Free Promise Canyon by Robyn Carr

He’d prefer to run free and not be handled. He is filled with the spirit of youth.”
    He stared at her in some wonder. “How do you know this, Lilly?”
    She turned back to the horse’s eyes. “Who says I know? It’s my opinion and I could be totally off. He’s a toddler. A thousand pounds of terrible two. He needs a good mother, that’s all. A strong mother with lots of love and an iron will. Is there any chance he was removed from his mother too soon?”
    Clay was stunned and couldn’t answer for a moment. “There’s a chance of that, yes,” he finally said.
    “Ah. See, we never allowed that on the reservation.” She flashed Clay a smile that transformed her whole face. He was struck by how truly beautiful she was. “But you will do fine. You’ll do it ta-bilh .” Together.
    Surprise widened his eyes. “ Niik’eh ,” he agreed in his Native language. Sure enough.
    “I have to go now,” she told him. She gave the horse one more stroke. “Behave,” she warned him.
    “Wait a minute,” Clay said as she turned. “I think we should do something. Break bread, get to know each other. We can find out if we have any friends in common.” The Hopi Reservation was completely surrounded by the Navajo Nation and she had just spoken in Navajo.
    She shook her head. She was not getting any more entangled with him; he scared her to death! “Thank you, but no, I couldn’t do that. I have a boyfriend.”
    “Yeah, but how much of a boyfriend?”
    She laughed out loud, her face lighting up. “Enough of a boyfriend,” she said.
    She had almost made it to the truck when he called to her back, “So bring him. I’d like to meet him.”
    She turned back and her laughter was amused. “I don’t think so, but it’s very nice of you to include him,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
    “Well, maybe he won’t last. He probably doesn’t deserve you anyway. Besides, I just want to hear you talk about horses—the one who’s a little boy, the one with the wicked sense of humor. You know what I mean. I won’t get in the way.”
    “Yes, you will,” she said, smiling and getting into the truck. You already are, she thought.
    She drove away from the stable and he watched until she was nothing but a faint cloud of dust. Then he turned back to Streak. He gave the horse a gentle stroke. “I have a feeling you just let another person into your head. You cheated on me, you mangy beast.” The horse tossed his head arrogantly. “Thousand-pound terrible two—she’s right. Were you talking to her? Were you?” The horse turned his head away, looking in the other direction. “Yeah, you were. Totally cheated on me. Well, if you’ve got some influence there, why don’t you make yourself useful for once and tell her she should go out with me?”
    The horse looked back at him and they locked eyes, holding for a minute. Then the horse backed away, snorted and resumed trotting in wide circles around the round pen, expecting Clay to catch him if he wanted to bring him in.
     
    After a week at the stable, Clay drove over to Grace Valley to have dinner with his sister and her family. Ursula was six years older than Clay and despite the fact she’d often been tasked with minding him when they were growing up, and he was admittedly a handful, they’d remained close. Clay wholly approved of the mate she’d chosen—Tom Toopeek, the Grace Valley police chief. Tom was Cherokee, and Clay had no trouble accepting him as a brother.
    Ursula was living a life similar to the one in which they grew up. It was a busy life, full of work and family, and Clay could see it brought her great satisfaction. Tom and Ursula built their house on the land homesteaded by Tom’s parents, Lincoln and Philana, who still lived there, their original cabin attached to the end of Tom and Ursula’s newer, larger construction. With five children and Tom’s parents, Ursula’s was always a full house even with their oldest away at college. They had their