Epilogue
epilogue
Dani
“Dani!” I hear Cade call from the alleyway.
I’m in the tack room currently looking into options to get my own equine therapy program up and running. It is a tedious and exhausting task, and I am terrified at the amount of work it would be. I am willing to do it though, even if I had to apply for a hundred grants. “Could you come here, please?”
I stand and stretch, grateful for the break, and step out into the alleyway where a woman I recognize is standing there. I frown and then it clicks for me.
“You’re Celina, right?” I step forward to shake her hand. Her appearance is flawless, but her expression tells me she’s upset.
“Yes, you’re Dani. I’ve heard things about you,” she tells me, her accent making the words more stilted.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” I turn to Cade, a question on my face. “This is one of Tommy’s clients.”
“Ex-clients,” she corrects .
I raise a brow, and Cade interjects, “Celina was telling me she has something she needs to show you.”
Celina wastes no time in producing her phone and handing it over. On the screen is a video of someone in a dark room. I furrow my brow when the picture comes into focus. There’s a medical box full of different things, but one of them is acepromazine. A very illegal drug in the horse world.
“Slide to the last video before that one.”
I do as she says, and when I do, I see Tommy Smith on the screen. He’s looking at someone else, a sleazy—at least to me—smile on his face as he does. He clearly doesn’t know he’s being filmed. The background puts them at a horse show. A number is pinned to the horse’s saddle pad, with the horse show name printed on it.
I can tell in his hands he holds a syringe, and he’s injecting something into the horse’s neck. Then, as you watch longer, you can distinctly see the horse’s muscles relax and loosen until its head is practically hanging.
“Oh god,” I say, covering my mouth. “How did you manage these videos?”
She lifts her chin, her arms crossed. “I can be sneaky when I need to be. I don’t know what to do about the videos, but I cannot stand by and allow this. I had no idea he was doing this to horses. I told him I was taking a break and took mine home, but there were others there. Either they don’t believe me, or they don’t care.”
I nod slowly and look over at Cade, his expression is severe, and I can tell there are some not-so-nice thoughts going through his head.
“Well, we can turn these into the board. It would take an investigation, but I’m not sure he can hide what he’s doing. Not with evidence.”
I agree with Cade, and Celina agrees to give us the videos so we can move forward with it. She also agrees to be a witness for the case if need be.
“There’s more,” she says, reaching into her purse and producing a black button.
“What is this?” I ask, taking it from her.
“It’s a training clicker. Some trainers use it to signal horses to do certain things, but…” She shrugs, looking at me. “Sometimes it has the opposite effect.”
I hesitate, looking at Cade. I walk over to Lady’s stall. I swallow as I look at her and then I lift the button, pausing for a moment before I click it. The moment I do, Lady darts away from me, her breathing picking up, and she won’t come near the door again .
I immediately take a step back and swallow hard. “Fucking prick,” I mumble, staring at the device in my hand.
Looking over my shoulder, Cade looks like he’s ready to go murder Tommy with his bare hands, and Celina looks on sadly.
“I saw you at that show when you were warming up.” Her eyes hold an apology she doesn’t owe. “He had that clicker and pressed it when you were near.”
I slump. “So that’s why she acted up.”
Cade shakes his head. “He’ll get what’s coming to him.”
I would do whatever I could to make sure he got what he deserved, ethically. After we’d patched things up, Cade had given me the gist of what he did, what he brought his brother with him to do, and I didn’t blame him.
He had seemed like he was worried I would be mad, but how could I be? He was doing what he felt was right.
Tommy deserved every second of it, and I wouldn’t feel bad for thinking so.
Celina looks around the barn at the lull in our conversation. “You train here, then?”
Cade nods his head. “Yes, ma’am. We focus primarily on cow horse here.”
“Reining?”
He nods again. “Of course.”
She hums and seems to be inspecting it. “Well, it’s a bit far, but I suppose I’d be willing to try it out.”
Cade’s eyebrows rise, and I grin at his surprise. “You want to train with us?”
I feel a rush of happiness at his use of the word “us.” We’re a team. This is our business. It feels good.
“I suppose,” she muses, then looks at me. “No offense to your husband, but it would make me feel better if a woman was around when I took lessons.”
I pause, then nod. “Of course.”
“Tommy was always a little too…appreciative of my looks.” She turns to Cade, waving a hand. “Not that I’m lumping you in there, but I have to protect myself.”
If Cade didn’t hate Tommy before, judging by his expression, this just pushed it into the red zone. “We’ll do whatever you need to make you feel comfortable here.”
Celina leaves with our information, and we agree on a time for her to come and bring her horse.
We turn to each other as she leaves, and I sigh. “You think those videos will take care of him? ”
Cade shrugs before he reaches over and pulls me into him. “It’s worth a shot. He needs to be stopped. Though that doesn’t do anything about him using the clicker to hurt the horses. He has to have been forcing them to do shit while clicking it. Horses don’t just develop fears.”
I hum in agreement, my heart flipping over in my chest as I think of what my mare went through. “At least we got a little bit of justice,” I say, referring to him putting Tommy in his place. I wasn’t stopping there though, even if it ruined my reputation. If I have anything to say about it, Tommy will never show in cow horse again, at least not in our state.
“It was the least he deserved,” Cade replies.
We start our daily walk out to the property where our home is being built. Henry Blake and his team are moving through it swiftly, building our dream right up in front of us and giving me hope for a bright and happy future.
“How do you feel?” I ask Cade, nodding back toward the barn. “About a new client?”
He seems to think about his answer before he turns to me. “Hopeful. Happy. How about you?”
I smile and say, “I think my future is rather bright.”
He pulls me close. “Think a wedding lies in your future anytime soon?”
I nod my head. “Spring is nice.”
Cade lifts a brow. “Spring is nice, isn’t it?”
We look out over the mountain range, the barn on one side and our future home on the other. We’re surrounded by the people and things we love, and most importantly, we have each other.