Follow a Wild Heart: A Christian Contemporary Western Romance Series by Natalie Bright (top reads .TXT) 📗

example...is my birth mother. As a young girl she liked having a good time, hanging out with kids some people might call ‘wild’. She started rebelling against her parents, lying, staying out overnight, all kinds of things. Eventually, it caught up with her.”

Lexi stared at Carli. “Like the Prodigal Son story?”

“Yes, you might say that. The only thing is my mother didn’t have a happy ending. All that partying and rebellious behavior led to her getting pregnant, with me. She ran away to California and...I’m sorry to say she got addicted to drugs and died. I was raised by foster parents since I was a baby. My mother’s bad choices not only ruined her life but also made my life challenging. It’s taken all these years to come to terms with her abandonment of me. I’ve only been able to do it with God’s help.”

Lexi looked very sad. All she could say was, “Wow. But what does that have to do with me?”

“We all have choices, Lexi. Respect others, or not. Curse, do drugs, steal, or not. Have unmarried sex, or not. If we make bad choices, they could lead to bad consequences. Like my mother. The choices you make can affect others who care about you. Choosing the right friends is half the battle.”

Lexi stared at her. “You mean Raven, don’t you?”

“I don’t want to judge him. I thought he was disrespectful, reckless even, like the cigarettes. Is he a true friend?”

Lexi remained quiet, thoughtful.

“Why don’t we head back now? We need to brush the horses off, feed them dinner soon, and I need to drive you home before it gets too late. Okay?”

“Sure.”

"And, Lexi," Carli looked over to the girl, "I'm sorry if I sounded preachy. I'm not your mom. I just care about you and want to help."

As they walked the horses back to headquarters, their quiet camaraderie was abruptly jarred by the sound of a vehicle motor and it was approaching fast. Carli looked back and saw a cloud of dust.

“Hey, Lexi! I came to give you a ride home!” shouted a kid from the rolled down window.

It was Raven and he wasn’t alone. Another young guy was in the passenger seat. His arm was hanging out his window and he appeared to be holding a beer can.

“Slow down!” Carli yelled to them.

Raven’s face took on an angry mask at the command.

He yanked the steering wheel, and the sports car left the road and began circling the horses.

“Easy, Beau.” She steadied the reins without pulling on them. If she stayed quiet, he would, she told herself.

“Lexi, just sit back. Sally’s pretty calm.”

“You boys have had your fun. Now please, leave my ranch.” Carli said it in a deep, commanding voice not letting the fear show in her face.

“We ain’t no ‘boys’, lady!”

Raven continued to drive recklessly. He pulled the steering wheel and shot off into the grass, making “donuts”, leaving the pasture torn up behind him.

As they came around for another pass near the horses, the passenger boy yelled, “Yeehaw!” and threw something at Sally’s rear. That was too much for her and she gave a couple small bucks.

“Hold on, Lexi. Sit back and try to gently pull her head up and to the side.”

“Yeehaw! Ride ’em cowgirl!” the boys continued their taunts as Raven revved his motor.

Before Carli could do anything to gain control of the situation, Sally turned her head towards the barn and headed that way in a brisk jog, then lope. Luckily, Lexi held on.

And, Beau, who had become laid back during his stay at the Wild Cow after seeing cattle and coyotes, couldn’t stand it anymore—the boys’ wild antics, and then Sally’s bee-line home—so he headed that way as well. Carli thought about disciplining him and making him stand still, but she figured she may as well get going after Lexi and Sally to help if need be. But she wouldn’t let Beau run full out, uncontrollably, just an easy lope and she spoke reassuring words to him the whole time.

They hit headquarters at a fast clip, and she reined Beau to a stop. Lank held Sally’s reins, and Lexi stood beside the horse, pale with tear marks streaking her face.

Buck met Carli at the corral. “What’s going on here?”

Carli answered before even dismounting from Beau. “You need to run off a couple of kids for me. I’ve asked them to get off my ranch. We could have been hurt. Lexi, are you okay? They threw a beer can at Sally’s butt! And they tore up the grass with that old sportscar.”

Lexi said quietly, “I'm okay now, Carli.”

“You held on and you’re a good rider. That could have been a bad situation. Now let’s take care of the horses and get ready to take you home.”

Carli was more than a little relieved to turn over the situation to the men, but there was so much more she wanted to tell Lexi. She hated to keep hammering on the girl, but good grief. They could have been seriously injured. All she wanted to do was provide a place for kids like Lexi to come and ride. A safe place. No drama. Maybe this was another sign from God. Maybe she just didn’t have what it took to deal with teenagers.

Lank and Buck hopped in a truck and drove off. Carli could see Raven’s car as it turned into headquarters. It stopped as Buck pulled his pickup truck alongside. She would have given anything to be a fly on the wall to hear that conversation.

Carli and Lexi brushed and fed the horses and started to head to Carli’s truck to drive Lexi home when they heard a whimper, or something.

“What was that?” Carli turned around sharply, frowning at the strange sound.

They both tiptoed towards an empty stall. Peering over the top they discovered a bundle of black and white fur, whole body wiggling, and smiling canine face.

“A puppy? What’re you doing in here?”

“Awww, she’s so cute,” Lexi cooed. “Can I go in and