Alyssa Wilkins's Story

It was late June as Alyssa opened her eyes to see the love of her life, Jax, still sleeping beside her. She gently smiled and kissed his cheek before plucking herself upwards into a sitting position to stretch and wake herself up the rest of the way. I’m living in a fairytale… love of my life beside me, ranch starting up on a crisp, summer morning, and his adorable toddler twins cooing in their nursery in our grand home, but something doesn’t feel right. She thought to herself as she slipped away from the bed and over to the balcony which looked out to their barn and fields where the horses would be put out shortly. For a moment she simply stood there still with her hands lying gently on the rail as she watched the sun rise, but soon found herself stirring to do something different and exciting. She glanced over her shoulder, as she turned to face their bedroom, to look back at her fiancé lovingly before tiptoeing through the room, making sure to grab her cell on the way, and down the stairs and through the house to travel down to her largest barn.

“Look at them all.” She whispered to herself as she opened the door and breathed in the smell of equine and the fresh bedding placed down the night before for them. “I love them all.” She mentioned with a gentle nod as she wrapped her arms around herself. It was a slightly chilly morning, one that certainly was perfect for riding, but a little colder than wanted for someone wearing only a short nightgown. She smiled softly as one of the horses neighed at her and another, nearer one, nickered. Walking over to the little mare which had just nickered, a smile broadened over her face. “You wanna go riding, don’t you?” She giggled before pausing slightly and tilting her head at the mare through the bars, “I do too.” She sighed and began walking away from the mare, but the mare nickered again and Lyss could hear her pawing at the ground. The smile crept up on her face again as she turned back around, suddenly grinning as a glint of happiness flickered in her eyes like fire, “Well, maybe a short run won’t do any harm…” Grabbing up the halter and lead on the mare’s door, she slid her finger across the name, Arienelle, before entering the stall and haltering the little mare and jumping up on her and lightly kicking her to make her trot out of the stall and out to just… run…

~~~

“Melody, c’mon! We need to go pick up Aunt Amber from the airport.” Will called from the door of their apartment. It was nothing special; one bedroom, one bathroom, one master suite, kitchen and dining area, and a sitting area with a small television. They had to get a second bed for Amber to sleep on while she was staying with them for at least that year. Their parents were hoping the new set up with him and his family would provide her with the same stability, a little less sisterly drama, and maybe also a few more friends. Will hadn't heard much about his littlest sister’s situation, but he did know it’d been rough on her.

“Coming Daddy!” Melody called back as she ran out in a cute little outfit, perfect for meeting her aunt in. She reached up to her father wanting to be picked up. With a light chuckle, Will scooped her up in his arms and planted a kiss on her shoulder. “We’ll be back with Amber soon.” He mentioned as he gave Chelsea a quick kiss and headed out with his daughter.

Only an hour later, they arrived at the airport and found Amber, with her long, chocolate-colored hair and bright blue eyes, standing very lady-like on her own in a corner of the waiting room. Will immediately crinkled his nose at her attire. No wonder she doesn’t have any friends… Has she not compared her clothes to everyone else’s recently? He wondered to himself as he watched Melody run over and give her a big hug, unable to note his dear sister’s evident shock at being grabbed by the child in such a hug. “My dear brother,” She smiled as she gingerly picks up her niece and held her against her hip, “how may you be on this lovely day? Your daughter seems to be a rather joyous type. I think you have raised her decently well. How is your fiancée, Chelsea? Is she well? I have unfortunately not seen her since I was very young.” Amber reminisced and questioned as Will forced himself to walk over to his sister, still wondering how she could possibly even be allowed to wear a dress of such odd nature. Shouldn’t a girl her age be wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt? No wonder their parents sent her to him.

“I’m doing pretty well, Amber, and thank you. I think Melody is normally a happy girl, but there are times when she begs to differ.” He smirked gently over at Mellie as Amber set her back down on the ground, as lady-like as she had picked her up. Trying to push his thoughts of her odd behavior away, he continued, “Chels is great! She’s excited to see you, and I think she’d be happy to take you shopping sometime. She loves shopping and getting nice stuff.”

Amber’s eyes darkened ever so slightly as she metaphorically crawled a little deeper into her shell. I like what I wear, though… She inwardly reminded herself, knowing how impolite it would be to show that she had caught his rude comment. I like who I am… Has my brother changed so much as to no longer accept me for who and what I am? I do not think I can believe what I am hearing right now. When Amber had told her parents about Lolita dresses and wanting to hold more elegance than people did, they had been proud of her and willing to help her and support her. However, that love and support seemed to have stayed in Florida when she decided to fly to her birth-town. Ever so slightly, she shifted on her feet and dropped her eyes down to the ground before gently curtsying. “Well, brother, I believe that dear Chelsea may be missing us by now, may we be off to see her?” She asked him curiously as she raised herself back up, pulling on a pair of small, white gloves which matched the frills on her light blue dress.

“Yupp…” He picked his daughter up and started out of the airport, hearing his sister’s light footsteps behind him, he decided to not help her with her carry on. “They told me they’d put your bags in my car. So, we should be good.” He mentioned as they arrived to the car where, sure enough, her bags laid in the trunk, waiting to move into a new hanging closet. After settling themselves in the car, they headed back to their home to once again see Chelsea.

Chelsea woke up and sleepily waved to Will and Melody as they left to go get his sister. She curled up on the couch with a blanket, still in her pjs and watched TV, fighting off her sleepiness. She had been studying for a big exam all week and was drained after finally taking the test last night.
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Jax heard Alyssa wake up and move around and sleepily pulled himself out of bed to go check on the twins. They cooed happily when they saw him and he picked one of them up and changed her diaper before setting her back into the cozy crib. He and Alyssa were so busy that he was thinking about hiring a nanny for the girls. Usually the women took care of the kids but it was kinda awkward because they weren't really ALyssa's. Sure she loved them but he felt bad asking her to do stuff for them. He sighed and made his way down to the kitchen where he sat on a stool at the counter eating cereal.

Determining the young mare needing attention simply by running, not to mention her own desperate-yet-silent need to run a horse, Alyssa pushed Arienelle to sprint out to the main polo field where she just ran her around it in circles as if she were a purebred thoroughbred. After a moment of racing around the field, she slowed her training mare down to a steady trot, forcing Arienelle to hold herself under control. Such a silly mare, always wanting to sprint. She is sweet enough, certainly, but she lacks control... Alyssa broke her thought off as she drifted into her talented past with her gelding, Dexter. Dex had control... and maneuverability. He had everything. Feeling her cheeks warm at the thought of him, she released the reins and allowed her to gallop across the field as fast as she could, still controlling her direction. The speed quickly calmed her, but it didn't make her happy, but she would never have admitted that, not even to herself.

After Arienelle's speedy gallop, Lyss slowed her down to a plodding trot or walk, whichever Arienelle felt like doing, really, as they made their way back to the stables. She wouldn't want her new stablehand to worry about the horse's condition. Afterall, it wasn't like she'd even really interviewed him before accepting his application. She just needed to get the ranch back up and running in order to service the town to its best capability, and it's not like someone couldn't learn how to. Nearing the barn finally, she was able to see the front fields in the distance. So much to do today. After they're all let out, I'll need to figure out which eight are looking vivacious enough to be the mares or geldings for today's lesson. Then I have to teach what'shisname how to take care of them if he doesn't already know, not like she'd even looked past the part about felonious acts on the application, and hopefully he'll pick it up fast. If not... I'm in trouble. Finishing that thought, she turned the corner to see the young man taking the horses out to pasture, with many of them already out. Glad to see him following her first instruction, she smiled and watched him as he lead one of the older mares out before trotting Arienelle back inside and down the corridor of stalls to the heated water trough at the other end of the barn and around the corner.

Hopping off to allow the mare to drink, she started to turn the corner again and saw the "angry" gelding of the barn storming down the aisle at her. "Woah!" She called out to him, but watched as he continued on in a rage. The poor man on top of Clint was holding on for his dear life. "Woah!!!" She called out in firmer voice, throwing her hands up to spook him. Rearing up, Clint obnoxiously whinnied his disapproval before throwing his hooves back to the ground and attempting to buck the man semi-riding him off. "Stop, Clint!" Alyssa spoke out desperately as he began to go up again. With all will to calm the horse gone, she threw herself towards them and slapped the gelding's front shoulder. With that, his eyes grew wide and he stopped. "That's what I thought." She grumbled at him, turning to see what shape her new stable hand was in.