it quiet. But please talk to Dad about it tonight. The sooner we get something going, the better. Right?” The sooner I can get back out to the center.
“Right.” They stopped for a stoplight and her mother smiled at her, squeezed her hand. “Mija, I know this has been really hard for you. But you’ve been my rock throughout this whole time. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been close to breaking, especially with your dad working so hard to keep us going, and it never seems to be enough. You’re always there to help with Ramon and anything else the family needs. Thank you. I hope this therapy thing works—for both of you. If Selena was one of their therapy horses, that would mean they’d keep her. I like that, and you could keep visiting her.” The light changed and the car behind them honked for them to get moving.
Maia grinned back at her mother as she started driving again. “That’s what Emma said too. I hope Selena works out. Horses need jobs, just like people. It’ll make her a lot happier.”
“Yes, it will.” Her mom turned onto their new street and seconds later, her abuela’s house came into view. With her father’s compact car in the drive, it was all Maia could do to not run into the house and beg him to find out as fast as possible about insurance.
After Ramon went to bed, Maia overheard her parents talking about the hippotherapy program. With visions of Emma, Carl, and Selena running through her mind, Maia called it a night too. But with hope building inside her, sleep was hard to come by.
MAIA WAS helping Abuela Sylvia wash dishes several days later when her father arrived home from work. He looked tired, like he normally did. But his broad shoulders looked a bit more like they used to before he’d been laid off.
“Where’s Ramon?” he asked as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out the plate of food they usually put away for him when he didn’t make it home for dinner.
“He just went to finish his homework,” Abuela Sylvia said as she dried her hands on the dish towel she always stuck in her apron while in the kitchen. “Maia, go run get him while I warm up your father’s food.”
Maia paused and looked at her father while he handed over the plate. “Did you hear something?”
A soft grin grew on his face. For a moment the light she remembered so keenly from her childhood reappeared in his eyes. “Yes. Now go get your brother so we can find out if he’s interested in trying thi—your idea.”
Elation shot through Maia. She jumped slightly as she repressed a squeal of delight and ran for Ramon’s room, the only bedroom, other than their abuela’s, on the first floor.
The door was closed. She only knocked once before she opened it. “Ramon, Dad’s home, and he’s got something to talk to you about.”
Ramon turned his wheelchair away from his desk, where it looked like he’d been staring out the window into the dark night more than doing his homework. “I thought I heard him come in. Do you know what he wants?”
“Maybe.” Maia couldn’t hide her grin. She wanted to tell him what was going on but resisted. Maybe Dad will let me tell him or, at the very least, explain the details. She’d gotten more details through a few e-mails with Emma. It was nice. Since the open house, Emma had e-mailed every day. And since all the mobile phones were reconnected, they’d even exchanged a few long text conversations. Emma was quickly becoming her new best friend.
With a heavy sigh, Ramon moved his chair toward the door. The muscles in his upper arms bulged more than when he’d been on the football team. Before his accident, all the girls in school, and even a few of the boys, had shown some kind of interest in him. He’d started putting on a little weight since they moved to Fountain. Maybe riding Selena will help him lose some of that weight.
She grabbed the handles on the back of his chair and pushed him over the threshold of his room. He grumbled, saying he could, at least, do that for himself, but this time, she didn’t care. She wanted him to hear the good news and didn’t want to wait for Ramon to slowly wheel down the hallway on the carpet. “Come on, let’s get you moving.”
“It’s not my birthday, or yours, or Christmas. What’s got you so excited?” Ramon asked, but he didn’t grab the wheels to stop them the way he usually did when he wasn’t in the mood to deal with her.
“You’ll see.” Maia slowed her pushing slightly as they went over the transition strip from the carpet in the hallway to the linoleum in the kitchen.
Their dad was just sitting down to the table. Abuela Sylvia placed his dinner in front of him. Before they moved in with her, either Maia or her mother would serve him when he got home, but her mother was at work, and her abuela insisted on taking care of her father when she was around. Sometimes it made Maia feel odd to have her grandmother doing a job she was used to doing.
“Good, you’re both here.” Her dad picked up a tortilla and put some rice and meat into it. “Ramon, what would you say to starting hippotherapy?”
Ramon frowned. “I don’t want to play with hippos. How is that supposed to help me?”
Maia laughed. “Hippotherapy is what they call horseback riding therapy. A lot of people are using it to help with physical therapy.”
“But it won’t help me walk again, will it?” Ramon mumbled.
Their dad shook his head. “You know what the doctors have said. This ‘hippotherapy’ will help you move more and use the muscles that you don’t work in the chair or at the physical therapist’s office.”
“Hey, you used to like riding, remember?” Maia said, hoping Ramon’s lack of excitement about the new opportunity wouldn’t ruin everything.
“Yeah, I liked it.” He kept his gaze on his hands in his lap. “But how am I supposed to get up and down from the horse? How am I supposed to hold myself up?” He frowned at her. “And, in case you didn’t notice, we don’t even have a horse anymore.”
For a second, Maia wanted to kick his chair. He wasn’t normally so mean as to stab at the still open wound she had from giving up Selena.
“Ramon, the rescue center where we released Selena is starting a new program that will work with you,” their dad said. “Insurance isn’t going to cover all of it, but it should cover enough for us to be able to afford it. If you’re interested, of course. What do you think?”
“I guess.” Ramon sighed. It wasn’t the sound of a glowing endorsement. “Anything would be better than just sitting around here and watching the kids play basketball across the street.”
“Good.” Their dad took the last bite of his tortilla and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Maia, would you contact Emma and set up a time for us to come out?”
Heat flashed through Maia’s face as she jumped up from the table. “Awesome! She’ll be thrilled we’re coming back out.” She dashed over and hugged her dad. “Thanks for getting this worked out.”
“What’s with you?” Ramon muttered from his wheelchair. “This is supposed to be for me.”
“It’s for both of you,” their father said. “Maia is going to be working there, helping with some of the chores, as a way to help pay for some of your therapy. This way the two of you have something you can look forward to together.”
“There’s probably some cute cowboy out there that caught Maia’s eye.” Ramon turned his chair around and headed for the hall. “Maybe it can be a win for both of us.”
“There aren’t any cowboys out there,” Maia said from halfway up the stairs. “There’s just Emma, her mom, and a few old ranch hands who help from time to time.” Maia was nearly as excited to see Emma as Selena.
Ramon shrugged as he rolled away. “Whatever. I guess it will be nice to get out.”
More than nice. Maia dashed up the rest of the stairs toward her computer, impatient to send off an e-mail to Emma, then decided that a text would get her a quicker response. If she were allowed to have her phone in the kitchen, she’d have texted Emma the moment Ramon agreed.
6
EMMA LOVED being on the back of a horse. As she galloped through the pasture, she let Selena control how fast they went. It was amazing to feel the horse move beneath her. She always felt as one with the horse. That was what caused her to fall in love with horses to begin with. Her mother starting a rescue only helped it along.
At the pasture gate, Emma swung her leg over Selena’s back and dismounted, then petted Selena on the side of her neck softly. The mare still had a little work left before she could be reliably used in their program, but Emma was pleased with Selena’s progress, even if she was a little impatient. Ever since Maia had texted and told her the news, Emma had felt pressured to get everything ready and perfect for Ramon.
“Emma, how’s Selena coming along?” her mom called out from the bench outside the gate, western boots and hat on, looking the part of the cowgirl.
“Not bad in the saddle. I’ve still got to run her through the obstacle course a few times, and then you can fine-tune her.” Emma led Selena to the fence and tied her off. She opened the gate, closed it, and walked over to the bench next to her mom.
“That’s pretty good in just a week.”
“Well, she was desensitized to a lot of things already. Selena’s been well taken care of.” After taking off her gloves and shoving them into her pockets, Emma sat down and propped her elbow up on the back of the bench.
Her mom raised an eyebrow and smiled at her. “Have you been talking to Maia a lot?”
“As much as I can.” Her face grew hot. It was just like Mom to really see what was going on and to ask all the hard questions. “Mom, she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Prettier than Diane?” Her mother’s question cut right to the bone, no beating around the bush. She usually could read both animals and people pretty well.
Diane was Emma’s first and only girlfriend, so far. They dated for two years and in that two years, Diane had become a fixture around the farm. When the breakup happened seven months ago, she stopped coming out and things grew quiet. Maia was the first girl to catch Emma’s attention since.
