House of Mercy Read Free Page B

head at Phil’s optimism. “Sixteen days ago we could have turned this around with topical antibiotics. She might have improved in a few days. But this—this is called a melting ulcer. They’re wicked. Somewhere along the line that plain vanilla ulcer picked up some bacteria or a fungus. The infection is only going to get worse.”
    Her first-aid kit sat in the straw beside her, worthless.
    Phil glanced at Fiona. “What do we do?”
    “You get a vet on this right now. A licensed vet. Tonight. I can call someone for you.”
    “What’s he going to tell us?”
    “That you waited too long to call him. That Marigold might need surgery to reverse this, depending on how deep it’s gone. Two weeks is a long time, you guys.”
    “She just didn’t give any sign that it really bothered her,” Fiona said.
    Beth was sure the horse had. It was more likely that Phil and Fiona didn’t recognize what they were seeing. “I don’t mean to be cruel, but you need to understand how serious this is. She could lose her eye if you don’t treat it aggressively.”
    Fiona dropped her head onto her knees. Phil paled. He didn’t have to say what Beth knew was running through his mind. The cost of an equine surgery on a grocer’s salary would hurt. Even if surgery wasn’t part of the equation, the antibiotics, the anti-inflammatories, the medications to control the enzymes that were destroying the eye tissues would all add up.
    Beth placed a hand on Phil’s arm. “Come with me for a second. I brought something that might help.”
    Over the next several minutes, Beth focused on restoring hope to the siblings. She took them out to her truck and showed them the saddle’s silver.
    “You can remove it from the leather,” she explained. “Sell it for cash. I’m sure there’s enough here to cover whatever Marigold needs.” It took some effort, but she eventually coaxed them into accepting the gift for Marigold’s sake. Then Beth called the Blazing B’s own vet and asked his phone service to rouse him from his sleep. While the threesome waited for Dr. O’Connor’s return call, she sang his praises. By the time he agreed to come out in spite of the hour, Phil and Fiona had regained some of their optimism.
    “We thought of the perfect way to thank you,” Fiona said as Beth closed her cell phone. There was excitement in the light touch she placed on Beth’s arm. “Wait here. It’ll just take a few minutes.”
    “You don’t need to do anything. Really.”
    “We do, we do. Give us five.”
    Five minutes was nothing to ask. The vet wouldn’t arrive for forty-five at least.
    Beth opened the tailgate and sat under the bright moon while she waited. Phil had carried the silver-clad saddle back through the stables to his own truck on the other side, and already she was having second thoughts about whether offering that up had been the right thing to do. She was disappointed in herself for not bringing it up to Jacob. And she could think of a dozen things that silver might have paid for at her very own ranch. Why hadn’t she considered any of them in the hour between Phil’s concerned phone call and her brilliant idea to foot Marigold’s bill?
    Because her idea had been inspired. Two hours ago she had no doubt that it was exactly what she ought to do. Beth sent her memory in search of that certainty so that she could hold on to it more firmly this time.
    “It’s not your right to do it,” Jacob said, loud and close, and Beth jerked out of her reverie, expecting to see him standing beside the truck. Instead she found Fiona. The girl seized Beth’s wrist and yanked her right off the tailgate, then tugged her back into the bright stables.
    Phil was grinning at her, standing in the alley next to the tallest, glossiest, most beautiful Thoroughbred horse Beth had ever seen. She felt her lips form an O as admiration filled her next breath.
    “What d’ya think?” he said.
    Beth’s sigh was awed and contented at the same time.