Sean stood almost in a trance.  He couldn’t believe that Vivian was kissing him.  Earlier she had ridden over to the house and told him that she needed to talk to him about some property issues.  He hadn’t thought any thing about it, except that he didn’t know why she would talk to him.  He would have thought she would come to him as a last resort.  But here she was kissing him.  He grabbed her by the arms and pushed her away.

"Vivian, what are you doing?"
"I’m trying to show you that we are really meant for each other."
"Vivian, we aren’t meant for each other.  You need a man that will cater to your every whim and I am not that man.  I care about what happens to you, but I don’t love you."
"Sean, how do you know that you don’t love me?"
"Vivian, if I really loved you, it wouldn’t matter that you’d made plans for our honeymoon without talking to me about it.  Somehow we would have worked through it.  But we didn’t and I really didn’t want to.  When you love someone, you think about them all the time and you can’t wait to see them.  You enjoy just being in their company.  You want to talk to them and get their opinion on the important things in your life.  And you care about whatever make them happy, whether it be their job or family.  And when you know that they love you, you don’t feel like you have to be anything other than yourself."
Vivian had watched Sean’s face while he had been describing the aspects of loving someone and had seen the way his eyes warns and his expression softened, as if he knew what he was talking about.
"At least I tried.  It’s what our fathers wanted."
"Yeah, our father’s did want that," Sean replied with a smile, "but MY father only wanted it until he realized that it wouldn’t make me happy.  My father loves his family."
"So did mine," Vivian said defensively.
"I’m sure he did, Vivian.  I think you had better go home now.  I hope everything works out for you."
Sean watched as Vivian got into her carriage and rode down the way.  A moment later a smile crossed his face, ‘I’ve got to find Marita, I still have to show her where I’m thinking of building a house.’

--------------------------

Marita had come into the house to ask Ned about a meeting that he had in town the next day and saw Sean in the sitting room and was about to enter when she saw Vivian kiss Sean.  She felt a sharp pain in her chest.  This was like a nightmare.  She couldn’t stay in the house a moment longer.  ‘How did you deal with loving a man that was practically impossible to have?’  She totally forgot about checking on the meeting with Ned and ran out of the house to the stables.

She hadn’t been riding a lot lately, but her father and Ned had given her a horse when she was younger that was kept in the stables.  Cinnamon had been a baby when Marita got her but she was a pretty spirited horse.  Marita saddled her quickly and climbed into the saddle before breaking into a gallop across the property.  She had a special place she would go near the river.
As she was riding through the meadow, Cinnamon slowed and must have sensed danger because she reared up and threw Marita to the ground.  Marita was dazed, but tried to gain some purchase in the grass.  She realized that she couldn’t because her foot was caught in the stirrup.  Something must have spooked Cinnamon for she took off into a gallop dragging Marita behind her.  After being dragged over 30 yards, Marita’s foot slipped out of the stirrup, she groaned and lay still in the middle of the meadow.

----------------

"Alice, have you seen Marita? I've been looking for her everywhere," Sean asked.
"No, I haven't.  Did you check the garden and Pa's study?" replied Alice.
"Yeah, they were the first places I looked," Sean answered with a frown forming.  "It's not like her to go off by herself, without telling anybody.  Where's Pa and Isaac?"
"I don't know.  I thought Pa was with Clay working with that new colt."
"I'll just go down to the ring and check," Sean said as he turned and left the house.

Just as Sean got to the ring where Clay and Ned were working, he called out, "Hey, Pa, Clay.  Pa, have you seen Marita?"
"Hi, son.  No, I haven't.  I was expecting her to come looking for me earlier since I have that meeting in town tomorrow."
"Sean, I saw her in the house earlier.  I don't know where she went," Clay said.
"How much earlier?" asked Sean, getting a bad feeling.
"Maybe, half an hour."
Sean sighed.  'She probably saw Vivian.'
"Sean, is something wrong?" asked Ned, beginning to get worried, as he saw lines appear in Sean's forehead.
"I don't know.  I looked and couldn't find her.  Have either of you seen Isaac?"
"I think he is in the stable brushing down horses," replied Ned.
"Okay, I'll go check with him," Sean replied.
As Sean walked away from the ring, Ned looked after him. 'Sean, I hope you know what you're doing,' Ned thought before going back to the colt.

------------------------

As Sean was walking to the stables, he saw Cinnamon standing in some tall grass, grazing.  He entered the stables where Isaac was brushing down a chestnut bay.
"Hey, Isaac.  Have you seen Marita?"
"No, actually.  I thought she must have taken a ride, since Cinnamon was gone."
"You mean you didn't let Cinnamon out."
"What? No, I didn't let her out.  Why?"
"Because, she's right outside grazing."
They both ran to where Cinnamon was grazing.  When they got close to the horse, they noticed a piece of cloth caught in the stirrup.  Sean gasped and looked at Isaac, who had a look of panic on his face.  They started yelling Marita's name.  Ned and Clay came running toward the stables.
"What's going on?"
"We think Marita may have taken a fall or something."
"Cinnamon is saddled.  We just found this cloth in her stirrup."
Ned looked at the piece of fabric.  "Marita was wearing brown this morning when she came into the office."
"Well we have to find her," Sean said frantically, before running into the stables to get his horse.
"Sean!  Where are you going?"
"To find her.  I think she may have headed out to the river.  She likes going there to think sometimes."
"We’ll meet you there after we check with the servants to see if they’ve found her."
"Okay."

---------------------

As Sean rode toward the river he kept praying, ‘God please let her be okay. Please.’

---------------------

When he got to the meadow, he knew he wasn’t going to find her okay.  He saw her in the distance.  A prone figure lying in the grass.  He was off the horse before he stopped.   He ran to Marita and turned her onto her back.  ‘Please God, let her be breathing.’

"Marita, please wake up," Sean murmured brushing the hair from her brow.  "Come on, honey."
Marita moaned and frowned, but didn’t wake up.
"Come on, Marita.  Wake up for me, baby."  When she didn’t respond, he began to worry more.  He picked her up from the ground and began to carry her toward his horse.  Isaac and Ned rode up just as he got to his horse.
"Is she alright?" asked Isaac.
"I don’t know.  She won’t wake up," Sean said and looked as his father,  remembering how scared he had been when he had been in a coma.
"I’ll get a doctor and meet you two back at the house," Ned said turning his horse in the direction of town.
"Give her to me," Isaac said from atop his horse.
"No, I’ll take her," Sean responded.
"How?  You can’t get on your horse with her in your arms.  Give her to me.  I promise I won’t let any thing happen to her and we’re wasting time."
Sean sighed and passed Marita’s still body to Isaac.  "I’ll be right behind you.  Take her to our house.  The doctor will get there faster."
Isaac hid a small smile and turned his horse toward the house.  He heard Sean’s horse right behind him moments later.

--------------------------

They arrived at the house in record time and Isaac passed Marita’s prone body to Sean.  Sean rushed Marita into the house and up to Alice’s room.  Alice and Isaac rushed up the stairs behind Sean.  Once in Alice’s room, she shooed the men downstairs while she and one of the servants undressed Marita and got her into bed.

Downstairs, Sean was pacing in his father’s study while Isaac sat quietly in a chair near the door.  Isaac jumped up from the chair once he heard the door slam.  Sean was right behind him.

"I found the doc," Ned said as the man went up the stairs toward Alice’s room.  Behind him, Lexie and Clay entered the house.
"Did you find her?" asked Clay.
"Yeah, we did.  She’s upstairs.  The doctor’s with her now," answered Ned.
"Is she going to be okay?" asked Lexie to Sean.
Sean bent down on one knee and looked Lexie directly in the eye, "She going to be fine.  She has to be."  He then pulled Lexie into his arms for a much-needed hug.  He closed his eyes and absorbed strength from his embrace with his sister.
Isaac had yet to comment and Ned was getting worried about his best friend.  He walked over to his friend and placed his hand on Isaac’s shoulder.
"Isaac, she’s going to be fine."
"I hope so.  She’s my little girl."
"I know how you feel."
Alice came down the steps at that moment.
"The doctor’s examining Marita now.  She still hasn’t woken up yet," Alice said with a worried look on her face.  Clay opened his arms to her and she walked into them.  Just then, Jeremy walked into the house.
"Is she okay?"
"We don’t know yet," answered Ned.
Jeremy then walked over to Sean, who had released Lexie and whispered, "Are you okay?"
"As well as can be expected," came the answer from Sean.

---------------------

As an upstairs door closed, everyone jumped and looked at the top of the stairs.  Isaac and Ned followed the doctor outside.  When they came back into the house, Sean was upstairs with Marita and the other kids were waiting in the study.  Isaac went up the stairs to Alice’s room.  Just outside the door he heard, "Marita, you have to wake up.  Don’t you dare leave me!  Do you hear me?  I love you.  I need you.  Please wake up."

Isaac stepped through the door and placed his hand on Sean’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.  "She’s not going anywhere.  Pretty soon she’s going to wake up and be back to her old self."
Sean looked at Isaac with a hint of panic in his eyes, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I’m sure," Isaac answered and pushed Sean toward the door, "I’ll sit with her for a little while.  Promise I won’t let anything happen to her."
"I know you won’t.  You love her as much as I do."
Isaac smiled at Sean and pushed his out the door.

-----------------------

Sean went down the stairs to find the rest of his family.  Lexie and Jeremy were having their lessons.  Alice was off in the garden and Clay was outside working with the new colt.
Ned was sitting at his desk looking at his calendar.  He looked up as Sean walked into the room.

"Where is everybody?"
"Doing chores and having lessons," Ned said with a slight smile on his face, "You know that she’s going to be alright, don’t you?"
"I hope so," he had the most forlorn look on his face that Ned had seen since his mother died.
"Sean, the doctor says that Marita is going to be fine.  She just took a nasty fall and that she is sore and bruised.  That’s all," Ned said and went around the desk to give his son a  bit of support.
"Pa?  I know this is hard, but I really love her.  I thought I could keep it a secret, but I can’t."
"Well, son.  Even though you haven’t actually said it before, the whole family knew."
"How?"
"Well, the broken engagement, the talks in the garden, the looks, I could go on for a while."
"I didn’t know I was so obvious."
"Well, you are, to me anyway.  I remember how much I loved your mother.  When you’ve really known love, you can see it in other people."
"I’ll have to remember that.  I forgot that you know a lot about horses . . and women."
"Well, just a little."
At that moment, Isaac ran down the stairs and into the study.  His face was a wreath of smiles.  "She just woke up.  She’s sore, but fine and Sean she’d like to see you," he said laughing.  Before he had gotten to "see you", Sean was already half way up the stairs.  Isaac looked at Ned, "We are really in for it with those two aren’t we?"
"I think we are," Ned answered with a smile.

-------------------------

Sean knocked on the door once before pushing it open.  Marita looked up as he entered the room.  Her eyes lit up at seeing him, then they dimmed as if she was remembering something painful.  Sean walked over to the bed and sat on the edge before taking Marita’s hand in both of his.

"How are you feeling?"
"Like I fell from the back of a horse," she said with a smile.
He chuckled, then he sobered.  "Would you please not ever do this to me again?"
"Do what?"
"Scare me half to death," Sean said as he leaned in to kiss her.  She turned her head at the last minute and the kiss landed on her cheek.
"I’m sorry.  I was upset and wasn’t paying attention to Cinnamon."
"That’s why you shouldn’t ride alone."
"You ride alone all the time."
"That’s different.  I’m a man.  I can take care of myself."
He could see that she was about to argue and cut her off, "Don’t even start.  I know that you can handle a horse and take care of yourself, but you need to ride with someone and I’m sure that Isaac told you the same thing."
She looked sheepish at that, and relented, "Well, I’m sorry that I scared all of you.  I just wanted to go somewhere and think."
"About what? And why were you upset?"
"Just some things going on."
"You know you can talk to me."
"I know."
"Then, why don’t you tell me exactly what is wrong.  While you’re at it, you can tell me how much you saw."
She looked up at him as if he’d just grown another head.
"I know you were in the house when Vivian came over.  Why did you just run off and not say anything if you were upset about that?"
"Because I didn’t want to put you on the spot."
"You’ve done it before.  Remember when Clay and I got into the fight."
"I was less sure of what your answer was going to be," she said in a timid voice.  When Sean thought she wasn’t going to say more, she added, "I saw the two of you kissing."
"So, you saw the kiss and didn’t wait to see what happened next," Sean concluded.
"That’s right."
"I wish you had stayed, because I sent Vivian away.  I don’t have any romantic feelings for her at all.  I love you," Sean said as he kissed her in earnest this time.  When he lifted his head, tears had welled up in Marita’s eyes and she responded, "I love you, too."

                                     Finis
 

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