Recovery

Chapter 51

"Shit," he murmurs under his breath. He turns his gaze to me.

"What? Do you know him?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "Unfortunately."

We both dismount from our horses, and walk over towards Claire.

"What's he doing here?" Avery asks.

"I'm here to get my horse, so if you'll kindly give him back to me I'll be on my way," the man says, his words almost venomous.

"He's your sister's horse," Claire says.

"My sister is dead," the man spits. "and it's thinks to that horse."

"Mr. Kennedy," Claire says. "See reason. The horse didn't cause the car accident. He was traumatized by it. But that's beside the point. When your sister died, he was brought to us. We would like to keep him here. He's made so much progress."

"I fought for him in court for months. Now that I've won the case, I'm taking him where he belongs- to auction," the man growls. I pity whatever horse they are talking about.

"Mr. Kennedy, you can't be serious! If you take him to auction, he'll be sold to slaughter! Would your sister have wanted that?" Claire pleads. I notice Avery stiffen beside me and frown.

"I don't care what she wants. The horse is mine- I have the papers to prove it. What I want to do with him is my business," the man growls.

I almost pity him. His grief over losing his sister is rendering him unable to see the error in his ways. It must have been a terrible loss for him.

"I know you're angry at the horse. But Mr. Kennedy, if you drove away now, you could just forget about him. He's already made so much progress, and he's helped his partner so much. If you split them up, it will be cruel. You'll destroy her," Claire cries out, losing her composure for the first time since I've met her.

"You've already said that, Claire," the man says, no trace of pity on his face. "I don't care about the girl. If she's at your ranch, she was probably already screwed up when she got here."

That means its one of our horses. Images of all of the girls here, and their horses, flash through my mind.

Trigger nudges my shoulder, and something snaps into place in my mind.

Trigger's owner died in a car crash on the way to a show.

"Oh my god," I gasp. "Are you talking about Trigger?"

"Grace," Claire says quietly. "You should go inside."

"Like hell I will," I snap, my eyes flitting around frantically to try and find a way out of this. With no obvious escape, I turn to Mr. Kennedy. "Please, you can't take Trig. He never did anything wrong- he's just a horse."

"If it weren't for him, my sister would never have been on the road. She wouldn't have died!"

"Oh, you sister was an equestrian! If it weren't him, she would have had another horse! You can't blame him for a horrible accident! It's not his fault!" I cry, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Claire, control the brat. I have papers right here that grant me ownership of the horse. Unless you want to call in the police, you'll hand over the horse," Mr. Kennedy snaps, losing his patience.

"Grace," Claire says softly. "Grace, give me the reigns."

"What? No! You can't let him take Trig! You said it yourself- he'll go to slaughter!" I cry.

"I can't stop him, Grace. It would be breaking the law," she sighs.

"Screw the law!" I say. I turn to Mr. Kennedy. When I speak again, my voice is eerily calm. "You can't take him. I won't let you."