Moon Diamond, Anna P [epub e reader TXT] 📗

he chose to ignore it and went into the bathroom.

Seamus woke up the next morning, wondering what level of awkwardness it would be in the kitchen.
However, he was the only one up when he came down for breakfast, besides his mom.
“Morning, Seamus,” she said as he was getting some cereal.
“Morning, Mom.” He ate in silence for a little while.
“How was it last night? Were you all okay?”
“Yeah, it was fine. Tera was demanding food…again.”
“It wasn’t a problem, though, was it? You didn’t give it to her, did you?”
“No, we didn’t give it to her. How was your party?”
“Boring, as usual. Filled with a bunch of stuffy old people.” She laughed. “I guess I’d better not say that, I’ll be as old as them, soon. I wish that your dad didn’t have to go to those, but I would rather go than have your dad lose his job. Are you heading out to do chores?”
“Yeah, will you tell Mariah to hurry up when she comes down?”
“Will do.”
He hurriedly washed his bowl and went outside to do his farm chores. He had already finished doing the chickens and was heading off to milk the cows when Mariah hurried up to him, decked out in her chore clothes, which included a cowboy hat, leather chaps, and her ‘lucky’ ballerina necklace. Seamus immediately felt guilty; there was no way that she had eaten breakfast that quickly, she must have skipped it to go out with him.
“Good morning,” Mariah said rather breathlessly. After he replied, they walked in silence for a moment before Mariah suddenly said, “You know that novel I was reading? It was awful! She totally picked the wrong guy!” She seemed so completely certain that Seamus would care about that fantasy book just as much as much as she did.
“That’s nice. I care why?”
She frowned at him. “Why can’t you just read one?” she pleaded. “I know that you’d like them!”
“I do not want to read one of your fantasy novels. I don’t like them and I never will. The closest I’ve ever gotten to liking fantasy was that play that we were in that year. Please don’t ask me again, or I will have to hire someone to hurt you and then I’d probably be grounded. So just don’t ask again.”
She sighed in fake depression, which was slightly ruined as she half skipped off in a different direction to do her own chores.
All of the children had their own horse, which they were responsible for, including the littlest, who had his pony.
After Seamus finished feeding, watering, milking the cows, he headed in the direction of the stables where he found Mariah crooning quietly to Cary, her blue roan mustang. He walked over to his horse, Jupiter’s, stall and began to brush him.
The horses loved the mild weather. They ran around outside without getting their feet cold and their owners rode them a lot more.
As he brushed Jupiter, one of his other sisters, Cassandra, walked in. Her brown hair was perfectly brushed and braided and her clothes all matched and they were all without a wrinkle. Typical Andra.
“Morning,” she said brightly.
“Morning, Andra,” replied Seamus before going back to his work.
He was interrupted yet again when Missy walked in behind Andra. The two girls could not have been more different. While Andra always looked neat and tidy, Missy’s dirty blonde hair was mussed and her clothes were wrinkled. She looked like she had just gotten out of bed, which, Seamus figured, she probably had.
Seamus raised his hand in greeting. Missy mumbled something that might have passed for a hello in a different country, but that was just Missy. She was naturally more grumpy than her younger sister Andra, and it was far worse in the morning.
“Good morning to you too, grumpy,” said Seamus, irritated. Missy turned and snarled something about shutting up or else, and stormed off into her own stall, while Seamus rolled his eyes, realizing that his parents wouldn’t punish her as severely as he thought she deserved.
A few minutes later, another form skipped through the doorway, that is, until she tripped on something (her own toe, perhaps?) and fell flat on her face. There was no need to wonder who that was. Tera was a devil and she had extreme balance issues, falling down more than she walked. It seemed to run in the family, as Mariah had a similar ‘issue’. There was no doubt that she was playing some sort of trick when she looked so happy. Seamus could only hope that the prank wasn’t on him.
Running footsteps signaled the youngest Snow sibling, and the only other boy, was coming through the barn door as well. The two younger siblings were rarely separated. Vector practically worshipped the ground that his sister walked on, (or, more accurately, tripped on) and Tera often needed a partner in crime to commit some of her more complicated tricks and thefts. If something went missing in the Snow household, the first place they would look was the two younger children’s room.
Seamus was drawn back to reality when Jupiter swatted him with his tail as if to say, “Well come on, what are you waiting for?” Grinning, he jumped up on Jupiter’s back without a saddle and went riding after Mariah.
She was already a good ways ahead of him, but Jupiter was faster. He slowed Jupiter down when he caught up to her.
“Oh, just you wait,” she said sullenly, though he could detect a slight trace of disguised humor in her voice. “Cary can jump so much better.” Seamus just laughed.
Mariah’s mare was a cross-country jumper, and was very good at it, too. She also loved doing rodeos in their area. Seamus liked western, too, but Jupiter was fast, so he raced him a lot.
“I guess we’ll see in a few weeks,” he said. Mariah laughed.
“You’re on!”
The state competition was in a few weeks and both twins, plus Missy and Andra, were competing. Mariah had come in tenth place last year, which was really good for a minor, and Seamus had come in one place after her, which, of course, she wouldn’t let him forget. Ever.
After a little while, Missy and Andra joined them, leaving Tera and Vector in the barn to plan without fear of interruption, which, in Seamus’ mind, was not such a great idea.
“This year, I’m so going to beat you!” said Missy, laughing, to Seamus her morning grumpiness gone.
“Yeah, right!”
“At least you guys know that you’re going to get in,” said Andra worriedly, “what if I don’t even get in?”
“Don’t worry about it, Andra,” said Mariah, “it’s not that hard to get in, if Seamus can do it, you can.”
“I think Seamus bribed his way in!” cried Missy, nearly hysterical with laughter. “How else did he get in?”
“Ha, ha. You guys are so funny. You’re so funny, I forgot to laugh.” The three girls doubled over in their saddles from laughing. Even Seamus had to conceal a smile. They all got along fairly well together, with some minor insults, but even those weren’t too nasty.
“Okay, stop making me laugh, I’m going to practice vaulting. No one say a word or you’re dead!” Mariah inched her way up from sitting bareback, to kneeling, to standing. As she was about to do a complicated handstand, another burst of laughter hit her and her foot slipped, sending her slamming into her horse’s back and then slipping off onto the ground.
“Ouch!” cried Mariah.
“Mariah!” Three voices exclaimed in unison as three riders leapt, slid, or scrambled off of their horses. As Seamus ran over to her, he could only hope that it wasn’t very serious. Please, please, please don’t let her be seriously hurt.
Mariah was on the ground, the breath knocked out of her, but otherwise not seriously injured. She seemed to be holding something in her hand.
“Are you okay?” squealed Missy.
“Did you get hurt?” asked Andra.
Mariah grinned, though Seamus noticed a slight wince in her expression as she got up. “Yeah, and be put out of the competition? Nope, no way, not a chance, not me! It would take more than that to take me out.”
Seamus scowled, half embarrassed that he had jumped off his horse to go over to her. Mariah then turned to him.
“But look what I found!” she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. “It’s like a tiny diamond!” She held up a small, roughly half-inch wide top rhinestone with a tinge of blue in it. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”
Seamus managed not to roll his eyes with some amount of difficulty. Mariah was always collecting sparkly things for her projects.
“Mariah,” Seamus said in a carefully controlled voice. “You just fell off of a fourteen point two hand horse, and all you’re concerned about is a sparkly thing?”
Mariah got up and dusted off her chaps, glaring at him.
“I’m perfectly fine, Mother,” she said angrily as she stuffed the little diamond in her pocket. “Your problem is that you’re too protective! I’m not a baby and I can handle things on my own!”
Seamus opened his mouth to say something, but turned and stalked off towards Jupiter instead. He knew that she was too independent to admit that she needed anyone, which was both good and bad. She never asked him to do anything for her, but she often understated any injuries, such as the time she refused to go into the hospital for a broken arm