The Horse Whisperer

The last glow had gone from the fire by the time she got back. Diane stirred but only in sleep, A

In the morning, when at last she found the courage to look at him, she saw no betraying trace of what had passed between them. No secret glance and, when he spoke, no layer laced beneath his words for her alone to understand. In fact his ma

As they ate breakfast, she looked across the meadow for the place where they had knelt, but daylight seemed to have altered its geography and she couldn't find it. Even the footprints they'd made had been scuffed by the cattle and soon were lost forever under the morning sun.

After they'd eaten, Tom and Frank went to check the adjoining pastures while the children played over by the stream and A

'You know, Disneyland, Universal Studios, the works.'

'That's great. They don't have any idea?'

'Nope. Frank was trying to get Tom to come too, but he's promised to go down to Sheridan to sort some old guy's horse out.'

She said it was about the only time of year they could get away. Smoky was going to keep an eye on things for them. Otherwise the place would be empty.

The news came as a shock to A

By midmorning they were already down below the lowest pass. The sky had clouded over. Without the cattle their progress was quicker, though in the steeper parts descent was harder than the climb and crueler by far to A

When they broke the skyline of the ridge up which Tom had wanted her to ride with him, Joe called and pointed and they all stopped to look. Far away to the south, across the plateau, there were horses. Tom told her they were the mustangs set free by the hippie woman, the one Frank called Granola Gay. It was almost the only thing he said to her all day.

It was evening and starting to rain when they reached the Double Divide. They were all too tired to talk as they unsaddled the horses.

A

On the way up to the creek house Grace said the sleeve of her prosthetic leg felt tight on her stump and they agreed to have Terri Carlson take a look tomorrow. While Grace went up for the first bath, A

The answering machine was full, the fax machine had spewed a whole new roll of paper over the floor and her E mail was humming. Mostly the messages expressed varying degrees of shock, outrage and commiseration. There were two others and these were the only ones A

The first, from Crawford Gates, said that with the greatest possible regret he must accept her resignation. The second was from Robert. He was flying out to Montana to spend the coming weekend with them. He said he loved them both very much.

Part Four

Chapter Twenty-eight

Tom Booker watched the lariat disappear over the ridge and wondered, as he had so many times before, about the man A

Despite the many good things Grace had told him (or perhaps because of them) and despite his own best efforts to the contrary, Tom could not fully dislodge a predisposed dislike that was not, he knew, in his nature. He'd tried to rationalize it, in the hope of finding some more acceptable reason. The guy, after all, was a lawyer. How many of them had he ever met and liked? But of course, it wasn't that. There was sufficient cause in the simple fact that this particular lawyer was A

Pilgrim's bridle hung on the same peg in the tack room where he'd put it the day A

Outside the morning was hot and still. Some of the yearlings in the far paddock were already seeking the shade of the cottonwoods. As Tom made his way down toward Pilgrim's corral, he looked at the mountains and knew from their clarity and a first wafting of cloud that later there would be thunder and rain.

All week he had avoided her, shu

It had been sorely tested the very first evening. When he dropped Grace back at the house, A

'Diane tells me they're all going to L.A. next week.'

'Yes. It's all a big secret.'

'And you're off to Wyoming.'

'That's right. I promised a while back I'd go visit down there. Friend of mine's got a couple of colts he wants starting.'

She nodded and for a moment the only sound was the impatient rumble of the Chevy's engine. They smiled at each other and he felt she was equally unsure of the territory they had stepped into. Tom tried hard to let nothing show in his eyes that might make things difficult for her. In all likelihood she regretted what had happened between them. Maybe one day he would too. The screen door banged and A