Chapter Nine
It was late at night, and the full moon was hiding behind the low-hanging clouds.
Not a single star lit up the sky. Neil stood in the middle of the field, holding up an oil lamp, looking at each of the sick horses.
They had lost two of the older ones. Neil took it personally because he was responsible for the well-being of his animals.
Losing two that way was a hard loss for him.
Most of the others were still lying on the ground; two at least had their heads up, and two had managed to get up onto their feet, although they seemed to be barely standing.
None of them looked much better. Most still had fevers, tremors, and signs of pain and discomfort, and half of them showed signs of colic.
Not knowing what was causing their suffering was maddening. He hadn’t slept a wink since all this happened, and he had skipped several meals already.
Three or four of his men were still out there working, watching over these vulnerable animals. After the debacle earlier today, he was all the more vigilant that no predators would come into the paddock, harming or stressing any of his horses.
This was the second day, and he wouldn’t allow anything else to happen to them.
Coyotes liked to roam the territory at night, and although they hadn’t shown up yet, Neil wouldn’t take any chances.
He had positioned two of his men on each side of the paddock, armed with rifles, and had given clear instructions to shoot any intruders should they sniff around the place.
“You should get some rest,” Paul said from behind him. Neil turned around and saw his friend walk up to him. “It’s late. Both of us haven’t slept in two days now.” Neil nodded. He could feel the exhaustion in his bones, but his mind didn’t want to be still.
“I know. Why don’t you go and get some sleep?” he suggested. “I’ll stay out here a little while longer.”
“Don’t you have a couple of men out on watch?
How about we sit on the porch and have a drink together?
” Paul asked as he pulled a bottle with an amber liquid and two shot glasses out from behind his back.
“I could use a drink, can’t you?” He wiggled the bottle, and the way the liquid shined in the dim glow of the lanterns showed the high quality of the whiskey he was holding. Neil smiled at that.
“I could, actually,” he admitted as he pointed his lantern the other way.
They walked off toward the house, where they each sat down in a rocking chair.
Paul filled the glasses to the rim, and both drank them in one big gulp.
Neil enjoyed the familiar burn of the whiskey running down his throat.
Then Paul filled the glasses a second time, but both took their time drinking it.
The soft breeze had picked up a little, which added a little chill to the air as they listened to the crickets for a while. An owl called from far off, and the first spring peepers started their nightly courting song.
“It’s driving me insane,” Neil finally said, his voice gravelly from his exhaustion. “I don’t think I’ve slept since it happened.”
“Same here,” Paul agreed. “These strange symptoms are nothing like I’ve seen or heard of before. I know it could be some kind of virus that would cause the tremors, fever, and lethargy, but it doesn’t happen that quickly, and it’s not that contagious either.”
Neil nodded in agreement.
“I thought the same thing,” he mused. “The illness progression is new, too. It’s a complete riddle how it happened to so many so fast.”
“Could it be something they ate?” Paul asked more to himself, as he drank another sip of whiskey.
“We keep the paddocks clean of anything they shouldn’t eat,” Neil replied, finishing the rest of his drink.
“Obviously, we can’t monitor them all at all times, but they tend to stay away from poisonous plants.
And if that were the case, then it would have been one, not nine overall.
They have an innate aversion to it, so I don’t think it was that. ”
Paul nodded, finished his drink, and poured both of them another one.
“What if it was foul play?” he asked hesitantly. Neil turned his head and looked straight at him in the dim light of the lantern standing between them on the small table. Neil shrugged.
“It wouldn’t be completely impossible, seeing that so many other ranchers are jealous of your success,” Paul continued. “Vale is the only one with a larger ranch and more money, so he’s the one who’d have a problem with your growing success.”
Neil nodded with a grunt as he thought about it.
Paul wasn’t wrong. Finn had always messed with him, and ever since she had chosen him over Neil, Finn’s ego had inflated like a balloon.
It still aggravated Neil whenever he thought about it.
He drank his third glass in one gulp. Paul hadn’t touched his yet, so he took the bottle and filled his glass again.
“Didn’t Poppy mention it too?” Paul added, which made Neil pause. When he looked up at his friend, he scowled.
“She did. Don’t you think that’s odd?” Neil mused. “How would she know that?”
“She was just thinking out loud,” Paul said, shooting him a strange look. “Some of us were thinking the same thing.”
“It’s just odd that things started happening only after she arrived,” Neil responded uncomfortably.
“What is your problem with her?” Paul asked a little too loudly, reminding Neil that his friend could be very direct. Neil thought about it for a minute, then he sighed deeply.
“I don’t know,” he admitted honestly. “What if she’s working for Finn, trying to sabotage things here?”
“What?” Paul almost choked on his drink. “What would make you say that?”
“Finn was there when I picked Poppy up from the train station,” Neil explained. “They were talking, and their conversation seemed strange. It was almost as if he wanted to challenge me to take her...” He stopped himself. Despite his fears, he didn’t actually believe what he was saying.
“You know Vale!” Paul said. “You know what a manipulator he is. He’ll take any opportunity to mess with you. Any!”
Neil nodded again. That was true.
Paul’s eyebrows shot up, and he leaned forward, looking Neil straight in the eyes.
“But now you want to blame her for everything that’s happened?” Paul asked, clearly bewildered. “Are you serious?”
Neil shrugged, but he knew deep down that he was being unreasonable.
“Poppy has done nothing wrong,” Paul said sternly.
“She’s a young woman who has moved into a new home, takes care of her little sister as well as a whole horde of strangers, has married a grumpy husband who hasn’t said a single nice thing to here—at least not when I’m around—and she loves the Lord! ”
“She let the dog into the paddock and—” Neil started weakly, but Paul interrupted him.
“That was an honest mistake. She grew up in the city. Of course she didn’t know better.
But regardless, you married this woman, yet you don’t appreciate a single thing she does.
And now you want to blame her for what happened to the horses, too?
That’s hardly fair. I thought you were better than that, man! ”
Neil could hear the disappointment in Paul’s voice, and for some reason, his words hit something inside of him that resonated.
It was true. He hadn’t been fair to Poppy.
In his mind, she was at fault for almost everything, but his heart knew all too well that his bitterness had nothing to do with his new wife.
All of his resentment was attributed to another woman, and that made him look like a very weak and bad man indeed.
Neil suddenly realized that he’d given her more power than he should have, dwelling on their past together, and that he’d made Poppy suffer for it. The realization hit him hard, and it made him feel terrible. When had he turned into such an insensitive person?
“You’re right,” Neil finally said. “I have not treated her well, and she really does not deserve it.”
“No, she does not!” Paul exclaimed. He drank his whiskey and poured himself another. “You have a chance at real happiness. Poppy is sweet and caring, and just in case you haven’t noticed, she is very beautiful, too! I’d do anything to have a wife like that.”
Neil looked at him, and he had to acknowledge yet again that Paul was telling the truth.
He had noticed how beautiful his new wife was—in fact, her face whirled around in his mind most of the time, he just didn’t want to admit it.
He drank his last shot of whiskey then set the glass upside down on the table.
“Let’s get some sleep.” Neil said. “It’s been a long day.”
***
The minute Neil walked into the house, its stillness got to him. It grounded him.
Those last two days had been hard on his body and his mental state, but for some reason, he suddenly felt calmer. A nagging tension at the back of his mind had disappeared completely, and Neil tapped into that feeling of peace and contentment.
Then he heard something near the back of the house. It was a very faint noise, and at first, he thought he’d imagined it, but then he heard it again. His head turned toward it, and then his feet followed as well.
It was singing. Very softly and very quietly. And it came from the last room at the end of the hallway.
When he got closer, Neil saw the soft sheen of candlelight shining underneath the door of Poppy’s room. She sang a song he had never heard before. It sounded like a lullaby. Neil stepped closer, curiously.
Having reached the door, he saw that it wasn’t fully closed. He peeked inside. Poppy and Sophie were both sitting upright in bed. Sophie seemed upset, and every now and again, she sobbed a soft sob.
While Poppy was quietly singing to her little sister, she rocked her back and forth, and the little girl slowly calmed down. At some point, Poppy laid her down again, tucking her in with the blankets around her.
“It was just a bad dream, sweetie,” Poppy whispered to Sophie. “You don’t need to be afraid. I’m right here. I’ll protect you. God is watching over you, and mom’s angel is watching over you, too.”
Neil felt a pinch inside of his heart. Besides all the other things he had acknowledged during his conversation with Paul, he now also realized that he didn’t really know the story of what happened to both of them, where they’d come from, why they’d left.
Neil closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.
He needed to do better. He needed to be better.
Neil started to turn around to leave, but just as he glanced back at them one last time, Poppy looked up and looked him straight in the eyes.