Stand Tall

And with that Lance began the long walk around the track to the paddock.

Peg had been pacing nervously along the track, and after waving to Lance, she decided it was time to finally go find her daughter and grandsons and watch the race. Peg could no longer afford a booth like most owners so they sat in the cheap seats like everyone else and settled in for the biggest race of their lives.

"Don't you look right pretty there, young lady!" Peg said to her daughter.

"Thanks, Mom. It's nice to dress up once in a while, you know?"

"At my age, not really, but I do remember back when it did," Peg told her.

"Why don't you ever date, Mom?" Olivia asked out of the blue.

"Me? Why would I date? Your father was the love of my life. Besides, who would I date?"

"Well, Miguel for one."

"Ha! Oh, that's rich!" Peg said.

"Why? He's a nice-looking man."

"He's my trainer, Livvie-Loo. Get real!"

"I am being real, Mom. I never dreamed I meet someone like Lance. We're our own kind of 'odd couple' but I do love him."

"Love? Are you serious?" her mom asked.

"Yeah. It's crazy, I know, but yes, I do love him."

"Well, I'll be damned," she said causing both boys to snap their heads to look at her.

"Darned. I'll be darned," she said.

"Anyway. Think about it, okay, Mom?"

"Yeah, yeah," Peg said pretending it was no big deal. The truth was she was as lonely as her daughter, but had given up trying. She had the ranch and that was more than enough to keep her busy. It was also fulfilling, but she knew something was missing, and each night she knew what that something was. But doing something about was well, a horse of a different color.

"They're getting close!" Peg said as the first horses closed in on the paddock.

"Go, go, go, Window Dressing!" Olivia said quietly as Lance led Window Dressing into the 4th stall.

Less than a minute later they heard the familiar call: "And now they're all in the gate, the flag is up. And...THEY'RE OFF!"

Window Dressing left the gate like he was shot out of a canon. Lance stood up slightly to hold him back as they jockeyed for position. They were in the middle of the pack on the inside and that's right here Lance wanted to be as he took in everything happening all around him.

Olivia was on her feet the moment the gate opened and she was silently cheering as Peg stood up and said, "Go, go, go!"

The boys were up, too, and they climbed on the seats their mom and grandmother had been sitting in and looked over their shoulders unaware they were blocking the view of the people behind them. As always, the crowd just shifted as needed so everyone who wanted to see could as the cheers increased with each passing second.

At the half mile mark, Lance knew his horse wanted to tear up the track, but he couldn't let him run full throttle just yet. He waited another two furlongs then saw the opening he needed. It was on the outside and Window Dressing headed for it the moment Lance let him run.

"Go, boy!" Lance called as the horse found the open space and turned on the jets.

He flew around two horses, and although he lost a few feet, Lance knew he could easily make it up. At the mile marker he used the whip for the first time, and Window Dressing's afterburners kicked in. He closed the two-length gap on the lead horse and pulled even with him with a hundred yards to go. The other horse held on for half the remaining distance but faded in the last 50 yards as Window Dressing pulled ahead and won by more than a length.

He still had gas in the tank when they crossed the finish line, but Lance stood up and gently slowed the gelding down. "Good boy!" he yelled as the horse bled off speed.

"Oh, my God! He won, Mom! He did it! He won!" Olivia said as she and her mom grabbed each other and spun around in a circle crying and screaming.

For the first time since her husband died, Peg was crying.

"Grandma? He won! Why are you crying?" Gavin asked.

"Because she's happy, doofus!" Connor told him.

"Yes, I'm very happy!" Peg said as she let go of Olivia and hugged her grandsons. "I am SO happy!"

"Mom, you need to go down to the track. They're gonna want to see you in the winner's circle," Olivia reminded her.

"Oh, right! Yes, I'd better go, huh?"

They hugged again then Peg said, "But I'm not going alone. Come on. You and the boys are going with me!"

"What? Mom, no. This is your day. You go!" Olivia replied.

"No, this is our day, honey. And this is Lance's day, too. And if he means as much to you as I think he does, you need to be with him. So...let's go!" Peg said grabbing her daughter's hand.

"Well, okay!" she said as she told the boys to follow her.

"Slow down, Mom! I'm gonna break my ankle!" Olivia said as she tried to keep up.

Lance was just bringing the winning horse back around after walking him the rest of the way around the track.

He couldn't remember even feeling this good in his entire life until he looked up and saw the beautiful woman in white smiling and waving at him.

He pulled his horse right up next to her and said, "Well, for once I'm not having to look up to see you!"

"You did it, Lance. You did it!" she said, the smile on her face going from ear to ear.

"This guy did it, Olivia. He's the real hero. This guy's a champion."

Peg reached up and shook his hand and Lance bent over and hugged her.

"I was right," Peg said. "You do have the right stuff."

"No, it was all Window Dressing," he told her.

"Bullshit!" she said. When the boys gave her a look, she just laughed and they did, too.

There were racing officials and reporters all around them. Pictures were being snapped, video cameras were rolling, and Lance was being peppered with questions.

"How did he feel, Lance? Did he have anything left? Did you ever think he'd win a race this big?"

Lance nodded and said, "I didn't know for sure, but I knew he had it in him. All I can say is I'm grateful to Peg Winfield for taking such a big chance on me. And I gotta say, I love this horse."

He looked down at Olivia who was just a few feet away then said, "And there's someone else I've recently grown to love."

She looked up at him and smiled when he said, "In fact, there are a couple of other people I also love standing right next to her."

Lance slid off the horse, handed the reins to Miguel, then went and stood behind Connor and Gavin then reached for Olivia's hand.

"Are you and Ms. Winfield's daughter dating?" one reporter asked.

Olivia kept smiling and let Lance answer.

"We are. And while I'm pretty pumped up from the race, I just want to say that nothing has ever made me happier than this amazing woman and her two boys."

"Is marriage in the future for the two of you?" another reporter asked.

"Give us a little more time then ask me again, okay?" Lance said.

He got back on Window Dressing for the presentation of the wreath and for some official photos then hopped back off to have some more taken with Olivia and the boys. Other people may have noted that Olivia was close to a foot taller in her heels, but neither she nor Lance did. Not even when she had to bend down to kiss him as cameras rolled and clicked to capture the long and passionate kiss.

Lance finished up answering the reporters questions as Olivia waited patiently for him to enjoy his moment of glory.

Nearly everyone had filed out by the time he found her again, still sitting on the bench in the winner's circle where he'd left her.

"Hey, there!" she said with a smile when he walked up to her.

"Hey," he said back.

"So now you're rich and famous," Olivia said with a smile. "I guess that means it's time to go back home to Seattle."

"Not a chance," he told her, "unless you're trying to get rid of me."

"Not a chance," she said back, unable to stop smiling.

"I meant what I said, you know. About just needing a little more time."

"I know," she said sweetly.

The boys were a few feet away looking for something to play with when he said, "I love you, Olivia."

"I love you, too, Lance," she told him. "And I'm so proud of you."

"That means everything to me," he told her.

He sat down beside her then said, "You mean everything to me. You and those two boys."

"So how much more time are you thinking?" she asked with a sweet smile.

"Hmmm. How long until your divorce is final?" he asked with a smile of his own.

"A few more months," she told him.

"That sounds about right," he replied.

"For?"

"For me to get to know you well enough to ask you to marry me," he told her as he took her hand in his.

"Oh. I see," she said sweetly. "I like the sound of that."

"Me, too," he told her.

Lance did go back home for two weeks in August, but he didn't go alone. He took his beautiful girlfriend and her two boys with him to meet his mom and dad who loved her (and them) from the moment they met.

Being some $400,000 better off after paying taxes on his share of the winning, Lance was able to afford the kind of ring he wanted to give Olivia when he asked her that December if she'd marry him just a week after her divorce was final.

She said 'yes' without a moment's hesitation, and he knew money had nothing to do with her decision. She'd never mentioned it or asked for a dime nor did she want anything from him but his time and his love which he gave her in spades.

Lance stayed on the circuit until the following March when he and Olivia were married at the ranch with Peg and his parents there to witness the event. Window Dressing was his honorary best man and stood beside the groom then whinnied loudly when vows were exchanged causing everyone to laugh as Lance kissed his beautiful bride.

Their wedding made all the local papers as did the news that Window Dressing had been entered in the Kentucky Derby to be held on May 5th when Lance returned to riding full time.

Window Dressing didn't win, but he finished a respectable third and with that money added to what they already had, Lance and Olivia bought a beautiful home not too far from the ranch where the four of them (and later all five of them) lived until the boys went off to college one at a time.

Moving wasn't just what they wanted to do, it was becoming essential as Miguel had asked Peg out the day of her daughter's wedding, and the two of them were now engaged.

Miguel moved into the house as soon as Olivia and the boys moved out so he could be near the woman he'd secretly loved for the last twenty years. No, she wasn't young and beautiful like her daughter, but then again, neither was Miguel, and all that mattered was that they loved each other and enjoyed spending time together.

Lance took a couple of months off the following summer when Olivia gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. It wasn't clear who doted on her more, Lance, Olivia, her grandmother, or her two older brothers. What was certain was that all of them had found more love than they'd ever imagined.

Jess never did come back to see his boys. He was released from prison 18 months later and went right back to cooking and selling meth. A year later he was back in prison doing a ten-year bid. The good news was that Lance had not only stepped in to take his place, he'd truly stepped up to the plate and become the dad—and the best friend—they'd never had.

Being short has its challenges, but if a guy is willing to be patient and...stand tall...sometimes things turn out pretty well. And every now and then he manages to hit a home run like Lance Palmer did when he married a gorgeous, much taller, older woman he loved with all his heart.