Fallen Angel (5 page)

“Luke.” She said as loudly as she dared. He looked at her and she pointed at the pool of blood. He looked at the blood
then back at the horse, she saw resignation in his eyes. The horse went down on her front legs and Luke walked from the stall. Angelica scrambled back from the horse as much as she could with the foal on her lap. She didn’t look at the struggling horse as tears filled her eyes, instead she turned her attention to vigorously rubbing down the foal.

The sound of a gun shot in the small space caused her jump and nearly
scream. She managed to cut off the sound so it sounded more like a squeak but her heart continued to pound in a wild rhythm. Luke was kneeling beside the horses head, his pistol still in his hand. She saw him draw a deep breath before he turned and looked at her.  She met his gaze evenly, but she didn’t know what to say.  There were no words that could follow all that had happened in such a short time, but as she looked into his eyes he saw him look from her to the foal and back again and it dawned on her what he was preparing to do.

“No!” She tightened her arms around the foal.

“Angie,” His voice was quiet as if he were trying to sooth her now. “It won’t survive without its mother.”

“Yes, it can. You don’t know, you at least have to give it a chance.”
Her eyes filled with tears she knew she couldn’t let him put the foal down, she had a fierce desire to protect it.

“How will it eat, how will it stay warm?” His voice still had a soothing tone but she wasn’t going to be swayed.

“I will bottle feed it and I will keep it warm.” She said stubbornly. He looked into her eyes for a long moment and she met his gaze unblinking.  He sighed and stood once again walking from the stall. Angelica turned her attention back to the foal, once again rubbing it down. Luke returned a few minutes later with a few blankets and a bottle.

“Got a cow that just calved so he gets cow milk in a calf bottle because that’s all we’ve got.”  She looked into his eyes, he was much closer now than he had been before.

“Thank you.” She said softly.

“Try not to get too attached OK, this probably isn’t going to work and I won’t see him suffer.” His voice was soft but she knew he meant it. She nodded her understanding. “Let’s see if we can get him on his feet.  Luke let him smell the milk and then backed awa
y, the hungry foal stretched its neck toward the bottle and Luke backed away a little more.  Angelica held her breath as the foal placed one shaky leg on the floor followed by another one soon he was off her lap and fully standing. She grinned.

“Well it seems he is a she.” Luke said matter of factly. Angelica looked automatically.

“I guess she is.”

“Well come here.” She quickly got to her feet and went to wh
ere he was standing he gave her the bottle and she held it out and the foal approached on shaky legs. He found the nipple and began to suckle greedily. She felt herself smile again. They sat there quietly until the foal drank his fill and lay back down again. 

“Let’s move her to another stall.” Luke said easily lifting the foal into his arms. Angelica picked up the blankets he had brought and followed him to an empty stall. He
dabbed some salve on the foal’s broken umbilical cord before settling her back into the straw. Angelica covered it with a blanket and sat down beside it. Luke smirked but he didn’t say anything.

“The cow that is going to play wet nurse is in the next stall.”

“Luke, you should get some sleep. I will look after her. If I need anything I will wake you.” He looked at her for a long moment as if he couldn’t decide. Then he finally relented.

“Alright, come an
d get me if you have any problems.”  She nodded and he looked at her for one more long moment before he left.  Angelica waited until he was gone before she lay down beside the foal and spread the remaining blankets over the two of them.

“Luke, have you seen Angel
? She is usually up and helping me with breakfast by now so I went to her room to check on her and she’s not there, it looks as if the bed hasn’t even been slept in.”  Luke had barely stepped in the door before Ella accosted him, she was wringing her hands obviously very worried.

“She is in the barn,” h
e said, proceeding toward his original goal which was the coffee pot.

“The barn?” Ella sounded relieved but confused.  “What is she doing in the barn?”  Luke poured himself a cup of coffee and took a swallow despite the fact that it was very hot.

“Sophie foaled last night, she hemorrhaged and I had to put her down. Angel was there, she wouldn’t let me put the foal down. She stayed out in the barn to keep her warm and fed through the night.”  Ella didn’t respond she just stared at him. “What?” he asked finally.

“She wouldn’t let you put the foal down?”  Ella’s voice was heavy with disbelief.

“What did you want me to do pry it out of her arms just so I could kill it? Come on Ella I am not that heartless.”

“Well I suppose not, but without a surrogate I’ve only ever seen a handful of orphaned foals survive.”

“I know.”

“Well how lon
g are you going to let it go on?”

“I told her I wouldn’t let the foal suffer.” Ella was still looking at him in a very peculiar way and it was starting to make him uncomfortable. He was grateful when she had to turn away to take biscuits out of the oven.

“So, she has been helping you with breakfast?” He asked hoping he sounded casual.

“Mmhmm.”

“How long has that been going on?”

“Ever since she came out of that room, she tries to help with anything she can, I think she finds it really frustrating that she can’t remember how to do anything.  I feel bad for her, she is actually a really sweet girl.” Luke didn’t respond he just took another swallow of his coffee.

             
Angelica opened her eyes only to find one big blue eye staring at her. She smiled at the little foal. “Are you hungry?” She sat up and picked up the bottle then held it up so the foal would have to stand up to drink. She did and once she had drunk her fill Angelica saw that the glass bottle was nearly empty. She remembered that Luke had said the cow was in the next stall. She wasn’t sure she knew how to milk a cow but she decided to give it a shot. “How hard can it be?” she thought.  She held the bottle under the udder with one hand and pulled on the teat with the other but nothing happened, no milk came out. She tried a different one but still she couldn’t get milk.

             
“Need some help?” She jumped at the unexpected voice and looked up and saw Luke.

             
“I don’t remember how to do this. Or possibly I never knew how to do this.” 

             
“You want to hold it like this,” he showed her how to hold it, “and then you squeeze and pull.” He demonstrated and milk sprayed into the waiting jar. She tried again and still produced no milk. “No, like this,” he wrapped his hand around hers and showed her how to tuck her thumb then gently controlled her hand showing her to squeeze and pull. This time milk sprayed into the jar. “There see.” She could only nod, her heart was pounding and she was still reeling from the sensation that had shot up her arm when he had touched her. She didn’t trust her voice to respond. But she tried again on her own and managed to produce milk so she smiled triumphantly.  He stepped back and she continued until she had filled the bottle.

             
“How is junior?”

             
“She is doing alright.” They both looked to where the foal was sleeping in the straw. Luke looked at Angelica, she had straw in her hair and her gown was stained from the ordeal. He couldn’t help but smile.

             
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up and have some breakfast. I’ll keep an eye on her.”  Angelica looked from the foal to Luke, she was afraid to leave the foal.  Luke watched the indecision play across her face.  “Angie, I told you you could care for the foal as long as it didn’t suffer, I am not going to do it harm just because you’re not here. By that same token don’t think I won’t just because you are.”  Angelica could see that he was serious but she was surprised that he would be so blunt. She was determined not to let him rattle her though.  She squared her shoulders and held her head high.

             
“Understood.” She said simply and turned and walked out of the barn without a backward glance.

             
Angelica scrubbed her hands and arms trying to get the blood off but it was difficult.  She looked at the dress she had taken off, it had to be ruined. If she couldn’t get the blood off her hands how was she going to get it off the garment? A soft knock on the door made her pause. She was only wearing a chemise.

             
“Who is it?”

             
“It’s Ella.”

             
“Come in.”

             
“I thought maybe you could use this.” Ella held out a bar of lye soap and Angelica smiled.

             
“Yes that should help.” She took the soap and began to lather her hands. “I’m afraid it might not help the dress though. “

             
“Well we’ll see.”  Ella picked up the dress from where she had laid it over the chair.

             
“Oh no don’t, I’ll do it.”

             
“Nonsense, I am doing the wash anyway.  Besides if you are going to play mother to that orphaned foal you’re going to have your hands full as it is.”  Angelica felt slightly deflated.

             
“You don’t think she has a chance either?”

             
“Oh of course there is a chance, there is always a chance. It’s not going to be easy though. Horses are fickle creatures and without their mothers foals don’t usually survive unless you can find a surrogate and there just aren’t any mares out there that fit that bill.” Angelica thought about what she said, she thought about the fact that Luke had told her not to get attached.

             
“What do I need to do? To help her survive, I mean.” She asked quietly. 

             
“Well dear if there was some magic thing you could do then they would all survive wouldn’t they?”  Ella laughed. “I guess the main problem is most of the time a rancher doesn’t have the time to devote to the foal.  They are just like any baby, they need time and attention, they need to eat every couple of hours, since you’re not a horse you’ll have to take her out and walk her, make sure she gets enough exercise, her legs are new and she needs to use them now or she won’t be able to later.”  Angelica nodded, soaking up all of Ella’s advice. She was determined to help the foal survive, she had the time to spend and if it meant saving the little filly she would spend every minute in the barn.  “After the first month or so she can start eating some grass, then it will get easier.”  Ella continued oblivious to Angelica’s thoughts.

Angelica found Luke sitting in the stall feeding the foal when she returned to the barn.

“How is she doing?” Angelica entered the stall and took the bottle from Luke’s hand. He looked a bit surprised but she just acted as if it were the normal thing. She didn’t want the foal to
disrupt his life in any way if she could help it.

“She has great
color and I’ve never seen a horse with blue eyes before.” Luke said watching as she ran her hand over the foal’s neck.

“She is beautiful.” Angelica said softly.

“Well I got stuff to do.” He turned and walked out of the barn without another word and Angelica almost laughed.  She looked back at the foal who was still eagerly suckling at the bottle she was holding.

“You are beautiful
, and you have beautiful eyes.” She said looking into the crystal blue eye of the foal.

“They say talking to yourself is the first sign you’re losing it.” Angelica looked over her shoulder and saw Tom looking over the stall door.  She smiled.

“I wasn’t talking to myself I was talking to her.” She indicated the foal. “And I know plenty of cowboys talk to their horses.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Tom chuckled.  “She is a little beauty, I wonder if she’
ll have her dam’s temperament.”

“She
will be just as sweet as her mama.” Angelica said confidently. The foal stopped suckling seeming to have drank her fill. 

“She’s going to need exercise. “

“I know, I was thinking about that. I wonder if there is a halter around here small enough for her.”

“I don’t think we have one that small but
George could make one. He is pretty good with leather.”

“Really,” Angelica’s eyebrows rose, “do you think he would show me how?”

“I don’t see why not. He’s in the bunk house. I’ll go ask him.”  When Tom returned a few minutes later George was with him and the foal had settled back down into her straw bed.

“Tom tells me you want to make a halter for the little one.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to intrude if you have other things you are doing.”