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Oh, dear. Keeping Simon’s spirits up was proving to be a challenge this morning. He hadn’t liked to wake up and find his father gone. She herself had found the houseboat strangely bereft without Amos’s oversized presence. “Maybe she can come to visit sometime and bring your cousins with her.”
“Yeah.” He brightened at the idea. “I could show ’em how I can swim now.”
“Oh, look. Here comes the sign for my sister’s ranch. Look at that big, long word. Can you sound out the first part?”
Simon shook his head, too intimidated to try.
“Hip-o-ther-a-py,” she told him. “That means horses helping people get better. Would you like to ride a horse?”
“Sure.”
Grace imagined Amos would be pleased to hear of Simon having an adventure. As she parked next to Faith’s silver minivan, Grace studied the other two vehicles present, a van with a scooter carrier and a plain, old sedan. Both belonged to Faith’s new clients.
“Did you see the horses?” She had glimpsed a couple of them in the ring bearing riders.
“Nope.” Simon’s wide eyes were fixed on the big old farmhouse in front of him.
Grace turned off her ignition. “Let’s go find Olivia.”
“Okay.”
Guiding Simon onto the listing stoop, Grace found both the screen door and the front door unlocked, something Jerry would not have liked since there were other people milling around the property. Grayson was down on the floor in the living room, engrossed in a video game. Distracted, he glanced over at them, then did a double take at Simon, before looking back at his game.
“Hey, Aunt Grace.”
“Hi.” She hung her purse inside the closet next to Faith’s, all the while straining her eyes and ears for the whereabouts of her niece. “Where’s Olivia?”
Grayson didn’t immediately answer, as he was trying to kill off several bad guys at once. Grace walked over and blocked his view of the television. “Where is Olivia?” Her firm tone brought a look of frustration to Grayson’s face.
“I don’t know. Why do I have to babysit her? She’s not my responsibility.”
“You’re right. She’severyone’sresponsibility, but right now, when neither your mother nor I are able to watch her, sheisyour responsibility. So, turn off this game and help me find her. You can play again once we know she’s safe.”
Grayson tsked his tongue and made a face, but to Grace’s relief, he got up on his knees and pushed a button on his console, pausing his game.
“Now, let’s split up. You look around the house, and we’ll go see if she’s watching the horses and patients. Come on, Simon. Let’s go out front again.”
Once outside, she ushered him down the left wall of the barn toward the riding ring, hoping to spot Olivia perched on the fence watching the action, but her niece wasn’t there. Simon’s eyes widened as he spotted a horse circuiting the ring slowly. Faith walked next to the animal, coaxing her patient, who looked overwhelmed but determined to stay in the saddle.
“That lady looks like you!”
“Yes, she’s my twin sister. Stay right here, honey. Don’t move. I’m going to peek in the barn.” Grace backtracked to the barn’s doors, finding one of them open. “Olivia,” she called. “Are you in here?”
Otis nickered in greeting as she passed his stall to peer into her sister’s office, but it was empty. Through the big windows, she could see Faith holding her swollen belly as if it was hurting her. Expelling a worried breath, Grace whirled and ran out of the barn. She spotted Grayson walking toward her with a vaguely worried expression.
“Olivia did say something about wanting to go fishing this morning.”
The confession stopped Grace dead in her tracks. The fishing pier was a good fifteen-minute walk away. Picturing Olivia standing alone over the very body of water Grace had nearly drowned in as a child, Grace pointed toward Simon and said to Grayson, “That’s Simon. You will stay with him until I come back.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m riding Otis to the pier to get there faster.”
Given the worry creeping into Grayson’s expression, he was starting to glean the seriousness of the situation. Grace hurried back into the barn. There wasn’t time to saddle Otis. She grabbed his bridle off the wall and crooned to him as she slipped it over his large head. It had been years since she’d ridden bareback, but it had to be like riding a bike, right? Swinging his stall door open, she led him by foot through the barn and out the main doors into the parking area.
There was no mounting platform in the front yard, so she helped herself to the scooter carrier on the back of a patient’s van. With a cheery wave to Simon, who watched her departure with concern, she settled more securely on Otis’s back before gouging her heels into his belly to get him moving.
“Come on, Otis. Faster.”
