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Her heart stuttered in her chest. Her breathing came in short hard bursts. She could have a home. With Henry. With this man she loved and who loved her.
Henry leaned forward and held his hand out to Dr. Emily. "Henry Delany. This is Everleigh Hayes."
"Hello, Everleigh. Please tell me what happened here."
She swallowed and plastered on a smile. "The horse I'm most worried about is this one down here." She stumbled toward the stall. Her feet felt like they had lead in them. Her parents would call her lazy and unpracticed if she stayed with Henry and didn't make money and be self-sufficient.
"Oh, goodness." Dr. Emily mumbled. She slowly opened the stall door and slid inside. "Hey there, Queen. I'm sorry to have to be out here again." She softly spoke to the scared horse and touched her on her neck. Her hand smoothed over Queenie's neck slowly. No jerky movements, just gentle touch and soft speaking. Queen raised and lowered her head as if she'd been through this routine before. It took some time, but Queen finally relaxed enough that Dr. Emily could look at the wounds. After taking a look at them, she opened her bag and pulled out a tube of salve.
"This will help promote healing and keep flies and other bugs from laying eggs in the wounds. You'll need to apply this daily. Sometimes twice each day until healing begins. Do you know when these wounds occurred?"
"No." She sadly shook her head. "We came upon Mr. Evans beating Harper." She motioned to Harper standing nearby watching. "He's in jail right now and we're taking care of the animals until Henry can buy them."
Dr. Emily's brows rose in the air. "I'd love to see that happen. Evans is a monster."
"Yes. We agree."
She glanced at Henry who stood by quietly, sadness in his eyes. They needed to finish their conversation. Her stomach felt as though she'd empty its contents soon. Her chest was so tight, her heart could barely beat.
Dr. Emily continued. "Anyway. Keep the ointment on it. Keep her wounds clean. Only use water to rinse any dirt off. If you have to lightly wipe it, use a clean wet cloth and don't rub hard. It'll be sore for a while but luckily this does have a bit of a numbing agent in it to keep the animals from itching or scratching it. You'll need to keep her from doing that. It's recommended that you take her for walks each day, but don't let her out to pasture because she'll rub herself on a tree and open her wounds. Bring her back into her stall until she heals."
"Okay. I will." She watched Dr. Emily work with Queen. She was gentle and kind. "I noticed some of these horses look a bit malnourished. How much food should they have each day?"
"I'll write out all the instructions for you before I leave. If you buy these horses, where will you take them?"
Henry cleared his throat. "I just purchased the DeWitt Farm. Perry DeWitt."
"Oh, I heard that had sold. That's wonderful. I hear the house is loaded with antiques."
"It has its share, that's for sure."
"Well, good for you. It's a great house, though Perry hasn't managed to keep it up as it should be. But I'm sure you'll make it the grand place it used to be. And these horses will have a better life. They all come from great bloodlines. I think at one point Case thought he'd breed them. But he's not much of a farmer and he couldn't afford stud fees and one thing led to another and his temper got in the way. In healthy condition, these ladies will bring you beautiful foals that will sell high."
Henry nodded. His eyes darted to hers and his brows lifted slightly.
She smiled but turned her attention to Dr. Emily. "I know you're busy, but will you be able to come out again tomorrow and look the rest of these horses over to gauge their health? If we need to add supplements or anything to their diets, I'd like to select correctly."
Dr. Emily smiled brightly. "I'd be happy to help these ladies out. And both of you, of course."
Dr. Emily finished for the evening, wrote out explicit instructions of the proper care and feeding of the horses, and a promise to come back tomorrow to examine each of them. She even said it would be free of charge because she was so happy the horses would be out of Case's care. Such that it was.
And, now they were alone and their talk would resume.
33
He closed the barn door. Locked it up the best he could as Everleigh led Harper to her stall. She petted Harper one last time and softly said, "Good night."
She turned to him and he held his hand out. "Let's go finish our conversation."
"Okay."
He led her to their stall for the night. "Oh, this looks great."
"My dad said he's had to sleep in barns on missions. This is a first for me."
"It's a first for me too." She giggled. "It's kind of fun though."
He turned the lights off but used one of the lanterns his parents brought to light his way to the stall. Everleigh had opened a sleeping bag and was laying on her side, head in hand, facing him when he stepped in. He pulled his boots off, slid into his sleeping bag and faced her. He pulled her free hand toward him and whispered.
