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Also recently updated; 'Once Upon The Time In The Old West' and 'Hawaiian Nights'.
Chapter 8: Friends in need
The warmth of Summer was spreading through the land, unrolling carpets of green grass across the meadows and unfurling leaves on the trees. For the last few weeks, the weather had been mild, and the shoots of leaves that had ventured above ground at the beginning of May were now being nurtured by the soft breaths of wind and the gentle rain.
The day had dawned in a haze of yellow; the clouds etched with gold and the horizon wavering in the promise of heat. Danny had woken early, the sun falling across his eyes and sending him straight out of bed. The morning's work had passed quickly and he had soon discarded his jacket, and even then he had felt his plaid shirt too warm.
It was even warmer now, and he was glad to be sitting at his ease. For a while, he had been watching Lindsay but he hadn't said a word yet. Together they were sitting on the tiny, wooden bridge that crossed the small creek that was blazing a trail across the area of the ranch. It was their lunch break and the two had decided to enjoy the beautiful spring day at the water. Ducks were sitting at the edge of the creek, quacking and cleaning themselves. Small flies were dancing above the surface of the water, from time to time a dragonfly passed them. A light breeze was blowing, creating tiny waves, causing the long grass to swing lightly. Birds were singing in the tree and from time to time picked up the pieces of bread he and Lindsay left on the bridge for them.
It was a peaceful atmosphere and once again Danny realised that moving to Montana had been the best decision he had ever made. Such a peace he would have never been able to experience in the city. On this ranch in Montana, Danny had to work hard for his money, had to spend hours with exhausting work every day from the early morning to the late evening. But as much strength as it cost, he felt better than he had ever felt before. He had switched the easy life in the dusty, smelly city against the hard work and the smells and sounds of nature in the country; and he wouldn't want it any different. The work wasn't easy but he knew every dollar he earned he had done honest work for and this was an amazing feeling for him.
Apart from that, Danny also finally felt like he had found a place he could call his home. The people around him felt like his family, which meant a lot for a man who barely was willing to let people get close enough to him to build up an emotional relationship. And from all those new family members, Lindsay definitely meant the most to him. It was like a special bond seemed to be uniting them already and sometimes he wondered if he could sense what she was feeling. Like right now. She hadn't even noticed he had been watching her for minutes. She seemed to be deep in her thoughts, looking down at the water. From time to time she was taking tiny bites from her sandwich. Since they had sat down at the creek, she hadn't spoken a single word. Of course he could assume she was just exhausted, but the expression in those chocolate brown, warm eyes was telling him a different story.
"Is everything alright?" he asked softly. Although his voice was low and warm, snapping out of her thoughts caused her to tense lightly. A little confused she looked up and realised he had to have spoken to her. A shy smile lit her face.
"Excuse me, what did you say?" she wanted to know.
"I asked if you're alright," he repeated.
"Oh, of course. Everything's fine," she answered, smiling at him. He could feel the smile wasn't honest though. Usually Danny's wasn't very successful at reading people's body language; he would rather listen to spoken words and the way they were spoken. With Lindsay it seemed to be different. One glance into those beautiful, thoughtful eyes and he could see right into her soul. This moment was no exception. He could see the concern in her eyes; even this pretty smile of hers couldn't change that.
"You know you can talk to me when something is worrying you," he continued softly. He didn't want to make her feel that he didn't believe her answer was true, still he wanted to show her he was listening. "Are you maybe homesick?"
"Homesick? No, no, I'm not," she answered, once again looking at him, once again trying to smile at him. She failed and the way she was looking at him now, Danny was convinced he didn't need to push more to make her open up to him.
"What else is it then?" he asked. He saw her hesitate for a moment. Then she released a tiny sigh. Seeing her like this, with her hands resting in her lap, her eyes focused on some spot in front of her, she seemed to be even smaller than usual and he had to resist the wish to close his arms around her, hold her and tell her whatever was bothering her was going to be fine again soon.
"It's because of Ranger, my horse," she answered then, her voice so quiet it was barely more than a whisper.
"Is something wrong with him?" Danny asked. He knew this question was unnecessary; obviously something was wrong. It was his way to encourage her to say more though.
"I'm not sure," she replied, shrugging. "I think he's not feeling well. He's acting strange all day already."
Danny nodded. He had noticed how she had tried to sneak into the barn from time to time. Every time she had returned, she seemed to be far away with her thoughts. Now he understood why.
"What is he doing?" he continued to ask. Unconsciously he had moved closer to her. When he noticed the leg of his pants was almost touching the soft fabric of her skirt, he tensed, briefly thinking about backing off again. She didn't seem to mind his closeness though and so he stayed.
"He's not really eating, he's unsettled," she explained, still in her very quiet voice. "I'm afraid he might have a colic or something like that."
"A colic?" Danny asked. "Oh, I can imagine he doesn't feel well then, but surely he'll get better soon?"
She looked up at him again, the expression in those usually sparkling eyes causing him to shiver lightly. "If he has a colic, it could kill him," she told him.
"Oh...sorry, I didn't know that," Danny apologized, feeling himself blush at his own lack of knowledge. Why was he working on a ranch and didn't know something important like that?
"It's okay," Lindsay answered, looking away again. He saw how she was clenching her small hands into fists now, her knuckles turning white already. The tension inside her was clearly to feel for him and he desperately wished he could ease it in any way.
"Maybe he's also just...stressed because of all that happened lately. The move and everything, the new environment," Danny suggested. But Lindsay shook her head.
"No, I don't think it's that," she said, her voice shaking lightly while she spoke. "If he hasn't eaten anything after we finished our lunch break I'll ask Mac and Stella what we could do, if we could contact the vet."
Danny noticed how something glistering landed on her fists. Quickly one of her hands rose up to her face to wipe the falling tears away. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I shouldn't be acting like a child..."
"You're not," he disagreed. He lifted his arm, hesitating for a moment. Seeing her still fighting with her tears though, he pushed his doubts away and gently rested his arm around her shoulders. He stopped for a moment to allow her to back off, but when she didn't, he pulled her closer carefully, allowing her to rest against his shoulder. "It's okay to cry. You love him a lot, don't you?"
Lindsay nodded. "I just hope he's fine. Or that if he has a colic, we can do something against it quickly."
"Then I'd suggest we go and have a look at how he is now," Danny told her. He got up from his sitting position and knocked the dust from his pants. Then he offered his hand to Lindsay, who was just looking up at him. "Come on. We'll have a look at him together. Maybe he's already happily eating."
"You don't have to do that for me," Lindsay replied, anyways taking the offered hand to get up from the ground.
Danny released a playful sigh and shook his head at Lindsay. "Just let me be nice." Gently he hooked her arm with his, and this time he was not hesitant. He could feel how concerned she was and he knew she could use every kind of support now. A sudden warm feeling started to spread inside him from where her soft body was in contact with his. His face started to feel hot like he had just burnt it in the sun. Closing his eyes for a moment, he shook his head, trying to ignore the sensations of this sudden closeness between them. He was supposed to be helping her, not to feel like this. So, without saying more, he led her back to the ranch and over to the barn.
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It had been a long morning for Stella. Waking at her usual early hour, she had lit the fire and prepared the breakfasts before Lindsay and she had begun their day with feeding their newly-acquired animals. This was one of her favourite tasks, and she knew it was Lindsay's as well. After that was accomplished, they had spent an hour and more in the dairy; the dairy that was newly fitted out with a cooling system put in place by Mac - a rill of water that ran round the clean, tiled surfaces keeping everything at a low temperature, even on such an unseasonably warm day as it was today.
They had both earned their lunch break, and Stella had been glad to come into the kitchen to sit down and rest, and spend some time with Mac. Lindsay she had sent out with a small picnic lunch. Now she sat and watched her husband as he sat back in his chair, swallowed the last mouthful of his sandwich, and sighed contentedly. With his handkerchief, he mopped his forehead of the sweat that was beading at the edge of his hairline. His cheeks were flushed still, even in the cool of the kitchen.
"Are you all right, Mac?" she asked with a smile as she stood up to gather their plates. "You look a little hot. How about some of our cold lemonade?"
"Sounds perfect, just the thing after a morning's work," he smiled. "I'll take some out to Danny as well."
"No need," Stella told him. "I gave them some earlier, well to Lindsay anyhow, I mean..." she stopped in a slight fluster.
"Ah!" Mac raised his eyebrows as she tried to maintain as innocent a look as possible. "I see a little matchmaking going on here! Am I right, Mrs Taylor?"
"Whatever gave you that idea, Mr Taylor?" Stella felt a blush rise to her cheeks and even though she knew she had been caught out, she continued to defend herself. "I merely gave Lindsay her lunch to eat outside and packed a large jug of lemonade with it."
"Enough for two no doubt," Mac grinned. "I know what you're up to, Stella. You were hoping that Lindsay might enjoy the idea of a picnic lunch with Danny, out by the stream I expect."
"She looked a little down, so I thought it would be good for her to enjoy some food outdoors. There's always something special about eating outdoors, don't you think? I guess you sort of take in everything as you're eating, and it makes things taste better too."
Lowering her eyes, she smiled a little self-consciously, and fiddled with a piece of thread on her dress, but she looked up a moment later to see Mac's gaze on her and a warm glow in his eyes.
"Then I think you did a good deed," he said. "And for what it's worth, I agree with you. The two of them are getting on famously together, and I think they're a good match - Danny's the hard-shelled city boy, whilst Lindsay's the quiet girl from the country, with more to her than meets the eye. I think they'd be good for each other. I guess we might've expected that with employing a young man and woman there might be romance blossoming."
"You wouldn't mind if that happened?" Stella asked him, running her thumb around the rim of the plate as she waited for his answer, curious to know his thoughts, even though she had a good idea already of what they were.
He looked frankly at her. "I think you know that I wouldn't mind, in fact, I'd be happy to see those two young people find the same happiness we have..."
He pushed his chair back and came to stand by her, taking the plates from her hand and putting them back down on the table. Their eyes met and he brushed a finger down her cheek.
"And I love how you want to share some of the happiness we have with others, Stella," he said gently before he kissed her. Then he pulled back with a grin. "Now I believe you were mentioning something about lemonade? I hope you're going to have a glass as well. Danny and I aren't the only ones who've been working hard."
"I'll be right back, with two glasses."
Still smiling, pleased that Mac approved of her wishes for Danny and Lindsay, she walked over to the pantry. There she had several jugs of lemonade chilling that she and Lindsay had prepared several days before. The drink was one she was very fond of herself; sharp and crisp with just a hint of sweetness from the sugar and vanilla extract that had been added. That last ingredient had been a suggestion from Lindsay, and one that Stella had been delighted to try.
It did not take long for her to return to the table and Mac with two full glasses in her hand, the cold drink inside them forming diamond droplets on the side of the glass. She passed one over to her husband who took it with a smile and a touch of her fingers, and then she sat back down herself. Running a finger up and down the glass, watching the droplets blur into one another, she thought about what Mac had said, about their happiness and wanting to share it with others.
"We are happy, aren't we?" she said suddenly, almost startling herself with how she had blurted out the question.
He looked at her, mildly surprised, and then a small smile appeared on his lips. "I'm happier than I've ever been," he told her softly.
Still wet from the condensation on the glass, Stella clasped his fingers with hers and felt joy stretch a smile across her face. "So am I, Mac, so am I. This was the best thing we could have done, coming out here. We have everything we need..."
The door banging open interrupted them; their hands separated as both of them rose to their feet at the blustered appearance of Danny.
"What's wrong?" Stella asked in concern, moving over to him as he stood in the doorway with a face heavy with worry. A sudden fear sent a bolt through her. "What is it? What's happened? Is Lindsay all right?"
She glanced at Mac who had a serious expression as he came to stand beside her.
"Lindsay's all right... well, no, really, she's not... I mean, she's not hurt..."
Stella almost sank in relief, if anything happened to either of their two employees, she would not be able to forgive herself.
"Then what is it?" Mac demanded. "Whatever it is, you've got to tell us."
"It's Lindsay's horse, Ranger, he's sick, really sick," Danny stood with his hands shoved in his pockets. "She was looking upset, so I asked her what was wrong, she told me she thinks he might have colic..."
Stella heard the word in dismay and she met Mac's eyes to see the same feeling in his. Both of them knew just how serious that was.
"How bad does he look? You've seen him?" Mac asked the younger man.
Danny lifted his shoulders helplessly. "I don't know, I'm sorry, he doesn't look so good though, kind of groaning, seems to want to lie down..."
"He mustn't!" Stella exclaimed. "That's the last thing we want him to do, if he does that, we likely won't get him back up again!" In agitation she gripped Mac's arm. "We'll have to fetch the vet out to him, Dr Hammerback, you and me can ride into town and fetch him!"
Mac looked her with a frown. "Seems that's the only choice we've got. Fortunately for us, it's good weather for the ride into town, and we don't need the wagon." He turned back to Danny. "Go tell Lindsay we'll be back as soon as we can, and we're leaving you both in charge until we are. You've got to keep him walking about, don't let him lie down whatever you do, you hear that?"
"Got it, Mac," Danny nodded fervently before diving back out of the door.
Catching up her shawl from where she had flung it earlier over a chair, Stella tugged at her husband's arm. "You know how bad colic is, we can't lose a horse to it, especially not such a horse as Ranger."
"I know," he answered grimly as he followed her out of the door. "I just hope we're not too late!"
Thank you for reading, please let us know what you think with a review! Rose and Brina x
