“I know.” She made no attempt to slow Molly whose ears flicked forward in excitement.
“Has anyone ever told you sometimes it’s not the destination that’s important but the journey?”
She stared at the forested peaks that left her with an almost physical ache to climb. She sighed and slowed Molly. “Yes, they have. My father for one.”
“Let me guess, he’s also told you more than once?”
“Yes, he did.” She loosened her reins and ignored the energy zipping through her. Both her father and Ethan were right. She needed to relax and live in the moment. The mountains weren’t going anywhere. “You do realize that ‘enjoying the journey’ involves multiple stops to take photographs?”
“I do and that’s why we’re taking the long way round. There’s a high altitude meadow where we should find a bachelor herd of bighorn sheep.”
“Wonderful.” She halted Molly and removed her camera from the black bag clipped to the front of her saddle. She focused on a delicate butterfly resting on a yellow wildflower. “Finn will love this picture.”
She lowered the camera. Ethan had halted Captain and the pack horse, Cloud, a little ahead of her. With the jagged mountain backdrop, the vivid blue sky and the lush green of the meadow, the image was both iconic and breathtaking. Many a past and present cowboy had headed into these mountains, their hat brim pulled low and their supplies packed on a horse or a mule.
“Would you mind if I took a picture of you?”
He watched her closely. “For Finn or for your blog?”
“Both ... I guess. But if I do put any of you on my blog I promise not to show your face if you’re not comfortable with being on social media. Not everyone is.” She grinned. “Even though I already know there’d be plenty of comments asking to see more of you than just the side or the back.”
His lips twitched. “Did you just pay me a compliment?”
She raised the camera and took a quick picture of him with a smile in his blue eyes. This shot wasn’t for Finn or her followers, just herself.
Sunlight again flashed from the direction of the ranch house.
“Now that really would be living dangerously if I paid you a compliment in full view of Henry. If it looks like we’re getting on, there’ll be no telling what plan he’d hatch next.”
“Agreed.” The corner of Ethan’s mouth curled into a grin. “So no more smiling at me until we reach the treeline, okay?”
She changed her smile into a frown. “Okay.”
But as Ethan increased their pace and the horses settled into a steady lope her smile returned. The wind tugged at her hair falling below her hat brim and the mountains loomed closer. Soon they reached the treeline that marked the end of the undulating meadow. This time Ethan led them into the pines at a different point to where they’d entered to reach the cave.
Sunlight filtered through the old-growth forest and Bridie relaxed into her saddle. It was as though she’d entered another world. A world full of nature’s beauty and peace. A world that would provide her with the solitude and space to say farewell her father. Just like the mountains they’d soon scale, she’d climb to the summit of her grief and then ... let go.
But for now she needed to stay in control and catalogue landmarks as they rode. She’d need to know the best way to travel when on her own. She stopped to take a picture of marks on the bark of a tree. The pine had a slight lean and a small tuft of black fur snagged on a branch stub from where a black bear had rubbed against the trunk. In the past days, when she wasn’t hanging out with Finn, Bridie had talked to Zane about animal tracks and signs.
Soon the trees thinned and the forest opened onto a higher meadow. The breeze carried the sweet scent of beargrass wildflowers. A pair of white-tailed deer hovered at the tree fringe and then bounded into the forest. The horses made their way to where a creek tumbled over water-smooth pebbles. Side-by-side, they strode into the crystal clear water and lowered their heads to drink.
Bridie twisted in the saddle to stretch her lower back.
“Travelling okay?” Ethan asked.
“Yes, all good.” She swiped at a mosquito sipping on her hand. “I wouldn’t be putting your bedroll anywhere near mine tonight unless you need the drone of mosquitoes to sleep. Ever since I’ve arrived I’ve been a mosquito magnet.”
Ethan chuckled. “Which Finn would love?”
“He does. I had to smuggle bug spray into my saddlebag so he wouldn’t think I’d be harming any precious bugs.”
Molly’s bit jingled as she tossed her head and played with the creek water.