Into the Sunrise by Kathryn Jane

Author:Kathryn Jane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: family secrets, discovery of self, survival happy ending, second chances, love story, spanning decades, foster children, british columbia canada, Naive American, racehorse jockey trainer
Publisher: Kathryn Jane
Published: 2017-05-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Road Trip to Kentucky, January 2002

Lying awake beside Dusty, and not letting himself touch her, while listening to taunting voices of elders past, had become penance for Chase.

If only he’d shown respect, done as he was told, none of this would have happened, and she would be safe from this turmoil now.

But instead, he’d sentenced her to a life without the children she had a soul-deep longing for. His lust, and lack of respect for his elders, had stolen her chance to be the mother she was meant to be.

A man with a backbone would give her what she needed, what he’d taken from her. A man of integrity would take her pain upon himself, suffer for her, and set her free.

On the second morning of the road trip, Chase spotted a deer lying motionless on the shoulder and pulled over.

“What are you doing?” asked Dusty.

“Just a quick check, in case she’s only injured.” He put a hand on Dusty’s knee when she immediately began stuffing her feet in her boots. “Stay warm. I’ll shout if I need a hand.”

He twisted around to access the emergency kit strapped to the back of his seat. Grabbed a black blanket and a small length of rope before heading around the rig. He talked to the horses while unfolding the blanket, and stopped once he could see the deer. Watched, and saw no rise and fall of her ribs, but still he held the blanket ready to drop over her head if he found he was wrong—sudden darkness was often enough to make a wild animal freeze, and blocking their view of a scary human was never a bad idea.

But this deer was long dead. He did a quick search of the ground around her and saw nothing of concern, then climbed back in the truck, and Dusty ran her window up.

“Brrr.” She held up a hand. “I know, you said stay warm, but I needed to be able to hear if you called for me.” Her mouth twisted. “And I’m still a bit gun-shy. What if someone had been hiding in the bushes, waiting to rob whoever stopped?”

He could have said she was being silly, or shouldn’t worry, but he understood her concern. He’d also been on full alert. He touched her hand. “Thanks. Never hurts to be vigilant.”

While he got back on the road, and up to speed, his complete attention went to the way the rig was pulling, whether there was a weight shift or jerking motion to indicate an imbalance caused by the horses being restless. But all seemed well.

“Dry doe,” he finally said. “Probably died on impact late last night.”

“I’m glad she was dead and not suffering.” Dusty kicked off her boots and put her feet flat against the dash. “Could you have finished her if she’d been injured?”

“Maybe she’d have been savable. Then I would have hog-tied her and put her in the tack compartment to get her to a vet.”

“A wild deer?”

“Yeah.” He glanced over at her.

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