an infant propped against her shoulder. A TV blared behind her. How the baby slept through the din was a mystery.
“Oh, hi. Did you have a good time riding, Heather?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m glad. Now go change your clothes, honey, and clean your room.”
The girl brushed past her and ran inside.
“And be sure to throw your dirty clothes in the hamper this time,” Mrs. Rayborn called after her. “We eat in fifteen minutes.”
She turned back to Kayla. “Place is a madhouse this time of day, what with meals and getting the little ones ready for bed. Randy’s late again, so it’s all on me. Thanks for bringing her home.” She was about to close the door when Kayla spoke up.
“If I can just take a minute…. Would it be all right to have the school bus drop Heather off at the Broken Spoke with my daughter after school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays? She seems to enjoy riding, and I think it’ll be good for her. Megan really enjoys being with her.”
“I’m glad she’s finally making friends—” Leona shifted the baby to her other shoulder “—but if this is going to cost anything—”
“Not a cent,” Kayla assured her. “Mr. Ritter doesn’t want any money.”
“Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you say. Somebody will have to do her chores on those days.”
“Can she trade days with one of the other children?”
The woman thought a minute. “If horseback riding’ll get her out of that shell, I guess we can work something out. You’ll have to bring her home, though. I can’t go running out after her. Enough to do around here with all the others.”
“How many children do you have?” Kayla asked.
“Six, including this one. Just got him yesterday. Three months old. The little ones are the most work. Probably shouldn’t have taken him, but the poor thing’s got no place else to go. Make sure Heather’s home by six. That’s when we eat.”
“If we’re late, I’ll pick something up for her along the way,” Kayla offered.
“That’ll be fine. You got a cell phone?”
Kayla nodded.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d call and let me know. And please, not a bunch of junk. I’m having enough trouble getting her to eat properly. I sure don’t want her getting sick on me, too.”
“I’ll be careful. I promise. And thank you, Leona. I know Heather will appreciate it.”
“Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Got it. I’ll let her know.”
“Is she going to be able to come, Mommy?” Megan asked the second Kayla opened the car door.
“Yes, honey. Three days a week.”
“Yay!”
Kayla drove away wishing she could do more for the sad little girl.
CHAPTER THREE
ETHAN WAS PLEASED with the girls’ progress over the next week. Megan’s desire to improve was starting to shape her albeit undiminished enthusiasm. As for Heather, not only was her riding stronger as she took control of the reins and used her legs, but she was beginning to open up, to talk with him and Kayla. Nothing dramatic, but there were occasional exchanges that came close to conversation.
On Friday, as Ethan and Kayla were helping the girls down from the horses, Heather said Brad wanted to know if he could come out and ride, too.
“Who’s Brad?”
“He lives with me at the Rayborns’.”
Not home, Ethan noted, but at the Rayborns’. “How old is he?”
“Nine, but he’s in the same class as me.”
“How come?”
“Cause his father wouldn’t let him go to school. Said he was bad.”
“Is that the foster father you’re living with?”
“Uh-uh. His last name is Estes. He lives with us because his daddy’s in jail. His mommy is, too, or maybe rehab. Leastways, he can’t live with her.”
“Has he ever been on a horse before?” At that age Ethan was already an accomplished rider.
“Nuh-uh. His daddy wouldn’t let him, and now he’s afraid nobody will.”
“Why’s that?” Ethan asked.
“’Cause he’s only got one foot.”
That stopped him for a moment. “I’m sorry to hear that. Was he born that way?”
Heather shook her head. “When he was six his daddy got mad at him for not standing still, so he nailed his foot to the floor and they had to cut it off.”
Ethan wasn’t sure he’d heard right. Children sometimes exaggerated or even made things up.
He set her on the ground. “Is that true?”
She looked up and nodded sadly, and Ethan had no doubt she at least believed it was.
While Megan and Heather cleaned their tack and put out the feed Carter had measured for them beforehand, Ethan drew Kayla aside.
“Do you know anything about a boy named Brad Estes?”
“Heather told you about him?”
“Did his father really—”
“Nail his foot to the floor? Yes. He walks with a limp sometimes, and my dear indefatigable daughter, who hasn’t yet learned the word discretion, asked him why. He showed her his artificial foot and told her how he got it. I was skeptical, too, so I asked some people at church. Apparently his father was on drugs. By the time his mother took the kid to the emergency room, gangrene had set in.”
Ethan gritted his teeth and hoped the boy’s father didn’t get out of jail for a very long time. “Heather says he wants to ride. Could you talk to Mrs. What’s-her-name—”
“Rayborn. You want me to see if she’ll let him come out, too?”
“Yeah. Speaking of which, how safe is Heather in that foster home?”
“I checked with Child Protective Services. The Rayborns have been taking in kids for about eight years and have a good reputation. I’ve met Leona. I wouldn’t call her one of the warmest people I’ve ever encountered, but she and her husband, Randy, seem to take good care of the kids they foster.”
“Why does good not sound good enough to me?”
“It’s not a perfect situation for those children,” she agreed, “but some of the alternatives are worse.”
He wasn’t pacified. “See if Brad can come to ride, too.”
THE FIRST THING Ethan noticed when Brad showed up the following Monday with Megan and Heather was that he was small for his age and skinny. He was polite enough and excited about coming out to the ranch, but he was leery, as well. A kid on perpetual guard.
Ethan didn’t notice any limp. Maybe Brad only had one when he got tired or hurt himself.
Ethan quickly discovered the boy was also strong. He clamped his knees tightly against the saddle when told to, and he had the natural dexterity and coordination of a decent athlete. His handicap didn’t have to restrict him. There were, after all, one-footed football kickers, one-handed baseball players, athletes who had only one eye. Handicaps were regarded as challenges these days, not impediments.
“You have three students now but only one of them is paying,” Kayla said the following Wednesday afternoon when the kids were doing their barn chores,