Author's note: I hope you are enjoying this. Reviews are always appreciated.
Somewhere in the Wheeler Wildlife Preserve, Friday, 2:30 P.M.
The crumbling bank caused the horse to lose his footing. Zeus went down heavily on his right side, Regan still in the saddle. The weight of the horse suddenly landed on his leg, and Regan felt the bone in his upper leg snap. The screams of the horse and the man intermingled as they slid several more feet down the steep edge of the ravine. Struggling to regain his feet, Zeus thrashed wildly causing Regan immense pain. As the horse began to right himself, Regan managed to free his good leg from the stirrup. His other leg useless, slid free of the other stirrup. Unencumbered by his load, Zeus dug into the soft bank and made his way back to the top, disappearing quickly from sight.
The deep, ragged breaths of Regan punctuated the sudden quiet. Lying upon his right side, the pain from his leg was indescribable. After a few minutes, the pain subsided slightly and Regan began to assess his situation. Knowing that Zeus had strayed from the known trail, Regan raised his head to take in his location. He could see the small creek at the bottom of the slope and knew that he was probably a good 200 yards from the closest trail. Too far away for anyone on the trail to see his predicament. Possibly still within shouting distance, if anyone were to come along and if he was able to hear them. "Shit, shit, shit. You've really stepped into this time Bill. What do you always tell the kids? Never ride alone, always leave a note, and focus on your horse, always expect the unexpected. So now you're lying here with no one knowing where the hell you are!"
Taking a deep breath to stave off the growing panic he felt, Regan closed his eyes and concentrated on assessing his injuries. Obviously, his right leg was broken. His back and right shoulder hurt, but it was mild in comparison to the pain radiating from the break. Slowly moving his hand along his right leg, Regan was thankful that there was no bone breaking through the skin of his thigh. Running a hand across his face, a smear of blood indicated that the wild ride through the woods had resulted in a cut that was slowly bleeding. "Well, I'm alive and I guess that's a start. Now what am I going to do to get myself out of this mess?"
Sleepyside Train Station 3:10 P.M.
"Honey, don't be silly! There is no need for you to wait with me until the 4:15 train. Besides, don't you have a "hot date" this afternoon with a horse?"
"I'm going to have all weekend to ride. Besides I don't want Regan to feel obligated to ride with me." Honey followed Trixie into the small building that served as the station. "I'm sure he has a million better things to do that baby-sit me."
"Regan doesn't feel that way about spending time with us. Like I said yesterday, eight years isn't that big of a difference. I think he's a possibility. It's not like he's old enough to be your father or anything." Trixie pulled a copy of Cosmo out of her backpack. "Now get going. I'm going to be finding out ten ways to make myself sexier!" With that said, Trixie began to leaf through the magazine.
"Fine, I'll leave you to your "research". Tell my big brother hello and I'll expect a phone call when you get back on Sunday evening." Honey turned and headed for the door.
"Honey!"
A shout caught Honey's attention. She turned in the direction of the voice and was greeted by the sight of Celia, a member of the Manor House staff. "Celia? What are you doing here?" Honey's tone was concerned.
"That husband of mine decided to surprise me today with tickets to "Rent". We are taking the whole weekend in the city! Your parents offered to let us use the penthouse this weekend while they are in New Hampshire. Tom is parking the car right now.
Honey smiled at Celia's excitement. "That sounds like a lot of fun. Trixie and I saw it this summer. I loved the song "Seasons of Love"."
"I've listened to the soundtrack ever since I got it last year for Christmas." Celia frowned slightly, "I was going to tell you something. What was it? Oh, Ms. Trask left you a note at home. She decided to drive down to her cousin's for the weekend. She left the number by the phone if you need anything. I'm sure you'll be at Trixie's most of the weekend anyway."
"Speaking of Trixie, she's taking the 4:15 train too. I guess you and Tom can keep her company."
"Is she going in to see Jim? Then that means you'll be home all by yourself. Maybe we should change our plans." Celia looked crestfallen.
"Don't even think about it Celia," Honey said soothingly. "Regan is above the garage and the Belden's are just down the road. Really, I'm 18 and can take care of myself for 48 hours."
" I guess you're right Honey. I just have a hard time thinking of you as an adult. Oh, here comes Tom with the bags. I want you to promise you'll be careful and that you will call Regan or the Belden's and check in occasionally with them. We better go get our tickets. We'll see you later." Celia waved over her shoulder as she hurried to catch up with her husband.
On the way back to her car, a cool breeze caused Honey to shiver. "I guess the weatherman was right." Heavy gray clouds were piling up on the horizon. "Indian summer ends today."
Somewhere in the Wheeler Wildlife Preserve, Friday, 3:30 P.M.
The breeze that an hour before had been warm and gentle had turned brisk with a definite chill. The trees still holding fast onto their orange, red and rust colored leaves filtered out some of the remaining day light, leaving the preserve in a premature twilight.
Dressed in a denim shirt, the cool air did not bother Regan as much as the fact that he was unsure what he should do. Thoughts churned around in his head. "All I need to do is wait for a while longer. Honey said she would ride with me today. When I'm not there she'll realize that there's a horse gone and that something must be wrong. Yeah, sure, that is provided she shows up, counts the horses and decides to come looking. Why didn't I think of Tom. Tom will notice that there are no lights on at the stable or in my apartment. He knows I haven't been going out and he'll put two and two together. Right, like he's going to pay attention to anything on a Friday night when Celia will be waiting for him. I'll be lucky if he even steps out of the house this weekend. There's always Ms. Trask. She knows everything that goes on, sometimes I think she know there's something wrong before it happens. Chances are she'll see Zeus is back and they'll be looking for me. All I need to do is to stay calm. Think about something else, I've got enough time on my hands right now. I guess I'll be seeing some time off because of this. A groom on crutches isn't very effective. Not like I don't have plenty of vacation time accrued. Someplace warm, maybe California. I'd love to see the tracks in Southern California. They can race all year long.
Shifting his position slightly brought an involuntary gasp of pain from the injured man. "Moving, bad idea. I need to just be patient and they'll find me soon enough. There's still plenty of daylight left and even though it's cooling down, I'll be warm enough."
As if in an effort to prove him wrong, a cold breeze brought a sprinkling of rain down upon the forest. Soon the steady rhythm of the raindrops could be heard on the canopy of leaves. The ground, already soft from previous rains and the damage done by the collapse of the bank, quickly took on a slippery constancy.
Manor House Friday 4:00 P.M.
Honey dashed from the garage area to the covered back porch of Manor House. A light drizzle had started during the short drive home from the station and had steadily increased.
"I don't think we'll be riding today after all. I might as well change my clothes and head down to the stable anyway. It's not like I have anything better to do. Maybe I can help clean tack."
A short time later, Honey exited the house under the cover of an umbrella and made her way down the path to the stables.
"I can't believe how fast the weather changed. I had a hard time believing the weatherman when he said we would have a possibility of freezing rain tonight. If the temperature keeps dropping I wouldn't be surprised if it does get a little icy this evening. It might be a good night to light a fire and curl up with a good book."
Honey reached the stables and closed her umbrella, "no need to let it dry now. I'll be heading back to the house soon enough." Setting it to the side she glanced around for Regan.
"Regan!" Honey called. "That's strange, the horses are still outside. Usually if the weather is getting questionable Regan gets them inside. I wonder if he is up at his apartment?"
Crossing to Regan's office, Honey entered and dialed the number to his apartment above the garage. "If he was home I would have thought he would have said something when heard me pull into the garage. Oh well, it's worth a try."
After four rings, the answering machine picked up and the familiar voice of Regan was instructing her to leave her name and a message after the beep. "Hi Regan. This is Honey. It's almost 4:30 and I'm in the stable. It's raining and I'm going to go ahead and start putting the horses in. I'll probably see you in a few minutes."
Hanging up the phone, Honey looked around the tidy office. Amazing to think a man would be so neat and clean. The picture of Trixie, Regan and herself caught her eye and she slowly picked up the frame. She had never really noticed how young Regan looked. Granted the photo was several years old, but the fact remained that there wasn't as big of an age difference between them. "It only seems like he is older because he was always considered an "adult" and responsible for us."
Setting the frame back on the desk, Honey turned and exited the office. Closing the door firmly behind her, she crossed to the door that led from the stable into the paddock area. The horses were grouped close to the stable. They had obviously been expecting someone to let them into their stalls. Leading the horses into their stalls, Honey noticed that Zeus was not among the others. Checking the tack room, she saw that Zeus's saddle and bridle were missing as well. "Regan probably got caught out in the rain and decided to stop some where dry. No doubt he is over at Mr. Maypenny's enjoying a bowl of venison stew."
While preparing the feed for the horses, Honey heard a horse whinny outside. "About time Regan shows back. Now that I've done most of his chores for him." Honey went to the door and opened it so Regan and the horse could enter. "About time you came back. I've got most", the words died on her lips. Instead of a horse and rider, a horse muddy and bleeding from several long scratches stood by the stable.
Hurrying to grab the reins before Zeus could shy away, Honey crooned softly to the horse to keep him calm. "Easy boy. That's a good boy. Lets get you inside and dry you up. That's it Zeus, easy boy."
Leading the horse into the stable, Honey noticed Zeus had none of his usually pent up energy and that he had a definite limp from his right leg. She slipped off the bridle and replaced it with a halter, tying Zeus to one of the rings designed for just that purpose. Honey quickly removed the saddle and grabbed a currycomb and several towels to wipe mud from the tired horse; all the while Honey's mind whirled with possible explanations. "Regan probably will be limping in at any minute. He wouldn't have taken Zeus far; he was still concerned about how reliable he would be. Besides, Regan would kill me if I let Zeus stand around fully tacked and in this condition."
After removing as much of the mud as possible, Honey put some first aid cream on the cuts. Which after further examination appeared to be very minor. The horse was still favoring his right leg and not having much experience with this type of injury, Honey decided to phone the veterinarian.
Going back into Regan's office, Honey looked up the number on the Rolodex and dialed the number. "Great, an answering machine again. It must be after 5:00pm." "Hello, this is Honey Wheeler out at Manor House. One of our horses has injured its right hind leg. Regan isn't in right now, but I'm expecting him back shortly. If you could please stop by and take a look we'd appreciate it. Thank you." Honey hung up the phone. It had been at least 20 minutes since Zeus had come back and Regan still had not returned. A growing fear began to gnaw at Honey. "Regan, where are you?"