Ten minutes later she slipped into the deliciously cool water of Victoria’s pool, grabbed one of the inner tubes and allowed herself simply to float with her eyes closed. Not as efficient as a cold shower at cooling her blood, but it was close. She needed something to settle her inside as well as out.
“Uh, Anne,” Victoria said softly, “you’re not asleep, are you?”
Anne opened her eyes.
“I have to tell you something. Mrs. Stout called this afternoon. Becca wants to come back on Sunday.”
Anne rolled over in the water. The inner tube rolled with her and dunked her. Sputtering, she surfaced to see Vince slipping out of his shirt by the deep end. He was already wearing trunks.
Up went her temperature again. For such a big man, he was slim with long muscles and narrow hips. So many big men were either muscle-bound or running to fat. Not Vince.
He might be an inappropriate crush for Becca, but Anne couldn’t fault her taste. She’d have to warn Vince that Becca was coming back. Calvin didn’t know it yet, but he was about to be offered up as a sacrificial lamb.
“Sonny Prather called me this afternoon,” Victoria said casually. Much too casually. Sonny was always after something. To hear him tell it, whatever he wanted was for the good of the community. Mostly it was.
“Uh-oh,” Vince said under his breath. He had not yet gotten in the water, but now he made a shallow dive and surfaced beside Anne. He shook the water out of his hair and ran his hand down his face to clear his eyes.
Victoria sat down on the edge of the pool and kicked her legs gently so that the water swirled in eddies around Vince and Anne. “He’s well aware of all we’ve been doing to train the minis. He’s offering us a chance to take an experimental field trip.”
“Meaning what?” Anne asked.
“Offering? Like a gift?” Vince grinned. “I’ll bet.”
“One of the ladies at the Williamston County Assisted Living home is celebrating her hundredth birthday. They’re throwing her a party, of course, and the newspaper will be there to cover it. Maybe a photo along with the story. Sonny wants to do something special for her.”
“He wants us to bring over a mini for her party, right?”
“Is that possible? That kind of publicity we can’t buy. Apparently, the birthday girl loved riding when she was younger and keeps telling everybody how much she misses it.”
“She’s not expecting to ride, is she?” Anne asked. “She does know we raise miniatures?”
“Of course. Sonny did mention possibly driving one of the mini carriages.”
“No way. Even if we could take a carriage and harness, not even Molly is ready to be driven off-site.” She hesitated., then pulled herself out of the pool and sat on the edge. She reclaimed her lemonade from the patio table and drank half the glass. “But, you know...maybe we could take Tom Thumb to visit. Let her feed him some carrots. Nothing fancy. He doesn’t know any skills like opening doors yet. He’s months away from being a real helper horse.”
Victoria pulled her legs out of the water. “Her daughter says that just being able to pet one of the minis would be the best gift she could get.” She looked away and said casually, “I told Sonny you’d be delighted to come. The party is this Thursday afternoon.”
Anne choked on her drink. “This Thursday? Like the day after tomorrow? Indoors? We’re not ready to mount an expedition anywhere, much less to an assisted living place.”
“Tom Thumb can do it,” Victoria said. “You keep saying how fast he learns.”
“Not that fast. He’s only tried that old pair of sneakers once and they weren’t cut to fit him properly. We have to fit him and teach him to walk in the shoes without bucking or running away.
“Will he have to walk up stairs? Ride an elevator? Heaven forbid, an escalator. Call Sonny back and give him a rain check—maybe a month from now.”
“I can’t break my promise. I bought a dozen pairs of children’s sneakers this afternoon. At least a couple should fit Tom. You and Vince can fit him in his little shoes this evening after dinner. Vince, you will stay, won’t you? I think Edward is bringing Chinese home from the office. He’s been running some sort of financial planning seminar for retirees all day and has no desire to cook. Heaven knows I don’t want to. He always buys too much, so there will be plenty for you.”
Vince lifted his eyebrows at Anne. “I agree it’s too soon, but it has to be your call. You keep saying you can do this. Here’s your chance to prove it.”
“Is that a challenge?” Anne said. She walked to the edge of the patio and stared into the paddock where the horses were contentedly munching grass. “Oh, what the heck. As long as everybody understands things could go wrong, we’ll do it.”
Victoria clapped. “I knew you’d say yes. Tom can practice walking on the tile floors in my living room. Vince will help at the nursing home, won’t you, Vince? You can pick Tom up and carry him up the stairs if you have to, can’t you?”
“Victoria, he weighs darned near as much as I do, and he has four legs to my two. No, I can’t carry him upstairs.”
“I told Sonny he might have to bring the patients down to the main floor for the visit.”
“If we can get him upstairs, we will, but he needs a Plan B if we can’t,” Vince said. “Plan on bringing a pooper scooper too just in case. He’s barely begun to understand holding it indoors.”
“You will help us at the home, won’t you, Vince? Anne and I can load him into the SUV and unload him when we arrive, but we may need backup with muscles. Barbara can handle the clinic for the few hours you’ll be gone.”
“You’ve already talked to her, right?” Vince heaved a deep sigh. “Okay, but first we need to fit him properly in tennis shoes and watch him walk.”
* * *
AFTER DINNER, ANNE brought Tom Thumb to the patio. As always, he seemed delighted to be with his human beings and made a beeline for the pool. She stopped him before he could dive in. “Not this evening. You have work to do.”
“I have some show forms to fill out for the Williamston Horse Show,” Victoria said. “I’ll be in my office. You don’t need me.”
As Victoria disappeared into her house, Anne and Vince locked eyes. “She ought to join the magician’s guild,” Vince said. “Never saw a better disappearing act.”
“She’s right. We don’t need her watching, trying to second-guess. She already raided the discount children’s shoe store before I got here and brought home several small sizes. The boxes are stacked on the shelves in the mudroom. I’ll go get a couple of pairs that ought to be the right size. Then it’s trial and error.”
By the time they had finished dinner on the patio, everyone had largely dried after swimming. Time to fit Tom for his sneakers.
Anne had read articles on how to create sneakers for horses, but she had not tried fitting them yet.
“How do we do this?” Vince asked Anne. Tom stood beside the round table on the patio and seemed bored with what his humans were doing.
“First we measure his hooves and draw an outline on paper. We can use the cardboard box lids from the shoes.”
Tom didn’t like having Anne lift his foot and attempt to set it down solidly on the paper.
“The cardboard won’t eat your foot, I promise. Leave it down.”
By the time they had four hoof outlines, Vince and Anne were both hot and sweaty, while Tom was threatening to do his dance routine again.
“The heavy shears should work,” Anne said. “We cut the back third of the sneaker off, slip the front end of the shoe under Tom’s hoof, lace it up tight in front...”
“What keeps him from walking out of it?”
“Hook-and-loop tape. I feed the tape through the top eyelets at the front of the shoe and fasten it behind.”
“You are aware that we have to make slippers for four hooves?” Vince aske
d.
“I did actually notice that Tom has four feet, thank you. Shall we get started?”
After an hour, even Tom had about reached his limit. He had begun to fidget and stamp as they fastened the last sneaker around Tom’s right front foot.
Anne sat back on her heels. “There. I’m not certain I can get off the floor without help. I lost contact with my legs thirty minutes ago.”
“Here.” Vince took her hand, waited while she got her feet under her, then pulled her up.
She came up fast. Tom snorted and danced out of her way.
Vince caught her around the waist with his free arm. “I’ve got you,” he said.
He pulled her tight against the length of his body.
Their eyes met and held a moment too long. For Anne, the oxygen seemed to have been sucked out of the atmosphere. She felt her own heart thudding in her chest and Vince’s echoing hers.
He bent to her and brushed her lips with his. When she didn’t back away, he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. She slid her arms around his shoulders. She could have stayed within the circle of his arms forever...
“Hmmmmmmmm,” Tom nickered and shoved his small body between them.
Vince released Anne instantly and turned away from her.
“I swear he’s jealous,” Anne said in what she hoped was a normal tone of voice. Tough to do when she couldn’t seem to draw a breath.
“Just impatient,” Vince answered. His voice sounded tight as well. “What say we see if he’ll walk in his shoes.”
Tom’s first few steps looked ridiculous. He picked up each foot, shook it, and set it down as though he worried that it did not actually belong to him.
He didn’t buck, and he didn’t try to run away. He seemed simply bemused at the crazy things his people asked of him.
“Come on,” Vince said, “let’s see if he can manage to walk on Victoria’s tile floor.”
Tom was hesitant, but once he figured out that he wouldn’t slip, he began to walk around the kitchen as though he had been wearing sneakers all his life. He looked quite proud of himself.
Victoria came out of her office and stood in the kitchen door watching. “Edward, come look at this.”
Reluctantly, Edward muted the Major League baseball game on the television, but kept his eye on the screen. “Uh-huh,” he said. “He seems fine with them. Hey, home run. Y’all excuse me.” He went back to his game.
“I think that’s enough for tonight,” Anne said. “Calvin and I will do more work tomorrow.”
“See, I told you we could take Tom to that party on Thursday,” Victoria said. “Have faith.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AFTER Calvin had left, Victoria intercepted Anne on her way to feed the boarders’ horses in their stalls.
“The TV station just issued a severe thunderstorm warning,” she said. “Straight-line winds, a couple of tornado watch boxes. It’ll be past us in an hour or so. In the meantime we need to get the horses into their stalls. The lightning strikes on the radar look like the Milky Way.”
“Great,” Anne said. “I’ve about had it with this heat. A big ole thunderstorm should cool us off for a couple of days.”
“It’s the first big storm we’ve had since I brought the minis home,” Victoria said. “I don’t know how they’ll react.”
“They’ll turn their tails to the rain and wind and hunker down together like regular horses.”
“I hope so. They were left outside in pasture where they were before, but I worry about the lightning hitting a tree and dropping it on their heads. Glory hates being alone in the stallion paddock when he can’t see his mares. I already know he freaks when there’s lightning and thunder. We need to get him into his stall fast. We can bring the others then.”
“Uh-oh. Look over yonder,” Anne said.
The bright arc of the setting sun on the western horizon disappeared as black clouds rolled across it, turning late afternoon into late twilight. The wind tore at the trees and blew sand from the arena into eyes and mouths.
Anne grabbed Glory’s heavy stallion halter off his gatepost and called him. She hadn’t handled him much, but she’d made friends with him. He tossed his mane and neighed loudly as he cantered toward her—definitely upset. In their pasture, his mares bounced around in obvious distress. They were affected by his antics as much as by the weather. As lead stallion, he was supposed to stand between them and trouble, but he couldn’t head off a thunderstorm. If he was concerned, then they were, too.
“They can feel the drop in barometric pressure,” Anne said. “Makes them antsy.”
“According to the radar it’s not a deep storm. A single narrow band, but it’s moving fast. It’s already on this side of the Mississippi. Should pass us quickly. But they think it’s going to be a bad one when it hits. Hand me the stallion halter. I’ll take Glory inside to his stall. He can be a handful when it’s like this. I know how to handle him.”
Victoria clipped on his halter, then slipped the heavy leather lead line across his nose to give her more control. “You start haltering the others, but wait until Glory’s in the barn where he can’t see them before you bring them out of their pasture. I don’t want him to break away from me and run back to them.”
“Drat it, I’ve got a mouthful of sand.”
“They should come over to the gate when they realize Glory’s in the barn. Start with Big Mary. If she comes, they’ll all come. Oh, good, Vince just drove in. I wasn’t expecting him. He can help.”
“Heard the forecast,” Vince called as he trotted down the hill toward them. “I was in the area and thought you might need a hand.”
“I’ll go get the halters and lead lines,” Anne said and jogged off to the tack room to collect them. The big horses like her Trusty were already in their stalls, munching their evening oats.
On her way back to the pasture gate, Anne passed Victoria leading Glory in. He was squalling and humping his back, fighting to get to his mares.
“Stupid horse, stop that,” Victoria snapped as she hauled him forward. “We’ll bring them in for you. Shut up and behave yourself.” She disappeared inside. “Stallions are almost as much trouble as men,” she called over her shoulder.
Vince opened the gate to the mares’ pasture a couple of feet and slipped inside. “Here, Anne, pass me a halter.”
Big Mary led the others over to him at a trot. With the exception of Tom Thumb, who as low horse in the herd waited patiently at the back of the group, they were tossing their heads, bouncing and pawing the ground as they pushed toward the head of the line. So far as they were concerned, if Glory was not there to protect them, they were at risk. Going to Glory was their protection when there was danger.
As she reached Vince at the gate, the herd bully, Big Mary, all thirty-two inches of her, decided she’d done enough waiting. She lowered her head, knocked Molly aside and charged straight at Vince. She hit him hard in the sternum, knocked the wind out of him and shoved him and the gate out of her way. Before he could catch his breath, she thrust by him and tore off at a dead run for the unfenced acreage west of the barn.
The others did what their instincts and their mothers had taught them to do—they followed her.
Tom Thumb hesitated just long enough for Anne to grab his halter to keep him inside the pasture. “No, you don’t.” Anne shoved him back, pulled Vince out of her way and shut the gate behind him. Alone, Tom butted the gate and neighed miserably for his companions.
“The horses are loose!” Victoria shouted as she ran up the hill to Anne and Vince. “How on earth...”
“My fault,” Vince gasped as he tried to catch his breath and regain his balance.
“We have to get them back before the storm,” Anne said. “Victoria, where would they go? They started off in that direction.” She pointed toward the south west.
“You’ve been down there with Trusty. That’s the way to the creek. In a rainstorm it floods and turns into a swamp. If they get stuck in the mud, they could drown.”
To complicate the situation even more, the heavens opened. In seconds the barn was invisible behind sheets of water cascading down the roof and over the sides.
Victoria started after the horses, but Anne stopped her. “Call Edward. Tell him to bring heavy-duty flashlights and the boots out of the mudroom. Vince, can you drive the ATV?”
He nodded. “Sure. Keys in it?”
She nodded back. Vince ran toward the equipment shed.
“How close can we get to the swampy part?” Anne asked Victoria. She had to dash her hands across her eyes to keep from being blinded by the driving water and sand.
Half a dozen streaks of lightning flashed out of the dark clouds to the west where the Mississippi River flowed.
“One, Mississippi, two, Mississippi, thr...” Anne jumped as thunder crashed, crashed, and kept crashing. “Too close—less than three miles away.”
Victoria spoke into her ear. “Remember, the gravel road ends just before you hit the swamp. I had Calvin put a pole across it to mark the end so you don’t drive off into the mud. Easy to spot in daylight. In the dark, not so much.”
“If we’re lucky, Molly or Big Mary will stop them before they get there. She’s too fat and lazy to gallop far.”
Vince swept up in the ATV. “Get in.”
Anne hopped in beside him.
“There are a couple of big hand lanterns behind the seat,” Victoria shouted. “Go. Edward and I will follow you on the motorbike.”
Vince hit the gas. “Hold on.”
The narrow road curved back through the thick copse of pine trees past the pasture. Anne might have ridden this way on Trusty once with Victoria, but in the rain and the wind it looked different. The ruts in the road had already filled with water. Vince splashed through them too fast and barely held the ATV on the road.
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