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He was mesmerizing, all untamed power and fury. My boy was showing off for me, though to the untrained eye he looked scary and deranged. It hadn’t taken me long to learn Ragnor lashed out because he was afraid.
“I let him out as soon as you called. He’s been running off some steam, but you know that don’t mean nothing. I’ve been trying to work up a plan to get him in the trailer, but I ain’t come up with one yet other than a sedative.”
“I spoke with Mitch about it on the way here. He advised against it unless it was absolutely necessary. Here’s what he told me I’d need.” I dove in the pocket of my jeans and produced a piece of paper where I’d scrawled his recommendation. Mitch was a veterinarian on our family farm. I trusted him implicitly when it came to the well-being of a horse. “Do you have any of this on hand?”
Franklin took the paper from me and scanned it. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll go round that up.” He started to walk away and stopped after a few feet before turning back to me. “You want me to hook your trailer up to your truck?”
“If you don’t mind.”
I tossed him the keys, and he took off. My attention went back to Ragnor. Franklin let me keep a horse trailer here for times just like this. Ragnor trotted over, doing a quick pass without stopping, pretending to ignore me.
When he made a second pass, I called out to him, “Hey, handsome. Why don’t you come over here and see me? We’ve got something we need to talk about, and you aren’t gonna like it.”
He snorted and kept moving, coming over to me not one second before he was good and ready. “I need you to be a good boy today, Rage. I’m taking you somewhere special. Somewhere you’ll like a whole lot once you get there.” I reached up and stroked behind his ears, where he liked it best. “It’s just the getting there that’s going to be rough.”
He nuzzled me, and I kissed the end of his nose, which he accepted by blowing his breath in my face again. I was the only person he let ride him or get close at all. Ragnor allowed Franklin to feed him and clean his stall, barely tolerating any sort of grooming. But he trusted me to touch him, certain I’d never hurt him. After today, though, he was going to be furious with me. I half expected I’d sleep in the barn with him tonight when we got to the ranch, just like I had the first night he was here.
I wasn’t sure how often I’d be able to see him after I moved to New York. I prayed that between Mitch, my dad, or my granddaddy, Ragnor would respond positively to one of them. Hell, maybe Ruby could work her magic on him.
When I’d called Mitch that morning, he’d asked why move the horse if it would distress him. I hadn’t even told Mama and Daddy I was bringing a wild stallion home, swearing Mitch to secrecy. I figured once we were there, they couldn’t say no. The truth was, I didn’t have a good answer for moving Ragnor. I just felt he’d do better at the Jacobs Ranch with his family, even though he hadn’t met them yet. With me being so far away in New York, I needed that peace of mind.
“You got any ideas on how we’re getting him in the trailer?” Franklin asked when he returned.
“He’s going to have to do it on his own.”
Franklin had plenty of horses that would load up without a lead. That took a lot of time, patience, and practice—things we were short on today. Rage hated anything touching him. It had taken a year for him to let me put reins on him so I could ride. He’d gotten better about it, but I didn’t want to stress him any more in an already frightening situation for him.
“Mulaney, you know that takes trust, right?”
“I do.”
Today we were going to find out just how strong the bond was between my handsome beast and me. I only hoped my confidence in him wasn’t misplaced.
Chapter Eight
Easton
I caughtthe baseball Dad tossed to me across Grandma Carter’s front yard and pitched it back.
“You ever have regrets about not pursuing this?” He held up the ball and threw it with a little more zip.
I shielded my eyes from the bright afternoon sun before I snagged it from the air. As angry as I was with him about what had happened, I needed the normalcy of this conversation when everything around me was anything but.
“Minor leagues would’ve been about the best I could do, and that was a stretch. I loved playing in college, but that was as far as I was going to go and honestly, that was enough. Drew’s the one who missed out. He’s more talented than I could have ever dreamed to be.” Doing this with my dad and brother when he was around was all the baseball I needed. Hopefully, one day we’d be able to do this with my children. I just had to have some first. A lasting relationship might help on that front too, but it was hard to make anything work when the company always came first.
“What about working for Carter Energy? Are you happy that was the choice you made?” Dad ignored the forbidden subject I’d dared to breach. Drew and baseball. I let it go too.
My parents and I were always open and honest with each other and that often led to many meaningful conversations. I’d been living with them for months, and we talked about lots of things, but never my life choices. What was prompting these questions?
I held the ball for a second and with conviction replied, “Never thought about doing anything else.” I released the baseball and watched it fly in the cold wind.
“Is that because I took the choice away from you?”
Leather hit leather with a smack when he caught it.
“Why would you think that?”
He threw the baseball back to me. This time I had to stretch to catch it.
