As she turned Honey towards the stable, she saw Ivy and Brendan waving frantically at her. She urged Honey into a trot and pulled her short when they got close.
Ivy’s face was streaked with tears and Brendan looked more grave than usual.
Olivia dismounted right away. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Lucky,’ Ivy gasped out. ‘Lucky escaped!’
‘Oh no!’ Olivia whirled around to look in the direction that Ivy was pointing, into the woods.
A domestic horse out in the wild could be really vulnerable, Olivia knew. Especially one as old as Lucky.
‘Aunt Rebecca!’ she called across the yard.
Hank and John were leading the visitors back to the stables and Rebecca rode over. ‘What’s happened?’ she asked, keeping tight control over Admiral, who was prancing.
‘It was all my fault,’ Brendan put in. ‘I left Lucky’s stable door open. He ran away into the woods over there.’
Olivia glanced at Ivy, and she looked utterly crushed. Olivia wondered if there was more to the story than Brendan was letting on.
‘How long ago?’ Rebecca demanded.
‘About half an hour,’ Ivy said, fresh tears rolling down her face.
Rebecca looked down on Brendan from Admiral’s back, like a general looking down on an army deserter. ‘I think it’s time you went home.’
Olivia felt awful. She knew Brendan wouldn’t have done anything like that on purpose. Ivy started sobbing, and Brendan whispered something to her.
‘I’m really sorry this has happened, Ms Kendall, and I hope you find Lucky soon.’ He hugged Ivy tightly and then rode away on his bike.
‘John and Hank will get the rest of the horses in and I’ll go looking right away,’ Rebecca said. ‘I hope he hasn’t gone far. Olivia, can you help?’
Olivia nodded.
‘What can I do?’ Ivy said. ‘I have to help somehow.’
Rebecca tossed Ivy her cell phone. ‘Call everyone in my phonebook and tell them what’s happened. Anyone who can help, will, I’m sure.’ She gave Ivy a sympathetic look. ‘Ivy, don’t beat yourself up over this. You’re not to blame.’ Then she rode away to the group.
‘Don’t worry,’ Olivia said to Ivy. ‘We’ll find him.’ She turned to mount Honey again but Ivy caught her arm.
‘It wasn’t Brendan,’ Ivy confessed. ‘It was me.’
Olivia sucked in her breath. ‘It doesn’t matter now,’ she replied. ‘He’ll be OK.’
The thought of Lucky alone out there in the woods made Olivia’s heart ache. Ivy nodded and limped to the porch swing, clutching the phone like a lifeline. Olivia swung her leg over Honey and rode over to where Rebecca was briefing Hank and John.
Rebecca called out to the grey-haired, flannel-clad visitors, ‘Thank you all very much for coming. I hope you enjoyed yourselves.’ Then she said more quietly, ‘Let’s go, Olivia.’
They rode hard to the woods, where Ivy had pointed and then slowed down, looking for signs.
‘This way,’ Rebecca said. ‘Where those branches are broken.’
The horses picked their way through the trees, their hooves crackling the leaves and twigs underfoot.
‘There are some positives,’ said Rebecca, breaking the nervous silence. ‘It’s not winter any more, and Lucky wasn’t fully tacked. It would be much worse if he had reins that could get caught on branches. He’s a smart horse and knows the area very well.’
It wasn’t much to believe in, but it made Olivia feel a tiny bit better.
‘Horses like people and familiar things,’ Rebecca went on. ‘If he smells horses he knows or hears my voice, he might come to us.’
Olivia patted Honey on the neck. ‘I’m glad you’re here, then.’ She’d only ridden her a few times but already she loved the horse. She could only imagine what Rebecca must be feeling for Lucky.
Olivia pushed a branch away from her face. ‘I feel so awful. If we had never come –’
‘Don’t say that,’ Rebecca said. ‘You two are all the family I have left and having you here has been wonderful. But that Brendan boy …’
Olivia was torn. She wouldn’t betray her sister’s trust and tell the truth about how Lucky got out, but she couldn’t let Rebecca think bad of him. ‘Brendan is a really good person,’ Olivia said. ‘He’s perfect for Ivy and treats her so well.’ Not to mention that he’s really brave and loyal for taking the blame, Olivia thought.
‘Humph.’ Rebecca changed the subject. ‘I think I’ve lost the trail.’
They had emerged on to one of the many paths in the woods. It followed a high fence, and there were too many hoofprints to know which were Lucky’s.
‘What do we do now?’ Olivia wanted to know.
‘We should keep riding for a little while, and then go back to see what group efforts we can coordinate.’
Olivia nodded.
She would do whatever it took to find Lucky – for Rebecca and for her bio-mom, but most importantly, for her sister.
‘It will have to do for now.’ Ivy closed her laptop sadly.
She’d been trawling the internet for advice on lost horses, and she’d found some great websites.
One woman had managed to convince the local police academy to run training exercises in the woods when she’d lost her horse and someone else had got the recreational pilot’s club in the area to do a rota of flyovers. Ivy was willing to do anything to help find Lucky and she planned to start making phone calls first thing in the morning.
‘You’re doing everything you can,’ Olivia offered.
Olivia looked dishevelled after five hours of searching. Ivy had spent her time phoning everyone that Aunt Rebecca knew and organising a search party of thirty people for first light tomorrow.
‘I have never felt so wretched.’ Her ankle throbbed and it felt like her legs were made of lead as she stood up to change into her bat-patterned pyjamas.
‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Olivia replied with a pained expression. ‘Don’t blame yourself.’
‘There is no one else to blame,’ Ivy said. ‘Brendan shouldn’t have said he’d done it. I’m so lucky to have him – even if Aunt Rebecca doesn’t think so.’
Olivia nodded. ‘She just needs to get to know him.’