Page 9 of Reining Her In

C H A P T E R F O U R

Reed

The sun is up and my face is in my hands as I sit in the world’s most uncomfortable chair.

“Sir.” A woman’s voice breaks through my foggy thoughts.

I look up to see a familiar face. “Yes?” This nurse has become my best friend since I took up residence in the main hospital waiting room. I’m pretty sure it’s pity I see in her eyes but I don’t care.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this.” Her dark skin and broad smile give me some comfort. If it was bad news I don’t think she’d be smiling. “But Miss Montgomery is stable and they’re moving her out of ICU and down to a regular room. Maybe you should go home and get some rest, then come back later. You gotta be tired.”

Constance was delivered here to Hartford Memorial yesterday afternoon, and has been in the ICU ever since while they monitored her head injury.

I am not allowed up on the ICU floor because according to the hospital I’m not family.

This sounds crazy, but when they said that it made me mad. I think of how she looked at me, how much she needed me while I cradled her head and tried to give her some comfort.

And I needed her, too. Some connection unlike anything I’ve ever felt before stirred like an unearthed beast within me, and I’ve been sitting here in the lobby, trying to find out anything I can about her condition.

“Thank you, Melanie. I’ll stay.”

The kind, maternal look in the nurse’s eye has become familiar.

“Suit yourself.” She drops her voice to a whisper. “I’ll see if I can’t get you her room number once they get her moved.” She walks away humming.

I stuff a hand down into my pocket to find my phone. My neck aches from dozing off sitting up, and as much as I hate that I take them every day, the pain medication for my leg is back at my house so my body is throbbing and my nerves feel raw. I tap the phone screen until I find the number. I’m calling in a favor, but I can’t shake the feeling that something is not right and there isn’t much I wouldn’t do to find out what caused her horse to go berserk. From everyone I’ve asked, that horse has never done anything like that before and I’ve been around long enough to know when something smells like shit.

“Doc Mills here.” The gravelly voice on the other end of the line is always the same.

“Doc, it’s Reed.”

“Reed. Heard there was some commotion over at Warrington yesterday.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling, I need a favor.”

“Sure thing. What is it?”

“That mare that went nuts, they trailered her to Michigan State University to the Veterinary Hospital. You know the director there, don’t you?”

“Yes, Morris Wyatt and I went to vet school together a hundred years ago.”

“I want to see the blood work on that mare. I want them to run a full panel for anything in her system. I’ll pay them directly for the test. I want it kept quiet though. Just you and me, okay?”

“You thinking what I think you’re thinking?”

“I’m thinking Travis may be the one walking with a limp very soon, but I need proof.”

“You got it. I’ll get it done. You know who that girl is, don’t you?”

“Yep.” I want to tell him that she’s my future wife and the mother of my children, but that’s not what he’s asking. “Okay. You know, Travis has always been digging for gold. Not sure what he was thinking if he doped that horse. But if my instincts are correct, it had something to do with getting himself ahead.”

No one knows for sure, but the day I took my fall, my horse had a similar reaction to the mare today.

There have been other occasions when I’d suspected Travis of pumping his own horses before a show to get them to jump higher or go faster, but until today, when I saw that exact same reaction in her horse, it was just a vague suspicion. I’m fairly sure he’s got a hand in this, though, and I intend to prove it.

Horses are tested at random, but it’s not enough to catch everyone and everything. I’ve seen some shit in this sport that people do to their animals that makes me want to quit, but at least if I’m here, I know my students and horses are treated right.

I wrap up my phone conversation with Doc because my nurse friend is headed back my way.

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