Page 19 of Unyielding


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I swiped at my tears. “It doesn’t feel that way. Especially with Josh breathing down my neck to make changes when all I want to do is keep things as they are.”

Fiona scooted closer to me and hooked her arm through mine. I rested my head on her shoulder. “Hey now, it wasn’t too long ago that Josh was the one who was resistant to making any changes. He fought against everything, including Zoe staying at the ranch, and how did that turn out? Hmm?” She elbowed me lightly waiting for a response. I grumbled and she elbowed me again. “Well?”

“Pretty damn good, actually, but that doesn’t mean I have to make changes too.” I was whining and making excuses. I knew it. But I also knew Fi wouldn’t hold it against me.

“Josh is coming from a place of love and experience, so yeah, he wants to see you make changes that he knows will be good for you and for the program,” she said.

“But does he have to be such a hardass?”

Fiona laughed. “As long as he’s the one signing the checks, yeah, he gets to do that too.”

I huffed out a breath and nodded. “Fine, but I refuse to like it.”

“Fair enough.” Fiona unhooked her arm and stood up. “Come on, let’s head back. Zoe said something about making pizza tonight. Any night where I don’t have to cook is a good night.”

It took us a couple of hours to make it back to the ranch. Despite the time in the saddle, it felt good to be out there. Instead of feeling tired, I felt rejuvenated. As we dismounted, I could see Declan’s truck coming down the road. Fiona reached for Red’s reins. “I’ll take him. Declan’s probably here to see you.”

“What makes you say that?” I responded a bit too fast and Fiona gave me an eyebrow raise.

“Because I know he’s not here for any of the trail horses.”

“Oh.”

Declan parked and I met him halfway. “Hi. Did we have an appointment?”

He faltered. “Uh, not exactly. Did you get my text?”

“Sorry, no—not that I noticed, anyway. I was out on one of the trails and I don’t usually have service out there.” I pulled my phone out feeling foolish for checking messages while he was standing in front of me. I finally saw the one about a conference call with his friend Brandon to talk about another semen sample. “Oh. Okay.”

“So, do you have time now?”

After the loss of the last sample with the freezer malfunction, I’d sort of been hoping that the plan of using AI would get forgotten.I was tempted to say I couldn’t do it now. But then visions of Josh spending the money on a horse for the trail program instead of on the mare I wanted reminded me what was at stake.

“Sure. Let’s go into the barn and get out of the sun.” We ended up using the trail ride office. Declan set up his laptop and tethered it to his phone so he could video call Brandon.

A few rings and a guy our age—with a manbun, of all things—answered the call. He was all smiles. “Dec, it’s good to see you. Ugly as ever.”

Declan grinned at him. “Brandon. I see you’re still sporting that weird growth on the top of your head.”

“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it. The ladies love it.”

“Horses or humans?” I slapped my hand across my mouth shocked that I’d said that aloud to a complete stranger. Both of them burst out laughing.

“Oh, I like her. You must be Shannon? It’s nice to meet you-meet you.”

I waved one hand while I slowly pulled the other away from my mouth. “Same? And I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Don’t be. Everyone gives me shit about it, which is why I refuse to cut it.” His laughter was infectious and I couldn’t stop the smile.

“All right, now that introductions are out of the way. I’ve got some different semen samples to talk to you about and I wanted to do it via video so I could share their genetics easier.”

For the next ten minutes, Brandon showed me different reports of the stallions he had available along with the approximateprices. There was a range that started in the low hundreds and went all the way up into the tens of thousands or more.

“A big part of the higher costs for some is their lineage, which I’m sure you know. Some of the higher end breeder programs only want champions. From what Declan has shared, I think I have three that would be the right fit for your warmblood program, I just need you to let me know which one you want.”

We talked for another twenty minutes and when we got off the call, I was feeling a little less cautious about using AI. He’d told us that he would be extracting the semen in the next few days and would get it frozen and delivered to Declan within the week.

I walked Declan back to his truck. “How are you feeling about it all?” he asked me.