“Oh. My. God.” Maisy said.
* * *
* * *
QUINO was barely awake when his phone chimed. It was Desi’s designated ringtone and he sat bolt upright and grabbed his phone. It was still dark. He glanced at the display. In fact, it was the middle of the night.
“Desi, are you all right? Is everything okay? Where are you?” he asked.
“I’m fine!” Desi yelled into the phone. “Quino, I did it!”
“Did what?”
“I rescued an orphan out in the wild,” she said. “It was amazing!”
Quino ran a hand over his face. His heart was racing and his vision was fuzzy. He thought he might be having a heart attack.
“I’m sorry to call so late, but I didn’t want you to freak out when you saw the video,” she said.
“What video?” he asked. His throat was dry and he coughed.
“The one I posted on my Instagram,” she said. “It looks much more frightening than it actually was. The poachers shot at us, but I think they were just trying to scare us.”
“Poachers?” he asked. “Shot at you?!”
“Yeah, there was some rich guy from the States who paid the poachers to bring him onto the preserve so he could bag an elephant,” Desi said. Her voice was filled with disgust. “Honestly, what’s wrong with these people?”
Quino felt his chest get tight. “Desi, I want you on the first plane out of there. It’s too dangerous. You could have been killed.”
His voice sounded strangled and he knew he was entering a state of full-on panic.
“See, this is why I called,” she said. “I was in the truck the whole time. I didn’t get out until the poachers had been run off. Quino, they were going to kill the mama elephant for her tusks but we got there in time. She has superficial wounds but we’ll be able to treat her and her calf is safe. I know this is hard for you, but this is what I was born to do. You have to believe in me.”
Quino couldn’t hear her. Her words had stopped for him the second he heard she’d been shot at.
“No, Desi, enough. This is too dangerous. I’ve been trying to be patient but you’re asking too much of me to know you’re in danger and do nothing about it. I’m coming to Kenya to collect you.”
“You’ll be wasting your time,” Desi said. “Because I’m not leaving.”
“How did you even get there?” he asked. His teeth were gritted with frustration and the words were coming out in more of a growl.
“I told you,” she said. “I found a person to help me write a grant for my living and travel expenses.”
“How? How did you find them?”
“The wish box. I put a wish in the wish box at the Happily Ever After Bookstore and then a few days later, someone had left a packet of information and a rough outline for a grant.”
“When did you do this?”
“Over the summer. Why does it matter?”
“It matters.” A fury filled Quino. Someone who clearly didn’t know Desi or her struggles had meddled in her life, facilitated this crazy idea, and in doing so put her in grave danger. He wanted to know who, and he wanted to shut them down. He needed to ask Maisy about this damn wish box pronto.
“Quino, why can’t you just believe in me?” Desi asked. “Why can’t you support my dream?”
“I do,” he said. Even as the words left his mouth, he knew it was a lie. He would support her dream if it happened here in Fairdale where he could swoop in and rescue her as needed. He did not support her dream to be half a world away, taking crazy risks. She was asking too much of him.
“Then let me go,” she said. “Let me be what I have to be.”
“I can’t.”
“You have to. Don’t ask me to be less than who I am. I’ll call you soon.”
“No, don’t hang up. We need to talk about your coming home.”
“I’m not coming home,” she said decisively. “I love you.”
She ended the call and Quino felt bereft and frustrated and bewildered. He glanced at the empty bed beside him and wished that Red was here. She would understand. She would back him up on this. But she wasn’t here. She and Maisy had pulled a late night last night plotting every moment of Destiny’s signing, and he had promised to help. Damn it!
If he left now for Africa, he’d be abandoning Destiny, who’d said she’d do this only with him as her escort and bodyguard, and Savy. He did not want to let Savy down. She was so certain this publicity coup was going to relaunch her career and she wanted that so desperately.
The irony that the very thing he was helping Savy achieve was the same thing that was going to expedite her departure was not lost on him. At the moment, he was hoping that the success she was enjoying, the triumph of bringing Destiny out of seclusion, would make her reconsider her plan and stay in Fairdale. He knew it had a snowball’s chance in Florida of working out that way but still he hoped.
Realizing he wasn’t going back to sleep, he opened up the app on his phone that let him look at Desi’s social media. He watched in horror as a large mama elephant was on her side on the ground, her baby bleating in a panic beside her. A large cargo truck pulled up in between the poachers and the elephant. The footage was being shot from a smaller vehicle, following the truck. Several gunshots were heard and then the person shooting the footage—Desi, presumably—was jumping to the ground and running toward the injured elephant. It looked like a war zone. Quino thought he might throw up.
The next segment in Desi’s feed showed the mama and the baby elephant being tended to. Even though he already knew the outcome thanks to Desi’s call, he was weak with relief to see both the animals and his sister, as she flipped her phone around and smiled and waved for the camera, were safe. She could have been killed. A stray bullet, a charging elephant, the vehicle tipping over as they raced through the bush. He knew he should be proud of her commitment and courage, and he was, but his fear was pushing all of those feelings aside and all he could feel was panic, the helplessness of which made him furious.
He replayed the videos. The sound of gunfire and the idea that his sister was out there in the thick of it made him woozy. He made coffee, showered, and roamed around his house. He thought about heading down to the stable but it was too early even for that. He wondered who had found Desi’s request in the wish box and helped her write her grant. It was like a niggling worm in his brain. He couldn’t let it go.
The what-ifs of Desi’s situation kept replaying in his head. What if she got hurt? Who would take care of her? How could he get to her? And the worst of them all—what if she got killed? His blood ran cold. He couldn’t even think it.
He pushed the thought away. When he glanced out the window he saw the sun was just beginning to lighten the sky. He’d take Daisy out for an early-morning ride. He’d neglected her lately with the holidays and with his preoccupation with Red, and he and Daisy could both use this time together.
He shrugged on his coat, hat, and gloves, and left the house. His boots crunched in the new-fallen snow. He took a second to marvel at the beauty of the night’s pristine snowfall. Everything was blanketed in a bright brilliant white and it was quiet, so quiet. Not even the birds were up yet. He found himself walking slowly toward the barn, more quietly than usual as if he was trying to not to wake the wildlife. Desi would have laughed at him. The thought made his heart hurt.
When he arrived at the barn, it was to find the horses were distressed. He could hear nervous pacing and whinnying. For a second he wondered if a bear had gotten into the barn. He snapped on the overhead lights and heard a loud thump sound from the back of the barn. He knew that noise. He’d heard it before. A horse had collapsed.
He ran. The horses heard him coming and most poked their heads out of their stalls. He scanned, wondering which of his herd had gone down. He saw Daisy poking her head out of her stall and he calmed down but t
hen he passed Esther’s stall. His cranky old girl wasn’t looking for him to give her a carrot or an apple slice.
“No, no, no,” he hissed the words. He fumbled with the latch until the door swung wide. There she was, collapsed on the ground. Her head poked up to look at him, she blinked as if recognizing his face. He would have sworn she gave him her usual stink eye, and then her lips pulled back in a smile.
Quino dropped to his knees beside her head and put his hand on her cheek. “Come on, Esther, old gal. Don’t you die on me. Whatever’s wrong we’ll fix it. You’ll be okay. Come on, girl, I need you.”
She let out a soft whicker, her lips nuzzling his coat sleeve as if looking for one last treat or gently trying to say good-bye.
“Oh, Esther, no, don’t go,” he said through the lump in his throat.
An enormous shudder rippled through her body and her eyes rolled back into her head. With one last rattling breath, Esther was gone.
Chapter Twenty-One
QUINO didn’t know how long he sat there. He’d been around horses all his life, and he knew a cardiac arrest when he saw one. After a while, he called Hannah to come out and check Esther over one last time. She didn’t answer so he pressed the option to leave an urgent message and then, as simply as he could, told her what had happened. There were decisions to be made, but he knew he was going to have the old girl cremated. Then he’d bury her ashes by his mother’s grave. That’s where Esther would want to be, beside her favorite person.
He ran his hand down her smooth gray coat. It was hard to imagine that he wouldn’t see her in her pasture anymore. Esther with her sassy tail, knowing eyes, and insistent nudges. Oh, he was going to miss the old girl. His throat was tight and his eyes felt damp. He pushed the feelings down. He’d grieve later.
“Quino! You in there?”
He recognized Hannah’s voice and he rolled to his feet. He stepped out of the stall and into the brighter light of the barn. He glanced up and saw Hannah jogging toward him, with her medical backpack slung over her shoulder, and on her heels was Red. She looked frantic.
“I brought someone to give you moral support,” Hannah said. She patted his arm before she slid into the stall like a pro, dropping to the ground right next to Esther. She began to pull out her equipment. Savannah paused, looking at Quino. It was then that he noticed her green cat’s eyes were red-rimmed.
“Is she really . . . ?” she asked. Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Yeah,” he said. He opened his arms and she stepped into them, hugging him tight as if she could squeeze the grief out of him. He pressed his cheek against her soft curls and sighed. “She had a great life here.”
“The best,” Savannah said fiercely. “No horse could ask for a better home, but oh, I’m going to miss her grumpy face.” Then she sobbed. It loosened something in Quino’s chest and he felt a few of his own tears spill out.
He wasn’t a crier, not since his parents had died. Something in him had hardened that day. But as they stood, standing in the circle of each other’s arms, trying to find solace in each other, he felt the tears slide down his face and he knew it was because with Red he was safe.
“I’m so sorry, Quino,” Hannah said as she joined them. They broke apart and turned to face her. Her nose was running and her eyes were puffy. She gestured to her face. “Sorry. No matter how many times I lose an animal in my care, I never get used to it.” She sniffed a couple of times and rubbed her eyes with her hand. “It looks like it was cardiac arrest. She went very fast.”
Quino nodded and wiped his own damp face with the back of his hand. “When I came into the barn, I heard her collapse. She was gone just a few minutes after that.”
Hannah nodded. Quietly, she said, “Would you like me to arrange for pickup?”
Quino nodded. “Thanks. I want her cremated.”
Hannah reached out a hand and squeezed his arm. “Of course.” She took her phone out and wandered away to place the call, obviously not wanting to distress them any more than she had to.
“I want to say good-bye,” Savy said.
Quino nodded. She slipped into the stall and he watched as she knelt beside Esther. It almost broke him. To see the woman he loved grieve the passing of one of his favorite horses. She patted Esther’s neck and whispered so softly he couldn’t hear her words into the horse’s still ear. Savy patted her shoulder one last time and came out of the stall, her face crumpled with grief.
She slid right into his side as if that was where she belonged and together they greeted Lanie and Luke, who arrived shortly after, breaking the bad news to them as gently as possible. Lanie cried. Luke took the news more stoically but there was a telltale sheen to his eyes as well. This wasn’t just losing a horse. Esther had been family.
* * *
* * *
HANNAH had to go back to her clinic, but Savy decided to stay with Joaquin and make certain he was all right. Yes, Esther had been old and, sure, they knew she’d been on borrowed time. Still, it was a huge shock to lose her so suddenly.
Savannah forced Quino to go back to the house and eat something. She wasn’t much of a chef but she could fry bacon and scramble eggs. He sat at the counter sipping coffee while she puttered around his kitchen. She had a post–crying jag headache and a heavy heart but when she looked at him, none of it mattered. All she wanted to do was ease his pain.
They pushed their eggs around their plates. Their coffee grew cold. Every time Savy glanced out the kitchen window toward the corral where Esther used to watch the comings and goings of the stables she felt the sadness rush up over her like an ocean wave.
“Does Desi know?” she asked. She knew that Desi loved the horses of Shadow Pine and she imagined she was going to take it very hard.
“No, I have to call her,” he said. He glanced at the clock. “It’s getting late there.”
“Where?” Savy asked. “You said she was traveling but you’ve never mentioned where she went. Is she visiting your mother’s family in Texas?”
“I wish,” he said. His features settled into a scowl. “She’s on some cockamamie internship in Kenya.”
“Kenya?” Savy’s eyes went wide. “As in Africa, Kenya?”
“Well, there’s no Kenya in Georgia,” he said. He pushed his plate away and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be snarky. I had a rough night and now Esther.” He sighed. “Desi left the day after Thanksgiving, without telling me, and I’ve only managed a handful of calls to her since. The time change makes it impossible to catch her.”
“What’s she doing in Kenya?” Savy asked. Desi had been a regular at the bookshop and Savy had missed seeing her. When Quino had said she was traveling she’d assumed it was to visit relatives. But Africa? Wow.
“Risking her life and making me crazy,” he said. At Savy’s alarmed look, he toned it down. “Somehow she managed to get an internship and some do-gooder helped her get a grant, so she’s working with the Kenya Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Institute.”
Savy felt her stomach drop. Oh, no. Then she shook her head. No, it couldn’t be. What were the odds? She refused to believe the grant she had helped with was Desi’s, but how could it possibly be anyone else?
“That’s fantastic,” she said. Quino glowered. “Or not.” She studied his face. “Why is it not?”
“Because she’s out there all alone,” he said. “She actually posted footage last night of being in a shoot-out with poachers. She could have been killed.”
A cold sweat covered Savy’s body. There was no helping it. She had to come clean, or maybe not. Maybe it was just a crazy coincidence. “I don’t suppose she mentioned who helped her?” she asked. She was hoping with everything she had that it was an answer they could live with.
“No,” he said. “She said something about a wish box in the bookstore. I have to talk to Maisy about that. She said someone left h
er all the particulars for grant writing and she used it to get the funding because she knew I would never approve of her wiping out her savings account. If I ever find out who—”
“It was me,” Savannah said. The words came out in a rush. “But I didn’t know it was Desi. I saw a note with an elephant on it in the wish box we keep for customers to write random wishes on and I was intrigued. When I saw it was a wish for money to go help orphaned elephants, I made a packet of materials of possible grants and a rough draft of how I would write the grant, thinking it would give them a running start. I’m sorry, Quino, I di—”
“Didn’t know, yeah, I got that part,” he said. He leaned back in his chair as if trying to put distance between them while, frowning, he studied her. “Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?”
Savannah didn’t know what to say. She hated the thought of Desi being in peril because of her. She felt sick to her stomach and wanted to throw up her eggs.
Quino took his phone out of his pocket. He opened Instagram and then went to Desi’s story. He handed the phone to Savy. She glanced down. There she was, just as he’d said. Desi in Africa. It was . . . incredible.
The newest post was from a few hours ago. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground when a baby elephant, called Maktao in the caption, ran at her. Savy felt her breath catch, thinking she’d be squashed, but the baby elephant slowed down, lowered its head, and bumped Desi on the shoulder. She laughed and opened her arms and the baby flopped into her lap just like a big dog. Desi was scratching the big-eared baby all over its gray body. The elephant looked delighted.
Desi’s eyes were sparkling and she was laughing while she hugged the big baby, who used its trunk to snatch her hat. She tried to get it back but the elephant held it out of reach while bumping against her, demanding to be petted. The other caregivers standing nearby were laughing, too, and it hit Savy that Desi looked like she belonged. As if she’d found her place in the world and like a seed taken on the wind to a point unknown, she had started to bloom where she was planted.
The Christmas Keeper Page 27
