Chapter Eight
“Why do you never listen?” Neil yelled as he pulled her body hard against the front of his.
It happened so abruptly their noses almost touched, and she could feel his breath on her face.
His eyes widened, clearly in shock. Poppy gasped at their immediate closeness, and she tried to pull herself free of his tight grip, but he was as strong as a bull.
She was flustered, but then he pulled away ever so slightly, putting some distance between them.
She inhaled deeply and mustered all her courage to look him straight in the eyes.
“I can’t just stand by and watch animals suffer like that!” she yelled back, although not as forcefully. Even though Neil’s temper was unpredictable, Poppy didn’t feel threatened into silence. His outbursts had none of the bite Madam Marveau used to have, so she felt safe to speak her mind.
“And what are you going to do?” he asked. “What experience do you have with horses or any ranch animals?”
Poppy’s breath came out in a gasp. Even though it hurt her that he seemingly saw her as some kind of burden, he was right about that.
Despite always liking them, she had no experience with any animals.
None. But her urge to help was overpowering all of that.
This was an urgent situation, and she wasn’t as useless as he made her out to be.
“Then tell me what you want me to do!” she exclaimed, exasperated. “Stop wasting precious time and put me to work!”
Neil’s eyebrows shot up. Apparently, he’d run out of snarky remarks.
Then he released a deep sigh and nodded. “All right!” he said. “They seem to have fevers. We need to cool them down. If you want to help, bring as many rags or towels as you can. We’ll tell you what to do when you’re back.”
Poppy nodded with wide eyes, but when she wanted to turn around, his hand was still stopping her from leaving. They both looked down at his hand, grabbing her elbow.
“Sorry,” he said, releasing his grip. “I didn’t mean to grab you like that.
” He shot her a quick glance that almost looked apologetic.
She nodded with a shy smile, then she turned around and ran back toward the house, while Neil started barking orders at the others to grab as many buckets of cold water as they could.
By the time Poppy ran back into the house, her lungs were burning, but she was determined to help as much as she could.
When all the chaos had broken loose, Poppy had called Barley into the house to watch Sophie. When she quickly went to their bedroom to check on them, Barley was reading from the Bible to Sophie, who was intently listening to the story of Noah’s Ark, which was her favorite.
That was all Poppy needed to see. She quietly closed the door, then turned on her heels and ran as fast as she could to the storage room to collect as many rags and towels as possible.
When she ran back outside, the men were in the field, carrying buckets full of ice-cold water to each of the sick horses.
Poppy rushed to join them and handed the men stacks of random linens.
When she reached Neil, she found him calmly talking to a distressed, gray-colored mare that was laying wide-eyed on the ground and making some strange grunting noises.
He immediately grabbed one of the linen towels she handed him, drenched it with cold water, and dripped some of it over the mare’s pale gums before he draped the cloth over her sweaty neck.
“Did you see what I did?” he asked Poppy, who had paid close attention to every single step.
“Yes!” she replied, immediately taking another rag, repeating each step exactly the way Neil had done.
“Good!” he said, patting her shoulder as he got up from his crouched position. Poppy watched how he looked around at all the other horses being treated the same way by his workers. Then Paul came walking over to them.
“So far, none of the horses have died, which is a good sign,” he said a little breathlessly. He pulled off his head and wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve. “Do you have any idea what could have caused it?”
Poppy drenched another cloth in water, gently dribbling drops over the mare’s gums before she wiped the cool fabric over the horse’s eyes. Poor animal. The strange noises it made were heartbreaking.
“I don’t know. All signs point toward a viral outbreak, but I am not entirely sure that’s it,” Neil said to Paul. “It all happened too quickly, too suddenly. There were no signs of any previous symptoms—”
“What about poison?” Poppy asked as she washed one of the draped linens in fresh water, wrung it out with her hands, and draped it over the same spot again.
Both men looked down at her, and when Poppy looked up, she could clearly see their minds spinning. Paul glanced at Neil, then Neil looked at Paul. Both were scowling.
“What makes you think that?” Neil asked with an almost harsh-sounding voice, and Poppy didn’t know if he was angry at her suggesting it. She just shrugged.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly, and she already regretted saying it. “I once heard of a woman who poisoned a whole flock of chickens in a cage in an alley because she thought they were too noisy,” Poppy explained. “But they all died, so it’s probably not the same.”
“I suspect it might be something they ate,” another man said as he joined the small group. He was one of the workers.
“Well, whatever it is,” Neil replied with a heavy sigh, “we need to make sure that all other horses do not come near this area, and we need to keep these ones contained where they are until we know for certain what caused this.”
“Let’s just hope they recover,” Paul said with a sad expression on his face.
Poppy nodded to that as she gently stroked the mare’s face. Her nickering seemed to sound slightly calmer, and her eyes weren’t as panicked anymore. It was the first time Poppy had ever been this close to a horse like that, and for some reason, her heart truly went out to the mare.
“What’s her name?” Poppy asked when Paul and the other worker walked over to one of the other horses. “Does she have a name?” Poppy asked, shyly looking up at Neil. He stared down at her, seemingly bewildered.
“Storm,” he finally said. Poppy smiled at that and looked back down at the mare.
“Dear God, please give Storm and all the other horses strength. Help heal them from within with Your light. Father in Heaven, protect these vulnerable creatures from whatever evil that has befallen them and make them whole again. Amen.”
***
The night had been long and arduous, and none of the working men seemed to have gotten much sleep, including Neil and Paul.
When Poppy got up before sunrise to get a head start in the kitchen, she was surprised to see Neil walk out the back of the house with an oil lantern.
Walking toward the back window, Poppy noticed a few of those lanterns dotted all around the area where the sick horses were, shining a soft glow over several men caring for them.
Seeing how dedicated everybody was lit a fire within Poppy to work extra hard, so she rolled up her sleeves, set up a large pot of coffee, and then began to get busy in the kitchen.
Maeve, the previous housekeeper, had been so kind to leave Poppy a small stack of recipes she had written down for her, and Poppy was so very grateful for that.
These men had been out there all night, so the least she could do was make sure they were properly fed.
By the time the sun had risen over the rugged landscape in the east, dousing the kitchen in golden light, the counter was loaded with heaping plates full of fried bacon, fried eggs, freshly baked loaves of bread, and even three different fruit pies.
There were several cheeses, ham, jerky, and leftover slices of roast.
Poppy felt accomplished and proud of what she had achieved, and when the first men came in for breakfast, their reaction was very overwhelmingly positive. The men even spoke blessings over their food before they ate, which made Poppy even happier.
By the time Paul and Neil came into the house, the dining room was almost full. Even Barley and Sophie were eating. Paul greeted Poppy with a beaming smile.
“Good morning! This looks amazing!” he exclaimed as he took his seat, while Poppy put a cup of steaming hot coffee in front of him.
She nodded with a small smile. She still felt shy around most of the men, particularly Neil, who always seemed to be grumpy.
And sure enough, when she glanced at her husband, he had a scowl on his handsome face.
Although this time she understood why and didn’t take it personally.
He seemed to be deeply in thought when he sat down at the head of the table, and he barely seemed to notice her putting his cup of coffee in front of him.
Poppy knew he was upset about what had happened, and she didn’t want to disturb his thoughts, so she just turned away from him without saying a word.
But then his hand gently grabbed her wrist before she could disappear.
His hand was warm and rough against her soft skin.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice gravely from bringing up all night. “This looks great.” Poppy glanced back at him. Their eye contact was only brief, but it was much appreciated.
“How are the horses?” she asked tentatively. “Did all of them make it through the night?” That’s when Neil looked directly at her. He looked exhausted.
Paul nodded as he chewed his food with gusto. “Yup! They all made it,” he said. “So far so good.”
“I’m glad Storm is okay,” Poppy said softly, which made Neil tilt his head slightly. He didn’t say anything, but Poppy noticed the corner of his mouth lift ever so slightly into a smile.
Then one of the men on the other side of the table asked for more coffee, and Poppy rushed to fill his cup.
Poppy was surprised at all the compliments she got for her breakfast spread.
It felt good to be appreciated, even after everyone had left, and Poppy was left with the monumental task of cleaning all the dishes afterwards.