Thank you for the feedback Sanda and Silvie.
Sanda, things will improve for Jenna and Lucas later on...
Silvie, I'm glad that you still like this story, here's the next update:
Over by the stables, were Bobby, Chris, Pam and Rebecca walking around among all the horses. It was the first time the four of them were all alone together as Bobby and Pam thought it would be a good idea to spend the day together as a family. So they had decided to go out on a ride together just the four of them. Besides for getting to spend some time together it was also a way to show Rebecca the ranch. Christopher was looking sullen and was guarded as he walked next to Bobby. Rebecca on the other hand was excited, as she walked in between her parents, holding their hands. “Oh look at all the ponies mommy!” Rebecca beamed. “I’ve never seen
this many horses at the same time before!”
Her parents laughed at her and Bobby said, “But I thought you said you could ride?”
“I can, but the stable I go to back home only have ten ponies,” Rebecca explained. “There got to be at least 30 ponies in here!”
“Actually we got 38 horses,” Bobby smiled.
“Oh cool, so which one do I get to ride today?” Rebecca asked.
“Oh I’m sure we’ll find you a suitable pony,” Bobby promised, as they stopped in front of a box with a smaller pony, “Hey how about this one?”
“Oh he’s cute, what’s his name?” Rebecca asked.
“Dawn,” Bobby replied. “It’s actually a she pony.”
“Oh,” Rebecca looked embarrassed for getting it wrong before she shifted her attention to the animal. “Hi Dawn," she started petting the pony, which took to her immediately.
Bobby smiled when he saw that, "I think she likes you."
"I like her too," Rebecca smiled. "Actually I think she’s marvelous, so can I have her as my very own pony?”
“Well you can borrow her today and then we’ll see how you get along…” Bobby promised.
“Okay, but I’ve always wanted a pony of my own, so it would make me really, really, really, really happy if I can have her!” Rebecca said pleadingly.
“I hear you,” Bobby nodded. “So what do you say, should I saddle her up for you?”
“Yes please,” Rebecca smiled.
Bobby then took out the pony and started to saddle her, as he did that Rebecca followed him, which left Pam and Christopher standing a little to the side. An awkward silence occurred as mother and son had so much to say to each other and yet neither one of them knew where to start. Christopher looked hopeful at his mother, waiting for her to start apologizing for leaving him or at least explain things to him. But when she finally spoke she completely avoided the tough subjects, as she said, “So what’s the name of your horse Christopher?”
“Trailblazer,” Christopher said.
“Okay,” Pam nodded, before adding. “So well since your daddy is off helping Rebecca with her horse why don’t you help me pick out a horse as well?”
Christopher snorted, “God you’ve really been away long, haven’t you?”
Pam bit her lip wondering what she’d said wrong, “Yeah I guess I have.”
“You must have had a blast over in Los Angeles huh?”
“It was alright,” Pam said carefully.
“Just alright?”
“Yeah it’s not easy to start over and make a new life for yourself…”
“I don’t believe you,” Christopher said raising his voice. “I think it was real easy, I bet you forgot all about your old life here at Southfork real fast…”
“Christopher that’s not true!”
“It is,” Christopher said hurt. “Because if you hadn’t you wouldn’t need my help to pick out a horse. You would have just walked up and saddled him.”
Pam eyes widened, as it suddenly dawned on her, “You’ve kept Moonwalker?”
“Yep,” Christopher nodded. “You didn’t think we’d get rid of him just because you left now, did you?”
“I’m sorry Christopher, I didn’t think…” Pam could feel the tears start to well up behind her eyes.
Christopher stomped his foot into the ground saying, “Well that’s just it, you never think, you just do things without thinking of how it affects other people…”
Pam crossed her arms defensively in front of her, “What are you getting at?”
“You know what,” Christopher said annoyed. “I’m talking about how you choose to leave us, without thinking for a minute how it would affect
me,” Christopher paused for a moment letting the impact of his word sink in before he went on, “Do you have any idea of what it’s like being a six year old boy and suddenly not have a mother anymore?”
“No,” Pam shook her head, as the tears welled over in her eyes. “Look Christopher I’m…”
Unfortunately Pam didn’t have a chance to finish that sentence before Rebecca interrupted them, “Mommy look at me!” Rebecca called excitedly. “I’m all ready to go!”
Pam dried her tears before she looked up and seeing Rebecca sitting on the horse she called back, “I can see that sweetie!”
“So now what are you waiting for?” Rebecca asked impatiently. “Pick a horse already so we can ride!”
Pam managed a smile, “Alright, I think I’ll take Moonwalker for a ride then.”
“You remembered?” Bobby asked astonished.
Pam nervously tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, “Well Christopher here told me you’ve kept my horse so…”
“Well yeah we did,” Bobby said uneasily, as he noticed the hurt expression on his son’s face. “I’m not sure if he’ll remember you, but sure you can take him for a ride!”
“Okay I think I will then,” Pam replied. “So where do I find him?”
“Oh he’s to your left, in the box closest to the wall,” Bobby called out for Pam. “Why don’t you go take him out and saddle him up while Christopher and I’ll get our horses?”
“Okay,” Pam nodded, before she walked off.
Watching her go, Bobby then walked up to Christopher and put a hand on his shoulder before he said, “So how are you doing son?”
“Not great dad, I never imagined it would be this hard,” Christopher sighed.
“Neither did I.”
“I mean I tried to talk to mom, but she’s just dodging my questions.”
Bobby sighed, “Well I know she’s hurt you real bad and you have the right to some answers. But we got to give it some time.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean she just got here and she’s still trying to adapt to being back. So we can’t expect everything to be perfect right away just because she’s back. These things takes time and I’m sure once she’ll get a little more settled, she’ll sit down and explain everything to you. But until then, give her some time, will you?”
“Okay dad,” Christopher nodded.
“Good,” Bobby smiled, before adding in a light hearted tone, “So now why don’t we go saddle up our horses before that kid sister of yours rides off without us?”
Christopher smiled, “She sure is impatient, isn’t she?”
“Oh yeah if you think this is bad, you should be happy that you didn’t have to spent three days in the car with her!"
Christopher who up until now had been feeling a little excluded asked, “So you didn’t have a fun road trip without me then?”
“Well unless you call listening to Rebecca asking us if we aren’t there yet every five minutes and stopping five times in a day for a toilet stop fun…” Bobby said with a twinkle in his eyes.
His comments made Christopher laugh, “That bad huh?”
“Yeah, trust me son, you haven’t missed
anything!” Bobby reassured his son.
Christopher nodded, as he was feeling a little better already. Because hearing his dad talk like that made him realize that even if his mother and sister were a part of their family now, there was no risk that they would ever come between him and his dad.
