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still waited patiently. “I want to try.” It was important in ways she felt deep inside but couldn’t have named. She knew a lot about psychology, but it didn’t seem to be applying to her own mess.
    Determined, she climbed the fence rails and managed to reach the top one, legs inside the paddock, steadying herself. The effort left her feeling weak, and she hated it. Hated the weakness, the slowness of her recovery. She was breathing a little hard, too, and her heart was racing, although she wasn’t sure it was just from exertion.
    “Give yourself a minute,” Jake said. He led Daisy closer and began to rub her neck. “Have you ever seen horses nuzzle each other, the way they wrap necks and rub?”
    “In pictures or on TV, maybe.”
    “They’re very social animals. But they have this spot right here where they nuzzle each other.” He patted and rubbed. “Someone finally got around to studying it. It’s like petting a dog or a cat. It calms them down, lowers their blood pressure, eases their stress. Wanna try?”
    Daisy didn’t look stressed to Nora’s untutored eyes, but she wanted to touch the mare anyway. Jake eased her even closer so that Nora could reach out and pat the horse’s neck right where he’d showed her to. Daisy quivered slightly under her touch, then relaxed. The horsehair wasn’t soft like a dog’s or a cat’s; it was much tougher and more bristly. But it still felt good, and at the moment she suspected that petting Daisy was calming her at least as much as the horse.
    She began to relax, felt her fears disappearing. “I could do this forever.”
    “She’d almost let you, believe me. Unfortunately, like most of her kind, she needs to graze and move, so she doesn’t stand perfectly still for long. Ready?”
    “I think so.” Although she still couldn’t imagine how they were going to do this.
    But Daisy was now close enough that her side nearly brushed Nora’s knees.
    “I’m going to guide your foot into the stirrup,” Jake said. Apparently to try to avoid surprising her by reaching out. The man figured out things quickly.
    He told her each thing he was going to do before he did it. As soon as her foot was settled safely in the stirrup, he told her to grab the pommel and try to rise. “Let me know if you need a boost.”
    She summoned every bit of strength and determination she had, and not only managed to stand in the stirrup but also to swing her leg over Daisy’s wide back. She had forgotten how wide a horse could be.
    “Good job!” Jake said approvingly. Moving around to the other side, he guided her right foot into the stirrup.
    “I’m going to shorten them up just a bit.”
    She hardly noticed. She was astride a horse for the first time in so many years, and it felt wonderful. Daisy, bless her, didn’t even twitch. Well, her ear twitched, and Nora leaned forward to pat her neck in that important spot.
    “All set?” Jake asked when he’d finished adjusting the stirrups.
    “Oh, yes!”
    “I’m going to take it very slow here,” he advised her. “Just relax and let your body move with her. You’ll find your balance quickly. Keep your weight in the stirrups as much as you can.”
    It was the kind of horse ride a child would have gotten at a fair, but Nora didn’t mind at all. Jake kept Daisy on a very short lead, and they ambled their way around the outer edge of the paddock. Every now and then one of the other horses would look up from the scattered hay they were dining on, give it all a disinterested look then lower their heads again.
    “If you get tired, let me know.”
    “I will.” But what she felt like doing for the first time since the attack was throwing her arms up and shouting for sheer joy. The world looked different up here, and the power of the mare beneath her gave her an unexpected sense of her own power and strength.
    “This is wonderful!” She spoke with an exuberance she had doubted she would ever feel again.
    “It is, isn’t it?” Jake