Page 27 of His Fifth Kiss

With that task done, Gerty turned toward the stables and barns. Her horseback riding lessons would be starting soon, and that meant she’d get to see Mike for a few minutes as he brought the horses to her that she’d be using that day.

Before she got to the barn, her daddy appeared. “Hey, Gerty-girl.”

“Hey, Daddy.” She grinned at him as he wrapped her in a big bear-hug. Her soul quieted, because she knew no matter what, her daddy would always love her.

“I need you to come look at this horse.” He stepped back, most of his joviality gone. “Have you got a sec?”

“My lessons start in about twenty minutes,” she said. “But yeah.”

“He won’t let me look at his right hoof.”

“You?” If anyone was better with horses than Gerty, it was Daddy.

“Or Gloria.”

“What?”

Gloria practically had equine blood in her veins.And she still got married, Gerty thought, not sure why that thought had popped so readily into her mind. She’d been trying to keep her promise to Mike to not let James’s lies fill her head, but it was still hard. She still found herself chasing away negative thoughts almost every day.

She dwelt on the one she’d just had. It wasn’t exactly negative, but it spoke to how Gerty felt about herself. Because she loved horses so much, she wouldn’t be able to get married and love a man as much as them.

But Gloria loved and worked so well with horses,andshe had married Uncle Matt and built a strong family unit with him. Gerty suddenly wanted to talk to her aunt about so much more than her tasks around Pony Power that day, and impatience built in her chest.

She told herself she had time, because she’d been at the Hammond Family Farm for three weeks, and she wasn’t going to be getting engaged again any time soon, not even to Michael Hammond.

“Yeah, she’s whinnying and side-stepping everyone,” Daddy said. “I said maybe she’s got something under her shoe, but she won’t let anyone near her.”

“Why do you think I can get close to her then?”

“Because you’re good with stubborn horses,” he said matter-of-factly.

Gerty wasn’t so sure about that, but she followed Daddy down the aisle to a stall with only a half-high wall and door. Travis stood there, and he held a rope that had been attached to the bit in the horse’s mouth.

“What’s her name?” she asked.

“Beauty,” Gloria said. “It’s the back left leg, Gerty.”

Gerty didn’t enter the stall right away. Beauty’s nostrils flared, and she possessed a wild look in her eyes. She put no weight on her back left leg, but Gerty couldn’t see any gashes or wounds.

“All right,” she said with as much courage as she could muster. “I weigh maybe one-ten soaking wet, so don’t let me get killed in there, okay?”

“We’ve got her head up now,” Travis said.

Gerty didn’t like the audience, but she had no other choice. “Daddy, you have my tools?”

He handed her the bag of farrier tools without a single word. Gerty shouldered them and entered the stall. “Hey, there, Beauty.” She held out the back of her hand for the horse to smell. She didn’t but tried to toss her head.

Gerty took that moment to dart into the back corner, and she crouched down and put her bag on the ground. She didn’t open it. She didn’t make any noise at all.

“All right there,” Travis said. “You’re all right, Beauty.”

Gerty still couldn’t see any blood or issues. Beauty wore shoes that didn’t look that old, which meant the nails had to be pulled out before the shoe could come off. She got out her pull-offs, and as the horse limped to the right, Gerty stood and grabbed the left leg. She twisted and lifted her leg over Beauty’s, and then she had the horse’s leg resting on her thigh—all in less than a second.

“Hold her still,” she called, but Beauty didn’t move at all. She knew this position, as she’d been shod plenty of times in the past. Gerty worked quickly, her curtain of blonde hair falling down on her right side, to remove the nails and get the shoe off.

Something didn’t smell right, and the moment the shoe came off, Gerty knew what it was.

“Oh, boy,” she said when she saw the mess underneath. “She’s got a bad infection. An abscess about the size of a quarter. It needs to be drained.”

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