“Did you ask the firefighters that, too?” I asked.
“I’m glad you think this is funny, because I don’t. I promised your parents that if anything ever happened to them, I would protect you. Then here you go and pull a stunt like this. I’ve been waiting for your mom to start terrorizing me from the great beyond.”
Then his head turned like he was waiting for his words to summon her.
I laughed. Then I coughed and then laughed again.
“I’m okay. The horses are okay. Let’s bust me out of this joint. I will go hibernate for a little while. I think I deserve the day off tomorrow for my efforts.”
Riley let out a breath as he laughed. “One day at the very least.”
William said, “I will give you the week. I’ll let the doctor know you are awake and see what he thinks about your discharge.”
Before he turned around and walked out, he said, “Thank you, Emma. You keep saving my ass. You saved my son and my horses. You have made your parents so proud. I would bet my entire fortune on that.”
“Thank you, William.”
My eyes watered.
Riley squeezed my hand.
William left the room, and Riley kissed my forehead.
“If you ever pull that kind of stunt again, I will lose it on you. I hope you know that.”
“I’ll stop saving your butt and let you suffer,” I said teasingly.
“That’s all I ask.”
The doctor came to the room and agreed to discharge me. Within the hour, I was sent home with an inhaler and wound care supplies for my burns, and I was told to take it easy for a while. Riley wanted me to stay with him in his room, but I wanted the comfort of my parents’ trailer. I wanted to be surrounded by our memories as I followed in their footsteps. Throwing ourselves in the line of danger to save horses seemed to be in our blood.
Riley refused to leave me alone. He said he sawThis is Us, and he knew the smoke inhalation caused the dad to have a heart attack. He informed me he wasn’t taking that chance. William seemed to agree. He told me I was forbidden from dying. Not only would my parents haunt him from the grave, but then Riley would solely inherit the farm, and that wasn’t allowed to happen.
I told him I would do my best.
On my way to the trailer, I stopped by the pastures full of horses and found Athena. She looked like she had been restless. The moment she saw me, her body language relaxed, and she came trotting over to me. I spent a moment petting her before Riley ushered me to the trailer. He was like a pushy flight attendant, anxious to get the plane in the air.
I spent a lot of time sleeping, and Riley spent some time keeping me awake. He wanted to blur the lines again. I was more than willing, especially when he told me he pulled my father’s sweater and my mom’s ring off of me before they transported me to the hospital. He washed the sweater, and while it had some singe marks, it was still wearable. It was so incredibly thoughtful it made my eyes burn with tears. God knew what would have happened to the items if I still had them when I went to the hospital.The sweater would have been cut off of me.
I enjoyed my time off, just spending time with Riley, but I was glad to return to the horses once it was over.
The insurance had marked the stable as a total loss, and one would be rebuilt. William was waiting on the settlement money to get that started. Until then, the horses remained outside horses. We increased the amount of lighting in the pastures in the meantime to help discourage predators.
William hired another hand, an eighteen-year-old boy straight out of high school. He would pull night shifts and patrol the pastures, again to discourage predators.
We were working on finding our new normal. William was taking a step back and letting us handle the rebuilding of the new stable, whenever the money came.
I had so many ideas for the future of Golden Reys Farm, and I couldn’t wait to be a part of it as part owner and the in-house veterinarian.
Epilogue
It’d been a year since the old stable burned down, and so much had happened since then. I was in vet school, and when I wasn’t studying or performing surgeries, I was on the farm.
Not even two weeks after the lightning strike, Marly and Jared were caught on our property trying to steal Athena. They must have thought that us keeping the horses in the open pasture meant it would be an easy job. Boy, were they wrong.
Athena had bit Marly right on the neck, drawing blood. I hoped that it would leave a scar. Jared had taken a kick to his leg from the mare after he tried to get her onto the trailer. The new stable hand had caught them arguing about what to do, still in the act. He called me and then the police.
Have you ever just felt so happy when karma finally got something right?
