Her headlights reflected off a sturdy wooden sign on the right side of the two-lane highway.
Laughing Creek Ranch: Home of Hearts & Hooves Wild Horse Sanctuary
She’d seen it hundreds of times, but it still gave her a lift.When Spence and Raquel had decided to use their considerable resources to help support the herds that roamed the state, she’d been ten.
She’d loved those two people from the get-go. But that project had elevated them from normal human beings to superheroes in her horse-crazy heart.
Turning right off the highway, she quickly came to the elaborate wrought iron gate featuring a running horse with mane and tail flying. An electrified wire fence ran on either side of the gate, disappearing as it wound through the trees.
She couldn’t imagine what the miles of fencing had cost to erect and maintain. But it was critical protection for the horses inside it. The keypad post on the left side of the road illuminated a small sign —Check for horses before opening gate.
Rolling down her window, she peered into the darkness and listened. A distant hoot of an owl was followed by the yip of a coyote. No snorts or snuffles, no thud of hooves on the brittle ground. She punched in a code and the massive gate swung inward.
She rolled up her window, drove through and waited for the gate to close. Then she switched on her high beams.
A horse stood in the road, a mustang judging from the short neck and muscular build. A thick black coat had created a perfect camouflage in the dark surroundings.
“I’m glad you didn’t run out through the gate,” she murmured. “You’re better off in here.”
A flash of gray to her left alerted her to a second mustang joining the first, followed by another black and two bays.
“So much for checking for horses. You guys, or guys and gals, are stealthy.” She slowly pulled forward and they ambled off the road. The gray one stood out, allowing her to keep track of them for a few seconds, and then the inky night swallowed all five.
They likely had names by now. Months ago Mila and Claudette had begun the massive project of taking pictures of every wild horse in the sanctuary and giving each a name. This weekend they’d launch a digital adoption program tied in with a Valentine’s Day theme. Brilliant.
She drove on, leaving her high beams on and easing the needle up to fifteen. A fox dashed in front of her. She stopped in case its mate was right behind. Sure enough, a second one ran across the road looking like a touchable plush toy.
“Have a good night,” she called out softly. She missed the thrill of wildlife sightings. Sometimes a coyote would stroll into town, or an eagle would land on a rooftop, but out here it was a daily, even hourly occurrence to spot critters.
A white rail fence appeared on her left, signaling she was close to the ranch turnoff. That fence marked the human territory. The wild horses got everything else inside the wire.
A glow from the second keypad post made her stomach tingle with anticipation. She punched in the code and the gate swung open, this one adorned with a fancy LCR at the top.
Lights from myriad structures twinkled in the darkness. The original ranch house had burned decades ago which made the new, larger one still almost a hundred years old. The family’s barn was at least that old, as was an auxiliary one used for wild horses Luis deemed trainable.
The main house was only one of several dwellings. When Raquel had moved in with her three kids, Spence had built Grandma Doris a beautiful cottage nearby. Raquel’s widowed mom arrived a few years later and he’d done the same for her.
Building houses had turned out to be Spence’s hobby. He talked Auntie Kat into moving back home by promising her a house. When Raquel’s aunties — Carmen and Ezzie — asked if they could live here, he’d built casitas for each of them.
Last of all, to convince great-grandma Lucy to leave the Victorian, he’d constructed a modern version of the log cabin she’d lived in as a child. When she’d died a few years after that, she’d left the cabin to Adam.
Then Raquel’s mama had passed away and Mila had inherited her mini-hacienda. She’d invited Claudette to share it. Around the same time Greta rented an apartment in Missoula because she was starting culinary school, leaving Luis, Monty, Xavier and Rio, the only so-calledkidsstill living in the main house with their parents.
Eager to stake out their own territory, they’d remodeled the old bunkhouse to create a bachelor pad. All the chicks had officially left the nest and everyone was happy. Until Spence died.
Greta had left school and moved home to be with her mom. After much discussion among themselves, Grandma Doris and the three aunties had requested a meeting with the four brothers. Would they like to live in the homes their dad had built and turn the bunkhouse over to the ladies?
Shocked at first, the boys had eventually become enamored of the idea. They’d begun to outgrow the bunkhouse, especially when girlfriends were in the picture. The trade had taken place and the ladies had transformed the bunkhouse into the Triple D—Dorm for Dazzling Damsels.
Tonight the bunkhouse was rockin’. Lights blazed, and even with her windows rolled up Tracy could hear the Damsels singing karaoke to Johnny Cash’sRing of Fire.They loved the classics but it could just as easily have been Shaboozey’s latest hit.As Kat had once told her —We’re the Damsels and we’re deliberately difficult to discern.
Angie’s truck wasn’t in the parking area next to the house, only Raquel’s and Greta’s. She must have beat them here. As she pulled in, Adam came down the path from his log cabin.
She’d adored that cabin from the moment Spence had shown her the plans. Tucked into a stand of trees that included pine and aspen, it looked as if pioneers had constructed it long ago.
When Adam changed course and headed for the parking area instead of the porch steps, she climbed out, grabbed the box of cookies from the passenger seat and waited for him. Having him to herself for a few minutes before they went inside would be nice.
He walked with purpose, his ground-eating stride sure-footed and deliberate, his gaze focused on whatever was ahead. She’d always loved that about him.
