And I loved having them in my life and seeing them with the animals.The way Mouse responded to Danica was nothing short of magical.And I saw so much of my own anxiety in Sam and wanted to help her anyway I could.She was so brave today—both women were.
In the grand scheme of things, the island stepped up and did more for me and my animals than I did.I just stood there, swallowed up by my anxiety as Clint McEvoy formed the search party.Then, when Danica messaged me that Midnight was in the Pickford’s garage, it was Sam who busted past Avelyn into the garage and threw herself on Vincent to get my foal away from him.
I was ashamed of my behavior.Ashamed of how my anxiety crippled me and what the islanders must have thought of me.What Danica must have thought of me.
She didn’t come into the barn when they returned to the property, and that was probably because she couldn’t bear to look at me.
I couldn’t bear to look at myself and avoided the mirror as I stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
What an utter nightmare.
For so long it’d been just me and the animals that it seemed like I’d forgotten how to interact with people.How to be a member of the community and a partner.
She deserved better.
I stood under the spray of the shower for a long time, reflecting on the past few weeks, on last night, and on today.
Midnight was safe.He was back with Raven, and unharmed.
With any luck, this was the end of Vincent’s reign of terror, and I could reassure my son that his land would remain safe, and we could carry on his mother’s legacy.
By the time I shut the water off and returned to the bedroom, there were over a dozen messages on my phone.Yet, I had no energy to read any of them.
I needed to eat.
And Portia made sure that she got her dinner too, by following me around my bedroom as I got dressed, then out to the kitchen where she stared me down until I set her bowl in front of her.
My phone just kept pinging.
Was one of thosepingsDanica?
I finished up with the stew, then took my steaming bowl to the couch and sifted through my messages while eating.
None of thosepingswere from Danica.
The lawyers said they would follow through with everything regarding the property and ensuring Vincent couldn’t come near it.Apparently, Sakura Reilly, the island librarian, managed to dig up some old records of the land agreements as well as some “Island Constitution” or whatever, and sent them to Gabrielle, who forwarded them to the lawyers.The lawyers also found the bank statement from when Arthur bought out Millicent’s share of the land.There was no way, either Vincent or his mother, could come after us now.I was surprised and grateful that all of this had been happening without my knowledge.People helped and took care of things while I silently spiraled and made stew.
Both the farrier and vet said they would be on the first ferry tomorrow to check on Midnight.Then there were a bunch of messages from numbers I didn’t recognize telling me how happy they were to hear that Midnight had been found safe and sound.
Were these islanders?
Guiseppe hadn’t messaged me yet, but I didn’t expect him to since Milan was nine hours ahead and it was almost three in the morning.
Would Danica come by and grab her bag?
Would I hear from her?
Should I message her?It’d been so long since I’d been in a relationship, since I’d dated, that I had no idea how people did things anymore.
I finished dinner and went back out to the barn.Stalls needed to be mucked and animals needed to be fed.So even though every part of me wanted to go to bed and forget the day, I couldn’t.
I don’t even remember falling asleep in Galahad’s stall, but when vehicle doors slamming outside woke me up, I realized I’d spent the night out there.
“I want to see Midnight, Daddy,” came the familiar voice of Francesca just as the door opened.
I stood up off the concrete floor.My body ached from sleeping in such a terrible position on an unforgiving surface, and I opened up the back of the stall so Galahad could head out to the field.
Cameron stopped in front of Galahad’s stall.“You look like you never went to bed.”
