“Ms. Lancaster,” he said, turning to Candace. “There was no mention of anything about the horse.”
Candace appealed to him as if she’d found an ally. “Thank you for coming to help.” She gestured to the truck. “Litchfield Farms has agreed to purchase the horse, and they’re here to collect him. Would you please help them load him in the trailer? I need to take Julia back in the house.”
“No!” Julia grabbed Wendell’s wrist and squeezed hard. “He will never help you steal my horse.”
Wendell could feel all eyes upon him. Radcliffe paced nervously at the outer edge of their circle, and the sound of his hooves on the pavement was ominous. Julia’s fingers on Wendell’s wrist pulsed. He needed to think.
“Ms. Lancaster, when was this arranged?”
“We are preparing this property for sale,” she said firmly. She turned to Julia, who was still holding on to Wendell’s arm like they were on the same team. “Julia Louise, I am sorry, but we cannot take your horse to London with us. It’s just not possible. So I have arranged for Litchfield Farms to take him in. It’s a lovely place, and he will have excellent care.”
“He has excellent care here! And I’m not leaving.”
The situation had spun out of control. All Wendell wanted to do was send the trailer away, tell the woman to put Raddy back in the barn.
“Why don’t we take a breather,” he said, feeling the heat of Julia’s grip. “Perhaps you all could sit down and discuss this further.”
Candace narrowed her eyes. “There is nothing to discuss. White Pines and everything on the property is to be sold. Mr.Combs, we have an agreement, and I am asking you to help us load this horse.”
Beside him, Julia began heaving. “Don’t let her,” she begged. He dared a look at her and regretted it immediately.
“Julia, get back up to the house,” Candace snapped. “You are making a scene.” She nodded to the woman holding Raddy. “Load him up, please.Now.”
Wendell felt Julia’s body coil like an animal’s, and he braced himself instinctively against her. “No!” she screamed, buckling against him. “Don’t take him! He’s all I have left.”
The woman looked torn but did as she was told. She circled Radcliffe to the back of the trailer as the driver hurried around and lowered the ramp.
“Please,” Julia whimpered against him. He could feel all the fight leaving her, and as it did, something inside him failed.
Without thinking, Wendell wrapped an arm around her. There was the creak of metal springs and the thud of a trailer ramp hitting the ground. The obedient clomp of hooves as Radcliffe disappeared inside. “All clear,” the woman called from within. Outside, the driver secured the partition and closed the gate. It happened in such swift unison, it reminded Wendell of a tactical exit strategy. He winced.
The woman exited the trailer through a side door and came to stand by them. She glanced between the three of them. “I’ll call to let you know when he’s settled.” She turned to Julia. “I’m sorry this is so hard, honey. We’ll take good care of him, I promise.”
“Thank you,” Candace interjected. “We’ll let you be on your way.”
Julia had gone limp in Wendell’s arms. They watched the truck back away from the barn and turn down the driveway. When it disappeared into the grove of trees, Wendell turned to Candace. “Why?” he asked.
“Mr. Combs, this does not concern you. If you have a problemwith how things are being run here, perhaps this job is not a good match for you.” She looked at Julia, sighed, and turned back up to the house.
Wendell felt Julia stiffen. He released his arms, and she spun to face him.
“How could you?”
“Julia, please. I had no idea she was doing this.”
Julia’s cheeks streamed with fresh tears, making her look almost like a little girl again. “He was the last thing I have from my father. You knew that, and you let her do this anyway!”
“It was not my decision,” Wendell said softly. “I don’t agree with what she did. But what could I have done?”
Julia hinged forward, her face close to his. “My parents liked you,” she sputtered. “Since they died, every adult I know has let us down. I thought you were different.”
She may as well have spat in his face. Wendell took it all. There was nothing different he could have done, but he hated himself nonetheless.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I never meant to let you down.”
When she took off toward the woods, Wendell watched her as the familiar dull roar began in his ears. Eventually, she reached the lake and ran along the sandy edge to the far side of the woods. He did not know where she was going, but as the sound in his ears heightened, he wished the woods would swallow him whole, too.
That night, unable to sleep, he lay prostrate as memories rolled through him. His mother, placing her hands on either side of his face. “Take care of your little brother,” she’d said. Ginny, standing in line at the funeral and how he’d refused to meet her gaze. The way he used to avoid the Lancaster family and linger in the truck at White Pines until Anne and the girls had passed, so he wouldnot become entangled in conversation or niceties. Wendell had not wanted to know them, to care for them. The arrangement was supposed to be about business: Alan’s job gave him an escape; he gave Alan his trusted labor.
