Fresh-Start Ranch

“Yes.”

“He’s the head of the local rescue group. The group’s lawyer is calling him now. He can show you.”

She looked at him. “Okay, I’ll follow him.” Hanging up, she waited for Ethan to finish his call. When he did, he turned to her.

“I need to go.”

“I know. Dr. Adams just called and wants me to help with the seizure and document it. Since I am not familiar with this area, I’ll need to follow you out to the Moore ranch.”

“You’ve worked with a rescue group before?” His tone made it clear he still doubted her skill.

“Yes. In high school I worked summers with the local vet. We went on several rescues. I kept active in the organization through college and then in veterinary training. I’ve done rescues in Kentucky, Ohio, Montana and Wyoming.”

“Good, because we’re going to put your expertise to work. We’ve got twenty horses that need our help.” He studied her.

If he thought the size of the rescue would worry her, he thought wrong. “Lead the way,” she answered, without a moment of hesitation.

He studied her for a moment before coming to some decision. There he nodded, turned and walked out of the barn. Tessa hurried to put the last of her equipment in her medical bag and raced out after him. Ethan had already pulled his truck out of the driveway. A moment of panic shot through her. Was he going to leave without her? She hurried to his truck. The driver-side window was down. He stopped by her.

“I’m going to drive around the barn and hook up the trailer.”

“You need help?”

He gave her an odd look. “I’ll do it. Just be ready to leave when I drive by.”

“You’ve got it.”

She raced to her trusty, dented, secondhand F-150 truck, put her bag in the bed and hopped into the cab. She started the ignition and turned the truck around and waited, frowning a little at the noise the engine was making. Her baby, although eighteen years old, hadn’t failed her yet, but its time was coming. She couldn’t keep duct-taping the seats and hoses much longer.

Ethan’s truck rumbled by, turning her thoughts to the drive ahead. She still wasn’t as familiar with the roads around this part of New Mexico as she’d like. It didn’t help that a lot of the ranches she visited were off small easy-to-miss roads. Doc had given her an old dog-eared map of the area, telling her to use it because it showed all the roads in the area which might not show up on any modern device.

She’d doubted Doc’s warning and accidentally left the map at the office yesterday. Once she discovered that, she’d told herself that her modern technology was better. The GPS device had been a graduation gift from her mother. But Tessa learned quickly the spotty reception in the canyons in this rural area made the new technology undependable. The device failed her completely, leaving her driving around the area for close to two hours, until she pulled into a ranch and asked directions. The couple, the Cousinses, smiled, commiserated then gave her directions. She wouldn’t repeat the mistake a second time.

After twenty-five minutes, Ethan’s truck turned off the road onto a private drive. There were six other pickups with trailers parked around the interior gate. The ranch house showed signs of neglect, as did the stables. One man, who seemed to have come from the house, yelled at the others to go away, a shotgun cradled in his left arm.

“If you don’t leave, I’m going to start shooting,” the man shouted.

A handsome woman in a business suit and high heels stepped forward and waved a piece of paper in the air. “William, we have a court order to seize the horses.”

“I don’t care what you’ve got. You make one move to take my horses, you’ll be sorry.”

The woman turned around and saw Ethan. She strode to his side. “Got any ideas?”

He stiffened. “Have you called Joe?”

“Of course. I called the sheriff’s office before we left,” she snapped. “Joe should be here any minute. We wouldn’t have approached William, but he came charging out of the house like a mad bull.”

The expression on William’s face hadn’t changed. He wanted a fight. “Let’s wait,” Ethan muttered.

“Where are the horses?” Tessa asked, coming to their sides.

The woman looked at her.

“I’m Dr. Adams’s new associate.” Tessa introduced herself, answering the question on the woman’s face. “Dr. Grant.”

“Mary Jensen, the lawyer for this local rescue group.” She offered her hand to Tessa. Turning, she looked back at the dilapidated stables. “Some of the horses are in the stables, and there’s a paddock in back of the house where the rest are kept.”

They heard a distressed whinny come from inside the miserable excuse for a stable. The man, William, glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at the group. Clearly, he was torn whether to go to the animal or hold off the group.

Tessa moved toward the man. “I’m a vet. Dr. Grant. Can I offer you any assistance?” Tessa knew a cry of pain when she heard one. Was the man more concerned for his animals than the people trying to take them away? With his confusion clearly etched on his face, he looked back at the stables, then at her.

The horse whinnied again.

The man’s face lost all color, and he looked back at the stables.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

The moments stretched out as they all stood silent, waiting, waiting for his decision. Tessa prayed.

“Yeah, my mare needs some help,” William said at last. “She’s been down too long and the foal ain’t coming.”

“Would you let me help?”

He looked around the group, his jaw tense. “Only you.”

“That’s fine.” She looked back at Ethan. “Will you bring my medical kit?”

“Sure.” He walked back to her truck.

The man opened the gate and motioned her in. Closing it behind her, he walked her into the stable. He rested the shotgun by the open door.

“My mare’s in the last stall on the left.”

Tessa hurried to the stall. The white horse was on her side on a pile of hay, her eyes rolled back in her head. The hay wasn’t clean and the mare was seriously underweight.

“Hello, girl. I’m here to help you,” Tessa crooned. “Will you let me?” Tessa stepped to the mare’s side. The horse didn’t raise her head. “What’s her name?”

“Lady.”

Gingerly, Tessa knelt by the mare’s bloated side. She ran her palms over the horse’s flank to see if she could feel the position of the foal.

A hard knot was there right above the horse’s back hip. “Okay, momma, I’m going to see if I can feel your baby’s feet.” Tessa turned to the owner. “How long has she been down?”

“Don’t know.” He shrugged. “When I walked in this morning to check on her, she was like that.”

“I need my medical bag.”

The man disappeared for a moment, then reappeared with her tackle-box medical kit. She threw open the lid and poured the cleanser over her hands. “Okay, Lady, let’s see how your baby’s doing.”