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“I’m just glad I could help. I almost didn’t check on her after last night.”
“What happened last night?”
“Um… oh, it was nothing, really…”
Tono glanced up sharply and Ellie looked away.
“Ellie?”
“It’s just… I got shut in with Blaze, during the storm. She freaked out a bit, and it kinda scared me.”
Tono frowned and eyed the foaling stall.
“This stall here?” Tono pressed the stiff latch. It took enough effort that it cemented Ellie’s belief that it hadn’t been an accident.
“Someone locked you in?”
“I…” Ellie sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone.”
Tono looked from her to the latch with pursed lips.
“How did you get out?”
“Cody and Ezra came to check on the horses, so they unlatched the stall. I didn’t want to shout in caseitfreaked Blaze out even more than she already was.”
Tono frowned fiercely. “You’re lucky you weren’t hurt. Blaze is skittish at the best of times, never mind in a storm.”
He patted her hand as he walked over to the sink to scrub up and eyed the bag she’d hung there. Ellie grabbed it out of the way.
“Sorry, let me move those.”
“You’ve been fishing?”
“Yes, I thought I’d try my hand at catching dinner.” She considered the contents, they needed to be dealt with. “Will you be okay if I get these cleaned and gutted or do you need more help?”
Tono flashed her a genuine smile. “You’re a girl of many talents, Ellie. I could certainly use another pair of hands, but there’s plenty of time for you to do the necessary with those while I examine Blaze properly and see where we’re at.”
“I won’t be long,” she promised. “I’ll just get them prepped and put them in the fridge for tomorrow.”
It was several hours later when they finally finished birthing the newest addition to the Triple C. Ellie thought she’d heard Cody, Syrus and Ezra return at one point, and was surprised that they hadn’t come in to check on Blaze, but she guessed they were tired, dirty and hungry.
When they were done, Tono rushed off, saying that he needed to get to the appointment he’d put off to come out to Blaze. She assured him she’d let the men know everything that had happened so they could check on mother and baby throughout the night and the vet said that he’d call in again on his way back from Yaak to make sure there weren’t any aftereffects from the ordeal.
She trudged back to the house, tired but feeling happy and accomplished.
Sadly, it didn’t last long.
As soon as she walked in the door, a stony silence greeted her and six pairs of eyes turned and glared at her.
“What’s up?,” she asked, worried. “Did something happen?”
Cody looked at her with a face like granite, and a sliver of apprehension slithered down her spine.
“Cora was just explaining why there’s no dinner tonight, after we’ve been out working all day and desperately need a hot meal to come home to.”
“Okaaay.” Ellie had no idea what he was referring to, specifically, but she couldn’t blame him for being annoyed. She was too. She’d missed lunch with all the excitement over Blaze and she was hungry herself… and she was probably a lot more used to missing meals than these three men were.
“I’m not happy, Ellie. This kind of behavior really isn’t fair on any of us.”
