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“How many horses have you rescued?”

“Ten or eleven, I think I took in the first one when I elve”

“Why?”

Again, Vivi Ann was surprised No one ever asked her why “It was the year my mom died”

“It help?”

“Soh a thicket of giant evergreens Slowing, she est of the holes, until they ca house, a four-stall barn, and a small fenced pasture There, she parked “The Huht him here Hopefully the people who did this to him are in jail Whitney Williams—she owns this place—is at work, but she knoe’ll be here” She grabbed a lead rope from the back of the truck and headed for the barn “Wait here”

Inside, the barn was dusty and dark At the last stall door, she paused The black gelding melted into the shadows; all she could really make out were the bared, yellowed teeth and the whites of his eyes His ears lay flat back and he snorted, blowing snot and air

“Whoa, boy” Vivi Ann opened the stall door and took a cautious step forward The horse reared and lunged at her, striking out with his front hooves

She sidestepped easily and snapped the lead rope onto his halter as his hoof banged into the wooden door

It took her another quarter hour to get the terrified horse out of the dank, sht; then, finally, she saw the scars

Wherever he’d been whipped or cut deeply enough, the hair had grown back in white

“Son of a bitch,” Dallas muttered beside her

Vivi Ann felt the start of tears and dashed them away before Dallas could see her weakness No ot used to seeing wounded horses She thought of Clementine, and how the horse had saved her when she’d needed saving, and it broke her heart to think how cruel people could be She tried to stroke the horse’s velvetywildly “Let’s get him loaded and out of here”

“If it upsets you so much, why do you do it?” Dallas asked later, when they were on the road again

“I should just let them suffer because it’s painful to help?”