Katie and the Mustang, Book 4 by Kathleen Duey Page B

hear him, but he was gone.
    By the time I got back to camp I was pretty much past crying. I knew I had done the right thing. I knew it. And it still hurt like fire and weighed like stone on my heart.

CHAPTER TWELVE

    The little one brought me home. All that long, terrible
way, she was leading me to sweet grass and pine
trees. I will lead the mares far away from the two-leggeds
and the oxen that graze the grass to the ground.
Winter is coming. I must find a sheltered valley with
good grass for them, a place where foals can be
born and grow strong come spring.
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    I woke up the next morning and remembered that the Mustang wasn’t there. A weight settled onto my spirits that seemed too much to carry. My daydream about living with my uncle Jack was gone—and so was my best friend. I felt sad and numb. I felt like I had left my own heart on that mountainside. Day after day, I plodded through my chores. Mrs. Kyler was watching me and so was Grover, but they left me alone, and I was grateful.
    Life in the camp went on. Every family was looking for land. I helped Mrs. Kyler as always and waited for her to tell me I needed to make some arrangement in town, find some employment. I still walked the mares every morning, looking for grass. It helped me to be around them, as odd as that may sound, because I knew they missed the Mustang, too, in their way.
    Most evenings, I helped Mrs. Kyler make supper, then walked out to visit with Midnight and Delia before I went to bed. I usually cried a little, and the mares seemed to understand. One evening, Andrew was going through the herd, checking the horses. He thanked me for taking special care of them.
    â€œThey eat every blade of grass I can find for them,” I told him. “Delia’s flanks are all filled in, and Midnight’s almost are. They’re both putting on weight faster than any of the others.”
    The instant the words left my lips, I heard what I had said and understood. I blushed. He grinned, and I knew I was right. I stared at him, delighted. “They’re both in foal? How long have you known?”
    He smiled again. “A month or two.”
    I was astounded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    He shrugged. “I probably should have. I didn’t want you and my mother worrying about one more thing every time we had to come across rough country or ford a river.”
    I stood still, a weight easing off my heart. Two foals. The Mustang had sired two foals. Maybe one would look like him. Maybe both would. I grinned, picturing them playing, leaping and running on Andrew’s farm, racing across his good grassland.
    â€œIt’s such grand news,” Andrew said. “I was hoping for one. I didn’t ever think we’d get this lucky.”
    I met his eyes. “May I come to see them? I don’t know where I will end up, but, please, can I just come see them sometimes?”
    Andrew was studying my face, and he chuckled. “My mother made me promise that if we got two, I’d give you one once it was old enough. I know better than to cross my mother.”
    I stared at him as though he was speaking some language I had never heard before. He patted my shoulder. “Close your mouth, Katie. You’ll catch a fly.”
    I whirled and ran back toward Mrs. Kyler’s wagon. She grinned when she saw me coming, and I whooped like Miss Liddy did sometimes, high and loud.
    â€œFigured it out, did you, finally?” she teased.
    I stamped one foot, pretending to be upset. “Everyone knew?”
    She nodded. “We’re all so pleased about it.”
    â€œWhy didn’t anyone tell me?”
    She reached out and patted my cheek. “I thought losing the Mustang was something you needed to get used to first,” she said. “Was I wrong?”
    I didn’t know what to say, so I hugged her, hard. She smelled like wood smoke and soap, and, for a minute, I didn’t think