Page 6 of Love Wells Kept

There’s nothing but the steady stream of the kitchen faucet and the smell of fresh bread and my hands are dripping water across the floor.

“There’s been an accident.”

Kate

There’s been an accident.

I rip the apron from my body, leaving it discarded on the hallway floor, and cram my feet into a pair of old rubber boots on my way out the door. Austin’s shoulder brushes mine on our run down the front porch steps.

“Is it Odessa?” Her name slices its way up my throat, begging not to be said.

Over his shoulder, Red replies, “Jackson.”

My eyes burn from the combination of frigid air and the overwhelming urge to cry. Gravel crunches underfoot, and even from more than a hundred yards away, we can hear a commotion in the barn.

I know cowboys. They don’t panic. I know my cowboy. He broke his arm once and it took me two days to convince him to go to the hospital.

This…It’s different.

A shiver slides the length of my spine, and I reflexively reach for Austin. Hands wrapped around his arm with a bruising grip, I hold him as if a portion of his unwavering strength will somehow transfer to me. And he clasps a steady, warm hand on mine.

“Is he…”

“Denny already called for an ambulance.”

My next breath is ragged and hollow. I bite my top lip, digging my teeth in until the pain numbs the rest of my senses, and the tears welling in my eyes don’t fall down my cheeks. The last thing he needs is a blubbering wife right now.

“What happened?” Austin asks calmly.

So fucking calm. How can he be so calm when every cell in my body is on the verge of exploding?

“He was in with that new gelding,” Red says. “Don’t know exactly what happened, but thank God one of the guys was in the tack room—heard Odessa scream and came running.”

My grip on Austin tightens like the leather of a cinch, giving me barely enough stability to keep moving. My feet drag through the gravel, weighed down and numb, and a series of tremors racks my body the closer we get to the barn.

“Odessa’s okay.” A pained smile flickers on Red’s lips. “Checked myself. She’s okay, Kate.”

My tongue presses against my cheek, and I nod slowly, tears welling in my eyes.

We find the barn door wide open and, rather than the chaos I expected to find, everyone is oddly…calm.

Unnerving—the calm. It’s sterile. Cold. It’s heads of hair without cowboy hats. Grown men refusing to look me in the eye when I enter the fucking barn.

“Kate.” Red stops so fast Austin and I nearly run into the back of him, and he spins to face me. His hands hold my face, and I don’t have enough sense—enough strength—to shove them away. “Do not try to move him. You hear me?”

With the snarl of a frightened wild animal, I push past him. Does he think I’m an idiot?

“Somebody tell me what the hell is going on. What happened?” Charging forward toward a far stall, where a couple ranch hands are standing around with their hands in their pockets. “Jackson, can you please tell me what’s going—”

Rounding the corner, I step into a dusty stall. No horse.

Only…

“Jackson,” I sob. My knees hit the ground next to a motionless body, tears falling to the concrete mere seconds later. There’s blood—so much blood—accumulating on the ground under his head, and I can’t catch my breath. “What’s—”

The words can’t leave. Trapped in the thick, burning bile that I’m drowning in.

Somewhere in the background, a million miles away and through a dense fog, I hear Red’s voice. “Seems he was probably kicked, but he’s been out cold the entire time so…”