by Leigh Hearon
She marveled at his prescience as she picked her way along the rocks that lined the empty stream.
Near the opening where she’d peered at the horses with Colin, Annie heard Maria’s voice. It was calm but forceful, as if she was issuing orders to someone, but Annie couldn’t make out the words. Placing the two medical totes in front of her, she inched her way through the thicket and out onto the small pasture beyond.
Her eyes were immediately drawn to the pinto mare, who showed no resemblance to the quietly grazing horse she’d looked upon a mere thirty-six hours before. Now, the mare was nervously pacing up and down the pasture, occasionally stopping to paw the ground or nip at her flanks. Then it suddenly halted, and Annie knew in an instant that the mare was about to roll. She almost rushed forward to stop it, but noticed Maria standing a discreet distance away from the troubled horse, making no move to intervene. So Annie did nothing, as well, and simply watched as the mare’s knees buckled and her body landed heavily on the ground. When the mare had rolled and laboriously heaved herself up again, Annie quietly stepped out onto the shriveled grass pasture in full view of her friend, a medical tote in each hand.
Maria instantly met her gaze, and a long, slow smile creased her face.
“I wondered if you’d caught on,” she said, gesturing for Annie to come join her.
Annie walked over, giving the mare a wide berth as she made the short trip. She knew this was the one time when even the most herd-bound animal wished to be left alone. She glanced around the grove to see where the other horses were stationed. The mares and their offspring were grazing on the far side, under motionless aspen trees. The stallion stood on a small rise on the opposite end, flanked by Colin and a young girl who Annie intuited was his sister. Colin was wearing his trademark blue jeans, T-shirt, and red bandana. Aleisha was dressed in an orange jumper and pink cowboy boots.
“How’s it going?” she quietly asked Maria.
“Fine, so far. Colin texted me about an hour ago. He’d come up here with Aleisha and found the mare in this condition. Now we’re in a waiting game. As you just saw, she’s still trying to get the foal into position. I’m glad you’re here, Annie. I don’t expect anything to go wrong, but it’s always good to have another set of hands.”
“I brought Marcus with me—my boyfriend. He arrived a day early. When I saw your truck zooming out of the town, I first thought Olivia had called with some animal emergency.”
“But then you saw me turn toward the reservation. Colin told me he’d met you a couple of days ago, and you’d mentioned you were Tony’s friend. That’s the reason he showed you the shelter. We’ve done our best to keep it a secret for three months now. It’s not fair that Olivia has to try to save every pregnant mare the tribe rounds up for the feedlot. Colin and Aleisha are very attached to this one. So I told them we’d do our best to save her. Nobody knows about this place except the four of us. And Tony.”
“Yes, but I’m afraid that Myrna does know. Did Colin tell you I found the tribe’s return address on the envelope Myrna used to write that receipt for me?”
“No. We haven’t really had time to talk about anything other than the mare’s progress. What’s that all about?”
“I saw it when I was handing it over to my attorney to make a copy. He said it would help bolster my story that I really only came here to pick up the horses. When I got it back, I noticed it came from the tribal council, and they’d written ‘private and confidential’ on the front. Colin thought this meant they’d found your hiding place and were alerting the Fullmans that a few more horses would soon show up in their feedlot.”
“Damn!” Maria spat out the word. Annie was taken aback. She glanced at the mare, once more pacing up and down a well-worn patch of grass. She appeared not to have registered the outburst. All her attention was on getting her foal born, and by the swish of her tail, she wanted it to be done quickly, too.
The foaling process could start any minute, Annie realized. She turned toward the opening that separated the grove from the outside world, then to Maria.
“Listen, I need to go and get Marcus. He’s not a vet. He won’t be of any use if we do have trouble, but I just can’t leave him waiting by the stream wondering what’s happened to me. Wolf is with him. But Marcus will make sure he behaves.”
Maria nodded, her eyes still smoldering over the news that Colin and Aleisha’s herd might be in peril, despite their best efforts.
Annie slowly jogged to the opening, nimbly pushed herself through, and ran along the empty streambed until she saw Marcus, who was sitting on the ground with Wolf’s head in his lap.
“How is everything?” He sounded as anxious as if he were awaiting the birth of his own child.
“The mare’s in the first stage of labor but hasn’t started the birthing process. But that could start anytime. Come with me, and I’ll find a good place for you and Wolf to be when that occurs.”
“We could stay here.”
“You could, but I’d rather you didn’t. This herd has been hidden from the natives for several months now, and it’s safer for you to be inside their sanctuary than outside, where you might meet someone who asks what you’re doing here.”
“Got it. Okay, Wolf, up you go. You’ll have to continue your long list of grievances against your mother another time. We’ve just received our marching orders.”
Marcus and Wolf rose from the ground, Marcus dusting off his clothes while Wolf simply gave himself a good shake.
“Very funny. That is the most spoiled dog on the planet.”
“That’s not what Wolf tells me. I think there’s still more you can do.”
“Well, it’ll have to wait. This mare’s foal takes precedence right now.”
“Hear that, Wolf? Someone else needs your mother more than you do. The nerve.”
* * *
The trip back to the grove took only a few minutes now that there was less cause for secrecy or silence. Annie sent Marcus and Wolf up to Colin, who was still minding the stallion. The black horse was the second most nervous animal in the grove, but Annie assumed he was primarily concerned with keeping a lookout for predators. Another mare, which Annie assumed was the alpha in the herd, had moved closer to him, just in case the stallion decided he wanted to be invited into the birthing room. Annie knew that, on rare occasions, the stallion in a wild herd would try to harm a new foal, especially if it was male, to eliminate any future competition early on. Annie thought this guy looked more inclined to simply care about the pregnant mare’s safety. But it could have been wishful thinking.
Marcus immediately introduced himself to Colin, shaking his hand, then did the same with Aleisha. Colin’s sister, Annie noticed, was about half the age of her big brother, only seven or eight years old. She had long brown hair, big brown eyes, and, like her brother, the most solemn face Annie had ever seen on a child. But they both appeared comfortable having Marcus in their company, and Wolf was an instant draw, so Annie jogged down the rise, content that at least the human herd would not require her attention.
When she rejoined Maria, the mare was still pawing the ground, but now her legs were flexed as if she was preparing to void. Sure enough, a rush of fluid suddenly appeared between the mare’s legs, and Maria grabbed Annie’s arm.
“Her amniotic sac just broke,” she breathed. “It won’t be long now.”
When the stream of fluid stopped, the mare slowly lowered herself until she was lying flat on the ground, her legs sticking out like pegs. Annie watched the mare closely. Sweat had broken out around the pinto’s shoulders, and she was breathing more heavily. The mare was trying so hard to help the foal, that much was obvious, but there was no sign of the foal’s front feet, the first to emerge from the birth canal.
“We’re in the home stretch,” murmured Maria. Annie fervently hoped so.
The foal miraculously emerged twenty minutes later. Before that happened, however, the mare had risen, straining to deliver in a standing position, and Maria and
Annie had stood poised to help guide the foal to the ground if that occurred. But then the mare had lain down once more. She looked exhausted. Annie looked at Maria, concern and confusion in her eyes.
“She’s just resting,” Maria told her kindly. “She deserves to. Everything will be all right.”
And it was. After a few minutes, the pinto once again strained on the ground, and a moment later, one diminutive hoof and the foal’s nose appeared. A minute after that, the foal had fully emerged, its long legs ridiculously splayed in all directions and its head bowed low in a bluish-white liquid. Its mother softly nickered and began to lick the tiny foal’s flanks, gently nuzzling it to move. Now Maria seemed ready to intervene, much more than when the mare was so valiantly trying to urge her newborn out into the world.
“I need to check on the umbilical cord,” she whispered to Annie, and began to inch her way over to the exhausted mare. But then she stopped and Annie knew everything was as it should be; the wild mare had bitten the cord herself, her last act in separating the filly from her womb. Annie glanced down at the two medical bags beside her. Maria would use her Betadine to disinfect the portion that was still attached to the new foal, but that was all that was needed from her arsenal. At no point had Annie even thought about ripping into one for assistance. Mother Nature had taken care of everything, and quite nicely, too. She knew it wasn’t always this way in the wild, but she was thankful beyond words that it was, today.
She glanced up at the rise, and saw Marcus, Colin, and Aleisha all looking down at the now standing mare and the foal resting beside it. She thought she had never seen three happier, beaming faces than at that precise moment.
An hour later, the tiny, exquisitely proportioned filly tottered to her feet for the first time. The spindly legs wobbled, then collapsed, and the foal landed on the ground looking utterly surprised. She nickered to her mother and her mother answered back. Annie was sure the message was, “Don’t worry, little one. You’ll be walking in no time.” It was adorable. Annie knew that before another hour passed, the foal would be standing upright and not long after that, nickering to and nudging her mother to find her source of sustenance. If only human babies were as advanced at birth, Annie thought. But then, no animal, of any species, could ever hope to compete with a horse.
* * *
As Annie watched Maria attend to the resting mare, she noticed Marcus in conversation with Colin. She wondered what they were talking about. Both he and Colin were seated on the ground, facing each other. She was struck by the seriousness of their discussion and the attention each seemed to be paying to the other’s words. Marcus, it seemed, had a knack for getting anyone to talk. Perhaps it was because he was willing to engage at the young man’s level.
Now Annie watched Marcus get up, shake Colin’s hand, and begin walking toward her.
“I can’t remember when I’ve had such an exciting afternoon,” he told her. “Thanks for arranging it. And here I thought rural eastern Washington had nothing to offer.”
Annie grinned at him. She was about to give a sassy reply when she heard an unwelcome sound from far away. Marcus heard it, too, and pulled her to his side. They both stared into the distance. The throb of high-powered vehicles was unmistakable, and the faint swirl of rising dust along the sparse tree line marked their steady movement.
Annie looked behind her. She saw Aleisha and Colin clutching each other in terror. She watched Maria wearily rise to her feet. Her face looked worn-down and haggard. Annie could understand why.
A convoy of three large ATVs rumbled its way across the upper ridgeline. Annie knew the occupants within. It was the tribe’s roundup crew, and they had come to collect more wild horses. It appeared her warning to Colin might have come too late.
CHAPTER 23
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, AUGUST 14
For a long time, no one moved or spoke. Everyone seemed transfixed by the sound and sight of the ominous caravan bumping along the rough terrain above them. Only when the sound of throbbing motors receded into the distance did Annie let out her breath and try to take stock of what had nearly occurred in their sylvan sanctuary.
She knew, more acutely than ever before, that what Colin and Maria and Olivia had all told her was true. The tribe was aggressively committed to ridding their lands of wild herds. Annie had no doubt its elders claimed a long list of reasons why so many horses running free were a detriment to their environment—and to the horses themselves. She could see for herself the land was overgrazed and the vegetation woefully sparse. The mare that had just given birth was visible proof that there was not enough grass for her to sustain a decent weight. The fact that she’d given birth to a healthy foal was in itself a small miracle. What Annie could not understand, or forgive, was the tribe’s ready acceptance to give up the captured horses for slaughter in a foreign country, where the journey from feedlot to slaughterhouse was unbelievably cruel and the method of killing even more so. Euthanizing the horses would be far kinder. But where would the money be in that?
Maria was the first to speak.
“We’ll have to move them. We were lucky this time. We won’t be the next.” Her voice was flat and brooked no dissent. None was given. Nothing was said at all.
But where? Annie had no idea where cubbyholes on the reservation lay and where one might safely stow four mares, four foals, and a stallion. She felt a deep sense of despair settle into her bones. It was impossible to keep up with the machinations of a business machine determined to eradicate, and profit from the sale of, unwanted horses.
Marcus cleared his throat.
“Maria, I don’t believe we’ve formally met. I’m Marcus Colbert, a friend of Annie’s. I can see what you’re trying to do here, and if there’s any way I can help, I will.”
Maria gave a tight nod, then granted him a small smile. She walked over to shake his hand.
“Nice to meet you, Marcus. I appreciate the gesture. And I’m grateful for what you and Annie have promised to do with five of the feedlot horses. Every horse saved is a blessing.”
Marcus nodded. There seemed to be nothing else to say at the moment. He turned toward Annie.
“Darling, I know you and Maria probably have a lot to talk about. Would you mind terribly if I took your truck and headed back to the motel? If I don’t get some sleep, I may not last long enough to look at the trailer with you later on.”
How remiss of her. Annie had forgotten all about Marcus’s jet lag. It must be hitting him full throttle right now. She dug out her keys from her jeans pocket and handed them over.
“You sure you’re okay for driving? I can always take you back and return.”
“I’ll be fine. This plan assumes, of course, that Maria, you’ll be willing to take Annie back later.”
“Sure. No problem.” Maria seemed a bit puzzled by the conversation but didn’t hesitate in her reply.
Marcus gave Annie a quick kiss on the cheek, waved to Colin and Aleisha, and headed toward the small space that separated the glen from the rest of the world. Not for the first time, Annie was impressed by Marcus’s physical prowess. For such a big, tall man, he navigated the tangled thicket with the agility of a mountain lion.
* * *
“I like the darling part, but an afternoon nap? He looks like he has more stamina than that.”
Maria said it jokingly, but her remark still irked Annie. They were sitting on the rise alone, except for the quietly grazing herd beneath them. Colin and Aleisha had taken off shortly after Marcus’s departure. Before they’d left, Maria had tried to assure them the herd would be moved to safer ground and soon, but the despondency in their eyes had told both women that they had little hope left that the mare and her new foal would survive the roving band of ATVs.
Both the pinto and the foal were now standing. The newborn was still a bit wobbly and valiantly trying to catch a meal from her mother.
“He just came back from London,” Annie said shortly. “In fact, he flew directly from Heathrow to here.”
“Directly? A big jet airliner landed in our dinky little airport?”
“It was a private plane.” Annie didn’t feel like expounding. It was nobody’s business how Marcus got here. The fact that he was here was enough.
“Aha. Well, looks like you picked a winner, Annie.”
A winner? Exactly how did Marcus’s appearance of wealth make him a winner? Annie was tired of trying to explain the complex relationship she shared with Marcus to other people, especially when it was still evolving. She wasn’t sure she fully understood it herself.
It was time to change the subject.
“So I take it you were here the morning George died, instead of at school?”
“Guilty as charged.”
Annie was not going to let Maria off the hook again. She wanted answers she could fully understand, even if she decided she couldn’t condone them.
“So why the elaborate ruse?”
“I don’t know. Somehow it just seemed easier. I knew you’d half expect me to be around at send-off, and I couldn’t tell you about our secret horse haven. I didn’t know you well enough. Tony knew, of course, but I swore him to secrecy, too.”
Annie remembered that Tony had mentioned the children, but not in any context.
“Well, he kept his word. But you could have simply told me you couldn’t be there on Tuesday. It would have been no big deal.”
“You say that, Annie, but you haven’t seen how hard it is sometimes to wrest those animals away from Myrna. She always finds reasons they can’t go just yet, or new fees to tack on. I know of at least two occasions when new owners postponed pickup at Myrna’s insistence, then found their horses gone when they returned.”
From what little Annie had seen of the crazy feedlot owner, she could believe it. Maria continued her explanation.
“I fully intended to be there on Tuesday, but Colin asked me to check on the horses that morning. He had to take his grandmother to the doctor, and she no longer drives. I’m not sure Colin actually has a driver’s license, either, but at least he’s safe behind the wheel. Anyway, I couldn’t turn down Colin even though it left you in the lurch. I guess I felt I had to give a valid reason of some kind, even if it wasn’t true. It was the first thing that occurred to me. The truth is I did work for the school up until four months ago, when I was laid off.”