Page 17 of Seeing Harper

He glared at her.

“She’s working her butt off at the equine center, trying to keep the Bigsbys in business and the horses taken care of. And she still comes back here, and sometimes before she goes to the center she does more than her share of the planting and the pruning and the fertilizing, and keeping the grounds around the trees clear of debris and entertaining customers at the Christmas Fair, and the Fall Fair, and the Strawberry Patch and Pumpkin Patch field trips the schools bring the kids to, and whatever else we have going on. She never, ever takes time for herself to have a private life. She never has. She deserves to find her happiness wherever it lies, and not be relegated to a life we thought of for her before she was even born.”

“She doesn’t appreciate what she has and she doesn’t want it.”

“She does appreciate it. She just wants something totally different. Everybody has ideas of what they want to do with their lives. We have no right to tell her how she’s going to spend hers. That’s up to her. Everybody else grows up and gets to find their way. She shouldn’t have to walk our path.”

“You’ve certainly changed perspective,” Travis said.

“Honestly, I’ve known since she was eight years old and caught that runaway horse that she had a unique gift. And that her heart lay elsewhere. But I’d hoped that we could keep her here, where we could protect her and watch over her. It was selfish to think that way, though. Do you realize she’s never even been out on a date.”

“Realize it? I’m thankful for it!” Travis said.

Libby laughed, but then made herself stop. “That’s not funny. How’s she going to find her mate if she never has any time to go out and have fun? She’s never just out having fun. It’s Pride business. It’s tree business. Or it’s the horses. What do you want for her? To be an old maid, living out her life here with her elderly parents? We should give her space, not put so much pressure on her.”

“If she focused where she should be, there wouldn’t be so much pressure,” Travis said.

“You need to give it a rest,” Libby said.

“In what way?”

“What happens when anybody tells you what it is you’re going to do?”

“I do exactly what you say!”

“What happens when anybody tells you what it is that you’re going to do, other than me?” Libby said, rephrasing the obvious.

“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I do anything anybody else tells me to do. And I’ll prove it to them right then and there,” he said stubbornly.

“Exactly. What do you think Harper is going to do if you continue to push her to do what you want?”

“She’s going to do what I want her to do. What she should be doing!”

“No, she’s not. She’s going to throw her hands up and walk away. She’s not happy, Travis! You’re going to drive her away. I don’t want her to walk away. Do you?” Libby asked.

Travis sat sullenly in his recliner for several minutes, begrudgingly beginning to see his mate’s point.

“Fine. We’ll make her think we’re beginning to see things her way. Eventually, she’ll see how much she’s needed and know she has no choice but to take over the farm. I mean, who else is going to run it? Scotty’s kids?” he asked sarcastically.

“No, no, that wouldn’t be good at all. They’d never do a thing because they’d be fighting the whole time, sun up to sun down.”

“Exactly. She says Scotty’s boys can take it over one day. Well, I’ll get Scotty to bring the kids over tomorrow under the guise of letting them see how things are done, getting their hands dirty and see if any of them are actually interested in what we’re doing here, beyond hiding in the trees and jumping out at everybody. That’ll show her. Maybe then she’ll realize she’s needed.”

“You’re going to manipulate her right out of our lives.”

“I’m not! We just need her to see that she’s not the only one that benefits from this place. Besides, you act like she’s not happy at all and has no life outside of this place. She had fun today,” Travis said. “Didn’t you see the smile on her face when she came in here tonight?”

“No! I didn’t. I was getting out of the shower. Tell me!”

“She came through that door grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Something had her happy as I’ve ever seen her.”

“She was out with Clay, right?”

“I don’t know. We saw her leave with him, but I don’t know if he was still with her or not. She could have met up with somebody else, or he might have still been with her. Lord, I hope Clay was still with her. He’s a good, stable friend to her that I won’t have to go kill,” Travis said.

“Travis!” Libby snapped.

“What? Some idiot breaks her heart, I’m gonna have to hurt somebody,” Travis said.