Brendan sighed to himself. “That may be true. But what can I offer a guy like him? I’m a small-time horse farmer and breeder. Hell, some of the time I’m still trying to figure my own shit out. I mean, I was married once, and now….”
“Honey, we all know what bisexual means, and for the record, that man looks at you like you hung the damned moon. So don’t worry about the past and how things were. Just let yourself live in the now. You have an amazing son, and as far as that ex-wife of yours goes… if she is letting horses loose, then shame on her.” She leaned closer. “Besides, if I thought that hunk of a man would be interested in me, I’d really consider kicking Wally to the curb. But since he isn’t likely to be interested in a middle-aged mother of three, I think Wally’s perfectly safe.” She laughed at her own joke.
“Thanks.” He chuckled as she went back inside the barn, and Brendan got busy. He checked on the goats and made sure they had feed. It was probably time to move them to a new location. They had eaten much of the grass in this area, and he had a new spot picked out for them that they would really like. Maybe Lucas could help him with the move.
The little ones came right over to him. They were so cute. The family had had goats when he was Jameson’s age, but over the years, they had grown old and his father had let those particular animals die off naturally. So when he inherited the property, one of the first things he had done was to reestablish the goats. He had loved them when he was young, and Jamesonseemed to be the same way. One of his son’s favorite things was to feed and watch then.
“Daddy, I help,” Jameson said as he ran over the lawn to where he watched the kids frolic.
“Okay. Do you remember where the goat cookies are?” Brendan bought large containers of animal crackers, and Jameson had christened them “goat cookies.” He returned with the container, grinning as he handed it over. The goats had already gathered by the time Brendan twisted off the top and handed some of the crackers to Jameson. “Make sure you give some to all the goats.”
“I will, Daddy.” Jameson handed out the treats so seriously. “Not you,” he told one of the older goats who tried to muscle in. “You piggy.” He managed to give the last goat cookie to one of the kids who hadn’t had one.
“Is it goat feeding time?” Lucas asked as he joined them.
“I a good feeder,” Jameson pronounced.
“Yes, you are.” Brendan ruffled his son’s hair and closed the container. “Did you find anything?”
Lucas nodded. “Yes and no. I found the time the horses were released. I checked the driveway camera first. There was no car, though a vehicle passed the drive maybe five minutes earlier. All I got were headlights, but I think they had slowed down. Anyway, a few horses went down the drive a little before five in the morning. I haven’t been able to check the other feeds, but at least I know what time to look for.”
“That’s good. I suppose that will save time with the others.”
“Yeah.” Lucas drew closer. “Do you want me to watch Jameson?”
“No. He and I are going to check on the chickens and gather eggs. You go ahead and see what you can find.” It was still a little drippy, but the rain had mostly let up for now, so he figured he needed to finish as many outside chores as he could.
He let Jameson feed the chickens while he gathered the eggs. Then he went to the barn and found everything as it should be. Claire seemed to have taken change and had everyone working to make sure all the horses were comfortable.
“It’s all good in here, though I do think your mama-to-be is going to foal at any time. She’s restless, and when I touched her sides, she might have been contracting, but I couldn’t quite tell.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I watch the baby horse be born?” Jameson asked.
“We’ll see. It depends on when the baby decides to come.”
Jameson looked at him with his big eyes. “But I want the baby to come now. I want to watch.” He ran to the stall and climbed onto a bale, peering over the wall. “Baby horsie you come now. I wanna see you be borned.”
“Buddy, it doesn’t work that way,” Brendan explained as he took Jameson, zooming him around. “The babies come when they’re ready, and it could be days or a week yet.”
“But, Daddy,” Jameson said as though life just wasn’t fair.
“Sorry.” He carried Jameson out of the barn and over toward the house. “Besides, it’s time for lunch. What do you want to have?” He hurried inside because the rain had picked up again.
“Will the goaties get wet?”
“No. They’ll gather in their goat house and stay there until the rain stops.” Jameson worried about all the animals. “And the chickens will stay in their coop. So they will all be fine.” He got inside to find Lucas coming to meet them. “Go take your shoes off and you can play.” He set Jameson down and met Lucas at the kitchen table.
“I found something.” He turned the screen, and Brendan sat. “See there. That’s our culprit. They came along the side of the house and entered the yard, passing the goat pen.” He had iton slow so Brendan could really see it. “Do you know who that is?”
It certainly wasn’t Jenn. There was no way his ex-wife had added six inches and at least forty pounds. “Not offhand. Is there any way we can get a closer view?”
“Let me check the other camera,” Lucas said. “At least we now know the exact time.” He brought up the feed for the camera facing the barn. It took Lucas a few minutes, but he reached the same time stamp. And just as expected, their intruder crossed the yard and approached the barn. He opened the door and turned around. For a second, maybe two, the overhead light caught his face.
“Sonofabitch.”
“What? Do you know him?” Lucas asked.
