CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Tommaso
I immediately called the security company that installed everything and requested that they come back over to the island to reassess things.
There weren’t supposed to be any blind spots, and I needed a more foolproof way to set the alarm.
It needed to just turn on automatically at ten at night, and turn off again at six in the morning.
I could override it if needed, but there needed to be fail-safes in place so nothing like this ever happened again.
I was starving, since the stew I’d started to prepare never got finished, but I needed to make sure Midnight and Raven were okay.
I ended up moving Kenny into their bigger stall, and the three of them seemed to settle down together quickly. Midnight nursed like a ravenous little beast, and the mare started to eat as well, now that her foal had been returned to her.
Even though she would eventually wean him, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to let Raven go. She and Kenny were obviously bonded from earlier in their lives, and returning her to her owners would undoubtedly pitch the old Thoroughbred into a pit of depression.
As I made my way back to the house, Portia with me, I shot off a few messages. One to the lawyers, one to the vet and farrier, and finally, one to Raven’s owner, asking them their price for her.
She shouldn’t be used as a surrogate mare her entire life. At some point, she deserved retirement.
I also texted Guiseppe and let him know what happened.
I stripped off my clothes as soon as I got into the house, a chilly draft making goosebumps lift across my arms.
I needed a shower. It was only five o’clock, but I was bone-tired and ready for bed.
Not that I’d go to sleep, I would probably head back out to the barn, but my body and brain kept asking for rest.
I entered my bedroom, and my gaze immediately landed on the rumpled bedsheets and Danica’s overnight bag in the corner.
Fuck.
I knew none of this was her fault, and yet, her sudden presence in my life was an easy thing to blame for all the chaos. Would I have heard Avelyn and Vincent break into the barn if I hadn’t been in bed with Danica? I had no way of knowing.
But guilt over everything ran like a marathon of fire ants through my body. So all I could do was step into the shower and wash the day away.
We professed our love to each other.
And it’d only been a few weeks, but yeah, I loved her. And I loved Sam.
And I loved having them in my life and seeing them with the animals. The way Mouse responded to Danica was nothing short of magical. And I saw so much of my own anxiety in Sam and wanted to help her anyway I could. She was so brave today—both women were.
In the grand scheme of things, the island stepped up and did more for me and my animals than I did.
I just stood there, swallowed up by my anxiety as Clint McEvoy formed the search party.
Then, when Danica messaged me that Midnight was in the Pickford’s garage, it was Sam who busted past Avelyn into the garage and threw herself on Vincent to get my foal away from him.
I was ashamed of my behavior. Ashamed of how my anxiety crippled me and what the islanders must have thought of me. What Danica must have thought of me.
She didn’t come into the barn when they returned to the property, and that was probably because she couldn’t bear to look at me.
I couldn’t bear to look at myself and avoided the mirror as I stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
What an utter nightmare.
For so long it’d been just me and the animals that it seemed like I’d forgotten how to interact with people. How to be a member of the community and a partner.
She deserved better.
I stood under the spray of the shower for a long time, reflecting on the past few weeks, on last night, and on today.
Midnight was safe. He was back with Raven, and unharmed.
With any luck, this was the end of Vincent’s reign of terror, and I could reassure my son that his land would remain safe, and we could carry on his mother’s legacy.
By the time I shut the water off and returned to the bedroom, there were over a dozen messages on my phone. Yet, I had no energy to read any of them.
I needed to eat.
And Portia made sure that she got her dinner too, by following me around my bedroom as I got dressed, then out to the kitchen where she stared me down until I set her bowl in front of her.
My phone just kept pinging.
Was one of those pings Danica?
I finished up with the stew, then took my steaming bowl to the couch and sifted through my messages while eating.
None of those pings were from Danica.
The lawyers said they would follow through with everything regarding the property and ensuring Vincent couldn’t come near it.
Apparently, Sakura Reilly, the island librarian, managed to dig up some old records of the land agreements as well as some “Island Constitution” or whatever, and sent them to Gabrielle, who forwarded them to the lawyers.
The lawyers also found the bank statement from when Arthur bought out Millicent’s share of the land.
There was no way, either Vincent or his mother, could come after us now.
I was surprised and grateful that all of this had been happening without my knowledge.
People helped and took care of things while I silently spiraled and made stew.
Both the farrier and vet said they would be on the first ferry tomorrow to check on Midnight. Then there were a bunch of messages from numbers I didn’t recognize telling me how happy they were to hear that Midnight had been found safe and sound.
Were these islanders?
Guiseppe hadn’t messaged me yet, but I didn’t expect him to since Milan was nine hours ahead and it was almost three in the morning.
Would Danica come by and grab her bag?
Would I hear from her?
Should I message her? It’d been so long since I’d been in a relationship, since I’d dated, that I had no idea how people did things anymore.
I finished dinner and went back out to the barn. Stalls needed to be mucked and animals needed to be fed. So even though every part of me wanted to go to bed and forget the day, I couldn’t.
I don’t even remember falling asleep in Galahad’s stall, but when vehicle doors slamming outside woke me up, I realized I’d spent the night out there.
“I want to see Midnight, Daddy,” came the familiar voice of Francesca just as the door opened.
I stood up off the concrete floor. My body ached from sleeping in such a terrible position on an unforgiving surface, and I opened up the back of the stall so Galahad could head out to the field.
Cameron stopped in front of Galahad’s stall. “You look like you never went to bed.”
I glanced at him and stepped out of the way for the big horse to make his way outside. “Because I didn’t.”
“That terrified someone is going to steal your foal that you crashed in the barn?”
All I did was give him a look.
“Hi, Tom,” Francesca said, making her way over to Midnight, Raven, and Kenny’s stall.
“Hi, Francesca.” I stepped out of Galahad’s stall and followed Cameron and his daughter to the big stall. Together, we opened up the door at the back so Raven, Kenny, and Midnight could go enjoy the sunshine.
As if he had no recollection of yesterday’s trauma, Midnight took off into the small cordoned off field, running around and kicking his back feet in the air.
“Little guy seems no worse for wear,” Cameron remarked.
“Children are built to be resilient,” I said to him, earning a knowing look in return.
Francesca stepped out into the field with the three of them, giggling when Midnight started doing laps around her.
“How are you holding up?” Cameron asked me.
I shrugged. “Lawyers and police are doing their jobs. Security company is coming back today to tighten things up. Farrier and vet are coming too and will assess him. I don’t think he’ll need shoes yet, but I just want to cover my ass.”
“Makes sense.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, then glanced at me. “And how are you doing?”
All he got from me was some side-eye. “I didn’t intend to sleep in the barn.”
Cameron nodded. “Gotcha. Danica coming by later?”
I shrugged again.
That earned me a strange look. “You two okay?”
No idea.
“Emotions were probably really high yesterday. I think y’all just needed to sleep on it.”
Was that all it was?
“What kind of help do you need around here? I’ve got time. You should go eat. And maybe take a shower.” He made a face like I smelled awful, which I probably did.
“Just the stalls opened up. And eggs collected. Take them home with you.”
“Both barns? Basket on the front porch?”
“Si.” Then I hit him with a sincere look. “Grazie.”
Cameron’s smile was small, but knowing. “Prego, my friend.” I headed toward the door, but of course, he couldn’t leave it at just that.
“One of these days, you’re going to have to accept that you’re an islander, you know?
That we take care of our own, and we forgive pretty easily. Danica’s an islander too.”
I didn’t look back at him. I couldn’t.
Because he was right, but I just had no idea how to handle it.
Every day, Sam came to visit Raven and Midnight.
But every day, Maverick brought her.
Sure, it gave me an opportunity to get to know the young hockey player better, and even though I initially declined the invitation to go on his podcast with him, he wore me down by Thursday with all his positive golden retriever energy.
But every day, I held out hope that Danica would be the one to bring her daughter over.
She never did.
Maverick grabbed her overnight bag and took it back to her, and Sam never mentioned her mother. Not that I asked. It wasn’t the child’s job to get in the middle of adult drama. She had enough on her own plate navigating hormones, school, and adolescence.
By Friday morning, I was convinced that things between Danica and me were well and truly over.
And I was sick to my stomach over it.
I just had no idea how to fix things. If that was something she even wanted.