Morning Star (8 page)

Nate woke early. There would be no honeymoon for him and Cindy, not while Dannie fought her disease. And if Dannie lacked the strength to win, then there would never be a honeymoon, never. She still needed to be saved, despite her small victories, she still needed saving.

They were in the kitchen eating breakfast, Dannie, Cindy, and Martha.

"Morning, sleepy head," Cindy said and all laughed, even Martha whose mood had changed for the better.

"How about some bacon and eggs, Mister Walker?" Martha asked. "Got plenty."

"Don't mind if I do. Thanks Martha, and please call me Nate."

"Okay Mister Walker." 

Nate shook his head while Dannie and Cindy laughed some more.

"Mom?" Dannie was close enough to nudge Cindy's arm. "Ask him."

Cindy put down her knife and fork and folded her hands in front of her.

"I believe a newlywed has the right to have a request granted on the first morning of marriage."

Nate pulled a bottle of orange juice out of the refrigerator and closed the door.

"That's a new one on me. Where'd you hear that?"

"I read it in the marriage bible."

"The marriage bible? Never heard of the book."

"It's in the town library but that's beside the point."

She cleared her throat. "Dannie wants to ride Morning Star."

Nate lowered the juice to the table. "You know he's a wild horse, right? You know that it's most likely the horse has never been saddled, never been ridden."

"Only one way to find out," Dannie said between mouthfuls.

"How do you feel about it Martha? You're her nurse."

The nurse turned from the stove and faced him, faced all of them.

"It's against everything I've come to know as a nurse. Two weeks ago I would have said absolutely not. I'd have forbidden it. Since then I've seen things that have made me rethink my position on certain topics. I've seen things that go beyond medicine and into other realms. Realms where scientific fact mean little or nothing. So today I say, if the horse can be ridden, and if you ride with her, what the hell, give it a shot."

The three of them were motionless, waiting for an answer. Nate sat down at the kitchen table and stared back at them. 

"I'll try saddling the horse right after breakfast."

"Thanks dad. Thanks mom." Dannie turned in her seat. "And thank you Miss Martha."

Martha Edmonton smiled and turned back to the stove before they saw the tears forming in her eyes. In all these days, it was the first time the girl had called her by her first name.

24

Nate pastured the horses. He liked to let them run the open fields every few days. Later this week he would meet prospective buyers for several of his colts and mares. Things were different from his father's days running the ranch. Back then The Rising Sun had cattle galore, chickens, and even pigs. His parents had made a small fortune, not only in the cattle trade but in wise investments before their deaths in an automobile accident while on a buying trip to Denver.

The wills gave a good chunk of their wealth to the local hospital. They never told Nate, he found out after they died, that he had a rough birth. A birth that both he and his mother barely survived. And to add to that, his father received excellent care while in the hospital during a serious bout of pneumonia two years before his death.  So Garden General got their fair share, an amount so hefty it resulted in the facility's name change.

Nate did okay too. He was an only child and got what was left, well over two million dollars. He made more by downsizing the ranch, selling off every living thing except the horses. Every so often he'd sell a few, then he'd buy a few more. It always stayed about the same, between sixty and one hundred in the herd. 

He liked working The Rising Sun around this time of the day. He liked rising with the sun, and working the stables and he enjoyed taming the wild horses. It became a challenge hard to resist.

He yanked a saddle, a saddle blanket, and a bridle from the tack room and carried it by the horn to the corral. Morning Star held down the fort alone while the others gallivanted in the fields. He watched the kitchen window with sharp eyes. 

"Don't you ever sleep, Star?" Nate asked as he neared the fence. He had yet to see the horse at rest, very odd.

"Ever see one of these before?" He tossed the saddle onto the top fence post. Morning Star gave it a casual glance before turning his gaze back to the house.

Nate climbed the slats until he straddled the top. He heard the front door of the house open. Dannie and Cindy stepped onto the porch, holding hands. Morning Star let out a loud snort.

"Your buddy's watching you pal. You gonna let her down?"

The horse looked at Dannie, who nodded her head. Morning Star moved away and walked to Nate. The horse stopped parallel to the railing and waited. Nate glanced at Cindy. She shrugged.

"Alright," Nate said and climbed into the corral. He gently placed the blanket on the horse’s back. Now came the hard part. He yanked the saddle off the post and in one swift motion tossed it across the horse's back. He took a step back and watched. Most first timers bucked it off at this juncture and sometimes lashed out at the messenger in anger. Morning Star stood still. 

"Alright," Nate said again with a little more emphasis . He reached under the horse and buckled the girth strap and cautiously began the process of cinching up the saddle. To his surprise, he met no resistance. Then he moved to the horse's head, holding the bridle. He petted Morning Star's forehead.

"Good boy," he murmured into the horse's ear. 

Nate breathed a sigh of relief when the horse accepted the bit easily, even lowering his head so Nate could place the bridle over it. 

He stepped back still not sure if this would work, but growing less apprehensive by the minute.

The horse turned his neck and stared at Nate.
Now what?
He seemed to be thinking. Nate heard a commotion by the gate before his wife and daughter slipped through. 

"Can I ride him now?" Dannie asked in a matter of fact manner. 

Nate looked at Cindy and now it was his turn to shrug.

"I'll ride him first and see how he takes to a passenger. We'll go from there. You all better wait outside the corral, just in case." 

He approached the horse as they closed the gate behind them. "Easy boy," he said and put a foot in the stirrup. He mounted the horse in one rapid motion and sat perfectly still. When Morning Star didn't move, he took the reins and clicked his heels against the animal's flank.

Morning Star slowly began walking the corral's perimeter. Cindy had lifted Dannie onto the fence. She followed her up and watched the horse and rider walk the fence line.

"Hey Morning Star," Dannie yelled out. "Quit being so easy on him."

Nate had time to give his daughter a dirty look before the horse accelerated into a steady fast gallop. Nate held on tight. He needed to become accustomed to Morning Star's size. Compared to Betsy, this was like riding a freight train. 

Nate tested the reins, guiding left then right. The horse followed each command to a tee. He lowered his head and heeled the horse once more. The reaction was immediate. Morning Star took off like a bolt of lightning. He raced the perimeter in a blur of strength and muscle. Nate had never ridden a horse this fast. He smiled and it soon became a laugh as he tore around the corral. 

Cindy held Dannie tight and counted off seconds in her head. She counted twelve seconds from when the horse passed where she sat until he returned to the spot. 

"Incredible," she said out loud.

Nate pulled up on the reins and Morning Star responded, slowing immediately to a moderate trot. When they came up to their two spectators, Nate was breathing heavier than the horse.

"Can I ride him now?" Dannie asked.

Nate turned to Cindy "Have you ever...?" 

She nodded her head no.

"Can I ride him now?" Dannie asked again with the slightest note of impatience in her voice.

"I guess so," he said, "but I'll be riding Betsy right alongside of you. I expect you to keep him in check. The minute he starts to gallop, you're back on the fence. Got it?"

"Got it," she said. "Go ahead and get Betsy, dad."

"He's fast, Cin," Nate said as he climbed off and headed for the barn. "I was holding him back." 

25

Her father rode next to her on Betsy. Dannie in Morning Star's saddle. They were walking around the corral.

"I want to go faster,"  Dannie said. The remark was directed at her father but Morning Star glided easily into a  slow gallop.

Nate pulled up next to her, ready to grab the reins.

"She's fine Nate, but no faster," Cindy yelled from the post.

Nate brought his hand back to Betsy. 

"Any faster and you're on time out," he said over the beat of the hooves. 

Dannie nodded and lowered herself into the saddle. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the horse's neck. She closed her eyes. 

Nate pulled Betsy back and watched Dannie and the horse circle the corral. He sensed his daughter was safe with the horse. The feeling rushed over him in a wave. Something was happening. Something extraordinary. And he went with the flow and watched. 

Morning Star and his passenger traveled the circumference of the corral many times. The horse moved at the same steady pace the entire time. Sometimes Dannie rested her head on the horse's neck, at other times she sat upright. 

"Nate, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

He saw it. Each time Dannie lifted herself from Morning Star's neck she sat straighter in the saddle.  After a while, she no longer slumped forward at all. 

He went to say something as the horse neared where they sat. Cindy took his arm.

"Let them go," she said.

They rode for close to an hour before Nate waved them to a stop. 

"Best not to overdo it, Dannie."

"I'm fine dad," she said but didn't argue when he helped her off. 

Her nurse watched most of the proceedings from her vantage point on the front porch. At first she wasn't pleased. Too much too soon, she thought. At some point she changed her mind. Maybe it happened when Dannie hugged the horse for the first time or maybe it was when she sat up afterwards, so defiantly proud. She's beating it, the nurse thought, as she watched the little girl she had come to love ride a dark blue horse on a beautiful summer's day. She's beating an incurable disease.

They walked back to the house holding hands; the three of them, and when they arrived at the porch steps Dannie pushed into the front and took each step on her own. When she reached the top step she turned and winked before Nurse Edmonton knelt down and embraced her, lifting the girl in her arms. 

"Time for rest and medicine," she said before whisking her away.

Nate glanced back at the corral. Betsy and Morning Star were nudging each other playfully.

"I've got an hour or two before rounding up the horses. How about us having some rest and medicine too?" Nate winked at Cindy

"Sounds good to me," she replied.

26

Something bad is going to happen. Dannie woke with a start. She looked at the clock on the nightstand. The time read 2:45 a.m. She raised her head and saw her nurse fast asleep on the bed across from her.

Dannie lowered herself onto the hardwood floor, careful to avoid the squeaky boards. She had a bad feeling something would happen soon, something not good. She might be wrong and with that thought in mind walked out of her room as stealthily as possible.

I won't wake them. It might have been a dream. I'll just check on Morning Star and come right back to bed.

She held the railing with both hands and took the steps slowly. It was the first time she'd walked the house stairs in months and she was doing good. She had almost made it to the first floor, just three steps to go, when she turned toward the living room window and saw flames shooting out of the barn closest to the house.

"Dad!" She yelled. "Fire!"

She let go of the railing, just for a second. 

"Dad!" She screamed and grabbed for the railing, only it wasn't there, and she tumbled forward, falling onto the hardwood floor.