Casey's Courage by Neva Brown Page B

see why you would like some freedom, but you need to know you gave that remarkable old rancher a reason to live when things were really bad for him. You’d have thought he won those trophies himself.”
    Casey swallowed hard, the lump in her throat threatening to melt into tears. J.D. held a special spot in her heart that she couldn’t possibly explain. They left the city, heading southwest.
    When she could finally talk, she said, “J.D. hiring my dad was the best thing that ever happened to us. My mother was debilitated by Lyme Disease by the time we came to the ranch. Dad pretty much had to take care of everything. Some days she felt like cooking and doing household things, but she never felt like putting up with an energetic kid, so I tagged along with him when I wasn’t in school. Luckily, I inherited an ability to handle horses. I worked with him for years without ever having a thought about pay. But my hard work all paid off when J.D. talked my dad into letting me and the Running S quarter horses go to college.”
    “Do you remember most of the past now?” Brad asked.
    She nodded. “I think I do. There is a short period after I regained consciousness that I can’t account for, but from what I hear it’s just as well.”
    The miles slipped by as they streaked along the flat highway with nothing but greasewood and sagebrush on the arid land. Off in the distance, a mesa jutted up out of the ground. In one area along the way, huge white windmills, geared to produce electricity, lined the top of the mesas for miles.
    Casey broke the silence. “Who would have ever thought these old rocky mesas and high West Texas wind would be valuable assets?”

    “Time and circumstances seem to change lots of things,” Brad said.
    “Yeah, you’re right.”
    Brad raised an eyebrow at her. “What kind of changes are you thinking about?”
    Casey didn’t answer for a bit. “I really doubt that I’ll ever do competitive riding again. I know the physical stamina it takes to do well. I don’t believe my body can withstand that kind of punishment.”
    “Who knows, maybe after you ride for the next couple of weeks, you can decide more about how you feel.”
    She could hear a tinge of uncertainty in her voice when she said, “To be honest, I’m not sure I even want to try anymore. I guess that’s one of those bridges I better not cross until I get there.” She slowed down for the city limits of one of the oldest settlements in West Texas. “You want to get something to eat here?”
    “Sounds good to me,” Brad said. “We might even go for a jog before we eat if you feel up to it.”
    Casey groaned and grinned. “A brisk walk may be the best I can do after sitting in this pickup for so long.” She turned the vehicle off the highway and meandered through an old part of town to a beautifully kept park. After some stretching and a two-mile jog, they enjoyed a delicious meal at the oldest restaurant in town before heading west again.
    As they approached the city limits of Cielo Alto, Casey said, “I want to go by the university. I need to see if the chairman of the psychology department has time to talk to me for a few minutes. Then I need to talk to a realtor about a place to lease, since someone else is house-sitting the professor’s place I was supposed to live in.”
    “I figured you’d go stay with your parents for a while after you left the Spencer’s.”
    She shook her head. “I’ll go visit, but their lives do not include my being underfoot, especially if I’m not out working with the horses.”

    After a little while, Brad said, “If you’ll drop me off at MacVane Manor, I’ll gather up the things I’ve left there over the years. Mattie Lou insisted I needed a break from time to time and offered me the run of the Manor. Greta and Rudy treated me like a guest the first few times then took me in like I was one of their own family.”
    “Those two have managed MacVane Manor for a long time,” Casey said.