A Private Stable, County Kildare, Ireland, Sunday Afternoon

[stykera]

Yesterday had involved a trip to a day spa after sleeping in. A fancy dinner back in Dublin after that and then another club.

Today Stark had arranged for a trip to visit some fancy horses and then a horseback riding tour at a nearby farm.

"So now that you've seen the very fancy horses," he was telling Summer as the walked in to a stable, "I thought you'd like to ride one. Not so fancy as the ones we just saw, but you're not allowed to ride those. These ones you can ride, on the trails here, and there's a guide to help us and..."

He looked over at Summer a little anxiously. "But we can always leave early, if you don't want to do this. But I thought you'd enjoy the horses and we've never done anything with horses before and these ones are beautiful and you, you could send a picture to your mother? Or more than one. If you wanted to. To show her the horses."

He reached for Summer's hand then, giving her a little crooked smile, "happy birthday. Again."


[NFB for distance, there is literally nothing stopping anyone from sending texts or calling, and for the favorite ginger]

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[stykera]

"I tried my best," Stark said, ducking his head a little. "I'm just glad you're happy. You deserve good birthdays and good surprises and good things."

"There's still a bit more to come, after this. And then one more surprise for this evening."

"Ready to go then?" The guide was in front of them now, on his own horse. "We'll start out slow and easy but we can speed things up a bit as we go if you're comfortable. Trail's just up ahead there." He gestured slightly to the left of the open barn door ahead of them all. "Shall we?"

He didn't really wait for a response, just said something to his horse with a twitch of the reins and rode away at a walk.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"We shall," Summer gave him a response anyway, although she was mostly making sure she got her horse good and close to Stark's before starting forward, giving him another smile as she did. "Slow and steady sounds pretty nice right now, anyway."

It probably wouldn't take too long before she changed her mind on that, but for the moment, it was just kind of nice to appreciate it.

"Probably better on the horses, anyway," she admitted, with a fond pat to hers, which turned into a bit more of a rub against its neck and she gushed out, "And who's a pretty, perfect horse for such a nice walk in the Irish country side, too? You are! One of the prettiest horses I've ever seen! And I'm not just saying that, either, I've seen a lot of horses!"

Mostly sick ones, but still! That only meant it was true!

[stykera]

Stark was letting his own horse steer herself, but he grinned over at Summer with the dopiest grin when she moved closer and started praising her horse.

"They are beautiful, aren't they?" he asked, patting the neck of his own again softly. "And this is a beautiful place."

It was. The countryside was beautiful and green and different from the island and different from anywhere Stark had visited before. And he was with his favorite person in the universe and she was happy.

"I'm glad we're here."