Once Upon a Misty Bluegrass Hill (9 page)

Bernie and Jose pulled the horse
out of the holding stall
prancing
,
neighing
and
with
rolling
eyes.

"
Come
'
on now then, t
'
is just for a bit
,
"
Patrick
said softly, which calmed the horse
by some fraction
.

They managed
to get
the
angry snorting horse
into
one of the final action stalls
, w
here he battered around looking for an escape and neighing his discontent.

It was near time for him to take the horse off of the list
even though they had signed up for last. 

She hadn
'
t shown
up
and the time for the horse
to come up for auction
was
quickly arriving
. 
Probably she had simply not seen the signs and the postings
in the free newspaper in Paris
The Advertiser
.

Mary Jane and Michael
came outside to stand near
Patrick
and watch the action.

Just as he went to take the horse off the list she emerged from the woods that lined the stockyards.
 
"
Don
'
t sell him please
!
"
  She
rushed
forward
crashing into him and
jerking on
his arm
.  Gone was the half
-grown
woman
all
made up in the red dress.  Her hair was in a ponytail that didn
'
t hold the
strands of silky
fire
in its confining band
.  Her
big green eyes
were
filled with utter fear
that
consumed her face.

"
Hum, so who is this
?
"
  He smiled gently
so
as not to frighten her
away
. 

"
That is the young girl that lives in the white house.
"
  Mary Jane confirmed.

The girl didn
'
t even look at Mary Jane. 
"
Don
'
t sell Storm, please, I
'
ll take care of him…I
'
ll do anything.
I know how to work as a groom.
"
  Tears welled up in her eyes. 
"
I
'
m sorry I ran away
from you outside the Derby
, but I was just scared you see
.
I
'
ll do what you want now, just don
'
t sell Storm.
"
 

Shame of what he had done filled
Patrick
.  He had figured she would come for the horse, but he had not comprehend
ed the extent of her attachment
to the beast
. 
The intense love
was clearly etched in her pain-
filled face. 
"
Now little lady
,
there
is no need to cry
.
"
 

A
single
fat tear
skipped
down her cheek and she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. 
"
Nobody will understand Stor
m…
only me.
"

Patrick
'
s voice dropped low and
he leaned down. 
"
I understand
Little
Red
, just stop crying and we can talk about you
taking
care of him.
"

"
My name isn
'
t
Red
, it is Jolene.
"

"
Well Jolene…I don
'
t want to see ye
r crying anymore, so we will take Storm back to the pasture and work on what to do about you.
"

Another tear welled up
in her eye
and tossed itself to the ground. 
"
Really, you mean it?  What do I gotta do?
"

Patrick
patted her arm. 
"
Nothing bad, I promise you that
.  N
othing like over at the Derby. 
How old are you? 
Where
are you living now?
"

"
With my Aunt Paula.
"  She sniffed.  "
Oh and
I am 18.  But s
he would be really mad.
  She is already mad that I was applying to colleges.
  I take my finals to get out of high school next week, you see.
"

Patrick
felt a
fierce
burning in his heart. 
"
Is she mad about college?  Is she the one who sent you to the Derby?
"

Jolene
was immediately fearful
. 
"
Don
'
t tell her…I gave her some of the money you gave me…I am sorry I took it and didn
'
t go with you…I was just
….
"
  She shrugged helplessly.

He smiled gently. 
"
Don
'
t worry
.
I gave it to you to keep.
  But go on.
"

Jolene started talking faster
. 
S
he always did that when she got nervous.
"
I told her you gave it to me and
that I left with you. 
I didn't tell her I ran away from you though 'cause s
he told me I better do a good job with the men or she would sell Finnegan and Oliver
."  Her lips quivered.  "Th
ose are my dogs.
"

His thoughts made him
severe
. 
"
Oh yes, the two collies that came with you that day when you visited Storm.
"

"
Yes that is them.  They are mine, but she always says she is going to sell them.
"

His eyes turned so dark they were
purple
with his outrage
. 
"
She told you to do a good job with the men or she would sell your dogs?
"

Jolene gulped
and slowly nodded her head
. 
"
But please don
'
t tell her…it would be awful.
"

He shook his head. 
"
Jesus, Mary and Joseph together…
What does your
A
unt do for a living?
"

Jolene
'
s little red brows came together in a delicate frown. 
"
I don
'
t much know…
she advertises on the internet.  S
he has
lots of
parties
with everybody
drinking moonshine that her boyfriend Travis brings.  But sometimes she has other boyfriends come around when Travis is working.  She says it is to give her that bit of extra money.  They do n
asty-girl things in the bedroom
.
"
  Jolene looked away, shading pink.
 
"
You know…
"

Mary Jane tsked and
Patrick
swore. 
"
I understand completely.  Could I guess you would not live with your Aunt Paula if you and your dogs had anywhere else to go?
"

Jolene
'
s eyes shot back to him. 
"
Oh I do so hate living with Aunt Paula though it isn
'
t Christian to say such a thing
after she took me in and all.
"

"
Well, if you want to take care of Storm then you will have to come live at my place.
"

Hope flashed in her eyes but was quickly replaced with suspicion and fear. 
"
I can
'
t, I got no way to pay you for a place to live.  And I don
'
t want you think
'
in I gotta do stuff like….like Aunt Paula does with men to get money
.  You know …the nasty-girl stuff
.
"

Mary Jane stepped forward and touched Jolene
'
s shoulder. 
"
He would not do anything like that dear.  He is a nice man.
"

Patrick
'
s eyes shaded sad
and he shook his head
. 
"
I
'
d not do that to you child.
"

Still not convinced Jolene pressed on. 
"
And no tr
ying to trap me in the bathroom or
peeking through the window curtain slit and stuff like that, or pressing yourself against me all weird like Travis does trying to get a feel.
"
 

Patrick
groaned. 
"
He does that to you?  Did you tell your Aunt Paula?
"

"
Oh for goodness sakes!
"
  Mary Jane said with heat.
 
"
We should turn him in.
"

Jolene
'
s
eyes rounded. 
"
No!  She would be very mad about that.
"

Patrick
cleared his throat and lifted his chin arrogantly
. 
"
Well you can be assured that the Earl of
Meath
will never resort to trapping a young woman in a corner or spying on her in a bathroom.
  The very idea of such a thing is beyond the pale.
"

Jolene looked skeptical. 
"
Travis says that sort of stuff when Aunt Paula gets suspicious.
"

Michael shook his head. 
"
Somebody should give him the
good beating that he deserves.
"

"
Oh no, he has a lot of really mean friends.
"
  Jolene looked even more frightened. 
"
I just wish to get away from him.  I am just not sure about going
and living
with a stranger.
"

Patrick
smiled kindly. 
"
V
ery
well, then
if you are worried so much
, y
ou can take care of Storm and have another job. 
You don't have to live in my house
. 
How about if you help with the
other
horses?  I need an extra hand at the barn, feed
'
in them and riding them if you know how to ride, and if yur don
'
t, I
'
ll teach you.
"

Excit
e
ment
busted through Jolene
'
s heart. 
"
Of course I know how to ride horses!  I can take care of them! I learned when I was just a little girl from my
daddy
.
"

He looked just like Angel Gabriel
for certain
. 
"
Well it is settled then.
"

Jolene
'
s heart stopped
over the idea of being at home again, even if she only got to sleep in the barn
. 

Patrick
smiled a fatherly smile. 
"
Would you like to live in the little white house I have on my property?
"