“I’ve got this, go get her.” Dad yells from behind me and grabs the hose from my hand.
Letting go, I nod and run into the stable. Flames are licking up the wall of the back corner across from the mare that’s kicking, it’s the one Marley just got last week. She’s nearly out of control in her stall.
Just as I get to the door to pull it open, she rears back to warn me. She’s about to kick at me. Heat licks my back, and the smoke is burning my eyes, so I pull my shirt over my mouth and nose.
In my peripheral, I see dad walk through the door with the hose turned up, spraying water everywhere as he gets closer to the fire. He points the water at me and the horse and even though it’s freezing, it feels good on my back.
Grabbing the latch on the door, I pull it open, and the horse shoots out toward the front of the stable. I don’t even care she’s running wild, as long as she gets out of here.
I pull one of the quilt covers off a shelf and beat at the fire as dad sprays it. Within seconds, Mason is next to me with the hose from the grooming stall spraying from the other direction. It takes us several minutes, but we get the flamesout.
The entire corner is a mess. The bales of hay stacked there are half burned and soaking wet and the wall is scorched black up to the rafters. At least the stalls are still okay, the damage looks manageable.
A wail from Marley pierces the air. “Noooooo!”
We drop everything and run to the door to see Marley on the ground next to the horse that ran out last. She is laying on her side and Marley is leaning over her, stroking her neck as tears stream down her face. Jax is squatted down behind her, his only contact is that he has put his palm on her back between her shoulders.
“God damn it, what happened?” Dad bellows as we walk up to them.
Marley is crying too hard to answer, and Jax looks at Mason. “She slid on some ice as she came around the corner and I think her leg’s broken, she can’t get up.”
Fuck me!
I’ve only had to shoot a horse once in my life and, aside from Sarah’s death, I’ve never felt so bad.
As I watch the scene in front of me, Jax snaps his head toward the front fence that lines the main road, narrowing his eyes. The purposely thick tree line is dense enough that it’s impossible to see the house or any of the buildings from the road.
Mason walks to Marley and squats down next to her on the other side. “Mar, she’s in pain.”
Marley nods her head and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. “I know.” The two words choke out with sobs and it kills me to see her like this.
Mason glances at Jax, who is still scanning the tree line, and a silent exchange happens. Jax’s hand slides from Marley’s shoulder blades to her shoulder as he stands and moves into the shadows, he disappears like a fucking ghost into thedarkness.
Mason reaches out to her and gently squeezes her arm, and she sits back on her heels. “Give me just a second.” She takes a deep breath and leans over the horse again, whispering in her ear. The chestnut mare huffs through her nose, staying still under Marley’s hand, almost like she understands what Marley is saying and wants to listen.
“Daddy?” I hear Lainey Rai getting closer behind me and I spin around to see her stop dead and slap her hand over her mouth.
Kinley does the same thing behind her, their eyes glued to Marley and the mare. Tears fill their eyes and Lainey Rai looks at me, her voice is so small. “Star?”
Turning my back on the heartbreaking scene, I walk to my daughter, who has started to cry. “Come here, Pumpkin.”
She lets me pick her up and even though I turn her away from what’s happening; she turns her head to look around me. “Will she be okay?”
I’m not going to lie to my daughter. I can hear my dad’s voice in my head,she has to learn the good with the bad, son.“No, Pumpkin, she’s not going to be okay.”
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard my daughter break down and cry like she did when she was little, but she cries her heart out as I carry her back to the house.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
GRAY
IT TOOKa while, but Lainey Rai cried herself out. I carried her up to her bedroom with Kinley close on my heels, tears in her eyes, and worried about her niece. Kinley may act like a spoiled thirty-year-old brat most of the time, but under all that, she loves her family. I’ve seen proof of that many times.
Stroking Lainey Rai’s hair, her head in my lap while she’s curled in a little ball on her bed, her breathing evens out. I look up at Kinley sitting on the beanbag in the corner, covered up with the throw from the bed. “You okay?”
Her eyes are red-rimmed, and her nose is pink. In her lifetime, she has probably seen a lamed horse once or twice. But what might have been the hardest on her was seeing her sister so tore up over the horse.
Confirming my thoughts, she whispers, “I haven’t seen Marley upset like that since back then. I hate to see her likethat.”
