Forever Ventured

by Kathleen Brooks

  “I can be there by nine. I can get the horses loaded up and sent with Bud to the track before I meet you. Are you sure you don’t mind me borrowing Bud for the meet?” Camila asked.

  “I got the check in for one of the breedings you booked and hired two temp workers who had previously worked on farms around here. They’re good guys with good résumés. Hopefully, I can turn them into full-time employees.”

  “That’s great. I feel a lot better now. Bud’s a strange duck, but I must admit we work well together.” Wyatt sat down on the bed and laughed when Camila pulled him down to her. “I bet I could make you late.”

  “I bet you could, too. But then we couldn’t meet for breakfast.”

  “Sex or those peanut butter pancakes with chocolate chips that Zinnia created in honor of Sophie? That’s a tough one.”

  Camila giggled and Wyatt kissed her. The giggling stopped and Wyatt deepened the kiss before slowly pulling away. “I’ll see you at nine.”

  * * *

  Camila watched Wyatt leave and sighed. Her heart had been stolen before they’d made love and these past weeks were a gift. To be that close to someone on a friend level and then deeper on a romantic level was something entirely new to her. Two weeks of passionate nights and delightful days. Two weeks that brought them so close, it felt as if it had been two years instead.

  Camila began to get dressed and smiled to herself. She’d been worried about what his family would think of him dating her. She shouldn’t have worried. Not only did his family immediately accept her, but so did the whole town. When they’d walked hand in hand into the café the next morning, Aniyah had screamed, praised Jesus, and then hugged Camila tightly before thanking her for the plane tickets for their honeymoon. That still didn’t make sense, but seeing Aniyah happy made it worth the confusion.

  Aniyah and DeAndre were the perfect couple. Camila had gotten wrapped up in wedding planning and had already accepted her invite to the bridal shower being hosted by Riley Davies Walz, yet another cousin of Wyatt’s.

  “What’s up, boss lady?” Bud asked as she made her way toward the main barn.

  “Let’s get the rest of the things packed. Carter’s people will be here at seven to load them into their tack van and take them to Frankfort for us.”

  “Carter’s good people,” Bud said as they began to gather the last items on their checklist. There was a lot of what Bud said that Camila didn’t understand. Some things she couldn’t help but ask what he meant and others she let go. This was one she decided to let go.

  They worked hard for the next two hours getting everything ready and then worked with the Ashton Farm crew, who were also “good people,” to get their stuff loaded. They spent another hour getting their trailer prepared, then loaded the five horses.

  Camila had learned that Keeneston farms like to be close to each other at the races. While the competition between the farms was fierce on the track, it was all friendly in the stable. Desert Sun Farm had an entire barn opposite Ashton Farms so they looked on at each other. Luckily, between Mo and Carter, they got the racetrack to move the six horses that been housed in the last six stalls of the Ashton barn to another barn and let Wyatt Farm take them.

  Bud got into the truck a little before nine. “Don’t you worry a hair on your head, I’ll get them there safe and sound and tucked in their stalls before you know it.”

  “Thank you, Bud. I’ll see you soon.”

  Camila looked at her watch and grimaced. It was five till nine. No time for a shower—a shower that would be pretty pointless as she was heading straight to the track after breakfast. She got into her ancient, behemoth Cadillac that had belonged to Nana Ruth and drove to the café. She’d clean up in the bathroom there before she ate.

  * * *

  “Hey girl!”

  Camila smiled and waved at Aniyah who was walking up the sidewalk toward the café. “Good morning. Have you decided on your entrance yet?” Wedding talk was the dominating conversation with Aniyah as the official countdown was now at eight months until the wedding of the century. And from what Camila had heard from all the Davies cousins and from Aniyah herself, even the royal weddings wouldn’t compare.

  “No,” Aniyah sighed. “Sugarbear nixed both of my ideas. Again.”

  “Have you thought about just walking down the aisle by yourself?”

  “Not since my daddy got his wings. I can’t imagine it without him.”

  Camila stopped in front of the café door and hugged her friend. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She knew that Aniyah had lost her mother just a few years ago and that’s why the whole town was helping her plan the wedding.

  “It’s okay, sugar. You didn’t know.”

  “What about dancing down the aisle?” Camila suggested as she looked over her shoulder at Aniyah. Aniyah didn’t answer, instead her eyes widened as she looked beyond Camila into the café.

  Camila turned and ran straight into two mountain peaks. Her head was wedged between them as they muffled her ears. But even through the muffled hearing, she heard Aniyah’s startled cry of “Lord Jesus!”

  Camila tried to wiggle free, but it was if she were a child whose head was stuck between the spindles of a banister. She put her hands on the mountainous balloons and pushed back as hard as she could. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” she gasped when her head popped free.

  “Don’t look up!” Aniyah jumped forward and covered Camila’s eyes.

  “Aniyah, what are you doing?” Camila asked as she batted at Aniyah’s hands.

  “She’s like Medusa with those eyelashes. One look and you could turn to stone,” Aniyah said, not bothering to lower her voice.

  “Who is this filthy little mongrel?” a grating voice asked.

  “Is she talking about me?” Camila asked Aniyah.

  “Damn right I am. Look at what you did to my breasts!”

  “Breasts? I didn’t feel any breasts,” Camila said with confusion. Aniyah’s fingers slipped and Camila looked out. In front of her were two giant beach balls with a white tank top stretched across them with valves in the middle of each ball right in the middle of two dirty handprints.

  Then two hands with long red talons came into view and grabbed the beach balls. “These breasts. You wouldn’t know what breasts are, given you don’t have any.”

  “Oh no, she didn’t.” Aniyah dropped her hands and pulled Camila backward. Aniyah stepped in front of her and pointed a pink cheetah print nail upward. “Don’t you be talking to my friend like that or I will pop those breasts in a heartbeat.”

  Camila started at the ground and looked up long legs that curved into a huge arse and then into a small waist before the beach balls appeared. Camila’s eyes widened. Now those were big cíochas. She looked farther up to huge, bright red lips with blindingly white teeth behind them. Well, at least the flashes of white she could see as the woman and Aniyah started threatening each other. Camila took in the smooth skin, the sculpted nose, the perfect cheekbones, and then . . . those eyelashes. Camila had never seen so many eyelashes before. They were so long the woman’s eyes could hardly open. And so thick they almost resembled feather dusters.

  “Nikki, you apologize or I will make you,” Aniyah threatened.

  Camila should interject, but Nikki blinked and the eyelashes moved in a mesmerizing flutter. Nikki knocked Camila out of her trance quite literally when she stiff-armed her and Aniyah to rush past them.

  “Wyatt, darling! Did you miss me?”

  Wyatt ducked and bobbed like a prizefighter as Nikki and her puckered lips tried to knock him out with a kiss. Well, enough was enough. Camila might not have knockout worthy cíochas, but she wouldn’t let some woman attack her boyfriend.

  “Pardon me,” Camila said, darting between them. She heard Wyatt sigh with relief as he hid behind her. “We haven’t met yet. Are you new to Keeneston?”

  The eyelashes fluttered again and transfixed, Camila couldn’t stop herself from reaching for them. “Don’t touch, mongrel. You alre
ady ruined my shirt. These are real mink eyelashes. They’re the most high-end of all eyelash extensions and your grubby little paws would ruin them.”

  “Enough!”

  Camila, Nikki, and even Aniyah, who was ready to jump back into the fray, froze. In two months, Camila had never heard Wyatt raise his voice. His one word command was harsh, and when Camila turned around, Wyatt’s kind gaze was narrowed and his face was now all sharp angles as he clenched his jaw.

  “You’ve gotten away with a lot, Nikki. But you will not disrespect my girlfriend. Do you understand me?” Wyatt snapped.

  “Girlfriend?” Nikki sputtered as she blinked quickly in shock. Her lashes could fan the whole café. “I go overseas for two months and you have a girlfriend?” Nikki’s voice rose and suddenly a little redheaded guy in a deputy’s uniform hurried from the back of the café.

  “Welcome home, Nikki. Let me take you home and you can tell me all about your trip to Rahmi, Bermalia, Italy, Greece, and everywhere. It sounded like the trip of a lifetime.”

  “Thank you, Andy,” Nikki said, puffing up her chest. “It was. You should have seen the palace,” she said as Deputy Andy escorted her from the café.

  “Sorry about that. Nikki is rather . . . territorial,” Wyatt said, taking a deep breath. “I didn’t realize she was back.”

  “Does she have reason to be territorial? Has she peed on your leg before?” Camila asked, crossing her arms over her sports-bra-smushed chest that did look non-existent next to Nikki’s.

  “Sugar, that woman has probably peed on the mailbox of every single male in the county. Doesn’t mean she has a claim,” Aniyah said with a shake of her head. “But I have to confess. I wanted to touch those lashes, too. They looked so soft. Like a fluffy little bunny butt on each eye.”

  Camila lost her battle and laughed out loud. “You’re right. Once you look at them, you can’t look away.”

  “Gauging by the handprints on her shirt, maybe I should ask if you’re going to leave me,” Wyatt winked and the tension was broken. Camila couldn’t be upset about who Wyatt had dated in the past, but she doubted Nikki was his style. Either that or he had a near-death experience with her cíochas that sent him running into her less life-threatening breasts. She looked down at them and smiled. She pictured Wyatt’s tongue and hands doing what he’d done the night before and had her answer. He loved her cíochas, not Nikki’s.

  “Too much of a handful for me. I’m afraid I might deflate them.”

  “More like they’d suffocate you. Camila got her head stuck between them,” Aniyah told Wyatt as they headed for two empty tables.

  “I got pictures!” Miss Lily interrupted happily.

  Wyatt looked down at his phone and burst out laughing. “Thanks, Miss Lily! This might be my screen saver.”

  Camila laughed and playfully slapped at his arm as the door opened again and Aniyah rushed into her fiancé’s arms, talking a mile a minute about the Nikki encounter.

  “Seriously, though, are you okay?”

  “Yes. I’ve been around snooty people before, but never someone like her. But enough of that. The horses are on their way to Frankfort and the tack was loaded into the Ashton van.”

  Wyatt’s hand reached across the table and took hers in his. “If I can finish early tomorrow, I can come up and catch your evening practice.”

  “That would be great. But don’t feel as if you have to. I have this all under control. And I won’t be pushing any of the horses yet. I want them to be a surprise. I’ll just be getting them used to their surroundings and letting them stretch their legs a bit.”

  “I’m not worried about your training of the horses. I want to come up to see you.”

  “In that case, bring dinner from the café. The extended stay hotel room I rented is only near fast food, and I’ve become spoiled with the food here.”

  Camila relaxed and they talked as they ate. All too soon, though, it was time to go. Wyatt had a patient, and she needed to get to Frankfort. As she walked out hand in hand with him, all the friends she’d made called out to her, wishing her luck. She felt as if she had a whole cheering section behind her. And knowing Wyatt was the loudest of her supporters made her ready to prove what she could do.

  “I’ll miss having you in my bed,” Wyatt whispered as he looked into her eyes. His hand raised to cup her face as his thumb gently traced her cheek.

  “I’ll miss that, too. But, I’m excited to see if my training methods worked. Nervous too, though.”

  “I have no doubts, Camila. Your training philosophy is sound and your methods are in the best medical interest of the animals. I wish more trainers would adopt them.”

  Camila smiled up at Wyatt and he bent to kiss her. His lips met hers and she leaned into him. “I’ll talk to you tonight and hopefully see you tomorrow,” Wyatt said when the kiss ended.

  He turned and opened the car door for her. As she drove away, Camila realized why she felt as if something was missing. She should have told him she loved him.

  10

  The next day Wyatt pulled into the parking lot at Capitol Park Raceway stables. People were running from the barns toward the track. That was never a good sign during a practice.

  Wyatt grabbed his medical bag and sprinted for the track. The first person he recognized was Carter’s tall frame climbing over the rails to get onto the track. Then he saw Carter’s trainer, Arnold, and Desert Sun’s trainer, Joel Stinton, duck under the railing and run onto the track.

  “Get the track vet and an ambulance!” Wyatt heard Camila scream. Carter practically hurdled the railing to get to her. There was a group of other jockeys and their horses standing off to the side watching with worried looks as track officials raced in from all directions. That’s when Wyatt saw the reason. Camila and Carter were trying to lift a horse off its side. When Arnold and Joel moved slightly, he saw it wasn’t just the horse that was hurt.

  One of Desert Sun Farm’s horses was unresponsive. The animal was lying on its side, crushing their practice jockey, Javier. Javier was screaming in pain as men struggled to free him. Wyatt slammed down onto his knees on the dirt track. His hands were already checking the horse for leg injuries and feeling for a pulse.

  The horse was lifted enough that Javier was pulled free, but Wyatt was focused on listening to the horse’s heart. Wyatt turned to Camila as she ordered people not to move Javier any more than necessary until the ambulance arrived.

  “Camila!” Wyatt shouted to get her attention. “Run to my truck and get the tack box with the medicine in it. Hurry!”

  “How is he?” Joel asked as he kept an eye on Javier as well.

  “He’s in lone A-fib. His heart is out of sinus rhythm. Was he being pushed hard?” Wyatt asked.

  “No. In fact, Javier was trying to rein him in. He was fine when I left him in the barn after Javier mounted. But by the time he was on the track, he was wild. I thought something spooked him. Then he just fell down.”

  While Camila was getting the medicine, Wyatt had an intravenous port ready to draw blood before flushing the port. Desert Sun Farm would never cut corners to win. They wouldn’t be drugging their horses. But something wasn’t sitting right with Wyatt. He looked around at all the faces watching. The racetrack had over two hundred fifty full-time employees ranging from the president to maintenance, plus the horses, owners, trainers, jockeys, stable hands, and race commissioners—the number of people who could access these horses was very high. The question was, was this horse drugged? And if so, who did it?

  He’d know tomorrow. Wyatt pocketed the blood. He was going to take it to the lab personally and oversee the testing.

  “Here!” Camila stopped and set down the large metal box.

  Wyatt worked quietly and efficiently as his hands knew exactly what he was looking for—the quinidine gluconate. His fingers clasped the container and pulled it from the box. He measured out the dosage and injected it into the port.

  Wyatt held his breath as he listened to the heart. He
would confirm with an EKG, but he knew exactly what had happened. Rapid heart rate, arrhythmia, and fainting . . . it was atrial fibrillation. And knowing this horse had no previous history of A-fib, he knew it was a lone event most likely brought on by either the racing or being poisoned. He looked at his watch. He needed to give another bolus treatment in ten minutes.

  Wyatt looked up and around as the horse’s eyes began to flutter open. “Where the hell is Kyle? Screw it. Joel, bring up the Desert Sun van. I’m taking him back to Keeneston with your permission.”

  Joel had the phone to his ear and said something into the phone before nodding. “Mo insists on it.”

  “We’ll get that right up here,” Bud said, having appeared at some point while Wyatt had been too busy to notice.

  Javier was loaded in the ambulance and Joel looked conflicted on whom to go with. “Go with Javier. I’m sure he’s scared.”

  Joel nodded and ran for the ambulance. Javier looked relieved as the ambulance doors closed and took off for the hospital. The Desert Sun Farm van was brought onto the track. Finally, Kyle and his team showed up with the stretcher and their own horse ambulance.

  “What are you doing?” Kyle demanded. “The horse comes to my facilities.”

  “The horse owner is emailing his release to allow me to take his horse back to Keeneston. He’s insisting on it, and I’m not one to cross a prince. Are you?” Wyatt asked as the Desert Farm and Ashton Farm crews, with the aid of Camila and Bud, loaded the horse into the van.

  Kyle pursed his lips. “I want to come, too.”

  “I’ll send you my report.”

  Wyatt turned to join the horse but Kyle stopped him. “This is my race track, Davies.”

  “And that’s my patient. Excuse me.”

  “Two of your horses going down makes me wonder what kind of care you’re giving them.”