Chapter 10

Madison

My phone rang as I was closing up the front of the clinic. Lorna had already gone home for the day and taking the time of day into consideration I figured that it was my father and worried for a moment that something might be wrong at his place.

I picked up the phone and saw that instead, it was Alex’s number. For a moment I held an internal debate—to answer or not? The way he had behaved over the past few months, so hot and cold toward me, was enough to make anyone crazy and I thought that we had settled on the fact that it was better for us not to have anything to do with each other outside of a professional capacity. I swiped to take the call.

“Hello?”

“I’ll cut to the chase,” Alex said. “I need you out here now. It’s the yearling. I think she’s about to have this foal.”

“Give me fifteen minutes. I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”

I ended the call and threw my phone in my bag and gathered things I thought I might need. Pineapple was young, to begin with, but there were so many other concerns surrounding her giving birth. The poor thing was healthy but small, and I worried that even though nature usually had a way of working these things out, her fear might outweigh her instincts.

I ran out to my SUV and threw my bag in the back, hopping in the driver’s seat and speeding away out of town and in the direction of Killarny Estate. It was a quick drive down the mostly abandoned highway, but in the distance, I could see the storm clouds rolling over the hills, a sure sign that we were in for a very noisy evening as was common for a spring evening in Kentucky.

There was electricity in the air, literally, as I made my way up the drive and to the main barn at the ranch. Against the slate gray of the sky came a bolt of lightning slicing through the clouds and rendering the sky into two parts for a split second. It sent a chill up my spine as I parked my vehicle and went running toward the stable where Pineapple was housed.

It was dark in the stable, save for a single utility light shining into one of the larger stalls. Against it, I caught sight of Alex’s tall silhouette, and it made me catch my breath. He stood there, powerful and seemingly in control of the situation, but I knew nature better than this. And I knew Alex better as well. Behind all that strength and confidence in what he knew, there was a worry that something could go wrong. Losing the horse would be too much after everything that had transpired over the past year, and I knew I had to do everything in my power to help her through this delivery.

I rushed up behind him, and he turned to face me.

“Thank you for getting here so quickly,” he said as he turned back to the horse, who was very clearly in pain and scared of what was happening to her. “It seemed to come on pretty quickly. I called you just as soon as I realized what was happening.”

I moved in closer to the horse, saying soothing words and doing what I could to make sure she knew that I was there to help and not harm. Reaching out to touch her I felt the warmth of her body through the sheen of her golden coat. Her muscles rippled beneath my touch and I could sense the uncertainty in her behavior. It was clearly visible in her eyes, but there was something else there. She was slowly submitting to it and letting her body take control of what was a natural process.

“Everything seemed fine this morning. She wasn’t acting the least bit distressed. I can usually tell when a mare is about to foal, but she was acting completely normal.”

I nodded and backed away, coming to grab some instruments from my bag and then moving in to give Pineapple a more thorough examination. Everything looked like it was proceeding as it should and for me, there wasn’t much to do other than monitor her and make sure she didn’t go through any unnecessary stress. The one factor I still had no clue about was the weight of the foal. This was a premature delivery as far as we knew, assuming we had the date correct on the conception.

“All we can do is wait now,” I said as I moved to stand beside Alex.

“Well, if that’s all there is…you don’t have to stay. I can watch her, and I’ll let you know if anything changes.” His words said one thing, but his body language was telling me something else. I could tell he was worried about the young horse and how she would fare.

I shook my head. “No, I want to stay here with her. This is her first, and sometimes that can be tricky, especially since she’s so young and it’s coming early. Of course, it might not be early at all, and you know as well as I do there’s some variation on that. All we can do is watch and wait for her to deliver and hope for the best for the foal.”

A rumble of thunder echoed through the open end of the stable, and I looked outside to find that things had gone pretty dark, nothing but blue-gray shadows and the wind blowing through the trees outside. A storm was rolling in and was likely already here, and I had no idea exactly how bumpy our night was going to get.

“Nasty out there,” he said.

I nodded. “I think we’re in for a pretty bad storm.”

“Well, if it comes to it we can run to the cellar from here pretty easily.”

I sighed. All that this night needed was a tornado.

Alex pulled up a pair of 5-gallon buckets for us to sit on and I was grateful for even the uncomfortable seat after a long day vaccinating cattle. We were quiet for a while and didn’t know where to start if we were going to speak to each other at all. It had been months now of avoiding each other, pretending nothing happened and attempting to move on with our lives. Other than seeing Alex in town and when I came out to the ranch for regular checkups, there had not been much contact between the two of us. A part of me was missing him, but I knew that as long as things were at their current status, nothing could happen between us. No matter how much my body ached for it to be differently.

We watched the horse laboring in silence, and I got up occasionally to check her and make sure things were progressing at the speed that they needed to. She didn’t appear to be in any distress, and that’s what I was watching for—a sign that her little body wasn’t able to push the foal out on her own. That was the biggest risk here and one that I had worried about from the moment, I found the horse was pregnant, but I thought she was healthy enough that it wouldn’t be a life threatening issue for either Pineapple or her baby.

“I need to tell you something,” Alex said as I came to sit down again. “I know about your dad.”

I looked at him with surprise plainly showing on my face. “What do you mean? What do you know?”

He shrugged. “I cornered Lorna, and I asked her to tell me what was up. What the thing was that brought you back here. I knew that you wouldn’t just turn up out of the blue for know good reason. You never had any intention of coming back to this town, so why would you show up to take over this practice? I knew something else had brought you back to Ashland.”

I swallowed and took a breath. “What did Lorna tell you?” I didn’t want it to be everything. I didn’t want Alex to know just how bad it was and what a desperate situation my father was in. There was no need for him to show me pity now.

“Everything. That he’s sick and it’s his heart and that there isn’t really anything, they can do about it.”

I nodded, a little stunned hearing him say the words out loud. “Yeah.”

Alex reached for my hand and grabbed it, squeezing it gently.

“I want you to know that you aren’t alone. This isn’t something you have to handle on your own. You have people that love you and can help you and whatever you need I would be ready to give it to you if you’d just ask.”

“You know I won’t do that,” I said as I looked at his hand holding mine.

“I do know. That’s why I decided to take some things into my own hands.”

He let go of my hand and got up, going over to one of the shelving areas and pulled something from a file folder, bringing it over and putting it in my hands.

“It’s the title to your land. It’s yours. I had it put back in your name, just so there is no mess when you go trying to settle things after…after your dad…”

I looked at him, my eyes wide and mouth gaping open. “You did…what exactly?”

“I got your land back. I’m giving it back to you. It was taken from your dad, and I feel like it’s the least that I can do, giving it back.”

“But how, I thought it was so much more complicated than that?” I knew that it wasn’t as simple as him just giving me the land. It belonged to his father, not to him, and it wasn’t his to give.

“I bought it.”

I reached for his arm and grabbed his shoulder, steadying myself where I sat on the bucket.

“No, Alex…you can’t.”

He shrugged. “Already did. It was the right thing to do, Maddy. I don’t want you or your sister going without. You and Lucy both deserve to have something that belonged to your father. It’s not fair the way things went down, and I wanted to do whatever was within my power to make them right again. My dad wasn’t ever going to do it for you; I’m sorry to say. I hope you’ll be able to forgive him someday, but I understand if it’s too much to ask. He doesn’t deserve it as far as I am concerned. I do hope that you’ll be able to look past things enough to speak to me again though.”

Without really thinking, I leaned over and hugged Alex, pulling him close and wrapping my arms around him tightly.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “I don’t know how to express how much this means to me.”

Alex held me and touched my hair, smoothing it back away from my face.

“You don’t owe me anything. I was going to bring it into town at some point soon, but now seemed like a good enough moment.”

Thunder rumbled, much closer to us now and the rain began to pour. I looked up at Alex, and his face was still but expectant. Leaning up, I kissed him softly on the lips and smiled.

“I’m not expecting anything from this. I just wanted to do the right thing for you. It would be nice if we didn’t avoid each other anymore though.”

“I’m not going to avoid you anymore,” I said as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

I looked over at the horse who was more actively involved in pushing at this point. Getting up to check her, I could see that things were much closer now and I thought that within the next few hours we would see a brand new baby. Silently, I said a prayer that everything would be okay.

I opened my eyes a little while later and blinked, trying to make out what was in front of me.

“We slept through it,” Alex said, stirring beside me on the stable floor.

We had slept through something for sure. I looked into the stall and saw Pineapple there, cleaning her little foal. The thing was the same color as its mother for the moment, and I smiled as I saw that everything appeared to be fine on the surface.

Standing, I went to check on mother and baby and establish that everything indeed was fine. Vitals seemed good, and they were both happy, cuddling each other. I took care of the dirty work of tying the placenta where it was still attached. Nature would take its course and then the foal would be expelled soon enough.

Pineapple didn’t want to be far from her baby, and I was encouraged to see that she was picking up the maternal instincts that would be necessary for raising. That had been a major worry as sometimes the younger mothers didn’t take to mothering like an older mare would. A quick glance revealed that her milk was coming in and I hoped that the foal would start to nurse soon.

“Well, I think that’s it for now. I’ll need to check on them a little later, but both of them look as fit as can be.”

Alex smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”

I stopped to look around and decided it would be best if I was on my way home, seeing no reason to stick around.

“I guess I’ll head back into town now.”

He shook his head. “You’re filthy, and you can’t get back into your car like that. Come back to my place and take a shower. Get something to eat. It’s been a long night for us both.”

I followed Alex back to his place on foot, dragging myself all the way. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until I stepped inside his house and had the urge to hurl myself across his couch, but I was in no state for that.

Alex took me by the hand and led me up the stairs to the bathroom, turning on the hot water and allowing it to fill the bathroom with steam.

“Everything you need should be here, but don’t hesitate to shout if you need something else.”

He turned to go, and I grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back toward me.

“Stay,” I said.

He looked at me without uttering a word, and after a moment he nodded, reaching out to help me undress.

In the shower he was gentle, washing the blood and grime and all the reminders of labor from my body. I watched as rivulets of water streamed down his chest and leaned into him, letting the warmth of his body and the shower envelope me. He put his arms around me, the muscles strong and secure. I felt safe here with him and like I was where I belonged. But more than that, I wanted this man. He felt like home and everything I had ever wanted all at once.

Alex turned off the shower and stepped out, grabbing a towel to dry both our bodies, then he led me into his bedroom. Naked, there was nothing to remove, no preamble to what was happening, but we both knew exactly what we wanted.

His strong hands were equally gently and tantalizing as he caressed the delicate skin of my neck, slowly working his way down to the tips of my breasts. He drew tiny circles with his fingers around my nipples, drawing them up and out into tight little buds. The nerve endings there were alive and so awakened by his touch. When he leaned down to kiss them and take them into his mouth, in turn, I gasped. It was perfect, and still, I wanted more. He suckled me softly for a while and then it turned urgent.

“I want you,” he said as he brought his face back up to mine and moved us toward his large bed.

I fell into it and pulled him close. When he turned onto his back and pulled me atop him, it sent a thrill of excitement through my veins, and I reached down to find him erect and ready. Needing no further encouragement, I positioned him underneath me and slid down onto him, my pussy wet and eagerly wanting him to fill me.

It was fun to do the work, to rock and writhe on top of him. Feeling the head of his cock buried so deep inside me was something that made me feel crazy like I was going to trip over the edge when I felt him rub against a certain part of me with each undulation.

“You are so fucking amazing, Maddy.” He said the words through gritted teeth, and I could see how he was holding back. I didn’t want him to do that. I wanted him to let himself go, to fill me up. I wanted him to know that I was his and always had been. There was no going back now, not for me. I couldn’t deny what Alex was to me any longer.

I increased the speed of my movements and brought him to the point of gasping before I slowed down again, looking down at him with a grin.

“God damn it,” he spat out. “Don’t stop Maddy or I swear to God I’m going to flip you over and fuck you so hard…”

As appealing as it sounded to be flipped over, I wanted things on my terms right now, and I began to rock on top of him again, refusing to slow down this time. I focused on myself for a moment, rubbing myself in just the right way so that I was crying out and coming around him as he reached his peak and roared, pulling my hips down as we crashed into each other.

I leaned forward and rested on his chest, still feeling him inside of me.

“I love you,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him.

“I love you, too,” I whispered into his ear. “I wish I had realized it sooner.”

Alex shook his head and opened his eyes to look into mine. “It’s all behind us now. You’re mine.”

A few months later, after I had moved into Alex’s place on the Killarny Estate, the couple who were planning to buy Pineapple backed out of the deal, deciding they would rather go with another horse instead. That meant we got to keep Pineapple and her colt, Yellow Nevada, there at the ranch and I could tell that Alex was pleased about it.

My father lasted a few months longer, long enough to see me with Alex and understand that although things with him and Sean Killarny had never been resolved, Alex was a different man from his father entirely and that he wanted the best for us together. He was happy when he died and very grateful to Alex for restoring our family’s ranch like he had. Lucy had half of the property deeded out to her, while I kept the half that adjoined the Killarny property.

Early that fall we sat out on the porch swing of Alex’s house—our house—and watched the young colt run in the pasture, clearly happy to be alive.

Alex ran his fingers through my red curls, and I leaned into his shoulder.

“Happy?” He asked.

I smiled and gave him a kiss on the lips, thinking how much I had missed that and how many more kisses I had to look forward to.

“Happy,” I said as we watched the sun fall into the horizon, the colt whinnying in the distance.