Nate gave him a brother handshake and a clap on the shoulder. “Good to see you. I didn’t get a chance to tell you how damned grateful I am for what you did yesterday. Dan’s little girl wouldn’t be alive today if not for you.”
For some reason, it wasn’t as awkward to hear this coming from Nate, perhaps because he’d known Dan, or perhaps because they’d already talked about some pretty serious shit. “It was one of the scariest damned moments of my life.”
“I bet it was.”
A door on the side of the trailer opened, and Megan stepped out, holding little Jackson, Emily darting out behind her. Jack and Janet followed with their baby.
“Good to see you, Jesse.” Jack wore a cowboy hat on his head and a big sheepskin barn coat, his face a wide grin. “You’ve been busy. Thank God for you, son.”
“Where are the twins?” Emily asked.
“They’re home with Ellie taking a nap right now.”
“How is Daisy?” Megan asked.
“You’d never know that she went for an hour without a pulse yesterday.”
“Thank God,” Megan said. “I watched the footage. I felt sick for Ellie. I’m so glad you were there.”
“So am I.”
“Do you have time to come in and warm up?” Janet set Lily on the ground and zipped her coat.
Come in? Into where?
Then Jesse realized that they had all stepped out of the trailer. It wasn’t just a horse trailer. There was living space inside.
Nate glanced at his watch. “We need to get a look at the course. The race starts in about fifteen minutes.”
Jesse thanked Jack, Megan, and Janet and walked with Nate along the length of the course, getting a feel for it.
Nate pointed. “It’s different than what I set out.”
There were three jumps and three gates as there’d been on his practice course at the Cimarron, but there were alsothreesets of rings to catch rather than one.
“This is going to be a little tougher.” The rings hadn’t been Jesse’s strength.
“Just remember what we practiced. Keep your mouth shut. No slack. Land the jumps. Don’t miss the gates. And get all the rings. You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” He glanced around hoping to see Ellie with the kids, but she wasn’t there.
* * *
Ellie madeher way down the crowded sidewalk, the twins tucked beneath blankets in their stroller. There were a lot of people from out of town who’d come for the race, and some of them weren’t kind enough to step aside for her. But there were lots of locals, too, people she’d known all of her life. They said hello when they saw her, told her how happy they were that Daisy was okay.
When a couple of young men almost knocked her over, Harrison Conrad from the Team grabbed them both by their collars and jerked them to a stop. “Apologize to the woman here. Do you see she has two small children?”
They looked sheepishly at Ellie. “Sorry.”
Harrison let them go, shook his head. “Flatlanders. Good to see you, Ellie.”
When Ellie finally reached the skijoring course, there was almost nowhere to stand, especially not with such a wide stroller. She’d just found a spot where she couldalmostsee the street when she heard someone call her name.
Megan waved. “Ellie! We saved a spot for you over here.”
Ellie made her way through the crowd to find the West clan except for Nate sitting together on folding chairs with one chair left for her. “Thanks so much. It took me so long to find parking, I was afraid I was going to miss it.”
“They’re just about to start.” Megan helped her move the stroller to a good spot. “Hi, there, Daniel. Hi, Daisy. She looks so healthy and happy.”