Five year old Aralyn Duke chased after her cousin Timmy Mangan on the huge lawn. He had stolen her stuffed giraffe and she wanted it back now.

“I’ll get you, Timmy!” she yelled, her chubby legs pumping to catch him.

“No, you won’t!” Tim hollered with glee.

It was a sunny day and they were somewhere new. They had a new house, and new cousins to play with. It had been a very long drive from their old home, but Daddy insisted on driving his beloved orange car up to somewhere called White Plains. Mommy had followed in her car, with the obnoxious, smelly, twin babies. Tim, Tiffany and their families had followed in their cars as they moved also.

The new house was nice, and Timmy and Tiffany were close by in their new houses. And so many new people! Aralyn especially liked the lady who looked like an older version of Mommy, called Moms.

As soon as Bo pulled Aralyn out of the orange car, Moms had scooped her up into a tight hug, crying and petting Aralyn’s curly blonde hair. Aralyn vaguely remembered her, but she enjoyed cuddling, so she was content to let Moms hug and kiss her. Then there was Grampy, a tall, dark haired man who also smothered her in affection.

And three red-haired men! One clutched the Mangan cousins for dear life in his arms. Aralyn couldn’t remember his name but he was an uncle.

Then there was the redhead who shook her hand solemnly, told her how pretty she was, but his eyes had been on Mommy. And it didn’t make the dark haired woman with him happy, at all. She was glaring at Mommy! Aralyn decided the next time the dark haired lady glared at Mommy, she was going to go over and kick her in the shins!

The third redhead was older, with gray in his hair, and he was beaming as he held Tiffany and Jace in his arms. Another Grampy. The woman with him looked like Honey, and wore a beautiful green dress and sparkly jewelry. Too many Grampys, she thought. Another man, old, with white hair and a funny cap, who hugged Dan fiercely, and then his children. Also “Grampy”.

There was Uncle Brian, who looked like a younger Grampy, and Uncle Mart, who kind of looked like Mommy, and Auntie Diana, who was almost as pretty as Daisy.

And new playmates! Cousins! She was still the oldest, but there were the dark haired twins, Rayma and Riley, with purple eyes. And a younger set of blonde twins that looked a lot like her brothers. Aralyn wondered if they made the same noises and icky smells.

There was a lot of staring from Rayma and Riley at the new cousins. The younger children were being fussed over by Grammas. The babies were all in their carriers. Jesse was being hugged by the red-haired uncle.

Bored, Aralyn smacked Tim in the shoulder and yelled, “You’re it!” and ran. Tim gave chase. Tiffany looked at her new cousins, and said “Come play!”

And the yard was full of small running children.

Then Tim grabbed her stuffed giraffe and she chased him.

“She’s already got grass stains,” Trixie sighed.

Moms put her arm around her daughter. “Reminds me of someone else at that age.”

Trixie scrunched up her nose. “I’m getting a real good idea of what I put you through. I’m really glad to be back, Moms. It feels right, having our kids grow up with Mart and Di’s. This is how it should be, all the kids growing up together. The next generation.”

Moms nodded, tears in her eyes.

The adults watched, amused, as Aralyn tackled Tim down to the ground and snatched her giraffe, promptly whacking her cousin with it. Timmy laughed as Aralyn got up and marched back towards the adults, then followed her.

“Regan and Jim go get the horses?” Mart asked.

“Horses?” Aralyn perked up. “Daddy, can we play horsey?”

Daddy shook his head. “Not right now, sweetheart, you’re about to see some real horseys.”

Aralyn looked at Tiffany, who shrugged. Horsey was fun. Daddy, Luke and Dan would all crawl around on the floor, with each one of them on their backs, racing around the living room to see who could go the fastest.

Aralyn waited impatiently, as her cousins gathered. The mean-looking dark haired lady stood by herself, at the end of the porch, ignoring them.

Daddy hugged her. “Why the frown, Princess?”

Aralyn leaned against him and whispered, “I don’t like her.”

Daddy looked puzzled. “Who?”

Aralyn pointed.

“That’s your cousin Hallie. She’s a very unhappy lady, so be nice to her, okay?”

Aralyn scrunched her nose up.

“Look!” Tim shouted, pointing.

Aralyn turned and her blue eyes grew wide as her mouth fell open. Horses were coming towards her! Two beautiful animals, each ridden by one of the red-headed men. A third horse walked behind them on a lead, its chocolate coat gleaming in the sun.

She stared up at the big black beast as it came near. Its eyes were calm as it surveyed the crowd, accompanied by a light gray horse with a white mane, and the chocolate brown horse.

Without hesitation, she and Tim approached.

“Slowly, kids,” Daddy said. “Don’t rush them.”

Aralyn could barely contain her excitement as she stared up at the black horse. He looked down at her, and lowered his head to investigate her curly hair.

“Haha! Horse snot in your hair!” Tim sang.

Aralyn stuck her tongue out.

Aralyn turned to Daddy, arms out and he lifted her up, so she was eye level with the black one.

“Oh, you beautiful, beautiful thing!” Aralyn crooned, reaching for it.

It allowed her to stroke her muzzle, and the man riding her smiled at a fond memory of another blonde girl, very much related to this one, who also loved horses.

“You speak a horse’s language, kiddo. Do you want to ride him?”

Eyes still big, she looked at Daddy.

“Go on, Princess,” he encouraged. “You can trust Regan.”

She nodded eagerly and Daddy passed her to Regan, who settled her in front of him, one arm secure around her. She smiled nervously at Daddy.

The other man, Jim, was securing Tiffany in front of him, and to Aralyn’s surprise, Dan mounted the third horse, and Luke passed Tim to him.

“We’re just gonna take a little walk, okay? Hold on tight now,” Regan said.

“I’m right here. I’ll walk right next to you.”

Aralyn nodded. Daddy was nearby; she was safe.

She giggled as the horses started walking, and she found herself entranced by watching the head and muscles in the shoulders move.

“Can we go faster?” Aralyn asked.

“Yeah, faster!” Tim agreed. Tiffany nodded her agreement.

Regan glanced at Bo, who nodded. Regan’s horse began a slow trot.

“Faster!” Aralyn yelled.

“Just a little,” Regan told her. “We’ll go faster when you get a little bigger.”

Aralyn laughed as they sped up slightly, the breeze blowing through her curls. “Wheee!” she shouted.

“Wheee!” her cousins yelled as they cantered around the yard. “Wheee!”

***
Author Notes
- A huge thank you to Ronda, my lovely editor who did a super fast edit for me.
- This was written for photo #12 of the CWE 3: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words Challenge. Thank you to the CWE team for coming up with this fun challenge!
- This scene might be expanded at a later date.
- A super big, humungous thank you to MaryN for coming to my rescue last minute to make the background seamless for me while my Photoshop is acting wonky. You're the bestest, Mary!
- Word Count, 1198

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