Page 99 of Stockman's Stowaway

‘The pressure to try and win might be too much for Mia. She only needs to finish the obstacles as a demonstration of what the dog and handler can do.’ Ryder pointed at Mia. ‘And that I know you can do.’

‘You might even have fun out there.’ Bree nodded with that encouraging grin.

‘When you two team up, it’s hard to say no,’ said Mia.

‘It’s rare for us to agree on anything, but we all agree on this. So, stop with the suspense, precious, and just sayyes.’

Mia held her breath, shutting her eyes tight to whisper, ‘Yes.’

‘Good.’ Ryder nodded with approval. ‘I’ll go talk to the organisers and change the names over. Bree, one more thing.’Ryder opened his wallet and held out his credit card. ‘Do something with Mia. She is representing the station.’

‘You don’t judge people by what they wear.’ Bree frowned at Ryder.

‘They do in these events.’ Ryder matched Bree’s frown. ‘Cap polished his boots and put on a tie for this event.’

‘Ryder’s right.’ Dex nodded at the group of dog handlers standing in line for the judging of the show dog category. They all wore ties, and long-sleeved shirts. ‘Cap said all competitors do it out of respect for the sport.’

Mia patted her messy hair, rubbing one of her dirty boots against the back leg of her dust-covered overalls. ‘Bree, help?’

Bree’s eyes wandered over Mia’s appearance. ‘Fine… Ryder, while you go see the organisers, how about you give Dex the card to give to Harper where she can use it to buy an outfit for Mia. She knows Mia’s size. Tell Harper I want farmer’s daughter pizazz with a bit of her politician’s polish for the presentation. She’ll know what I mean.’ Bree hooked her arm through Mia’s. ‘You’re with me, precious. It’s makeover time.’

‘Bree? Before you go, I have to ask…’ Dex took the credit card from Ryder and twirled it in his fingers. ‘Who was the princess in the story? A relative?’

‘It was my mother.’ Bree gave such a casual shrug. ‘It’s the story of how I came to live with my grandparents. They flew down straight after they got the phone call from the police that every parent dreads.’

Mia gasped. ‘That’s why Charlie said you’d be an instant friend who’d help me. And how you could relate to my situation in so many ways. All those words of wisdom—they were life lessons.’

‘Life lessons? Sure, if that’s what you want to call it.’ Bree gave a soft smile, barely curling her lips, yet it revealed a wise soul hidden beneath all that brassiness. ‘I think everyoneneeds lessons on how to protect the people they love, to help them become better than how they found them.’ Bree tenderly brushed the hair away from Mia’s face like a sister. ‘Everyone heals their own way. And I know I told you to take as long as you need to heal, by doing it the right way for you. And, as Cap would say, fate brought you out home that day for a reason and I think it was not just to heal, or to find Cap, but to findyou.’ She gently poked Mia’s chest. ‘You can do this. You are stronger than you realise.’

It gave her hope and that spark of courage. ‘Okay, I’m in.’

‘Good… Stop looking at me like that, you two.’ Bree shooed the two men away and re-hooked her arm through Mia’s. ‘Now, let’s do this makeover. We all could do with a win about now.’

Forty-one

‘Fern did the deed.’ Charlie was jubilant as he strolled back into the surgery, with the blue heeler trotting beside him on a lead. ‘Reckon she’d been holding it for a while. But she looks good to me, Doc. What do you reckon?’

Ryan checked over the dog.

Cap was sitting on the floor of the large cage with Atlas lying alongside, watching the drip-drip-drip of the liquid falling from the plastic bag, the clear tube disappearing under the bandage wrapped around one of Atlas’s front legs.

The dog thumped his heavy tail, his worried eyes on Cap.

‘All good, mate. I’m right here. You just get better.’ He tenderly stroked the animal.

Ryan finished inspecting Fern and stripped off his gloves. ‘I don’t think Fern got poisoned. Her vitals are fine, and my preliminary blood tests didn’t find any toxins in her system. Is it possible she didn’t drink any of that water?’

‘There were two bowls in their pen. Maybe she didn’t.Come here, Fern?’ He sat forward. ‘Stay, Atlas.’

The blue cattle dog trotted over, her tail wagging, her eyes clear, and lapped up the pats. ‘Fern’s been known not to drink that much water. She does after a big run, but they haven’t run today. I was saving them for…’ The events he’d been hoping to make a name in, not only for himself, but for the station, to showhis brothers they were a team. Even though his methods may seem unconventional to some for picking up stray dogs or saving them from a farmer’s bullet to turn them into muster dogs, he was doing it to help the dogs born for the job, and also to show those farmers how minor changes could make a bigger impact for the better.

But that was all dashed.

And he was never leaving his dogs unsupervised in town again.

‘To be on the safe side, Charlie, keep giving Fern water,’ said Ryan.

‘I’ll get Bree to whip up her special chicken dog stew,’ said Charlie. ‘Cleans ‘em out proper, but full of goodies. It’ll be safe for all your dogs, Cap, for sure.’

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