Then she blinked guiltily and offered Emma a dirty look. “Tattletale.”
Oh, no. Nipping that one in the bud. Ginny lifted a finger and spoke quietly. “Tell me what you did wrong.”
Her oldest niece curled up to a sitting position. “I came into the horse barn without permission.”
“That was your second mistake,” Ginny informed her. “The first and more serious crime was expecting your sister to lie for you.”
Sasha’s eyes widened. Emma pressed her lips together.
Ginny glanced between them, still speaking softly enough that no one else would know they were there. “You two are best friends as well as sisters, which means you need to look out for each other. That’s what Emma did. If you can’t trust each other to do the right thing and always take care of each other, even when it’s hard, you’ll miss out on something magical and special.”
Sasha’s lower lip trembled. She scurried back from where she sat and rushed to hug Emma tight. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Emma sniffled.
Ginny did her best to not grin, because the whole conversation was a flashback to moments between her and Dare, and damn if she didn’t want that same wonderful friends forever for these two kiddos.
Sasha gave Ginny a hug as well and apologized. Then Emma had to give her a hug, and Ginny had to kiss them both and wipe away their tears.
After all that was done, they once again shuffled to the edge of the loft and looked down at the two perfect little foals snuggled in with their mama.
“Can we go pet them?” Sasha asked.
Ginny shook her head. “Let’s leave that for your dad to get to do when he thinks it’s right.”
Sasha looked disappointed, but she nodded obediently.
“We could, however, go find some kittens,” Ginny offered.
Emma’s smile flashed from ear to ear, and suddenly Ginny was being tugged over the bales and into corners in search of the slightly larger-than-last-time kittens.
They were in the middle of furry cuddle time when Emma caught the paper as it fell from her pocket.
”You dropped something, Auntie Ginny.”
Ginny took it from her and opened it up. “Maybe you can help me solve the riddle,” she said in a mysterious tone of voice.
Sasha leaned in, nose wrinkling as she stared at the paper. “Is this a puzzle game?”
“I have no idea what it means,” Ginny admitted. “But can you guess what any of these are?”
“That’s a goat.” Emma stabbed a finger at one picture and nodded decisively. “I drew a picture of Meany that looked just like that.”
Ginny grinned. “Well, Meany is very handsome then.”
And it appeared artistic talent did not run in the Stone family.
There were a few other guesses, but nothing absolutely shocking. Sasha thought one of the things looked like a fancy candelabra. One they guessed was a ball with legs.
It was Emma, other than the goat suggestion, who made the most amazing discovery. She pointed a finger at one picture. “There’s numbers in there,” she said.
Ginny peered closer. “Where?”
Emma put a finger against the paper and traced the numbers as she recited. “Five. Twelve. Thirty. See, there’s little lines between them, so I think that means it’s not just one big number.”
Ginny pressed a kiss to Emma’s temple. “Smart little girl. That is a wonderful discovery.”
Absolute approval rushed from Sasha. “Emma is very smart. She’s the best at math, and someday she’s going to work for Silver Stone and do all of the accounting.”
A fact which would make Caleb ecstatic, Ginny decided. “If that’s what you want to do, that’s wonderful.”
Not to be outdone, Emma had to share as well. “Sasha wants to train the horses.”
Her sister made a face. “But I’m still too little,” Sasha complained.
“Too little to train the rodeo horses, definitely,” Ginny said firmly. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t practice training right now.”
Sasha and Emma looked at each other with wide mouths and surprised eyes before turning back to Ginny.
“How?” demanded Sasha.
Ginny shrugged. “I thought you were training the goats.”
Sasha made a rude noise. “Goats aren’t horses.”
“I should think not, but if Emma wants to do the accounting for the ranch down the road, do you think she knows everything she’ll need for later? Even though she knows her numbers really well, and things like adding and subtracting and multiplying.”
Emma wrinkled her nose. “I don’t have all of them memorized yet,” she confessed.
Sasha nodded slowly. “If I get really good at training Eeny, Meany, and Miney, that’ll help me train horses?”
“Plus, we have lots of ranch dogs,” Ginny pointed out. “It’s always a good idea to train them to be better behaved.” She tapped her niece on the nose. “It will all add up, a little bit at a time.”
Emma turned to Sasha. “Like Mr. Tucker. He knows lots of things, but Papa says he’s going to ’prentice with Mr. Ashton until he gets really good as a foreman.”
“I want to apprentice with someone,” Sasha said seriously.
“You should tell Papa,” Emma said. She caught Sasha’s hand in hers. “I’ll come with you. And if you have to practice lots, I’ll come and help you practice. Because you’re my big sister, and I love you.”
“I love you too,” Sasha said.
Then the whole thing dissolved into another round of little girl hugs. Then Ginny was being tugged into the fray, and the paper with the doodles was put back in her pocket because being in the middle of so much current happiness and joy was more important than solving a mystery from the past.
After setting things up so he could take Ginny dancing, or at least innocently ask her to dance while they were all there in a crowd, Ashton messed with Tucker’s plans. They headed out on Thursday night to the Pincher Creek area where the Stones’ Uncle Frank had land.
Tucker still didn’t like the other man very much. He was pretty sure Frank didn’t like him either, simply because Tucker had witnessed the first time Caleb took charge and refused to cave to his uncle’s requests.
Thankfully, it was a short visit, and Tucker only had to work on being cordial for a few nights.
When they got back, another weekend had passed, and the end of January approached. It had been more than a week since he and Ginny had touched base for their last Operation Prove It meeting, and Tucker had every intention of another happening sooner than later.
The next thing he knew, it was the afternoon and he was seriously wondering if he’d see her before the spring.
“There you are.” Luke poked his head into the office where Tucker was pouring over employment records. A room which, thank God, had a window facing toward Big Sky Lake. Luke patted one of the piles of the papers on the desk in the ranch office. “Looks ominous.”
“Ashton gave me the dubious privilege of taking over the portion of payroll he’s been responsible for up until now. I might like spreadsheets, but I already know this will be one of my least favourite tasks,” Tucker shared. “Thank God, I’m nearly done.”