Spirit Horses (40 page)

During the couple of weeks the media was in town, Shane had done his
best to lay low and hang out at the ranch. He quietly reveled in knowing the
valley was now safe, while Nethers squirmed in his boots. His plan had worked.
Now with the public interest and the activist eyes on the mustangs, no one
would be trying to catch or kill the herd anymore.

The tribe’s business interests were beginning to
turn around, too. Several oil companies had approached the Shoshone and Arapaho
about testing in the valley. With the Indians in control, the drilling could be
limited so there’d be minimal impact on the land.

While Shane was keeping a low profile at the ranch,
he’d spent a lot of time working with Tommy and his horses. The young boy
continued to soak up the knowledge like a sponge, and Shane enjoyed every
minute of it.

It was an easy decision for him to stay on the
reservation for the remainder of the summer, especially since he and Tara were
now spending much of their free time together. They both believed that fate had
brought them together and were now determined to figure out some way to build a
future with each other. Just the sight of Tara brightened each day, and with
her understanding and support, Shane was slowly moving from his
getting-by-one-day-at-a-time philosophy to actually feeling good about life
again.

With plenty of summer left and the herd now safe
from Nethers’s gang, Shane was having to face up to doing what he originally
came out to do�—�setting Sloppy free. The decision to stay for
the rest of the summer, however, provided an excuse for him to temporarily put
off the inevitable, which was becoming more and more difficult for him to face.
He knew doing it soon would allow him plenty of time to keep an eye on her
during her reentry stage. It was important for him to ensure that she was
accepted by the rest of the herd, and to give her time to acclimate back to her
wild life before winter set in.

He chose the following Saturday to take her out to
the valley. Tara, Tigee, JB, and Hawk offered to go with him, but he felt
strongly that this was something he had to do on his own.

On Friday, the day before he would move the mare out
to the herd, he decided he would take her on one last ride. It had been a
couple of weeks since Butch came home from the animal hospital, and he was
healing on schedule.

The mare seemed anxious during the ride. Maybe she
was picking up on Shane’s mood, about riding her for the last time. She and
Tory were, after all, the last living links to so many fond memories he had of
his wife and kids. While he rode, he couldn’t help but think of Jacob and Tina.

As he unsaddled the mare and turned her out for the
evening, he knew in his heart Sloppy would finally be content when he set her
free tomorrow. “You’ll do fine out there,” he said out loud to her. “After all,
you were born and raised in the valley, and that’s where you belong.”

Her shoes had been pulled several weeks ago so her feet
could toughen up, and Tommy had kept her in good shape. She was ready. He just
didn’t know if he was.

When Shane returned to his cabin, Tara was waiting
for him on the front porch. As he reached the top step, she walked over to him,
put her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly. “Are you sure you don’t
want me to go with you tomorrow?” Shane shook his head no, and gestured for
Tara to follow him inside the cabin. He asked her to wait a minute as he
ruffled through the old pair of saddlebags he had brought with him from
Tennessee. He pulled out the paper Jacob had written in school about Sloppy and
handed it to Tara. For the first time ever, he was letting someone else read
it. On the top of the paper was the boy’s name, Jacob Carson, sixth grade,
along with the date and a big B+ written in red ink.

My horse’s name is Sloppy. She was named by my little sister,
Tina, who said she looked filthy dirty when we first got her. My dad broke and
trained her because he thought she would make a good horse for us kids.

He taught us to ride on her and he said she does real well for
us. My mom found out from a brand on her that she is a wild mustang from
Wyoming.

We love Sloppy very much and she loves us too. Sometimes I
think she is sad and misses her own family though. I know if someone took me
from my family I would miss them.

I asked my dad if someday we could take her back to her herd
and put her with them. He promised me that someday we would do it. I think when
we take her home it will make her very happy. I will be happy too but also very
sad because she is a good horse and she is my best friend.

Tara smiled as her eyes began to well up. She
carefully folded the paper back to its original creases and handed it back to
Shane. “Having a son such as Jacob would make any man proud.”

Shane nodded slightly while he shifted his eyes
toward the floor. “He was a good boy, and I know he would have made a good
man.”

“She’s finally going home tomorrow. This will please
your son.” It startled Shane a little to hear Tara speak of Jacob in the
present time, but he now understood how strong the Shoshone believed in an
afterlife. Her words made him feel good. Now that she had read Jacob’s letter,
she understood why this was a personal thing between him and his son, something
he had to do on his own.

With the rising sun, Shane loaded Sloppy and Tory
and drove out to the valley. Hawk reported to him that the herd had been seen
grazing almost every morning in a meadow on the south side of Owl Creek. Shane
knew this place and felt confident he could find it.

After unloading the horses at the valley entrance,
he rode Tory and led Sloppy alongside. Shane couldn’t have asked for a better
day to do this. The temperature was in the low seventies, and there wasn’t a
cloud in sight. An hour into the ride, Sloppy became anxious. Shane knew this
meant he was getting close to the herd.

“Well, Tory, this is as far as you go,” he told the
old horse as he stepped down out of the saddle and tied him to a tree branch.
The last thing he wanted was for the mare to be confused whether she should
stay with Tory, who had been her running partner for sometime now, or go to
Naatea and the herd. For this reason, he would lead her the last couple hundred
yards through the woods on foot.

As they eased through the trees and into the meadow,
the herd was already aware of their presence. “All right, girl, there they
are,” he said as he softly rubbed her muzzle. “It took me a while, but I
finally got you home.” Sloppy stomped her front foot and whinnied to the herd,
and Naatea responded by doing the same.

Shane slipped off her halter to let her go, but
Sloppy was unsure if she should leave. She turned and gently pushed him with
her nose as if to ask what she should do. “Go on, girl, you’re with them now,”
he said as he pushed her away. She only made it about twenty yards before she
turned back to face Shane. “Git,” he yelled, as he threw up his arms and choked
back the emotions. Sloppy stood there a few moments longer, shook her head,
snorted again, then turned and ran off toward the waiting herd.

A few of the lead mares came running toward her,
squealing and striking out at her with their front feet. Sloppy held her ground
and didn’t back up an inch from the group. Just then, Naatea ran in close to
check her out. The mares surrounding her all moved back out of his way to see
if he would accept her. The stallion charged aggressively at first, but Sloppy
stood firm and acted as if she had a right to be there. Naatea sniffed her from
head to tail while grumbling his studly growl. Then, he stepped back, reared
straight up in the air striking out with his front feet, screaming his wild
call. Shane had watched him do this before when he defeated the young stallion
who had challenged him several weeks ago. He knew this was Naatea’s way of
letting the whole valley know that Sloppy was now one of his mares, and that no
one better mess with her.

Chapter 26

Shane took a deep breath as he checked his emotions. “Well, there you
go, Jacob,” he whispered under his breath.

It was evident that Sloppy had been accepted when
the herd began to settle. Shane quietly slipped into the woods, while the
little gray mare turned to watch him leave. He quickly made his way back to ole
Tory and rode away at a fast gallop, making sure she wasn’t trying to follow.

It was about four in the afternoon when he got back
to the ranch. As he drove in the gate, he was surprised to see a huge party
going on. There was a band playing and meat cooking on a large open grill.
Everyone seemed to have a beer or drink in their hands, and it was obvious they
were enjoying themselves.

Shane drove to the barn to unload Tory. He was still
there when Tara ran up to him and threw her arms around him.

“What’s going on?”

“This is all for you,” she answered. Shane could
tell she’d had a couple of beers and was in good spirits as she smiled and
softly kissed him on the lips.

Shane sighed. “I don’t know if I’m in the mood for
this right now.”

Tara grabbed his hand, urging, “Come with me, I’m
going to mix you a strong drink and put you in that chair on your porch, then
I’m going to sit on your lap and nibble on your ear. You’ll get in a party mood
in no time.” Shane couldn’t help but grin at Tara’s lively attitude.

They had not been on the porch long when Mr. and
Mrs. Jensen ambled up. It was good to see them, and they sat down to join Shane
and Tara. While the four of them watched the festivities from his porch, people
wandered up to greet him, the smiles on their faces showing their gratitude.

“I’ve got some more good news,” Tara said.

“What’s that?”

“One of the investigative reporters has been in
contact with my grandfather over the last couple of weeks. His name is Chad
Dunning. He said he had talked to you.”

“Yeah, I gave him all the information I had on the
situation and told him, off the record, that I suspected Vince Nethers.

“Well,” Tara said, “my grandfather gave him the
names of all the people who had stopped doing business with us concerning our
cattle and hay sales. We heard back from him today. It seems three of the men
admitted that Vince had forced them to stop buying from us. Apparently, since
the situation here had become so high profile, all of this was enough to spur a
federal investigation on Nethers for land fraud and racketeering. I don’t know
if he’ll get convicted, but ole Vince is in some deep muck right now.”

Shane tilted his head and nodded. “Now that’s the
best news I’ve heard in a while. I do believe I’ll have a drink to that.”

“I think I’ll have one too,” said Mr. Jensen.

The party continued until late that night. The
Jensens stayed till the end. Mrs. Jensen had to drive home because her husband
had partied a little too much, but before the two of them drove off into the
night, she made Shane promise to come over to dinner soon.

After everyone went home, Tara lay in Shane’s arms,
and said the words that neither of them had spoken before. “Shane, I’ve never
experienced such strong feelings for anyone, I want you to know that I’ve been head
over heels in love with you since that night at Shadow Creek.” Maybe it was the
influence of the alcohol that gave her the courage to say it, but now it had
been said.
    

Shane was taken aback by Tara’s confession. At first
he wasn’t sure how to respond, but his feelings for her had become too strong
to push aside any longer. “I never thought I could feel this way about anyone
again, but I’m in love with you, too.” They lay there for hours tangled up near
the fire, wasted in the powerful feelings they’d
finally owned up to, until eventually they fell asleep.

The next day, Shane called Terry back at the farm in Tennessee. He
received all the latest news from him about his wife, kids, and the farm. Shane
informed him he would be staying in Wyoming at least for the rest of the
summer.

“It’s good to hear your voice, boss,” Terry said.
“Don’t worry about the farm. The training business is as busy as ever, and
everything is fine. We saw the story on the evening news about the horses being
killed out there.”

“You did?”

“Yes, sir. Sounds like you’ve been involved in quite
an adventure. Has it settled down enough for you to set Sloppy free yet?”

“I did it yesterday.” The two old friends chatted a
while longer before hanging up.

Later, Shane went over to talk to Tigee and Tara
about an idea. “I’ve been trying to think of a way you can keep the horses safe
from anything like this happening again. You never know when those kids from
town will start playing their games of stealing horses. At this time, the
mustangs are very much in the public’s eye. Because of this, no one is going to
take a chance of messing with them. When all this oil money starts coming in,
why don’t you use some of it to pump up your tourism business using the herd as
an attraction?