Chapter 40

There are a few things I remember about our family home. The first is the smell of trees and books. My father loved having plants in the house, and he loved books. I think my love for books came from him. The second thing is my mother’s voice; her singing echoes through my mind to this day. She loved to sing. The third was the mural of a horse in my bedroom. It was large and took up almost the whole wall. It had been the only thing that wasn’t pink. It was a mural of my mother on a white horse and my father holding the reins.

He was gazing up at her lovingly. I remember always staring at it before I went to sleep. It was the last thing I looked at and the first thing I looked at. I wanted that. To me, that picture symbolized love. To a small pup like me, it was the closest thing to knowing what a mate bond looked like, and I worshiped it. It made me fall for horses even more.

I’ve only been