A Picture's Worth
Copyright© 2026 by Evie Olivia Niven
Chapter 6: The Runaway
It wasn’t the warmest day ever, only a bit over fifty, but at least it wasn’t snowing or raining. Ethan balanced Aria on his hip as he headed up to the rickety-looking stable building. The whole place was rugged, with paddocks fenced only by electrical wires, and overgrown trees and bushes spilling onto the pathways. Aria seemed delighted, however; she whipped her head back and forth, her eyes round and wide, as though trying to take in everything at once. Ethan had trouble just holding onto her.
As they approached the stables, he caught sight of Drake first, because he towered over Alanna and especially Bea. The redhead leaned against the bar wall, talking animatedly to Alanna. Her hair had been pulled into braided pigtails. She wore simple brown cowboy boots and a fringed suede jacket that was too big but looked awfully cute. When she shifted, Ethan could see that she wore a cute laced-up white peasant top beneath it. And I thought I’d get off easy because she couldn’t wear a skirt, he thought, rolling his eyes.
“Bea!” Aria called, wriggling in his arms. “Bea! Bea!”
Bea could barely hold Aria, but she took the little girl from him anyway. “Someone should switch you to decaf, honey,” she teased gently.
“I had Fruity Pebbles for breakfast,” Aria said proudly. “So I’ve got lots of sugar energy.” She paused, blinking, and then turned her head to stare curiously at Drake and Alanna. “Your Ethan’s cousin, right?”
Alanna smiled. “That’s right. And this is Drake.”
Aria stared at Drake for a long moment, her head tilted. Then she beckoned for Alanna to come closer. Leaning over in Bea’s arms, she cupped her hands around Alanna’s ear and whispered something that had her almost choking with laughter. “We have been here not even five minutes, Ethan thought wryly, and already she’s stealing the show.” He glanced at Bea and found her watching him, smiling gently. “She looks fantastic,” he thought, biting the inside of his lip.
“You’re absolutely right, sweetie,” Alanna said when she was finished laughing. Her pale blue eyes sparkled with delight. “He is!”
“Is what?” Drake asked as she turned and headed into the stable. “What is ... er, am I?”
Alanna refused to answer. Bea shrugged, grinning and rolling her eyes. Ethan took Aria back from her, and they headed into the barn. Horses stuck their great heads over stall doors, making Ari squeal in delight and Bea jump in fright. The little girl had no fears about reaching over and petting any available muzzle, but the redhead wasn’t so enthusiastic. Ethan wasn’t afraid of horses, but even he wasn’t so fond of some of the really big ones.
A young woman in mud-stained jeans and a bulky jacket met them at the other end of the stable, in the open paddock. There were horses tied to posts, four of them, and one somewhat oversized Appaloosa pony. There was a large chestnut and a large dark brown that nearly black; these two were for Drake and Ethan. The third horse was a tall, long-legged blood bay that Alanna ended up with after it mistook her hair for hay. She’d thought it was pretty amusing.
“Oh, good, a small one,” Bea said as she reached up to pat the arching neck of a small roan red with a pert muzzle and an elegant dished face. “That’s perfect for me.”
Ethan helped Aria onto the pony first, making sure she was secure in the saddle. The farmhand was speaking to Drake, explaining how the trail wound around and eventually came back into the yard. Ethan was turning to mount his own horse when he noticed Bea struggling. As small as her horse was, she couldn’t seem to get into the saddle. Smiling, he walked over to her and cupped his hands to offer her a leg up. She was surprisingly light, and he lifted her easily up into the saddle.
“Don’t be afraid,” Ethan said quietly, as he showed her how to hold the reins. “I’ll be right next to you, okay?”
The smile she flashed him warmed him down to his toes. “I really am beginning to feel like a fifteen-year-old,” he thought, turning to his own horse. “What’s next, wet dreams?” Ethan gave himself a little shake; the last thing he needed was to give his libido any ideas. These were Western-style saddles, fortunately, but they would still be rather uncomfortable if his imagination started to get away from him.
The trail was peaceful and beautiful, but Bea was having trouble enjoying herself. She thought having the small horse would be a good thing, but the red turned out to be rather spirited. “Guess we’re made for each other,” she thought, sighing. The red pranced beneath her, unsettling her in the saddle. Ethan reached over several times, trying to steady the horse. “This had better be worth it,” Bea thought, clutching the reins desperately. Her heart was thudding loudly against her ribs.
Somehow, she and Ethan had ended up in front of the line. Drake and Alanna were behind them, with Aria between them. The little girl was chatting happily about her dream of riding racehorses. “Alanna is delighted,” Bea thought, risking a glance over her shoulder, but Drake looked a little less enthusiastic. She hoped this wouldn’t cause a problem between the two of them. As far as she knew, they’d never argued before, at least not over something this big.
“I think I miss the bowling alley,” Bea grumbled.
Ethan laughed. “And here I thought you weren’t afraid of anything,” he teased.
“Most things I encounter on a daily basis don’t weigh twelve hundred pounds,” Bea retorted. “And anything that does generally doesn’t have a mind of its own!”
“You just can’t show that you’re afraid, that’s all,” Ethan told her. “Let the horse know that you’re the boss.”
“Ethan, this thing can toss me off its back,” Bea said, as she clutched desperately at the reins. “If it wants to be the boss, that’s fine by me!”
His soft, deep laughter made her shiver. It made her feel a little better, for some reason. Ethan isn’t afraid, Bea thought, and he said he’d keep me safe. It might have been just talk, but it made her feel safer. She relaxed her death grip on the reins and sat up straighter in the saddle, determined to enjoy herself. The clouds were clearing up and the overcast, gray day was turning into a beautiful sunny one. Bea could even hear birds twittering off in the trees.
A second later, she despised birds. One broke out of the underbrush, right beneath the nose of her horse. The horse whinnied in distress. Bea had a bare second to clutch at the saddle horn before the creature took off, charging full tilt down the path. I knew it, I knew it, I just knew it! her panicked mind screamed. She clung desperately to the saddle horn and closed her eyes, not wishing to see the trees blurring past her. If Bea could just focus on holding on, she might not fall.
Faintly, over the pounding of her heart, the terrified babbling of her mind, and the staccato of hooves, she heard more hoofbeats, following close behind. Bea was too afraid to see who it was. She held her breath as she felt a horse’s side brush against her leg. It was Ethan’s voice she heard, speaking soothingly to her terrified mount. She opened her eyes just in time to see him grab hold of the horse’s reins. Oh, thank god, Bea thought, slumping in the saddle as the horse began to slow.
After a couple of minutes, the horse came to a stop. She lay across its neck, trembling, unable to move. Bea didn’t even hear Ethan dismount, and it wasn’t until she felt hands on her waist that she realized he was on the ground next to her horse. She let him pull her down out of the saddle. When her feet touched the ground, she grabbed hold of him and hung on tightly. “I don’t care what he thinks of me,” Bea thought, pressing her face against his chest. “That was terrifying!”
“It’s all right now, Bea,” Ethan soothed, running his fingers through her hair. “I told you to stay calm, sweetie. If you panic, the horse will too.”
“It panicked before I did,” Bea mumbled.
His hands cupped her face and gently tilted her head up. “Did he just call me sweetie?” she wondered, staring up into his dark eyes. She wasn’t sure if that was really a good thing, since he talked to Aria and his sisters that way. But Bea was pretty certain he didn’t look at them the way he was looking at her. Ethan’s thumbs gently caressed her cheeks. She was still pressed close to him, and she could feel the warmth and strength of his body.
“Are you all right?” Ethan asked quietly.
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