Chapter Twenty-Seven
Evan
The day had started uneventfully. I didn’t want to rush Nora, but I did circle her property, hoping to catch her walking to Mabel’s. When I hadn’t, I’d found a hundred things to occupy my time, but I couldn’t stop circling.
The sun was beginning to set when I met Palila near the fence that led up to the Burke barn. “You see Nora today?” she asked. Her tone was casual, but her eyes didn’t leave the trail leading toward the north pasture.
“No,” I said, the word feeling light in my mouth. “Why?”
“She was supposed to meet me earlier. We had a ride planned.”
“Have you asked Mabel?” I suggested.
Palila shrugged, but the movement was stiff. “She hasn’t seen her, and Nora isn’t answering her phone.”
We started up the dirt road toward the barn. “Let’s see if she’s around.”
Inside the barn, the air was cooler, thick with the smell of sweet hay and horse coat. Harper didn’t look up as we approached, his focus on the neat line of straw he was ushering down the aisle.
“Evening,” he grunted as he paused.
Palila stepped past me, her boots clicking double-time on the concrete. “Hey, Harper, Nora ride out earlier?”
Harper put his broom aside. He shook his head slowly. “Not that I know of, but I was gone most of the day. Sunny is in his stall, so Nora must have been here. Hang on. Let me check something.”
The first prickle hit me. It was just that low-frequency hum of something not adding up. Nora didn’t stand people up.
Palila nodded, but she’d already turned toward the stalls. She walked past Sunny, who poked his nose out for a scratch she didn’t give him. Then she stopped. Her entire frame went rigid.
Harper returned. “Untouchable isn’t in the pasture.”
Palila retreated a step, her face pale beneath her tan. “You think Nora is out somewhere on Untouchable?”
“Untouchable’s tack is gone,” Harper said, the words falling like stones. He took out his phone made a call.
A phone rang on a bale of hay outside of Sunny’s stall.
Shit.
Harper made another call, this time to ask someone if they’d seen Nora.
“Where does Nora ride?” I asked. My voice sounded thin, even to my own ears.
Palila shook her head instantly. “Alone? Only in the ring. Together, we’ve ridden the lower trails, and she won’t even take Untouchable past the main gate.” She hesitated, her jaw tightening. “Something is wrong, Evan.”
Cody Burke appeared in the barn doorway, the very air around him vibrating with an agitated energy.
He demanded, looking from Harper to the empty stall. “Where’s my daughter?”
“That’s what we’re wondering,” Palila answered.
His attention flew to Harper who looked shaken. “How long has she been missing?”
Harper made a pained face. “I was out ordering hay from a new distributor. I just got back.”
“So you don’t know,” Cody thundered.
“Mr. Burke,” I interceded. “We’re all worried.”
Cody’s fury landed on me. “Why are you here?”
“That’s not the important question to ask right now. Nora is somewhere, possibly on Untouchable. Where would she go?” I demanded.
“Nora is on Untouchable?” Cody boomed and spun toward Harper. “You let her ride that horse?”
Harper straightened. “Untouchable has a good brain.”
“She killed my wife!” Cody snarled.
Palila stepped closer. “No, Mr. Burke. Untouchable didn’t kill anyone. The mountain took Celia.”
Cody recoiled, confused and angry. “All that matters is Nora. Are we sure she took that horse?”
Palila answered. “We think so.”
“Did something happen that upset her?” I asked.
Cody glared at me, his jaw flexing so hard I thought his teeth might crack. “What are you implying?”
“I’m not implying anything, but if Nora rode out on Untouchable, knowing her state of mind could help us find her.” Even as I formed the next question in my head, I started texting Tim. And then my father. And then Bella. And Brady. And Mabel.
Even if Nora rode out of the woods right that moment and was perfectly fine, I wouldn’t regret sending those texts. In the mountains, when the sun was dipping low, every moment mattered.
Cody was pacing wildly. “Nora isn’t impulsive. She knows where to ride safely. We need to check the property. She could have fallen off.” His voice tightened and he began to send out texts of his own.
Chaos erupted shortly after we walked the immediate area.
Tim arrived, his radio crackling with the static of a search already being mobilized.
Mabel was there, her voice a steady anchor as she began assigning riders to the lower trails.
Mention of Gabe Holliston’s helicopter being prepped made Cody’s face purple, but the fight had gone out of him.
The fear for his daughter had finally overshadowed his pride.
I stood by the empty stall, and the weight of every second I’d wasted slammed into me.
Every “later” I’d promised myself, every conversation I’d delayed because I was too busy being a “noble idiot” or running from my own shadow.
Later wasn’t guaranteed. Now was all we had, and Nora was out there in the dark.
“This might sound crazy . . .” Palila’s voice cut through the shouting.
She was standing by Sunny’s stall. The horse was frantic, his hooves striking sharp, restless beats against the mats, his whole body angled toward the open barn door as if he could will it wider.
He let out a high, urgent whinny, pulling against the stall as if trying to go.
“He’s Nora’s horse. He’s been trailing that mare for weeks.
He knows she’s gone, and he knows which way she went. ”
Cody scoffed, something about stupid horses but I was already moving. I looked at Sunny. Could he find Nora? I needed to believe he could.
“He knows,” I said.
Harper didn’t hesitate. He opened the stall door. “You ever ridden a Paso Fino, Evan? It’s a different engine than a Friesian.”
“We have a shared goal,” I muttered, grabbing some emergency supplies and stuffing them into a saddle bag. We both love the same woman.
Harper had Sunny saddled and ready. I swung the leather bag over his back, cinching it tight while the horse vibrated with anticipation.
Cody stepped in front of me, his eyes burning with a mix of fury and desperation.
For a heartbeat, the thirty-year feud sat between us, a wall of glass ready to shatter.
Then, Cody’s voice broke. “Bring my daughter home.”
Tim handed me a satellite phone. “Signal only works above the ridge. Call when you find her.”
When. Not if. Tim knew I wouldn’t fail.
I swung into the saddle. Sunny didn’t wait for a command. He turned toward the mountains, his ears pinned forward, narrowing his focus to one trail. I let the reins hang loose, trusting his instinct over mine.
“Nora needs you,” I whispered, leaning low over his neck. “Find her. Find Untouchable.”
The shift in the horse was instantaneous.
He didn’t just speed up; he gathered himself, his muscles bunching before he exploded forward.
The movement was glass-smooth, the legendary four-beat gait of the Paso Fino eating up the distance without the jarring bounce of a trot.
His corto lengthened into a largo, his speed increasing until we were a blur of motion against the rising slope of the mountain.
I stopped thinking. Stopped planning. Let Sunny choose the path and the pace, trusting instinct over control.
I gripped his mane with one hand, the wind whipping the scent of pine and impending rain into my face, and prayed the mountain was feeling merciful today.