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She stood and passed him as she strode down the steps. “I’ll see myself out,” she muttered as she strode off the steps.
Armstrong’s gaze pierced him as sure as a knife. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d been talking to Alice again? Is that why you haven’t wanted to help with Pa? Because you’ve been so busy visiting? Or were you worried you’d slip up and say something to him?”
He’d been avoiding Pa because he couldn’t help, and seeing Pa was like facing his own demon. He’d wanted to help people, but he had no training. “That’s not the case. I’ve been trying to figure out what this illness is. Now that the dog isn’t over there, I’ll have more time.” But he still didn’t want to sit with Pa, especially because Pa had disowned him.
“You do that. My wife gets tired too, and she’s not trained to deal with him either.” Armstrong turned on his heel and headed back for the barn. Halfway there, he glanced over his shoulder. “I think you can hitch your own wagon.”
* * *
The tensionbetween the Douglas brothers had been palpable, but Kent’s words still stung Alice more deeply. He’d only spoken to her so her father would allow him on their property to tend to the sick puppy. Never to see her. She should’ve known as much but hadn’t wanted to believe it.
Hadn’t he told her he didn’t want to speak to her when he’d returned? Yet she’d pushed him anyway. Hadn’t he told her he wanted nothing to do with her when he’d refused to tell her who he was when he’d rescued her from the bull? Why had she felt the need to influence him into being who he didn’t want to be?
She must enjoy heartache. That had to be the reason she hadn’t thought critically about what to do before she’d done it. She kept her horse to a walk between the Douglas place and her own drive, focusing on the task at hand. Pa would be worried, not only about the sheep, but if Louis had seen her. As far as she knew, he hadn’t. At least that was safe.
She rode up, sliding off Blaze’s back and landing in a cloud of dust. Her legs throbbed after holding tight to his sides for the long ride. Leo came out of the barn and glanced down the road. “Did you see Gideon on your way?”
She quickly nodded. “Dr. Spight couldn’t come, so he sent me to get Kent.”
Leo nodded. “Ah, there he is now.” He pointed behind her and Alice took that as a cue to get her horse away, where she could finish taking care of it and wouldn’t be in the way. In other words, where Kent wouldn’t see her.
She led Blaze back into the pasture attached to the barn where they could call her if they needed, but they wouldn’t see her. Neither Leo nor her father would need her, most likely. But after hearing Kent talk about the sickness, she was curious.
She walked Blaze around until Kent’s voice drifted out to her from inside the barn. “Alice brought me in on what happened. How many head are sick?”
Her father answered, “About thirty, near as I can tell.” He paused while someone else spoke in a muffled voice, then answered. “Hard to say. They go from just fine to lethargic pretty quickly. When they are just out there grazing, it’s hard to tell. They might be feeling weak or they might just be acting like sheep.”
She closed her eyes, trying to picture what her father said. Had there been any signs besides the panting and drooling? She’d been so caught up with nursing Colby that she hadn’t taken the time to watch the sheep.
She heard one of the sheep putting up a fuss, and she held her breath. Hopefully, the stress wouldn’t send it into the same reaction as the last one. Was it possible that this wasn’t something they’d eaten naturally, but someone poisoning the food?
She shook her head and led Blaze further away from the barn, where she couldn’t hear them. She’d grown up feeling like the Douglases were always behind everything that happened to them. Had forgiving the Douglases led her to apathy where true evil was concerned?
She strode to the door she’d been avoiding, releasing her horse’s halter along the way. Kent stood with her father and Leo next to one of the other sick sheep. Her chest clenched and released harshly with each breath. They were deep in thought and unaware of her presence.
She cleared her throat, forcing their attention. “What if this isn’t something, but someone?”
Pa’s eyes widened and his mouth pressed into a thin line, but Kent’s reaction was quick and decisive. He slashed the air with his hand. “I won’t stand for this. You think my father did this? Why would he target our own herd? He isn’t that addled, and Ma and Dosha have kept him mostly in the house. You know this. What would possess you to even say such a thing?”
She licked her lips and straightened her shoulders. “I never said your father’s name, nor indicate that’s who I thought of. I hadn’t even considered him. That was you.” She crossed her arms.
“We both know my father is the first one you would blame if anything went wrong.” He glared at her and this time the heat from his gaze didn’t cause flutters, but roiling. She hated his anger, especially at her.
She had meant to direct them to thinking about the possibility that the culprit wasn’t natural at all, but some poison in the water itself brought on by industry or accident. Frankly, she hadn’t considered Louis Douglas as a potential threat for years.
“So, now it comes out what you really think of me? You think I’m unforgiving and hold all my ills and strife against your father and you? I could. But I don’t.”
But was that true? His father had done a lot, and she still feared him, which was why she’d agreed with her father when he’d asked her not to go over there to see Kent. Especially not on her own. She may have thought his involvement in this was impossible, but deep down, she couldn’t say she didn’t fear him.
“What I think of you?”
“Apparently, you assume I hold a grudge against your father. How can I think any differently, though, when his son uses me as an excuse to be welcome here?” His words still rang through her head, and she felt dirty. She’d wanted to kiss him and all he’d wanted was unfettered access to her barn so he could see the puppy. What a fool she was.
“I didn’t mean that,” he muttered, closing his eyes, and shuttering his thoughts from her.
“You said so. Why shouldn’t I believe it?”
Pa came to her and touched her arm. “We’ll talk about your theory later. Let us finish our discussion here.”
