My Dearest Cal by Sherryl Woods

grass glistened with dew in the light from a full moon. She breathed deeply, entranced by the unfamiliar earthy scents. There was something raw and basic, something untouched by all the manufactured perfumes and air-conditioned sterility of the city. She stepped onto the cool carpet of lawn, feeling a childlike exhilaration as her bare feet met the dampness. Suddenly she remembered other mornings, creeping barefooted out of the house to get the paper without waking her parents, feeling as if the world was hers and hers alone at that silent hour before even the birds began to greet the dawn.
    She went back inside for her shoes, then set out to explore, taking the path that Cal had taken the day before. As she turned the corner of the house, she was surprised to discover him on the track beyond the stables. Obviously the sound of his leaving had been what had awakened her. She started toward him, then stopped in the shadows to watch in wonder. All the gentleness she had suspected and that he normally worked so hard to hide was in full view now.
    He was walking a horse, one hand on the lead, the other in constant motion, caressing in slow, calmingstrokes as they went round and round the oval track. She could hear his low crooning, the soothing tone but not the words, and realized that she envied both words and touch.
    Concern washed through her as she noted that his shoulders were slumped with exhaustion, his clothes haphazard as if he’d grabbed them hurriedly. She moved closer, saying nothing until he looked up and spotted her leaning against the split rail fence.
    “Is everything okay?” she asked, sensing that this was not part of the daily routine. She slipped through the fence and began to walk alongside.
    He directed a worried look at the horse. “She has colic. If she’s not better by dawn, I’m going to have to get the vet out here for her. Last night I thought she was through the worst of it, but Zeke called up at the house about an hour ago and said she was bad again. I just wish to hell I knew what caused it. It’s times like these I realize how damned little I know. Chaney says it could be anything, but I feel responsible.”
    “Is it dangerous?”
    “Horses die from it,” he said bluntly, his growing concern etched on his harsh features.
    With a sense of dismay Marilou looked at the mare, whose coat gleamed silver-gray in the moonlight. “She’s so beautiful.”
    “One of the best. I’ve got a gorgeous stud picked out for her. If I’m right, her foal could be a stakes winner on the turf. If I can’t get her through this, though, it’s something I’ll never know.”
    She could feel his frustration along with his compassion. “You don’t like not knowing things, do you?”
    He shrugged, one hand automatically soothing the mare. “Who does?”
    “I’m not talking curiosity. I mean control. That’s what’s bothering you now. This is a situation you can’t control.”
    He grinned ruefully. “To tell you the truth, I never imagined I’d even be trying to control a situation like this. You should hear Chaney on the subject. He thinks I’m in over my head. Joshua thinks I’ve gone round the bend. He doesn’t comprehend anything that doesn’t involve software.”
    “What about you? What do you think?”
    “I think I’d be a damned fool if I didn’t admit that Chaney is absolutely right. Right now you couldn’t fill the first page of a diary with what I really know about horses. The only reason Chaney gave in and went to bed for a couple of hours was that he knows this morning could be worse and I promised to wake him if she developed a temperature.”
    “In many ways you seem like an odd pair, but you have a lot of respect for him, don’t you?”
    “Chaney managed this farm for years before I came along. Some of Florida’s top Thoroughbreds were bred here when it was in its heyday. There’s not much about horses and breeding he doesn’t know. I’m lucky to have him.”
    “What did