Nodding at me, he went to work on his computer. “I’m going to look through the different versions of Bax’s forms to pull up the completed version before the information on it was deleted. It doesn’t solve the problem with the samples, but at least we have what we need to get the ball rolling.”
This news was a relief. During a check on a horse’s lineage, we had a number of things we did before we’d clear them for breeding. Sometimes we acted as a sort of brokerage for it, where two external parties would request the breeding take place on our ranch, and it was usually because we were so in-depth with our DNA checks and the way we treated the horses.
The form with the information was necessary, but the samples were required as a backup for them before authorization would be given for the breeding to go ahead. This ensured no corners were cut, no bribes were taken, and no inbreeding or issues arose with the horses.
It was a given that horses would come across a relative of some form at some point, but by eliminating that, it was easier to map out a family tree that’d prevent it from happening in a way that’d affect the offspring. It also helped avoid a foal being born with an illness or deformation, which meant less suffering and ill health within the species.
Yes, many of the offspring were for racing or show purposes, but that didn’t mean we didn’t care about their health. If more places took the time to do things like this, the species’ welfare wouldn’t be a question. Unfortunately, too many people thought with money and not humanity.
Restless, I grabbed a pen out of the new pot on my desk and started spinning it around my fingers, my eyes on the holder Addy had bought me to replace the one we’d broken. If I didn’t, I’d stare at the space I’d taken her on, and that always ended up with me sitting uncomfortably for a while.
She was the one speck of light in the fog just now. With so many things eating away at me on the ranch, it felt like she was a gust of fresh air.
“So, if you find out Marni’s responsible, are you going to wait for her brother to get back to deal with her?”
Glancing up from where I was watching the pen spinning over my knuckles, I thought about Elijah’s question. It wasn’t the first time we’d said it out loud, but the more times we answered it, the more confident I was that our answer was the right one.
“I get why her brother doesn’t want us to do anything just yet, he’s worried about his dad, but if she’s to blame for Addy’s accident and Hayes getting injured, the police need to be involved. I’m not sure what they’d charge her with for the missing information and tampering with the slides, though.”
He was just about to say something when the radio on the desk crackled again.
“Got the girls,” Liall said, his voice sounding tinny. “ATVs on far east boundary line. Gonna need the five-horse transporter to get ‘em back for new wheels.”
Looking at Elijah and Remy’s grim faces, I bit down on the explosion that wanted to come out of me. The only reason I did it was because of the tiny baby still sleeping in the room with us.
Picking up the radio, I pressed down the button on the side of it to connect us. “Are they all okay?”
“No injuries—” Liall began saying but was cut off by Sadie yelling in the background.
“I think not. Vagina chafeage is a legit issue, sir. If your balls had been rubbed raw on your wet jeans, wouldn’t you count that as an injury?”
“It’s true, you know,” Addy added. “I’m willing to bet I’m missing more skin than when she tried home waxing and almost ripped her oonie off.”
Hearing a groan, I was just in time to see my brother cover his face with his hands. For the last couple of years, I’d watched him with his wife, finding it amusing when she did things that drove him to this point. Now that I was experiencing it myself, I wasn’t so amused.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Remy’s shoulders shaking as he worked on his computer and shot him the finger.
His amusement fled as quickly as it’d arrived when Santana was heard saying, “I wonder if we’ll need to put bandages on? I don’t know what happened to the seam on my shorts, but it turned from being as soft as cotton wool to rough as sandpaper.”
Yeah, it wasn’t so amusing once you were in the thick of it. The thing was, Addy made it all worthwhile for me. When I’d had a shit day, she was there to listen and help me through it. When I laughed, I didn’t do it alone. When I slept, I did it deeply with her safely next to me. When I was tired, she found a way to help me switch my mind off so I could sleep. And when I was happy, it was always because she’d made me that way.