The barn, the yard—everything seemed off.
“Shan…” A raspy voice broke the silence.
Bucky stood in the middle of the yard, shoulders slumped, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
His usual stoic demeanour appeared defeated, his expression dark.
“I tried to call you.”
Shannon furrowed her brow, her mind still trying to make sense of the emptiness. “I lost my phone at the races. Why are the horses out? I’ve got a lesson with Harry in an hour.”
“I turned them out this morning.” Bucky’s gaze dropped to the dusty boots beneath him. “And sent the staff away for a few days. I couldn’t reach you, Shan. There’s been an accident.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach and the hairs on her scalp prickled. An accident?
“What happened, Bucky? Where’s Trixie… where is she?”
His eyes flicked to the ground, and for the first time, she saw the cracks in his hard exterior.
“Harry…” His voice trailed off, leaving a strained silence between them.
“Where’s Harry, Bucky?” The words left her mouth before she could stop them, an echo of fear filling the space.
“Shan…” Bucky exhaled, his eyes brimming with grief he couldn’t hide. “He died this morning.”
“What?” Her voice cracked, disbelief flooding her senses.
Her legs wobbled, her mind spinning. She staggered back a step, the ground beneath her feet unstable.
“Harry didn’t die, Bucky. We were at the races together.”
“Harry... He died in the hospital just after 3 a.m. this morning.” Bucky’s voice was distant now, like he was speaking through the fog of his own pain.
Her heart stopped, the world around her dissolving into a haze.
“Please, no…” She reached out for something, anything, to hold on to, but the ground slipped away.
Her knees buckled, and she sank to the cold, damp cobblestones.
Every breath came in shallow, broken gasps as silent sobs shook her body.
“This can’t be real. It can’t be happening. Please, Bucky, please tell me it’s a mistake.”
Bucky’s words landed like a stone in her chest. “Hewas in a collision, Shan. A forty-foot lorry hit him at a junction. The woman with him... She died too.”
She scrambled to her feet, her body moving on autopilot, numb with shock. This had to be a nightmare. A bad, horrible dream she could wake from if she just kept moving.
Trying to catch a breath, she scanned the yard, her bleary eyes searching for a sign of him, the man who had always been there for her.
He had to be in the house, sleeping in his chair with Jackson curled up at his feet.
Tears stung her eyes, but she wiped them away with frantic hands, pushing them down.
He’s not dead.
Her boots pounded over the dirt track as she ran. Her breath coming faster with every desperate step, her body screaming at her to stop, but she couldn’t.
Not until she saw him. She had to hug him to end the nightmare.
