Page 68 of Finding Little Fiera

Laura’s face grew paler, but her eyes were cold.

One trip to Master Derek’s office was more than enough for Fiera. She had no desire to visit there again. Not that anyone asked her opinion.

Fiera’s Daddy, however, seemed to disagree. “That sounds like an excellent idea. Come on, firefly. Let’s go see Master Derek.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The walk from the art tent to Master Derek’s office was the longest of Fiera’s life. Her Daddy held her hand the whole way, and it was a good thing. She was furious. Her tears betrayed her, slipping down her cheeks no matter how hard she blinked.

Laura had ruined everything. Fiera had wanted to win a ribbon at the art show so her Daddy would be proud of her. Ever more important, she’d wanted her Daddy to love her painting because she’d drawn it for him. Laura had even cost her wonderful friendships with Sadie, Wren, and Daisy. Fiera would never forget the look on Daisy’s face and how none of them waited for her to finish before they left.

Now here she was, disqualified from the art show, and marching to Master Derek’s office. And it was all Laura’s fault. She should use this time to plot her ultimate revenge. But Fiera couldn’t think about that right now. Her head was too full of worries about what her Daddy was thinking.

He hadn’t said anything to her since he’d walked back into the tent to find her in so much trouble. He’d barely even looked at her. What if he decided she was too much trouble? No Daddy wanted drama all the time.

But this time it really hadn’t been her fault. Laura was determined to get Fiera into trouble, and she might have succeeded. No one was going to believe Fiera when Laura had all those supposed witnesses to lie for her. Fiera had thought she had friends who would stand by her, but she was wrong. Her friends had left without even asking what had happened.

Fiera’s chest ached more with each step she took. Wilder, with a Master Mace who wasn’t her Daddy, was going to be awful. It was a small town. They were going to run into each other. How was she supposed to act?

Master Mace said something to Fiera only she had no idea what it was because she didn’t have her stupid hearing aids. Another thing that was Laura’s fault. She wasn’t sure that was true, but she didn’t care. Everything that was wrong in the whole world right now was Laura’s fault.

Master Mace pulled Fiera closer to him. “I want you to come with me.”

Fiera would have stumbled if her Daddy hadn’t been holding on to her. “But… I thought we had to go to Master Derek’s office. Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” he said. “Master Gavin is going to tell Master Derek I needed a few minutes.”

Sure. He wanted to tell her he didn’t want to be her Daddy anymore. At least he wasn’t doing it in front of everyone. Sniffling, she walked by his side. Now her tears were real.

Of all the places he could have led her, she never would have expected him to take her to the stables. The smell of dust and hay comforted her. They were familiar and reminded her of home. But what in the world were they doing there?

He led her to one of the stalls, lifting her so her feet were on the lower rung of the Dutch door. Since the top half of the door was open, it was easy to see the horse inside the stall.

Mace stood behind her, his chest pressed against her back, and his arms braced on each side. Reaching into the basket hanging from the post by the stall door, he pulled out a carrot and handed it to her.

“It occurred to me while I was leading the lasso class that I hadn’t introduced you to Giddy.”

Fiera’s heart skipped a beat. Inside the stall stood the most beautiful horse she’d ever seen. Giddy was a darker buckskin with a black mane and tail, and gorgeous black socks. “He’s so handsome, Daddy. Can I ride him?”

“He’d love that, firefly. As soon as we finish talking with Master Derek, we’ll go for a ride.”

Her breath quickened. That didn’t sound like he was leaving her. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “I didn’t cheat.”

He didn’t even look at her. He simply said, “I know.”

That was it. He didn’t ask for an explanation. He didn’t go on for hours about how bad she’d made him look.

He held out the carrot to her. “I thought you might want to give him a snack before we head to the lodge.”

She held the carrot out to Giddy. The horse walked over and bit off the bottom half. She patted his head as he stood there before giving him the other half. Then, for no reason at all, she burst into tears.

Mace took her in his arms and held her. “Here now, little one. What’s all this?”

“I-I was scared y-you wouldn’t believe me.” The relief was overwhelming. “I w-wanted to give it t-to you as a p-present. I w-wanted to w-win the art show so you could be p-proud of me.”

“Hey,” he said, his voice deeper now. With his finger under her chin, he lifted her gaze to his. “Listen to me. Do you think I need a contest to be proud of you? I don’t. I couldn’t get any prouder of you if I tried. I’m proud of you because of who youare, not what you win. And you can still give your painting to me as a present. It’ll be the first thing I hang at the Three Eagle Ranch. Now, we’re going to go talk to Master Derek and explain what happened. I’ll be by your side the entire time. There is nothing they can say that will make me think anything different about you, do you hear me?”

With a sniff, she nodded, “Yes, Daddy.”