The little boy had his arms wrapped around his stomach, and he looked up at me with wide, scared eyes. After a second, he whispered, “Colic is bad.”
“It can be.” I crouched down so I was at his level. “Colic just means Jaina’s got stomach troubles. Some of ‘em are not that big of a deal.”
“Really?” His face brightened, hope filling his eyes.
Internally, I winced. I didn’t want to lie to him or give him false hope. But the truth was that most colic issues, especially if caught early, could be resolved.
“Really. I mean, look. Horses can’t throw up, right? So if Jaina’s stomach hurts, what’s she gonna do?” I made a face and was rewarded with a small giggle. “Some bad stuff could be going on too. I won’t lie. But maybe she just has a trapped fart.”
That really set him off and he laughed his big laugh, the one we didn’t hear that often. I smiled back, glad I’d eased his mind somewhat. But before I even finished that thought, he grew serious again.
“But it could be real bad, huh?”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “But your dads know all the things to do. And if they can’t help her, they’ll call Dr. Matigan and he’ll help Jaina.”
Payton considered that for a moment. “But he lives far away.”
It wasn’t really that far, but Dr. Matigan’s was based in Westfield which was on the other side of Briarwood. It was the largest of the three towns that made up our immediate area. So it was still an hour away, though he was usually closer since he made the rounds regularly. Especially during the week.
“You’re a doctor, Uncle Emery.”
It still tickled me every time he used the honorific. He didn’t always, nor did he use the title for all of my siblings. Hawk had just been Hawk until he adopted Aria’s nickname for my younger brother and started calling him Hawkle. Hawk pretended to hate it, but I knew he was secretly pleased he got a special nickname.
“Yeah, but I’m a people doctor, not an animal doctor,” I reminded him gently. “That’s Isley, silly.”
He thought about that for a second. “But Uncle Isley isn’t here yet. Maybe you should go check to make sure.”
He was really worried. I got it. Jaina was his dad’s heart horse and he loved her as much as he loved his son and Crew. And that was saying something. He’d done everything he could to give that horse the best life, including giving her up when he couldn’t take care of her. Instead of letting her suffer, he made sure she had the best possible situation. He’d trained her from the ground up and she did whatever he asked. Jaina meant the world to Mal, and therefore, she was important to Payton.
The least I could do was check on her and give him a report.
“And what am I supposed to do with you, hm?” I made a silly thinking face, hoping it would help ease some of his tension. But I was ready with a denial if he wanted to come along. Even though it was most likely going to be okay, colic could be tricky, especially in a draft cross like Jaina. I wasn’t going to bring him to the barn just in case.
“I can go to Mimi’s,” he said quickly.
“I’ll walk him to the house,” Ville interjected. I’d forgotten he was there, which was kind of shitty, but I was sure he would understand my need to focus on my nephew.
“You good with walking with Ville?” I asked, because Payton was generally shy with strangers. He’d met Ville of course, been around him for a couple of days, but Pay was slow to warm up. I needed to give him the choice.
Payton thought about it for a few seconds, and then he nodded. “We can talk about the dogs. Right, Mr. Ville?”
I bit back the smile at the way he said Ville’s name, really accentuating the syllables. Like Vil-uh. It wasn’t quite right, but it was close and it sure was cute.
“Sure.” Ville’s smile didn’t reach his eyes and I had to wonder if he had a lot of experience with kids. “I’ll tell you about the phone call I made and what the plans are. Deal?”
Payton nodded. “I gotta get my shoes and Mr. Raven.”
He turned and ran back into his cabin. Ville disappeared for all of three seconds and reemerged with sneakers on his feet and his phone in his hand. I met him on the grass.
“Thanks for this,” I murmured, pushing up on my toes to kiss the corner of his mouth.
“He’s worried. You can set his mind at ease, hopefully. Go on now. I’ll take him to your mom.”
I called out to Payton to let him know I was leaving, and he ran back onto the porch to wave at me. I took off at a jog, not reallywearing the right shoes to run. I heard Ville tell Payton to make sure the door to the cabin was shut tight.
I stopped at the equipment shed and jumped on an ATV. It was too early to run all the way to Barn 3 and I didn’t want to make Payton wait any longer for an update than absolutely necessary. With the machine’s help, I made it to the stock barn in a few minutes.
Inside, Crew, Wy, and Russ were standing outside Jaina’s stall. I assumed Mal was in with her. Crew did a double take when he saw me, and a scowl crossed his face. I held up a hand.
