Water Lily by Terri Farley Read Free Book Online Page A

didn’t approve of pampering the horses. He refused to treat them like pets. To him, the Quarter Horses, dogs, and other animals on the place were working partners.
    Darby had never seen a vet visit ‘Iolani Ranch, but they probably didn’t need one. The combined knowledge of Jonah, Aunty Cathy, Kit, and Kimo must have amounted to a couple of degrees in veterinary medicine.
    Still, Blue Moon was so little….
    â€œWe’ll take him up where we can keep an eye on him.” Kit lifted his head toward Sun House. “Can’t spend all day checking on him. Too much work to be done.”
    Cade drew in a breath that only Darby noticed. Cade wanted to go look for his mom in town, but how could he leave the ranch with the ARC people on their way, the cremellos’ pasture fence still to be finished, and Blue Moon’s health shaky?
    Darby hoped Aunty Cathy had picked up Dee’s trail in town.
    â€œWill he walk?” Kit asked.
    â€œDon’t know,” Cade said. “We can try.”
    â€œWake up, baby,” Darby said as she slowly removed her arms.
    Blue Moon’s eyelids flapped open, his tail spun in a corkscrew move, and he jumped a few steps toward his mother before he stopped, yawned, and lay down.
    Cade knelt beside the foal and tried to push him up, but Blue Moon just flopped flat.
    It wasn’t until Kit opened the foal’s mouth to check the color of his gums that Blue Moon’s spirit returned. He did not like the cowboy’s probing fingers. Pawing the grass with his front hooves, he got halfway up.
    Blue Ginger rammed into Darby’s shoulder, pushing past the half circle of humans to her foal. Did Kit and Cade sense the anxiety streaming off the mare, like she could? Darby tried to stroke the horse’s blue-gray neck, but Blue Ginger jerked away.
    The mare knew the foal had to get back on his feet, but she was trying to let him do it on his own.
    â€œHe’ll be okay,” Darby told the mare, but Kit picked that moment to insist the foal get back on his hooves.
    â€œMove Mom off a ways,” he told Darby.
    Blue Ginger wore no halter or bridle, so Darby grabbed a handful of mane, clucked, and started walking.
    The mare’s body shifted toward Darby, but her hooves stayed still.
    â€œMount up,” Kit said. “Ride toward home on Navigator.”
    Darby did as Kit asked, but of course Blue Ginger didn’t follow. Why had Kit thought she would abandon her sick baby?
    Darby looked over her shoulder to see Cade was once again shoving lightly against the foal’s hindquarters. Nothing. Then Kit moved in to swat the foal more forcefully on his rump.
    Darby winced. It was unlike Kit to be rough with any animal, but she understood as she heard him talking to the foal.
    â€œMove, little boy,” he commanded. “Walk it off now, or you might not get another chance.”

Chapter Five
    I n a flurry of hooves, Blue Moon lurched up, then moved slowly and steadily behind his mother. Cade was back on Joker, raising one hand, hazing the mare after Darby.
    They’d reached the ridge and turned up the driveway toward Sun House when Darby noticed two things: Kimo’s truck still wasn’t here, but a light blue vehicle with writing on the door was.
    The ARC team, she remembered. Agricultural Resource Conservation? She was pretty sure that was it.
    Navigator’s gait slowed as two men, deep in conversation with Jonah, looked up at her. Darby’s old shyness made her stare down at her saddle horn.
    The hooves behind her changed tempo, and Darby knew the mare and foal had picked up her anxiety.
    Shake it off, Darby told herself as Kit and Cade kept the two horses moving after her. You’re not the big attraction. They’re here to check out the well.
    She lifted her chin and straightened her spine, trying to ride with the natural grace she’d observed in every other Kealoha on horseback.
    â€œWhat now?” Jonah shouted