CHAPTER TEN
Danica
JustasIwasreturning from the house with more bottles of milk—after also using the bathroom again—I could hear Tom’s soft voice speaking English.The closer I drew to the stall, the louder his conversation became, until I realized he wasn’t speaking to Midnight, but rather someone on his phone.
“Si.Si.Grazie mille.Grazie.” Sighing heavily, he hung up and faced me.“We have a nurse mare.Raven will be here later today.”
Relief filled me and combined with my grief over Angel, and my exhaustion, my knees gave way a little.“Oh, thank goodness.”
I hadn’t even clued in to the subdued weather as I crossed his property to the house and back.But the wind had died down a fair bit, though the clouds seemed to still be thick, gray, and hanging lower than I think anybody would like.We would take this ebb though, and use it to our advantage to get Raven here.Midnight needed her.
Who is “we”?
I ignored my conscience asking a question I wasn’t prepared to answer just yet, and handed Tom one of the bottles.“Here.”
“Grazie.”
Midnight was awake and full of energy, still not quite sure what was going on with his mother.He’d given up trying to nurse now, but kept headbutting her abdomen and neck to try to wake her up.My heart ripped clean in two as he cocked his little head to the side in confusion when she wouldn’t respond.
Tom inched closer to the colt and waggled the bottle beside his head.Instantly, Midnight zeroed in, knowing that the glass bottle meant food.
His lips reached for the nipple like two little hands attached to his cute face, and his eyes bugged out a bit until he latched on properly.
“I need to call Cameron to help me move the body,” he said solemnly, glancing over at Angel.
“Let me.”I pulled out my phone and sent off a quick text to Cameron Arendelle, as well as some of the McEvoy brothers.While I’d normally include Jagger and Maverick as well, they were both recovering from injuries.Jagger from a shattered knee after rescuing my nephew, Marco, from being kidnapped, and Maverick from a spinal fracture in hockey.Neither of them should be trying to help lift a dead horse.
Nobody would be up yet, since it wasn’t quite three o’clock, but they’d all get them when they woke.While Angel was emaciated and undoubtedly lighter than your average horse, she still would take more than two grown men to lift onto a trailer, or however Tom planned to transport her.
“Should we move him to a different stall?”I asked, not sure of the protocol when it came to newly orphaned foals and removing them from the scene with their dead mother.Was there standard protocol?
Tom nodded.“We will.Si.”
His yawn was big, and his eyes were tired.I’d guessed he didn’t get much sleep last night either and was running on fumes now.
“You can go sleep at your house for a few hours,” I offered.“I can stay with Midnight.Now that Angel has passed, we don’t need two of us.”
He shook his head and yawned again.“I am okay.”
“Tom.I’m serious.”
He leveled me with red-rimmed brown eyes.“I know.But so am I.Thank you, Danica.”
We held each other’s gaze for a moment longer than I expected, and heat crept into my face.I wasn’t sure which one of us broke eye contact first, since we seemed to do it at the same time, to stare down at a hungry Midnight.
“You do not need to stay.I appreciate all of your help …” His gaze met mine again.“And company.But you should go home to your daughter.Shower.Rest.”
Shower?Did I stink?
I probably smelled like horse and hay, but so did he.
I resisted the urge to lift my arms and smell my pits.
He was right after all.Angel was gone; it was just Midnight and the rest of the horses now.The nurse mare would be there later today.Tom didn’tneedme anymore.
Reluctantly, I nodded.“You’re probably right.”
Was that disappointment on his face?He just told me to go.
