Wild Horses (Sadie's Montana #1)(14)

“I can’t think of one single person in a thousand-mile radius that would be brilliant enough to carry this off. Not a one.”

The conversation became more animated, each acquaintance contributing his voice, until it was hard to comprehend what they were really discussing. And they thought women at a quilting were bad! They couldn’t be much more talkative than this.

Now she heard Jim’s voice.

“Yeah, it’s weird. But hardly much weirder than a starved and dyin’ horse jumping down a bank out of the woods smack in front of my truck bringin’ the Amish girl this morning. That thing appeared outta nowhere. Hit the brakes and skidded ’fore we hit ’im.”

“Did you kill ’im?”

“No. I got ’er stopped in time. But don’t think the horse’ll make it. Skinniest thing I ever seed. Ever.”

There was a murmur among the men, nods of agreement as each contemplated the scene in his own imagination.

Sadie knew Jim was well-liked and highly esteemed among the men. The few times he gave his opinion, the men considered, talked about, and respected it.

“Easy for a horse to git pretty skinny in this weather.”

“He weren’t just skinny. He was pretty bad.”

“What happened to him?”

“That Fred Skinner came along in his cattle truck. City guy with him was gonna call the vet.”

The snorts were unanimous.

“Spend a couple hundred for the vet when the poor miserable creature’ll go the way of nature anyhow.”

“Yep.”

“Them city people.”

“Looks as if breakfast is ready.”

Sadie slipped through the swinging doors into the kitchen, unnoticed.

Now that bit of news was something to think about. And…well, she may as well give it all up. Maybe that horse lying on the road was really just like a mirage to a person dying of thirst and walking in a desert. You thought what you wanted was there, but it never really was, despite the fact that you were absolutely convinced of its existence. Maybe instead of a look in a horse’s beautiful eyes, it was only her own emotions—all a fleeting mirage, her imagination run wild.

It was probably the same with Mark. Whoever he was. Of course, any girl would react to someone as good-looking as him. What did Mam say? Don’t go by looks. So there you go. It wasn’t real attraction.

Sadie tackled the pans, scraping their residue into tall garbage cans lined with heavyweight garbage bags, getting them ready for the commercial dishwasher. Thankfully, today she would not encounter “Her Royal Highness, the lofty Barbara Caldwell,” as Sadie was prone to thinking of her.

Sadie had long decided some people were wealthy and you would never know by their attitude. Only their clothes, the cars they drove, or their homes revealed their monetary value. And some people… Well, Barbara was a piece of work. If she could, she would clean the floor with a Lysol disinfectant wipe after Sadie walked on it. She had no use for those pious, bearded people, even refusing to speak the name “Amish.” Sadie had found it extremely hard at first, cringing whenever Barbara approached, but, after three years, Barbara actually addressed Sadie, though only on rare occasions.

One of her favorite put-downs was asking Sadie to pick up the dry cleaning in town. Then she would wave her long, jeweled fingers and say, “Oh yes, I keep forgetting. You don’t have your license.”

Each time, Sadie ground her teeth in an effort not to tell Barbara that if she did have her license, she wouldn’t pick up her dry cleaning anyway. In fact, she wanted to say to Barbara that she could just heave herself and all her excess poundage off to the dry cleaners and pick it up herself. But her upbringing, of course, denied her that wonderful luxury.

Jim said Barbara wasn’t like that when he was around. But Dorothy heartily disagreed and told him so.

“You can’t be peaches and cream at one person’s table, then turn around and be sauerkraut at the next.”

Sadie never said much, if anything at all. She was taught at home not to speak ill of anyone, and Sadie knew without a doubt that was one of the hardest things for human nature to overcome. How could you respect someone who so obviously viewed you with only contempt?





Chapter 5




SADIE WAS ALWAYS HAPPY to return to her home in the evening. She just wished Jim would push that old truck a bit faster and never failed to be amazed at how slowly he navigated the winding, uphill drive to the house. Tonight, though, the snow made the hill treacherous, so she was glad he didn’t accelerate around the bend.

The warm, golden square windows of home were welcoming beacons through the grayish-white evening light, and Sadie could almost smell the good supper Mam had already prepared.

“See ya!” Sadie said, hopping lightly out of the old pickup.

“Mm-hm,” Jim grunted.

Sadie swung open the door to the kitchen, which was awash in the bright glow of the propane gas lamps set into the ornate wooden cabinet next to the kitchen cupboards.

“I’m home!” she sang out.

There was no answer, no supper on the stove, no table set by the French doors.

“Hey! I’m home!”

Leah came quietly into the kitchen, making no sound at all, her face pale, but smiling a welcome in the way sisters grin at one another after an absence.