Page 61 of Snowed In with the Rancher

Triss grabbed all of the blankets and even a couple of those shiny silver thermal blankets that were folded up under the seat. She raced back to Asher’s truck where Nate had cranked the heat and was berating his brother.

“I told you not to do anything stupid,” Nate said. “And then you went and did the stupidest fucking thing imaginable.”

Asher’s teeth were chattering, but already his lips had more color and his eyes were open wider.

“I’m nervous to leave him,” Triss said. “But we need to go get Dare.”

Nate seemed just as torn as she was. “We’ll move him to my truck with Hannah, then she can keep an eye on him.” He scooped Asher back up, blankets and all, and carried him effortlessly to the other truck where they cranked the heat and Hannah could talk his ear off and keep him awake.

“Should we get him to a hospital?” she asked.

Nate shook his head. “We should, but the closest hospital is in Denver, which is thirty minutes away and the roads are getting dicey again with all the snow. He fell through the ice of a frozen pond when we were kids on my uncle’s ranch, I know what to do for hypothermia. As long as his legs aren’t broken …”

She shook her head. “They’re not. We can assess him for spinal damage and further injuries when we get him home.”

Nate nodded, then the two of them went to see about helping Dare.

She handed Nate the wire cutters and he clipped everything he could around Dare, then using the equine first aid kit from his truck, he bandaged up Dare’s ankle. “Fuck, buddy,” Nate said, petting the horse. “I don’t want to put you down. I really don’t.”

“We’re not going to,” Triss said, glaring at Nate. “How do we get him into your truck and back to the barn?”

“This is a six-hundred-pound horse, Triss, we don’t.”

That wasn’t the right answer.

She shook her head, unwilling to accept that this was Dare’s fate. “We can call the vet. The road is clear enough still, one can come here and take a look, right?”

Nate shook his head. “I saw the break. The bones shattered and punctured through the skin. There is no coming back from this.”

“You’re giving up on him? He can come back. He can. He’s strong, he’s a fighter. You’re just not willing to put in the work.”

Nate’s blue eyes held a hardness that sent up her hackles. “I’d spend every hour of my life fighting if I knew it would help this horse get better, but it won’t. He’ll get laminitis, possibly necrosis of the wound, and he’d have to stay laying down to recover, which will most likely mean pneumonia and pressure sores. We’d have to keep him constantly drugged and his life would be miserable. A break like this is fatal for a horse and every horse owner knows it. Asher knows it.”

Fresh, hot tears spilled down her cheeks and her chin trembled. “So … so what? You’re just going to shoot him?”

His expression softened. “He’s in pain right now, Triss. A lot of pain. The kindest thing to do right now is put him out of his misery. I hate that term, but it’s true. Dare is scared, miserable and in agony. Nobody deserves that.”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t deserve to die like this.”

“No horse does. This is one of the hardest parts about being a rancher, putting down your best friends.”

Swallowing, she glanced over at Dare. “Does it have to be a gun?”

“I could drive back to the barn and get a sedative and the barbiturates the vet uses if you’d prefer. But I do have a gun in the truck. It would be faster and he would suffer less since it’d take time to drive back to the house. And he’s already been in pain for a while.”

“You’re making this my decision?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m letting you know our choices, then we’ll make the decision together. If you want me to euthanize him, I will. Or, you can go and hold him, pet him and tell him he’s a good boy, then I’ll do what needs to be done.”

“What would Asher do?”

“The quickest and most painless way.”

Sucking in a deep breath, she squeezed her eyes shut and nodded as more tears trailed down her cheeks. “Okay. Quick and painless.”

He nodded and went to his truck, while she went over to Dare. Kneeling down in the snow, she pressed her forehead to the side of the horse’s head. “I’m so sorry, Dare. I’m so, so sorry. You don’t deserve this. None of us do.”

She petted his velvety nose and kissed him, resting her head against his and scratching his ears.

---