he said.
He smiled, but inside he felt a bit sad. He’d been practicing medicine in Little Horn for almost a year now. Once he left, the townsfolk would be forced to travel to a larger city for a pediatrician. But he couldn’t let that stop his plans.
“Won’t you miss your mom?” Eva asked.
“Yeah, but we’ll still see each other now and then.”
He hoped. He’d asked his mother to move to Austin with him, but she’d refused, saying this was her home and she’d never leave. He hoped his practice wouldn’t become so busy that he’d have difficulty getting time off work to come and visit her. But he had to go. It was his childhood dream to practice medicine in the city. It was all he’d thought about for the past year. Returning to his old life in Austin. Picking up his practice where he’d left off. And if he didn’t return, it could jeopardize the grant he and his partners had received from the FDA. But he doubted he’d ever find another woman to love. He couldn’t trust himself to that kind of heartache again.
“If my parents were still alive, nothing could drag me away from Little Horn,” Eva said, her eyes a bit wistful.
“Yeah, you were way too young to lose your folks,” he said.
He thought about Eva living out at Stillwater Ranch and was happy she had some family to rely on. He still had his mom, but Eva had no one except for her cousins and Aunt Mamie. Eva had known a lot of loss, just like he had. Both of them had been dumped by their fiancés. Both of them had suffered broken hearts. In a way, they had a lot in common.
“What do I owe you?” she asked, reaching for her purse.
He raised his hand. “It’s on the house. I didn’t do anything, really. And Miss Mamie paid me plenty yesterday.”
She lifted the baby, holding him close against her shoulder before she kissed his downy head. “Well, thank you. I can’t tell you how relieved I feel. I so appreciate your help.”
He smiled, drawn to her easy, honest manners. She seemed so genuine. So real and down-to-earth. Nothing contrived at all. Not like Kayla, his former fiancée.
“Come on. I’ll walk you out,” he said.
Carrying the baby, Eva preceded him through the house and out to the front porch. Tyler followed, breathing deeply the fragrance of her fresh, coconut-scented hair. As she walked, her hair swayed against her back like a long, red waterfall. He felt the urge to reach out and run his fingers through the silken length of it, but resisted.
Shaking his head, he tried to clear his mind of such nonsense. The last thing he needed right now was a romantic entanglement.
As he stepped out on the front porch, he slid his hands into his pockets.
“Tyler! Oh, Tyler!”
He glanced over at the barn. Veola Grainger stood in front of the wide double doors. His mother. An early riser, she’d dressed in her blue jeans and boots to help him with some chores before he drove into town to make his rounds at the regional medical hospital. Just now she was waving frantically to get his attention.
“Excuse me one moment, will you?” With a nod to Eva, he stepped off the porch and hurried toward his mom. Eva stood easily within hearing distance.
“Applejack is gone,” Veola said, her voice shrill with urgency.
He tilted his head. “What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“She’s gone, and so is your sister’s saddle.” Mom’s voice rose to a plaintive cry.
A blaze of dread scorched Tyler’s skin. Without another word, he ran into the barn and looked around. Morning sunlight streamed through the open doorway. He caught the musty smell of straw and ammonia. Bullet, their sorrel gelding, stood in his stall swishing his tail. But sure enough, Applejack was gone; the mare’s stall stood wide-open and vacant. At first Tyler thought maybe he’d left the gate open last night and the mare had wandered off. But no. He distinctly remembered closing the barn door securely, because he’d pinched his thumb in the process. Someone had entered the barn and opened Applejack’s stall.
His heart plummeted. Was it possible they’d become the victims of a crime? He’d heard about the cattle rustlings and equipment thefts going on in their community. But he’d never dreamed the thieves might steal his little sister’s mare.
He walked back out into the sunshine, feeling heartsick and furious by this turn of events. Eva stood beside her truck with his mother. Mom was cooing and admiring the baby, but glanced his way, awaiting his verdict.
“She’s gone, all right,” he said.
“You think someone stole her?” Mom asked.
He looked out at the wide-open fields surrounding them, his gaze searching the area for some sign of the mare. “Unless she got loose and wandered off.”
Mom shook her head. “No, when I went out to the barn this morning, the doors were closed. She couldn’t have gotten out by herself.”
“And I guarantee she didn’t take the saddle with her,” he said.
“But why would anyone steal our mare? That horse is almost twenty-one years old.”
Tyler shrugged, trying not to show his anger in front of Eva. “I have no idea. But what surprises me more is that the thieves left Bullet behind. I don’t understand why they’d take an old horse like Applejack, but leave the younger gelding.”
He spoke calmly. After his father’s death he’d learned to be the man of the house, and that had taught him patience and self-control over his emotions. He had to be strong for his mother’s sake. Though Mom hadn’t said so, he knew she was dreading his return to Austin in four weeks. And Eva was worried enough about baby Cody. With their own problems to cope with, neither woman needed to see him act out right now.
“What would they want with Applejack?” Mom asked.
“I have no idea. She’s too old to make a good saddle horse anymore. The thieves couldn’t get much for her unless they sold her for slaughter,” he said.
Eva gave a small cry of anguish. “They still do that?”
Tyler nodded. “While they don’t use the horse meat here in the United States, they can definitely sell it to foreign countries.”
Veola cringed in horror and clasped a hand to her mouth. “Oh, Tyler. That sweet little mare. Jenny loved that horse so much. I promised her that Applejack would live out her days here on the ranch. You don’t think the thieves would sell your sister’s horse to a soap factory, do you?”
A sick feeling settled in his gut. He glanced at Eva. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes mirrored the outrage he was feeling inside. He thought about the horse thieves and wondered if they knew just how much they had hurt the people they’d stolen from. Applejack wasn’t just a saddle horse to Tyler and his mother. She was a beloved member of their family. A sweet reminder of a happier time when his sister had been alive and joyfully riding around this ranch.
“I sure hope not. I’ll go call the sheriff right now,” he said.
“I
