Ripped Pictures
Chapter 25 'Moon? Missing?'
A/N: I'm going to change one thing! The wild horse(that was in the tornado with B&Q) is going to 6 years old. lol. Sorry.
Tuesday, September 2nd.
Belle Pov
(Her Dream is going to be in Italics)
I looked around, confused. Where was I? It was dark, and I felt like I was suffocating. I heard muffled voices but I couldn't make out who it was.
"You get the girl. Take her far away. Never come back. And hand over the money." A voice said. Were they talking about me?! Where was I? I saw a light to my right and I realized I was in the back of a van!
"Done. We're going to the UK, no one will find us and no one can do anything then." OMG! That was the guy who tried to kidnap me! Who was he talking to? Why was I here? Where was Quinn? Glen?
I was tied up with my arms behind my back and my mouth taped. I needed to get away from here. Back to Quinn, back to Glen. Back to my home in Nevada.
"You'll have to stop by the office to get rid of...." I couldn't hear the rest of the sentence. Get rid of what?!?!? I screamed in my mind.
I heard the lock on the trunk pop and they opened the trunk. I saw the guy-who-tried to kidnap me the first time and I looked towards the other man-----
(end of Dream)
My phone was ringing. I saw Quinn was still asleep next to me and I smiled, reaching over to grab my phone. "Hello?" I said feeling sleepy.
All I heard was breathing. "Hello?" I said again. No answer.
I was about to hang up when they spoke. "Nice house and backyard you have." And the line went dead. I froze. I couldn't recognize the voice even though it sounded familiar.
I felt Quinn starting to move beside me. I looked over at him. "Good morning Quinn." I said cheerfully as I could.
"Morning Belle." Quinn said sitting up and giving me a quick kiss. "What time is it?"
I looked at my phone's clock. "It's about 10:30. Pretty late in the morning. We better get our showers and get dressed. I'll go get Bryan up, go ahead and take your shower." I told him quickly.
Quinn nodded and went to take a shower. Without Glen or Quinn's parents knowing, I had Quinn leave some clothes here in case he needed clothes and stayed here.
I opened the guest room door and saw Bryan still deep in sleep. I walked up to the bed and gently shook his shoulder. He woke up instantly. "Morning Sleepyhead." I said joking with him.
"What time is it?" He asked kicking the covers off.
"10:30." I replied. He looked kind of shocked.
"Damn we overslept." Bryan said, now standing up and stretching. "I'm gonna ask Nick to take me home so I can get a shower and come back." He looked at me sideways. "You gonna be alright?"
I felt a wave of happiness wash over me. I had so many friends that cared about me! "Yeah I'll be fine."
"'Kay. I'll see you later." He said walking out of the room. I heard the front door open and shut. I knew Glen probably already left for vet calls.
I went to the kitchen and saw Sophie and Nellie whining by the door. "Come girls. Let's go out." I slipped on my boots with my pj's and opened the door.
I ran towards Iris's pasture. "Iris. Iris girl." I murmured to her as she nickered at the gate for me.
I let myself into the pasture and gently rubbed her neck. "You're such a beautiful girl." I said. I headed towards her shed, getting her food and checking her water. I looked into her water trough outside her stall and my window. "Maybe I should clean out this trough. It's a bit dirty." I said looking at Iris. She moved her head up and down as if she agreed. I laughed.
I grabbed a sponge and a bucket out of the shed. I put some water in the bucket and then I spilled all the water out of the trough and started to scrub it with a sponge, occasionally dipping it in the water bucket.
I heard a radio playing and I guess Quinn turned it on. "And this is Jason Aldean's new hit 'Big Green Tractor'" The radio announcer said.
She had a shiny little Beemer with the rag top down She had on a new dress and she curled her hair And I can take you for a ride on my big green tractor Climb up in my lap and drive if you want to Said we can fire it up and I can show you around Or we can take another ride on my big green tractor Climb up in my lap and drive if you want to Just let me dust off the seat You can climb up in my lap and drive if you want to Oh yeah, yeah
Sittin' in the drive but she wouldn't get out
The dogs were all barkin' and waggin' around
And I just laughed and said y'all get in
She was looking too good not to go somewhere
Said "what you want to do, baby, I don't care
We can go to the show, we can stay out here"
We can go slow or make it go faster
Down through the woods and out to the pasture
'Long as I'm with you it really don't matter
Girl, you know you got me to hold on to
We can go to town, but baby if you'd rather
I'll take you for a ride on my big green tractor
Sit up on the hill and watch the sun go down
When the fireflies are dancing and the moon comes out
We can turn on the lights and head back to the house
We can go slow or make it go faster
Down through the woods and out to the pasture
'Long as I'm with you it really don't matter
Girl, you know you got me to hold on to
We can go to town, but baby if you'd rather
I'll take you for a ride on my big green tractor
Mmm, put your pretty little arms around me
Hell yeah
Girl, you know you got me to hold on to
We can go to town, but baby if you'd rather
I'll take you for a ride on my big green tractor
We can go to town
We can go another round
On my big green tractor
I started singing along and I didn't notice someone come up behind me. "Nice singing." I turned around fast. It was just Quinn, but he was smiling.
"You scared me." I said, putting my hand on my chest. Quinn's smile faded a bit.
"I'm sorry babe." Quinn said putting his arms around me.
"It's okay. I know you didn't mean to." I said sighing and taking a deep breath. He smelled so good.
"You really shouldn't be out here alone." Quinn said giving me a look.
"I know but the dogs had to go out and I wanted to check on Iris." I told him, which was very true.
Quinn nodded. "Brynna called. Why don't you get a shower then we can head up to Willow Springs?" Quinn suggested.
"Alright." I agreed and walked with him, hand in hand to the house.
Mystery Person Pov
My plan was falling into place now. David Marley wanted Belle, I needed money to start my business. I could get her, give her to him, and ask for money..I'm sure he'd do anything for her!
She had looked so frightened in the dark. Of course her boyfriend had come to her rescue and I needed to watch what I did now. I think I might pay a little visit to that cabin...up in the woods past the river....
Rick Johnson Pov
I was looking over vaccine records when I realized something wasn't right. I was thinking Star, Moon, Dusty, and Maddie were all vaccinated. Well Moon and Maddie weren't. I walked up to Joe who was talking to one of our helpers.
"Hey Joe, Adam. Sorry to interrupt but Joe it looks like Moon and Maddie aren't properly vaccinated and since the vet's going to be here soon I think we should go get them." I said to them and I looked down the stalls for Moon.
I didn't see her. "Where's Moon?" I asked Joe walking past him to her stall was. I looked in, nothing.
"I thought Seth put her in the field. Maybe the back field." Adam told me. We all walked towards the fields, we had charts for the horses out in the fields. I looked at the back one, Moon was supposed to be in there but I couldn't see her in the herd of horses.
"Where's Seth?" I asked. I was furious right now! When you put a horse in the field, you put them on the list and put them in that exact field! And Moon wasn't supposed to go out anyways, she looked to be limping a bit!
"He went to visit his family, said there was an family emergency in Oregon." Joe informed me. I knew he was probably mad as well.
"Damn!" I said. "Sorry Adam, it's not your fault. I'm going to get Dusty and ride him through the fields and look for her." And then I walked to the barn and grabbed Dusty, giving him a quick brush off and put a bridle on him but didn't bother with a saddle. I wouldn't need it.
I led him out of the barn and to the back pasture's gate. Then I led him through it, made sure it was closed and swung up on him.
I loped towards the herd of horses. I checked for the chestnut mare but all I saw were bays, blacks and some paints. Where was Moon???
I galloped to the next gate and opened it, went through it and closed it again. Dusty jogged towards the next herd and I saw 3 chestnuts. Please let one of them be Moon. I thought desperately.
I walked up to the chestnuts but none of the had the white moon shaped spot on their head. I turned Dusty and ran him towards the barn as fast as he could go. I slowed him down to a lope near the gate and he jumped it.
He loped towards the barn. I dismounted him, I saw Adam come out of the barn I threw Dusty's reins at him. "Take care of Dusty will ya?" I asked and he nodded. "Thanks." I headed right towards the office at the end of the aisle.
"Joe!" I exclaimed as I walked in the office. Joe looked up from the paperwork.
"What's wrong Rick?" He asked concerned.
"Moon's gone! She's not in the fields!" I blurted out. Why was everything going missing all of a sudden? I asked myself. Then it hit me and I gasped.
…
Belle Pov—It's about 12pm.
Quinn and I were heading towards Willow Springs to see the horse. I was nervous but excited. Would the tests have came back yet? Would they know what breed he was? Was he wild or just a lost-on-purpose horse?
After all the curvy, winding roads I saw the Willow Springs Office and the corrals that held mustangs from the range. Quinn pulled into a parking space near the corrals, and I got out. I saw Brynna and Sam's red hair and two other people down by the corrals. It looked like Glen and Jen.
I felt Quinn grab my hand. "Here, let me show you to where they are." Quinn said smiling. I followed him past like 5 corrals. I saw some mares and foals, mares in foal, geldings, and stallions. They were all so beautiful.
"Good Afternoon Belle!" Brynna walked up to us smiling.
"Good Afternoon to you too Brynna!" I was smiling too. I was so excited! I felt like jumping up and down, but maybe that's from the mountain dew Quinn gave me in the truck. "Hey Sam!"
"Hey Belle! You ready to see this wonderful horse you found?" Sam asked and I could see she was excited too. I nodded. Brynna led me to a gate where I saw the horse standing. I saw it was Jen and Glen.
"He seems to be an almost 6 year old stallion. We're going to try to take some blood today so we can see what breed he is." Brynna told me. Then I realized Glen was probably here for that and Jen had a internship with him.
"Okay." I saw a halter in Brynna's hands. "Can I try to put that on him?"
"Of course! I was going to ask you anyways." Brynna said,handing me the halter. Then she opened the gate for me to go in, she also handed me a lead rope. I let go of Quinn's hand and slowly entered it. I didn't want to scare him.
But it seems that any fear he had of me had left. He walked right up to me and sniffed me. I grabbed a peppermint out of my pocket and held it out to him, he took it out of my hand and ate it.
I slowly brought my hand up and touched his neck. He shivered but stood still, I brought the halter from behind my back and let him sniff it. He looked at it cautiously but he knew what it was. I slowly came towards his head with the halter and he didn't move, I slipped it over his nose and ears and gently buckled it.
I snapped the lead rope to his halter, I expected him to spook but he just stood there calmly. I lead him slowly back to the others. "There's no way he's wild!" I said to them. "Look at him! He's accepted the halter and lead with no problem, he's not afraid of human contact!"
"Look at his confirmation! He obviously has quarter horse in him, looks like he maybe has Mr Gunsmoke in him and maybe Hollywood Dun It! He's got great color, he was imprinted at birth probably the way he acts suggests he was treated good and that he was worked with and handled daily." I angrily exclaimed. How could someone do this to a horse?!
They all stood there silently shocked, except Brynna. "You're right Belle." Brynna said, her eyebrows coming together...she was thinking about something. "I'm surprised I didn't see it before, I mean of course I knew he probably was a domestic horse turned wild. But I didn't really look at his confirmation. He does look like he would have had a very impressive pedigree."
"All the more for this breed test and making sure we put out posters, ads, about this horse. Put him on BLM site." Glen said. "Put him in the Darton newspaper."
I gave Glen a 'what? Are you kidding' look. "Glen, look at this horse. He's not from around here—he's a top breeding farm horse." I replied. "No offense anyone." I quickly added. "It's just that I haven't see any QH/paint breeding farms around here and I bet someone knew about the wild horses and the range here and let him go. No one would find him, so they could just leave him."
Brynna's name was called and she introduced Hugh. "Ma'am there's someone on the phone in the office." He said. Brynna nodded.
"Excuse me." She said walking away.
"Do you really think someone dropped off this horse and just left him—a stable horse into the wild—on his own?" Sam asked incredulously. I looked at her sadly.
"It's happened before. Near Laci's grandfather's ranch, Laci's grandfather found a semi-famous show jumper in the wild. The horse looked terrible skinny, coat all matted, mane tangled. So it's happened Sam. Now I just wish we knew why." I told Sam.
"Why would someone do that a horse?" She said angrily. "I mean especially a horse that was used to the warmth of a stall probably and had a very fancy home!"
"It's a shame." Jen commented.
"Now girls we don't know the whole story. I mean I agree with Belle's theory of this being a domestic horse, but the horse could have been stolen, lost, or the owner's had it's reason." Glen said half-soothingly. We all turned towards him. "Not that I agree—but we don't have the whole story!" He added.
"Well why Brynna's on the phone why don't we go ahead and get the blood/shots done?" Quinn suggested to Glen, who nodded.
"Belle will you be alright holding him?" Glen asked.
"Yeah. I don't think he'll be too bad." I replied. Glen came towards us and the horse backed up a step but didn't move much more.
Glen held his hand out for him to sniff and the horse sniffed cautiously but just blew into Glen's hand. Then Glen came around my side to give the horse the shots and draw the blood.
The horse jumped when Glen gave him the shot and then drew the blood. "I got it. I gave him a rabies shot and I drew enough blood for his coggins test, and breed test." Glen told me. I nodded, then realized Brynna was back.
"That was Wyatt. Dallas got hurt, Dallas was out on the range with Wyatt, Pepper and Ross and apparently a couple coyotes came out of nowhere and Dallas was riding Blue Wings for Wyatt and he spooked hard." Brynna told us. Sam gasped. "Now Dallas is alright. But he has a broken leg they think" Brynna told Sam.
"Well maybe I should go home! I'm pretty sure they were trying to round up a couple of cattle so Jed could take them to sale with his!" Sam said to Brynna. Brynna looked like she was going to protest. "I could ask Jake and a couple of his brothers!"
"Maybe that would be good."Brynna agreed.
"I could drop her and Ace off at Riverbend and go get my brothers." Quinn offered. "Belle and I have to go to Sheriff Ballard's office anyways."
"Yeah." I agreed. "I mean if I'm done here then I can go with them and talk to Sheriff Ballard."
"Thanks for coming Belle. I'll keep you updated on him and if I find anything you'll be the first I call." Brynna said giving me a hug.
Sam, Quinn and I waved to them. Sam and I walked towards Brynna's truck and Quinn walked towards his truck. He would have to hook up the trailer to his truck. I saw Ace standing next to the trailer tied up.
"Hey Acey boy. Have you been standing here all this time?" I talked to Ace in 'baby talk'. Sam laughed.
"He'll be happy if you give him a treat." Sam said, giggling a bit. I pulled a peppermint out of my pocket and held it out to him. He snatched it up quickly and crunched on it.
I saw Quinn pull up beside Brynna's truck and get out of his. "Sam can you back up Brynna's truck?" Quinn asked throwing her the keys.
"Sure." Sam replied. I went and stood up by the office door.
"Just back it up a bit and kind of turn it left so the trailer will be by my tail gate."Quinn instructed her. Sam nodded as she got into the truck.
10 minutes later we had the trailer hooked up, Ace loaded onto the trailer and we were on the highway towards Darton/Riverbend Ranch. It wouldn't take much time to get there.
"Sam, you're so lucky you have your license!" I said envious. I had my learners permit but I wasn't 16 yet!
"Don't worry Belle, you'll get yours soon enough!" Sam laughed.
"Yeah but I need to do some serious driving!" I said. I didn't have all my hours that were required to get my provisional license.
"I can take you driving Belle. I'll teach you how to drive my truck." Quinn offered. I smiled over at him.
"Thanks Quinn. That'd be great." I replied. Quinn reached over and squeezed my hand.
Soon enough I saw the entrance of Riverbend Ranch. Quinn slowly pulled onto the bridge and entered the ranch. Quinn parked by the barn, so it'd be easy for Sam to unload Ace.
Quinn, Sam and I all got out. I ran to open the trailer door for Sam while she went to get Ace out. Ace came out almost trotting, Sam jogged with Ace into the barn.
"I'll get Jake, Nate and maybe Adam if I can to help you out Sam." Quinn said. "We'll be back with them."
"'Kay!" Sam shouted.
10 minutes later...
We pulled into Three Ponies Ranch. At first I didn't see anyone but I saw Jake, Nate, and Adam walk out of the barn to see who pulled up. I let out a small giggle. Just the three we needed.
We both hopped out of the truck. "Hey guys!" Quinn called out to his brothers.
"What's up Quinn?" Jake asked.
Adam came over and gave me a big hug. "How's my lil sis?" Adam whispered in my ear.
"I'm fine." I whispered back to him. I saw Quinn, Nate and Jake talking by the barn.
"Can you go over to the Forster's and help Sam round up cattle?" I asked Adam. "Dallas got hurt."
"Of course! What happened to him?" Adam asked visibly upset.
"He was riding Blue Wings, you know Wyatt's mustang, and a couple of coyotes spooked Blue Wings and Dallas fell and broke his leg." I told him.
"Crap. Is that what Quinn is talking to Jake and Nate about?" Adam asked.
"Yes, Quinn was going to ask them too." I replied.
"Alright. Well I'm going to saddle up Soda, I'll be right out with her." Adam said walking away and heading towards the barn.
20 minutes later
We were now pulling into the Sheriff's Office parking lot. My stomach kind of twisted, I was really nervous.
Quinn put his arm around my waist and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be okay babe." Quinn whispered.
Quinn opened the door for me and I went in. I saw Sheriff Ballard talking to one of his deputies. He looked up and saw Quinn and I.
He motioned for us to come into his office. We did.
Glen Pov
I looked over at Brynna who was standing next to me looking at the horse. I had sent Jen to get an invoice paper for Brynna. "You know Brynna..."I started off in a conversational tone. "Belle really likes this horse, and while you're looking for his owner...Maybe he could stay at our house."
Brynna looked towards me. "I wouldn't see any problem...besides that you would probably have to build a divider between the filly and this stallion. He doesn't seem too stallionish though." Brynna said to me.
"Yeah we could do that....It's just" I sighed before continuing. "How do I tell Belle that the chances of Dream ever coming back are slim? Very slim, like none. She's gone and I feel that Belle misses her a lot. I mean if you couldn't find this horse's owner maybe Belle could adopt him. She'll need a new barrel horse if she wants to compete."
Brynna hesitated before answering. "Yeah it's pretty slim that Dream will show up. But she could show up in a round up, and if she did you know I would give her back without any fees because it wasn't Belle's fault. Stallions are stallions they see what they want and they get it." Brynna sighed.
"Katie's friend has this horse, who barrel races and he has asked Katie to sell this horse for him. Katie agreed just because they were friends, she was going to put him in a claiming race in Reno this Friday night, do you think I should ask Belle to ride? I mean Katie wants her too but I'm not sure." I confided in Brynna.
"Well Glen, the only thing to do is ask her. If she's ready or wants to get back into that—then she'll do it. If she's not—she won't." Brynna told me.
I saw Jen coming back. "Thanks Brynna." I told her quickly.
"Anytime Glen." She replied. Jen handed Brynna the invoice and she got a checkbook out and wrote out the amount and handed it to me. "Thanks Glen."
"No problem Brynna." I said. And now we needed to leave to go and check on a pregnant mare at Deerpath Ranch.
A/N: Hi everyone!! Sorry it's so late! I'M REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY SORRY! Please forgive me : ). It's been a Busy, busy, busy few weeks! I hope you liked it, it's kind of boring haha...just a little bit of the story for you! And I'm sorry to Dallas...'cause he had to break his leg. :'(. And finally Rick notices Moon is gone!! lol and why didn't Belle tell him? I don't know why, it kind of slipped her mind..haha. Have you seen my other story Jillian's Miracle? I moved it to the PS archive...lol. And Oh! I'm working on another story...lol. It's called Untamed Heart...haha bad name..but it's really good so far I think. It's a PS story too!
Here's the summary(kind of):
Juliet Taylor is the daughter of famous horse breeder/show jumper, Charles Taylor. She has a great life in San Fransisco, California, she has her own horse, she jumps and competes on him, her mother abandoned her and her father when Juliet was little-but Juliet is ignoring that fact, happy she has her father. There is one thing Juliet wants; To ride western, to barrel race, to be a rodeo girl. But her father forbids it. What happens when she meets Sam Forster and her family?
Do you think you would like it?
Please REVIEW! I would LOVE reviews!! please, please, please!
Thanks Everyone!
From: QuinnandSeth'sgirl15