by Joanna Sims
Skyler hunkered down on the bench, wiped the sleep out of her eyes and yawned while holding the tin cup filled with steaming coffee in her free hand. “Wow. That’s a first. Sleeping outside under the stars.”
In the arms of my dream cowboy.
“Did I snore?” she asked.
“Not really.” He cracked the eggs into the skillet. “But you do talk in your sleep.”
“I do not.”
“Find me a bible.” He winked at her with a grin.
“Okay.” She slurped the hot coffee, hating the bitter taste but wanting the caffeine to wake her up. “What did I say?”
“Mumble, mumble, mumble... Hunter.”
She stopped slurping, her mouth hanging open. “No. I. Did. Not.”
“You did.” He took a spatula and started to scramble the eggs.
“And, of course, you had to tell me.”
“Heck yeah.” He laughed, shifting his weight. “Great ego boost for me.”
She took another sip of the coffee. “Do you really need an ego boost, Hunter?”
Hunter smiled at her with another wink. “Everyone can use a good ego boost, every now and again. Even washed-up reality TV stars.”
Skyler was surprised that he brought up the show; he had always reacted so badly when she mentioned it that she had stopped mentioning Cowboy Up! entirely out of respect for his feelings.
“Especially washed-up reality TV stars,” he added as an aside.
“Maybe I said, ‘hunt.’ Maybe I was dreaming about being on a safari.” She put her coffee cup on the ground.
“No.” He gave a little shake of his head. “It was ‘Hunter,’ loud and clear.”
“Fine, Hunter,” she said, overemphasizing his name as she stood up. “Mind if I use your bathroom?”
“Mi casa es tu casa.” He kept right on cooking the eggs.
By the time she returned, he had cooked up the eggs, the bacon and the biscuits in the same skillet, and she felt more human for having washed her face and rinsed out her mouth with mouthwash.
“Hmm. Smells good.” She returned to her spot, her stomach growling in response to the delicious smells emanating from the campfire.
“Gonna taste good, too.”
He handed her a plate and fork and she dived right in. Hunter always made her feel good about her appetite—it was something that reminded her of her father.
“What about all of our morning chores?” she asked between bites.
“I put a call in to Bruce—he took care of it.”
“It’s twenty-four seven here, isn’t it?”
Hunter nodded while he chewed. “That’s the life.”
“A hard life,” Skyler noted, putting her empty plate on the bench next to her. “It’s not like I imagined.”
It seemed that Hunter’s body stiffened beside her, but he didn’t say anything in response; he just listened to her.
“Where are the horses?” Skyler suddenly sat more upright, looking around. “Did they run away?”
Hunter finished his breakfast, stood up and stacked her plate on top of his. “They’re probably on the other side of those trees.”
“I think I’ll take a walk. See if I can spot them. Okay with you?”
“Do your thing.” Hunter headed toward the trailer. “I’ll meet you out there after I clean up.”
“Would you rather I help you?”
“I’ve got this.”
“Okay.” She stood up. “Thank you for breakfast. You are an excellent fireside cook.”
“I’ll have to teach you.”
“That would be a neat trick. My father wouldn’t believe it.”
While she walked through the field, running her hand over the tips of the tall grass, watching where she was stepping to avoid snakes or other creatures, her father was on her mind. She missed him; when she returned to the cabin, she would call him for a long chat.
She stopped to take pictures of the landscape, always wanting to keep her social media updated with new content for all of the people who were following her on her journey. Many of the people who had donated to make this trip possible were “liking” and commenting on her pictures and videos. It made her feel connected to home; it made her feel connected to all of those people who had sacrificed something—even if it had been a dollar—to make her dream come true.
“There you are!” She stopped and snapped photographs of Zodiac and Dream Catcher nibbling on some leaves from some fallen branches.
After she got the picture she wanted, she walked more quickly toward her equine friends. She had grown to love them both and was happy to see that they’d fared well overnight.
Dream Catcher saw her, nickered and walked toward her, no doubt hoping that Skyler would have a molasses treat in her pocket. Zodiac slowly followed the mare and that’s when Skyler noticed something odd about Zodiac’s gait. He was walking oddly, swinging his head to the right while his left hind leg was swinging outward. The only thing that popped into her mind was that he looked drunk.
“Oh, no.” Her stomach clenched. She ran up to meet him. “What’s wrong, Zodiac? What’s wrong with you?”
She checked his legs and didn’t see any sign that a snake had bitten him—the skin wasn’t broken and there wasn’t any swelling. But there was definitely something seriously wrong with him. Shaking with nerves, she fished her phone out of her pocket and tried to call Hunter.
“Pick up! Pick up!” she yelled at the phone. “Damn it, Hunter! Pick up the phone!”
When he didn’t answer the phone, she gave up and started to run toward the campsite. Like her US Marine father had taught her, in order to cover long distances without tiring out, she jogged fifty steps and then speed-walked fifty steps, over and over again, until she was in yelling distance of the trailer.
“Hunter!” she gasped, holding her side and out of breath. “Hunter!”
The cowboy came out of the trailer; he must have spotted her.
“What’s wrong?” He raced to her side.
“Zodiac! There’s something wrong with him. He’s walking like he’s drunk. Did he have a stroke? Can a horse have a stroke?”
“No. They aren’t built that way,” Hunter said as he helped her over to the bench and made sure she was settled. Then he grabbed his phone, which he’d left by the campfire, and called his brother Liam, who was a large-animal veternarian.
“I may need you out here ASAP,” he said into the phone. “Where are you now?”
Skyler watched Hunter’s face carefully while he spoke to his brother. After a moment, Hunter nodded his head.
“Just be on standby for me, brother. I’m going to see if I can lead him back to camp. Could be snakebit.”
Hunter ended the call and she watched him grab a lead rope. “Liam is thirty minutes away. I want you to stay right here and wait for me.”
Skyler put her head in her hands and prayed for Zodiac. “Please, God. Please. Please let Zodiac be okay. Please.”
* * *
Hunter made his way to the horses as quickly as he could. The way Skyler had described Zodiac’s behavior made him immediately alarmed. She wasn’t one for hysterics or exaggeration. There was something seriously wrong with Zodiac, and from past experience Hunter knew there was no guarantee that he would survive.
“Hey, boy.” Hunter approached Zodiac cautiously. The horse was still grazing, so that was a plus. If the horse was still eating and defecating, that was a sign that his systems were still functioning somewhat normally.
Hunter hooked the lead rope to the horse’s halter and coaxed him forward. When the horse took an awkward, disjointed couple of steps forward, Hunter immediately saw what Skyler had described.
“What the hell?” He searched Zodiac’s body, looking for swelling or a sign of snakebite, but he couldn’t find anything.
; “Come on, bubba.” Hunter started the long walk back to the campsite. Dream Catcher kept on grazing, but when they got too far away for her liking the mare snorted and trotted after them.
Skyler met them halfway. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure,” he confessed, wishing he had a better answer. “Stay back away from him.”
She listened to him and backed away from the gelding that was still walking with an odd gait, throwing his head to the right and his left hind leg outward.
“I need to help,” Skyler said to him.
“Get Dream Catcher’s lead rope and ground-tie her.” Hunter understood her need to keep busy. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Liam.
“Bring your trailer,” Hunter told him. “Get here as soon as you can.”
Hunter shot a quick video of Zodiac walking and texted it to Liam.
“He’s coming?”
Hunter nodded. “Now all we can do is wait.”
“And pray.”
He rubbed his hand over his forehead and down his face. She was right about that. All they could do was wait and pray. But Hunter had a bad feeling in his gut. He didn’t share his thoughts with Skyler, but there was no way to predict if Zodiac would ever make it back to base camp.
* * *
Liam was taller, blonder and had a lighter complexion, but the eyes were the exact same ocean-blue as Hunter’s eyes.
“Did you see anything out in the field?” Liam had dropped everything to come to their aid.
“No.” Hunter shook his head. “Not that I could see. Not anything that would cause this.”
“They were just eating some leaves off of dead branches when I first saw them.” Skyler stood away from Zodiac as Hunter had asked her to do.
Both Liam and Hunter snapped their heads up and looked at her. “What branches?” Hunter asked.
“They were over at the edge of the woods,” she explained. “They were both eating them.”
“Damn.” Hunter exchanged a look with his brother.
“Can you show us the branches?” Liam asked her.
Liam rolled the windows down in his truck and they rode together through the field to the edge of the woods.
“Right there.” She pointed to the felled branches.
“Is that a cherry tree?” Hunter pointed to a large tree to the left of the branches.
“I think so.” Liam shut off the engine and hopped out of the truck.
Skyler followed the men a couple of paces back. Hunter and his brother examined the branches and the leaves.
“The wind must’ve knocked these branches loose.” Liam looked up at the tree. “The leaves are fairly fresh.”
“Damn.” This was Hunter’s response.
“What is it?” she asked impatiently, not understanding what the tree limbs or the leaves had to do with Zodiac’s drunken state.
Hunter and Liam headed back to where she was standing.
“Zodiac was eating those leaves?” Liam asked. “You’re sure?”
She nodded. “Both of them were.”
“But Dream Catcher is fine,” Hunter pointed out.
“Maybe she only ate the branches, not the leaves,” Liam countered.
“Will you please tell me what’s going on?” Skyler raised her voice to gain their attention.
“That’s a cherry tree,” Liam explained. “If the limbs are disturbed...”
“The leaves produce arsenic.”
“Cyanide?!” Skyler exclaimed. “Like the poison? That cyanide?”
Hunter nodded, his face grim.
Skyler followed them back to the truck, her gut churning with acid and upset. Nothing in Liam’s or Hunter’s demeanor gave her comfort.
“What does this mean for Zodiac?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Liam told her with honesty ringing in his tone. “Most of these horses are found dead in the pasture.”
Skyler had to swallow back bile that jumped up her throat. She pressed her hands onto her stomach and closed her eyes.
“And the others?” she asked, knowing that she might not like the unvarnished truth she was about to receive from Liam.
“The others are usually put down because they are too dangerous. They can’t control their body and could accidentally kill anybody nearby.”
“Oh, God.” The words tumbled out of her mouth.
Hunter reached back behind the seat, grabbed her hand and squeezed her fingers. “Liam isn’t saying that we’re there yet.”
“Not yet.” Liam stopped the truck, shut off the engine and they all jumped out. “We need to see if we can get him in the trailer. If we can, I’ll take him to Triple K so I can keep a closer eye on him.”
“You’re not just taking him away to put him down, are you?” Skyler was shaking with adrenaline and fear.
“No.” Liam looked her dead in the eye. “If we have to put him down, we will tell you.”
They tried for an hour to get Zodiac in the trailer. He was normally an “easy loader,” according to Hunter, but he wouldn’t load.
“His perception is too far off. He doesn’t trust his own footing,” Liam said. “We can try to lead him back to the cabin or we can treat him here.”
“I don’t have a shelter in place. No water other than the stream down there by the cherry tree,” Hunter countered.
“Then we’ve got to walk him back,” Liam said. “That’s the best of the bad choices I’m afraid.”
* * *
It was an arduous journey back to the cabin. Skyler road Dream Catcher and brought up the rear while Hunter led Zodiac in the lead position. It was painful to watch Zodiac swerving and lurching, uncertain of his footing. They stopped often, grateful that the gelding was still interested in eating and drinking; he had also stopped to relieve himself. Taken together, there was some reason to be hopeful. Skyler had learned that holding on to hope mattered. In fact, it could save a life. It had hers.
It was a relief to see the cabin come into view. They had made it. Zodiac had made it so far. Hunter got the gelding into his stall while Skyler untacked Dream Catcher, rinsed her off with the hose and then put her in her stall. Soon after they arrived, Liam came down from the main house.
“I’ve made some calls and I’ve done some research.”
Standing next to Hunter, she waited to hear the news.
“No one really knows what to do in this situation. Like I said, most horses don’t make it this far.”
“Zodiac is a miracle horse,” she interjected.
“So far,” Liam agreed, but his tone was tempered and cautious. “There is a medicine that has been reported in the literature to work, but I’ve called around and I can’t get my hands on it.”
Liam continued. “There have been some studies that report some therapeutic success of vitamin B12 helping if the case of poisoning is mild and caught early.”
“That sounds like us.” Hunter had his arms crossed, his legs braced apart.
“I can give him B12 and we’ll keep him in the stall for now.”
“No pasture time?” Hunter asked.
“For now,” Liam said. “We are in unchartered territory here. That’s all I can say.”
Liam treated Zodiac and then left them with a promise to return the next day to check on him and give him another round of B12. Skyler hung over the stall gate, not wanting to leave the handsome gelding alone.
Hunter came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’m going to hang around for the next couple of days. There’s a cot in Liam’s shop.”
Skyler turned in his arms, wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest, comforted by the strong beat of his heart. Hunter held her tightly in his arms and kissed the top of her head.
“You will stay in the cabin,” she told him.
<
br /> “If that’s what you want.”
She wrapped her arms more tightly around his body and closed her eyes. “Do you think he will be all right, Hunter?”
“I don’t know, Skyler.” She could count on Hunter to tell her the truth even if she wanted to hear a lie. “We will just have to wait and see.”
Chapter Ten
That night, Hunter had to insist that she leave the barn to get some rest. “Zodiac needs you to be strong for him.”
Skyler rubbed the gelding’s neck one last time and pressed a kiss on his velvety soft nose. “I will see you in the morning. You will feel better tomorrow. And everyone will know that you are a miracle horse.”
“I’m going to let you sleep in tomorrow morning.” Hunter had his arm around her waist.
“I do think I need to rest.”
“Do not go into Zodiac’s stall, Skyler. Promise me. He wouldn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I won’t,” she said. “I promise.”
They took turns in the single bathroom, each showering off the dirt of the day. They ate a quiet meal, both too tired and too worried to banter. Hunter found some extra pillows and bedding inside an old leather steamer trunk that pulled double duty as a coffee table. While Skyler washed the dishes, Hunter made up the couch.
“I’ve got to get some sleep.” Hunter yawned, his eyes heavy-lidded.
She stepped into his arms and hugged him good-night.
“You won’t be mad if I go to bed so early?”
“No.” She left his embrace. “You need to get your rest.”
Meowing at the door caught Skyler’s attention. She hurried to the door and opened it to find Daisy on the other side.
“Where have you been?” Skyler bent down and scooped up the cat. “I have been worried sick about you.”
She made sure that Daisy had water and food before she came back inside the house. Hunter had removed his shirt and was lying on the couch, covered by a sheet up to his torso.
“Do you think that Liam would mind if Daisy came inside the cabin? I hate for her to be outside by herself at night.”