Through Another's Eyes

Adrian was standing outside of Rebel’s stall when Cassidy walked back into the barn an hour later, looking downcast. Upon seeing him, she tried to brighten her expression but Adrian had learned to read people’s moods and he knew his aunt was feeling down.
“So when are we going to get you up on a horse?” she asked.
“Horseback riding’s a girl’s sport,” he said. “It’d be like me trying out for cheerleading.”
“Did you know male cheerleaders make a ton of money? They’re strong enough to throw or catch any girl.”
“But they’re all gay,” he objected.
Cassidy’s attempt at a cheerful face went into eclipse. “So? There’s nothing wrong with that. You shouldn’t judge people by their sexual preferences; you judge them by how they act. Chris is a great guy, my best friend, and one of the best horsemen I know. I’d think you’d be observant enough to see that Delany likes him and from what I’ve seen Delany doesn’t like easily.”
Adrian was silent.
“Back to our original conversation, horseback riding used to be a male-dominated sport and in the upper levels, you see a lot of guys. I know several grand prix riders that are guys, married with kids, I know some who are gay, and some who are straight and the most pompous asses you’ll ever meet.”
He still didn’t say anything.
“If you go into a situation with prejudices, you’ll be looking for things to dislike.” As Cassidy was talking, one part of her mind was calling her a hypocrite. Didn’t she do the same thing with police officers? But that was different, she rationalized, she’d seen police officers in action; they were all out to get people to make themselves look good, weren’t they? The officer that had arrested her as a teenager had wanted to help Masquerade’s previous owner win the case because it had gotten media attention and he would look like the hot-shot that had gotten a hooligan off the street. But what if she was doing exactly what Adrian was doing: looking for the cruelty in police officers to justify her claims?
Adrian was watching his aunt’s face, knowing that she wasn’t seeing what was in front of her. But what she had said made a lot of sense: Delany didn’t trust easily and she hadn’t talked a lot lately. Earlier he’d heard her say something to Chris when they’d walked off towards the riding ring with Lucky the horse. She’d even left Lucky the bear “sleeping” in the window seat this morning.
But his father had always told him that gays were freaks that were going to ruin the country. Then another thought occurred to him: why the hell should he listen to anything his father said? He’d beaten him almost on a regular basis and gotten close to Delany several times. Adrian was big enough to take the cruel blows from his father’s fists, but Delany could have been seriously injured. The man was a bastard of the worst kind and whatever he had to say wasn’t worth listening to.
“What horse would I ride,” he ventured hesitantly.
Cassidy smiled. “Let’s go get Major tacked up shall we?”

That night Cassidy once again tucked both children into bed. Adrian accepted it grudgingly as he had everything she’d forced him to put in the shopping cart earlier in the day. The boy had pride that may one day be his downfall. Eventually, she’d started watching what the boy looked at and throwing it into the cart. Both children had gotten some things to decorate their rooms, tons of new clothes, and a few things that they just wanted. Cassidy doubted they’d ever gotten anything just because they wanted it. That was all going to change.
Breaker had once again opted to stay in with Delany for the night. Cassidy and Tucker had just settled in for the night when the door creaked open. Tucker was instantly alert and growled low in his throat.
Something landed on the foot of the bed and Cassidy reached for her beside lamp. The light flooded the room and she saw that it was Breaker that had landed near her feet. Delany was standing next to the door like a deer caught in the headlights.
Cassidy blinked once. “Hey. You have a bad dream?”
Delany was clutching Lucky to her chest. “I…I heard a noise.”
“What kind of noise?” Cassidy asked rubbing her eyes.
“Outside the window.”
Probably the oak tree’s branches rubbing against the window. Cassidy patted the side of the bed that Maverick wasn’t occupying. “Come on up.”
Delany made a flying leap and landed where Cassidy had indicated. She snuggled under the covers up to her chin and looked up adoringly at Cassidy.
“Goodnight,” Cassidy said again. She kept her eyes stubbornly open until she heard Delany’s breathing even out and deepen. Then she rolled over and slipped into oblivion herself.