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stripes of missing fur. “What happened?” I breathed, though I thought I knew.
    â€œIt looks like he’s been beaten,” Stephen said.
    â€œHe was heading for the meat factory, and Jack bid on him at the last minute.” Rick took a toothpick from his breast pocket and stuck it in the corner of his mouth. “Pretty clear now why no one else wanted him.”
    â€œOh, poor baby.” I raised my hand to pat the horse, and he shied away again.
    â€œHead shy,” Rick said. “Watch yourself or you’ll be missing a couple fingers. This horse can’t go on the pack trip. I don’t even know why Jack bought him. He needs to go straight back where he came from.” He turned on his heel abruptly. “Tie that buckskin’s head. He’s going to bite anyone who comes near him.” He clomped out into the bright sunshine.
    Stephen sprang forward and fastened the horse’s halter to a ring in the wall with a lead line. The horse’s head drooped.
    â€œWhat’s going to happen to him?” I rested my chin on the top of the stall door. The horse craned his head to look at us. He looked so sad, tied up in the dark depths of the stall. “Does he really have to be tied?” I slid back the bolt and stepped into the stall. “There, boy,” I crooned, stroking his shoulder and neck. He dropped his head a little further and I ran my hand up his neck. Gently, I patted his broad, flat cheek. He didn’t jerk away this time. Instead he leaned up against me and pushed his heavy head against my arm.
    â€œWhat’s going to happen to you?” I whispered to him again. He heaved a great sigh and half closed his eyes.
    â€œYou like that horse, do you?”
    I realized there was another figure in the barn aisle now, instead of one. I eased back out of the stall to see Jack standing beside Stephen.
    Jack hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. “Glad you like this gelding, but he’s just here for a couple weeks, Chloe. I only brought him with the others because Sandra couldn’t stand to see him up there on the auction block.” He smiled a little ruefully. “Forty years on the ranch and she still has a soft spot for the charity cases.”
    â€œBut what then?” I couldn’t keep the anxiety from my voice. “Where will he go after a couple weeks?”
    Jack looked at me for a long moment. “I’m going to sell him again at the auction mart.” He spoke gently. “He might get a home or he might go for meat.”
    â€œMeat!” Horror shot through me. Those big soft eyes and that gentle face going for meat! “No! You can’t do that.” The words were out of me before I remembered who I was talking to.
    But Jack didn’t take offense. He sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to. But that’s the way of horses. They’re too expensive to keep if they’re not earning it.” He dropped a big, hard hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “He’ll get a bit of a vacation here first, anyway.”
    Stephen and I looked at each other when Jack left. We were each hoping the other would speak first. “We should just turn him out,” Stephen finally said. “Let him eat grass for two weeks. It might be the last time he gets to.”
    â€œStephen, they can’t send him back!” I cried, pain twisting my heart all of a sudden. “They can’t! We have to keep him here.”
    â€œJack won’t. You heard him. He’s really strict about all the animals here earning their keep. Old Diamond’s the only one in retirement.”
    I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth. “I can’t stand to think of him being . . . eaten .” Even saying the word sounded grotesque.
    â€œHey, don’t look so upset.” Stephen took my hand, and my stomach fluttered in spite of my anguish. “Look, let’s just make sure he has the best two weeks of his