Taking the Reins by Carolyn McSparren

Author:Carolyn McSparren
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“WEATHER REPORT SAYS thunderstorms again tonight,” Sean said over breakfast. “What’s on the agenda, Charlie?”

“Colin Campbell called this morning. They’re logging about twenty miles from here, and he asked if we wanted to join them. Give you a chance to see what they do and decide if you’d like to try it.”

“I want to come, too,” Mickey said. “I can’t cut down trees yet, but maybe one day...”

“Like that’ll happen.” Hank sneered. “How we gonna manage you? Wheel you in a wheelbarrow and dump you in the poison ivy?”

“If we have to,” Charlie said quietly. She threw Hank a look.

“Let’s see you climb a tree,” Mickey said. “Get high enough so the limb’ll break off, why don’t you? Break both legs in the poison ivy and see how well you walk with steel pins holding them together.”

“Knock it off, you two,” Sean said.

“Mickey, we’ll park your wheelchair up on the road by the truck and the flatbed,” Charlie said. “You can watch the horses bring up the logs and load them. They barely need any supervision. They know their jobs.”

“Do I have to go?” Mary Anne asked. “It’s not like I’m going to do any logging.”

“It’s not just logging,” Charlie said. “It’s setting up the horses and hitching them to the logs. And, yes, you have to come along. This is a good time for one of your long-sleeved shirts, your scarf, a wide-brimmed hat, work gloves, boots and plenty of sun screen and fly spray. There’ll lots of chiggers.”

“Will there be snakes?” Sean asked. “I do not do snakes.”

“Probably. But snakes don’t like horses. The feeling is mutual.”

Charlie stopped Jake on his way upstairs and whispered, “How are the you-know-whats? If I tell the others about the kittens now, what are the odds we’ll be late for our appointment. You up to an open house when we get back? Is Mama Cat freaking out?”

“No so far. She has food she doesn’t have to hunt for, fresh water, a comfortable bed and her little family.”

“I’ll check with our vet when we get back from the logging and ask her how soon we can have her spayed.”

He turned to start up the stairs. “That big tom has already been serenading her from outside the window. So far she’s not interested.”

“Wish we could have him neutered, too,” Charlie said. “We tried one of the humane traps. He took the meat and managed not to spring the trap.”

The group reconvened in the big metal equipment shed that served as a garage for the trucks and a workshop for the tractors and heavy farm equipment.

“Watch out for the grease pit,” Charlie warned.

“My kinda place,” Mary Anne said.

Since part of the appeal of horse logging meant that it was unnecessary to clear a road broad enough for trucks and flatbeds, they found the Campbell equipment pulled into a pasture beside a thick stand of trees.

The two black shire mares tied to the side of the Campbells’ red stock trailer were bigger than any horse the colonel owned except the stallion.

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