“Long-term?” The doctor shrugged. “If the bruising doesn’t manifest as something more serious, we’re probably looking at a month or so for a full recovery. They’ll tell you more when he gets to a ward, but I’d imagine he’ll be out of action for at least a couple of weeks.”
My heart sank. The tentative prognosis was as positive as I could’ve hoped for, but how was the farm going to cope without Joe for the best part of a month? The stables were bursting at the seams and there was no denying that Joe was the muscle around the place—
Cold fingers closed around mine, cutting my brain off mid-flail. I looked down, and Joe was awake, his bloodshot eyes fixed on me. Panic forgotten, my world narrowed to him.
I rubbed his hand, trying to warm him up. “Hey, you. How you doing down there?”
Joe shook his head, and the doctor took over, asking Joe questions he couldn’t seem to answer, and explaining what was about to happen. I held onto Joe’s hand as long as I could, but eventually, a porter came to move his bed to the AAU department, and I was left behind to update Joe’s personal information. I was halfway through the form when I realised that the only thing I knew about him was his name, address, and the faint map of freckles on the back of his neck.
It took a while to catch up with Joe in AAU, and by then, he was asleep again. I sat with him until the early hours of the morning, but around two, when nothing significant had changed, another friendly nurse kicked me out.
I took a cab back to the farm. Emma was waiting for me in the yard. “Oh god, Harry. I’ve been so worried. Is he okay?”
“As okay as he can be. He hasn’t been awake much, but that’s a good thing, apparently.”
Emma shuddered. “He’s been kicked before—we all have—but never like this. What the hell happened?”
“I honestly don’t know. Toby didn’t see it either, so I guess we’ll have to wait for Joe to tell us.”
“You didn’t speak to him?”
“He’s out of it at the moment. The drugs are doing their job.”Thank God.The brief moments Joe had been awake had been agonising for him. The nurses said he was better off asleep, and I believed them. “Where’s Shadow?”
“In his stable.”
“Is he calm?”
Emma nodded, her gaze sliding guiltily from mine.
I caught her arm. “What is it? Is he hurt?”
“No... actually, he’s doing much better.”
I was missing something, and despite the hold Joe had on my heart, it was none of my business, but I tightened my grip on Emma all the same. “Just tell me. No point hiding bad news, mate.”
“My dad’s here.”
“Oh.” I glanced around automatically, searching for the familiar face of a man I’d never seen. “Is that a good thing? Joe hasn’t told me—uh—much about him.”
Emma sighed. “I can tell by your face that he’s told you everything that matters, but I had no choice, Harry. I can’t handle Shadow on my own at the best of times, and we’ve got all these sick ponies to take care of too—”
I held up my hand to slow the flood of words falling from Emma as her anxiety peaked. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”
“I need to explain it to someone. Mum can’t get back until lunchtime tomorrow, and I know she’ll go straight to the hospital. Perhaps Dad will be gone by then, but even if he is, I feel like I need to tell someone so it isn’t a bad dream.”
I tugged Emma into a loose embrace. “I get it. Sorry, I’ve got daddy issues of my own, so I’m a bit shit when people try to talk to me about theirs.”
“You’re not shit at anything, Harry. We’d be lost without you right now.”
I had nothing. Just held Emma until the tack room door opened and an older version of Joe emerged into the yard. He stared at me for a moment and then Emma. And then he plucked a hip flask from his pocket and took a sip.
“Just a drop,” he said. “Keep me going till morning.”
I didn’t know what to say as he sloped off to the feed shed. I’d gleaned enough from my short time on the farm to know that he’d brought trouble to the farm over and over again, but who was I to say that he shouldn’t be here now? “What’s his name again?”
“What?”
“Your dad. What’s his name?”
