Page 38 of His Tenth Dance

They’d thankfully almost been back to the stables, and Boone had heard Lady scream and come running outside.

Mission had been the closest to Molly, and he’d barked at the girls in front of him to join their group quickly. Then he’d galloped to where she’d been lying on the grass after being thrown from Lady’s back.

“Dear Lord,” he prayed right out loud. “I cannot have this happen again.”

It’s not a stampede. The words sounded like Granddad.This is not your fault. But something spooked that horse, boy.

He held up one hand as a couple more cowboys came running.

“Lady totally spooked!” he yelled, his eyes roaming the grass in front of him. “There’s something here.”

Then he heard the rattling.

“Snakes.” Panic gripped him right behind the throat, and he forced himself to take a breath—to reason through the fear, to think rationally.

Frantic, he scanned the area in front of Molly, then near her head, where her honey blonde hair splayed out across her shoulders as well as the ground. How in the world could he tell Hunter that something had happened to his wife while on Mission’s watch?

He wouldn’t have to. This was an accident, and Molly had been in them before.

He looked beyond her, and there—probably eight feet away—sat the coiled rattlesnake.

“It’s just past her,” he called. “I think there’s some over in this long grass too.”

“No, she’s not waking up,” Boone said into his phone as he approached.

Mission moved around Molly and stood between her and the snake while Boone knelt down to check on her. “She has a pulse. She’s just been knocked out. She got thrown off the back of her horse.”

“There’s definitely rattlesnakes over here too,” Zeke called. “Whoo-ee, there’sthreeof them over here!”

“All right,” Mission said calmly. “I’ve got my eye on this one. You keep your eye on those.”

“Yes, boss,” Zeke said.

“Eli.”

“Right here,” Eli said from Mission’s left shoulder.

“Come stand next to me and get your eyes on this snake.”

He did.

“You see it right there?”

“I see it, boss.”

“I’m gonna send out a farm-wide text. The moment you see it move, you tell me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mission’s thumbs flew over his phone.At least four rattlesnakes on the south side of the stables and barn. Keep everyone away.

He sent that text and immediately started another one.

Lady bolted with Molly on her back. She got thrown and is currently passed out. Boone’s called 911 and the paramedics will be coming. Anyone who sees Lady, please secure her and get her back to the stable for an assessment as soon as possible.

I don’t think we need more men over here right now, so please just hold where you are, especially if you have kids with you.

He looked up. The clear blue sky was suddenly the wrong color. How could this happen on such a perfect day? Why did it have to happen here, in only his third week of being foreman?

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