“Well, right now I’m paying attention to her.” Charlotte moved along the mare’s flank. She closed her eyes and gently probed the animal’s body. “She’s due to foal soon.”
Now she got his attention. He stared at the horse, then followed the skinny line of her curvature until the familiar sway beneath her confirmed the doctor’s diagnosis. “That can’t be good for her.”
“Babies do tend to steal whatever they need from their mothers, leaving the mother drained. In her case, drained equates starving.”
The horse gulped as if swallowing was hard.
“Do you have a place ready for her?” she asked as she smoothed her hand along the mare’s flank.
“A hay barn with three stalls I use when I need to segregate.” He watched as she did a quick exam from the horse’s side.
“Baby’s heart rate is strong and steady. Mother’s is shakier considering her condition. Let’s get her moved, get her in a clean area and we’ll start a care regimen right away.” She stood up, jotted notes into her phone, then faced him. “I won’t pretend I’m holding out a lot of hope.”
“Because she’s so far gone.”
“That and an almost full-term pregnancy puts a significant strain on the mother. How old is she?”
“Twenty-six.” He didn’t have to stop and think because he hadn’t stopped thinking about Gingersnap—her formal name—since the day they hauled her away, twenty-one years ago. He’d been nine years old and had just witnessed what no child should ever have to see, the loss of his cousin and best friend.
And then he experienced the loss of another dear friend when they sent the horse to be euthanized. Nearly every moment since had been timed from that fateful day. Alfie gone, and Gingersnap hauled away to her death.
Only here she was, so someone else must have realized the horse wasn’t at fault.
He didn’t know how this happened, but seeing his old friend neglected and starved, he knew it was long past time to fix things. Starting today. “I’ll get the trailer now that the others have loaded.”
“Is your daughter strong enough to handle this?” She jutted her chin toward the group of watchful teens.
“My niece, actually. And yes. She’s quite strong. Why?”
“Watching animals die is no picnic. And you and I both know this one’s on shaky ground.”
Regardless he still had to try. “We’ll do our best and leave the rest in God’s hands.”
Doubt clouded her features. “Whoever left the fate of these animals to God didn’t give them much of a fighting chance, did they?”
He faced her, calm and cool, and made sure she understood exactly what he wanted to say. “He brought them here, where they’re surrounded by helping hands. I’d say He’s done all right.”
She didn’t argue with him, but her expression indicated she wasn’t buying into his reasoning.
No matter.
He needed her help. She needed work. They didn’t have to get along or be friends, but when she murmured soft words of encouragement as they moved the mare forward, he wondered how someone so innately gifted with horses could be that far removed from God?
That was her business. Not his. And he would have enough on his plate once people realized that he’d just gone against a two-decades-old death sentence. A sentence that had never been carried out. A sentence decreed against a horse who hadn’t done one thing wrong.
God had given him the chance to fix an old mistake. One way or another he was going to make up as much of that error as he could, and that would depend on how long Ginger and her baby lived.
Copyright © 2019 by Ruth M. Blodgett
ISBN-13: 9781488042935
A Love for Lizzie
Copyright © 2019 by Tracey J. Lyons
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