by Tony Parsons
Sarah liked the job well enough and she was full of admiration for Dougal’s skill as a vet. On the personal side, he lacked warmth and rarely offered praise and encouragement. David had often complimented her on a job well done. He had occasionally chipped her for doing something silly as he was entitled to but on these rare occasions it was done in such a manner that she took it in good part.
‘I’d like to talk to your mother on Sunday morning, Sarah,’ Dougal told her when she was about to leave the office one Friday afternoon. ‘Will you ask her if about ten would be convenient?’
‘I’ll ask her,’ Sarah said.
Dougal was almost always punctual. It took something quite extraordinary to make him late. ‘I want to talk to you about Starana, Mrs Matheson,’ Dougal began, without preamble.
‘Oh, yes. But surely there isn’t much to talk about, is there? Starana is an old mare now. She’s our pet,’ Emily said.
‘I thought she was once my pet,’ Dougal said. ‘Dad let her go against my wishes.’
‘Dougal, I’m sorry – I had no idea,’ Emily said.
‘It’s past history now, Mrs Matheson. What I want to know is how hard did you try to get Starana in foal?’
‘Does it matter? Starana is an old mare now, Dougal,’ Emily said.
‘It matters,’ Dougal said patiently. ‘You did try to get her in foal, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, of course. I didn’t have much money to spend on service fees but we tried. I had less money for vets and it would have cost a lot to treat her. I got a quote and I just didn’t have that kind of money, Dougal. I had to bring the girls home from boarding school after my husband’s death, as you know.’
‘I understand that it was a difficult time for you, Mrs Matheson, and you did the best you could to keep both your family and the property going under the circumstances. I suppose you realised that a Starana foal would have helped solve your financial problems,’ Dougal said.
‘There was certainly that glimmer of hope, but I thought that if David and Catriona weren’t prepared to spend money to try and get her in foal, I’d be a fool to take the risk. I didn’t have the money, anyway,’ she said.
‘Will you let me try and fix her?’ Dougal asked.
‘What, now? The mare is getting on in years and has never had a foal. For me to spend money on a mare of her age would be crazy,’ Emily replied.
‘You wouldn’t have to spend money, Mrs Matheson. I’d be prepared to treat her for a third share of any progeny Starana might have,’ Dougal offered.
Emily looked at him in amazement. ‘Do you really think she could have a foal, even now?’ she asked.
‘It’s possible. If the problem is what I think it could be, I can fix it. Then we can mate her and see what happens. If the stallion I’d mate her with is too expensive for you, I’ll help you financially. We’d need a written agreement on the business,’ Dougal said.
‘I’ll think about it and let you know, Dougal,’ Emily said. She wouldn’t make a decision until she had talked to David. David had given her the mare and he should be consulted. She decided not to say a word to Catriona this time because it would get back to Dougal that she had consulted his father.
Emily managed to get David on his own and outlined Dougal’s proposition. ‘What do you think I should do, David?’ she asked.
David shrugged. ‘What do you have to lose, Emily? Equine reproduction is Dougal’s field and he just might be able to work a miracle with Starana. The odds are against it, but you never know. If he does get you a foal it could be worth a lot of money. Would you be happy to give Dougal a third share of that foal and any other foal she might produce? If this worries you, why not simply pay Dougal to treat her?’
‘It could be a lot of money down the drain that I really can’t afford, David.’
‘I’ll lend you the money, Emily,’ David said.
‘I couldn’t accept money from you, David. It’s very kind of you to offer but if we don’t get a foal, I’d be worse off than I am now,’ Emily said.
‘Then accept Dougal’s offer – you have nothing to lose. If by chance he can get Starana to produce a foal you’d have two-thirds ownership and that’s two-thirds more than you have now. A foal from Starana could be worth half-a-million in today’s market. Quite apart from what she did on the racetrack, Starana is a full sister to Western Star and he is one of the boom sires now. Their mother was a great mare so you’ve got a blend of the Ajana and Star Kingdom families in Starana,’ David encouraged.
‘The money would come in very handy, but I wouldn’t feel right about taking two-thirds, David. You gave me the mare when I was at the lowest of tough times. If the miracle happens and we get a foal – or foals – you deserve a third of the share,’ Emily said.
‘Nonsense, Emily. If Starana had foaled after you got her, there was no agreement we were to get anything. You’ve looked after her all these years so anything you get, and sadly it’s odds-on you won’t, is yours. You make your arrangements with Dougal and leave us right out of it,’ David said firmly.
‘You’ve been very good to us, David. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful for all you’ve done. A share of a Starana foal would be some recompense,’ she said.
‘First get your foal. I appreciate your thanks but we don’t need the money, Emily. Besides, I know how much you and Sarah want to breed top racehorses. Everybody needs a break. Maybe this will be the break that makes all the difference.’
Emily could quite understand why Sarah loved this big, generous man. Catriona had been fortunate to have him for her husband. If only, she thought. ‘Well, thank you, David,’ was all Emily could say.
‘No thanks needed, Emily. Dougal fixed one of my mares. Maybe he’ll be able to fix Starana. It’s a long shot, but veterinary science has come a long way.’
From the way David spoke Emily sensed he didn’t really have much conviction about a positive result. It would take a miracle to get a mare that had been barren for so long in foal. Emily felt much the same way but Dougal was supposed to be a veterinary genius and if he felt there was a chance, what did she have to lose?
When Emily told Dougal she was prepared to go ahead he nodded and handed her some papers to sign. He had had them drawn up by a solicitor because he felt they would be required. Emily read through the papers carefully and signed them. It was an agreement that in the event of Starana producing a live foal – or foals – Dougal James MacLeod was entitled to a third share of proceeds of sale(s) of such horses and/or a third share of race winnings, should the horse(s) be raced. In the event of said horses being raced he was to provide one third of the costs.
‘There’s one more thing, but I haven’t put it into writing,’ he said.
‘What is it, Dougal?’ Emily asked.
‘If I get Starana in foal I want you to keep quiet about it. I don’t want anyone to know about it, including Dad and Mum, until there’s a live foal on the ground,’ he said.
‘If Catriona comes here, and she does visit, she’ll know if Starana is in foal,’ Emily said.
‘Then hide Starana and tell Mum we’re still trying,’ Dougal said.
‘I’ll do my best, but first we have to get the foal,’ Emily said.
‘There’s generally only so many problems that can prevent a mare going in foal. Some mares have what is called “silent heat”, which can go unobserved for years but can be treated by “tracking” the mare’s cycles. Alternatively, when a mare comes in heat regularly but doesn’t get in foal there may be an infection, which can be treated with penicillin. Another possibility, although rare, is that a mare may have blocked oviducts, perhaps caused by an infection early in her life. The vet examines the uterus with a scope, finds the entrances to both oviducts and blows them out with compressed air to re-establish a pathway for the sperm to reach the egg. A pregnancy occurs in the oviduct, and the fertilised egg then rolls down into the uterus.’ Dougal added that he had seen only one such case, which was in Kentucky.
&
nbsp; ‘So what do you think it is in Starana’s case?’ Emily asked.
‘I think she has blocked oviducts,’ he said. ‘If we can open them up, she should go in foal, even now.’
Emily looked at him admiringly. ‘I’m starting to believe you’re some vet.’
Dougal smiled thinly. ‘It’s taken a lot of years, Mrs Matheson, and my father has never forgiven me for clearing out on him. This is one way I can prove myself to him. He gave up on Starana, but I never did.’
So that’s what’s really behind it, Emily thought. A son trying to justify himself to his father. This was the one field where Dougal outshone his sire and he was hell-bent on proving it.
They took Starana into Dougal’s hospital and, just as he anticipated, he found both oviducts blocked. He cleared them and the next time Starana came on season, they bred her to a son of Sir Tristram. She got in foal immediately and Emily hugged Dougal when he gave her the news. Dougal insructed her to take the mare back home and put her in a paddock on her own, but where she could see other horses over the fence.
When either David or Catriona asked Dougal or Emily if they had made any progress with Starana they replied that they were still trying. David thought they’d be trying for a long time. In his opinion, a mare that had been barren for so long couldn’t miraculously go in foal. But for all his great livestock knowledge, David MacLeod didn’t know everything. Equine reproduction was a field for the specialist.
Meanwhile, to help get his son on his feet, David gave him as much veterinary work as he could. Although he was a horse specialist Dougal was a top vet, period. He did the sheep insemination and the embryo transplantation for his father’s stud sheep and cattle while the horse work picked up. All of this work on the MacLeod stud sheep was carried out at Glen Morrison.
Dougal was all business. There was never any levity such as had been the case when Kate and Greg and Sarah had worked with David at Glen Morrison. Dougal was closer in nature to his grandfather than to his father. As David said to Catriona after one veterinary session with Dougal, ‘if he smiled his face would crack’. It was all so serious that sometimes it was an ordeal to work with his elder son, which was such a contrast to working with Angus. There was always a degree of humour when young Angus worked with him because he told outrageous jokes and picked up bush gossip seemingly out of the air. Angus had become the most popular young man in the district. David wondered how a warm, sweet young woman like Sarah could put up with Dougal. He was brilliant, no doubt about that, but there was no empathy between himself and Dougal.
Anne, who was always perceptive from afar in these matters, and who had a soft spot for Dougal, said that the root cause of his lack of humour was his determination to justify himself to his father. Dougal understood very well that his father believed he had let him down; that all the work and worry associated with acquiring land for his children had not been justified in his case.
Of course, Anne was right. Dougal did want to justify himself to his father and he wanted to do it not only by demonstrating his professional skill but by using this skill to become a wealthy man like his father. Starana represented Dougal’s first opportunity to put himself in possession of some real money. He could have treated the old mare for a substantial fee but that would have been chickenfeed to the financial rewards he could earn from the share of even one Starana foal. Dougal knew that Emily and Sarah were short of money and he also appreciated how much they wanted to breed top-class racehorses. He had no doubt that Emily would have consulted his father before agreeing to allow him to treat the mare. Dougal MacLeod was a shrewd fellow.
Some time later Emily Matheson rang Catriona and invited her and David for lunch. This happened a couple of times a year and Emily came to High Peaks on similar visits. Sarah was never present when David and Catriona went to visit Emily. On this occasion, Dougal was with Emily. After lunch Emily said that she had something to show them. They all walked down to the big shed Emily had long ago converted into a set of stables. One end of the shed had been set aside for a foaling room and was fitted with strip lighting. Emily opened the door into this brightly lit room and then stood to one side with Dougal. There in the middle of the room was Starana, and beside her there was a dark, spindly-legged foal, busy pushing under the old mare’s belly.
David and Catriona looked from the foal to Emily and then to Dougal. It was impossible not to distinguish the look of triumph in his eyes. Starana had been his special horse and he had wanted his father to have her treated. Instead, David had let her go against his son’s wishes. It had taken years but he had proved his point; he had won.
David, being the man he was, offered his hand to his son. ‘Congratulations, Dougal. I didn’t think it could be done.’
Dougal nodded. He didn’t have to say anything. The proof of his skill was there in front of them.
‘Emily,’ Catriona said, as she embraced her longtime friend. She didn’t have to say much either, because Emily would understand how pleased Catriona was for her. Starana’s foal would make all the difference to Emily and Sarah. And if the mare could have this foal maybe she could have another one or two. This was a filly and its breeding value was stupendous. Filly or colt, it didn’t matter. Starana had been a speed machine like her great dam and her brilliant full brother.
‘Why on earth didn’t you let on?’ David asked later. He wasn’t happy about being kept in the dark.
‘There was always the risk that Starana would abort after being barren for so long,’ Dougal answered. ‘I didn’t want to raise false hopes until there was a foal on the ground. I asked Mrs Matheson not to say anything.’
David nodded. That made sense. ‘What was the mare’s problem, Dougal?’
So Dougal explained about the blocked oviducts and how he had cleared them. He had taken a significant risk expending so much money on a service by the Sir Tristram horse but if there was only one Starana foal it had to be as well-bred as possible. The difference in the value of this filly and one by a cheaper sire was incalculable.
It was at that moment that David recognised Dougal had been right in his decision to become a vet. It had been a disappointment to David and he was still disappointed that his elder son had made a separate career, but he was a clever and gifted fellow, and he would undoubtedly build a great career in the veterinary field. If there had been a couple more sons Dougal’s defection would not have affected him so badly, but to try and run eight properties with one son was a tall order.
A few weeks after showing his parents the product of his skill, Dougal asked Sarah Matheson to marry him. In typical Dougal fashion he didn’t take her to dinner to pop the question but put it to her after she had finished work one evening. There had been no previous intimation of any affection for her on Dougal’s part.
‘Marry you, Dougal?’ answered Sarah, stupefied.
‘Yes, marry me, Sarah,’ Dougal said calmly.
‘Do you love me, Dougal?’ Sarah asked.
‘I like you, Sarah. You’re very good with animals and we get on well. You’re the only woman I’ve met I feel I could live with. I can offer you a satisfying, comfortable life, Sarah.’
‘I couldn’t give you an answer right now, Dougal,’ Sarah said. She needed time to think about his proposition. Her first thought was that it was impossible. Dougal was a brilliant vet, but a fairly humourless man – too serious, and a bit too arrogant for her liking. Then there was the fact that as much as she tried to put it from her mind, she was still in love with Dougal’s father. It was crazy, but there it was. How could she marry the son of the man she loved?
Driving home, Sarah tried to consider her options. Apart from loving David, her greatest passion was horses. She, like her mother, was imbued with the desire to produce great racehorses. If her father had lived and had continued to finance their dream, they would have done it, too. Instead, they had had to budget to survive on the property. And unlike her sister, Sarah couldn’t face living anywhere but on a property. Now that they had a
Starana foal, and perhaps another one or two in the future, there was every prospect that she and her mother would realise their dream of owning a horse that could win classic races.
Did she really need a man?
No, she decided she didn’t. Not any man. Dougal was a good-living, clever vet and he would be a good provider, but what kind of marriage would it be? She had always been shy of men until she met David MacLeod. David was so much more man than any other male she had ever met that no one measured up to the standards he set. Even now she felt queer inside when she thought of David. But would she ever meet anyone like him? Would she meet anyone better than Dougal?
Catriona and Moira went to Sydney on one of their annual shopping expeditions, during which Catriona met up with some of her old school friends. Sarah knew this because her mother and Catriona talked on the phone virtually every week.
David took the call one evening and was surprised to hear it was Sarah.
‘I need to talk to you, Mr Mac,’ she said.
‘Have you got a problem, Sarah?’ he asked.
‘Not exactly a problem, Mr Mac. I need some advice. Can I come and see you on Saturday afternoon?’ Dougal had asked her to work the Saturday morning so she would get a sandwich and drive straight to High Peaks.
‘All right, Sarah. I’ll be here at two.’
He hoped his mother wouldn’t ask him about Sarah but she was usually having a sleep after lunch. And it wasn’t unusual to have visitors on a Saturday afternoon, anyway.
Sarah arrived a few minutes late, apologising. They sat on the front verandah where she had first asked him for a job those years ago. She was wearing a skirt and blouse rather than the jeans she had usually worn when she worked for him, and there was no doubt that she was a fine-looking young woman.