Read Online Moonrise by Terri Farley - Free Book Online Page B

really tired. But that was all.
    Sam crept downstairs. The living room was dark. So was the kitchen, except for a small light over the stove.
    She wasn’t sneaking out. She just longed for thewarm privacy that wrapped around her when she sat at the riverside while everyone else was asleep.
    Suddenly the kitchen grew even darker. Sam glanced toward the front kitchen window to see a cloud blocking the light of the moon. No big deal.
    As she eased open the kitchen door, Sam heard a squeak that didn’t come from the door hinge.
    â€œHello, dear.”
    Sam caught her breath. Just as she noticed movement to her left, she remembered Gram had moved her rocking chair to the front porch for such hot nights when she couldn’t sleep.
    â€œYou didn’t turn on the porch light,” Sam gasped. “You surprised me.”
    Gram gave a low chuckle, then asked, “Did you hear Tempest’s fussing all the way up in your room or are you just psychic, like most mothers?”
    Sam laughed.
    She wasn’t exactly Tempest’s mother. Dark Sunshine did a fine job of that, but Sam had been the first human to touch the black filly on the night she was born.
    â€œWhat’s she doing?” Sam asked.
    Gram held her index finger to her lips, shushing Sam so that she could hear the patter of small hooves circling the barn corral.
    Sam listened as Tempest ran around and around. Dirt crunched as she stopped, gave a squeal-snort, then continued her race with the night.
    â€œI wonder why she’s so restless?” Sam said.
    â€œIt’s a warm night. The moon’s playing peekaboo with the clouds and creating strange shadows. Plus, she takes lots of naps during the day,” Gram suggested. “She’s probably not sleepy.”
    Sam wanted to believe Gram, but an image of leaping, snapping dogs flashed into her mind.
    â€œYou don’t think—”
    â€œâ€”something’s wrong?” Gram finished for her, then shook her head. “I’ve been sitting here for close to an hour and Blaze is sleeping over by the bunkhouse. One of us would have noticed.”
    Sam trusted Gram’s instincts. After all, Gram had grown up on River Bend Ranch. She could hear the difference between wind shaking a pinion pine and a cow brushing against that same pine to make it shiver.
    â€œI’m going inside, but there’s no reason you can’t go down and check on your sassy little girl,” Gram said.
    When Sam kissed Gram’s cheek, Gram’s powdery scent banished the nightmare flashes of dogs. Sam sighed and smiled as she set out across the ranch yard toward the corral.
    The saddle horses grazed at the far end of the ten-acre pasture. There were no snorts or nickers, even from Ace, as she passed by.
    But Dark Sunshine heard her quiet steps and gave a low, inquiring whinny.
    â€œJust me, Sunny.”
    The mare stamped, then rubbed against the corral fence.
    Sunny sounded peaceful tonight. Sam didn’t think the mare would try to push past her as she entered the corral. Just the same, Sam decided to go into the barn and through the stall that opened into the corral. Sunny’s mustang heart still longed for the open range.
    When she first stepped into the corral, Sam was surprised by the buckskin’s greeting. Sunny trotted to meet her, then rubbed her forelock against Sam’s chest so hard that she stumbled back a step.
    â€œWhat are you girls doing tonight?”
    The mustang’s ears twitched at the puff of Sam’s human breath, but she didn’t seem to mind. Cautiously and gently, Sam slipped her fingers beneath Sunny’s black mane and stroked her buckskin neck.
    Tempest raised her forefeet off the ground a few inches and gave a tiny snort. Abruptly Sunny’s head swung to consider her foal.
    â€œYou’re just amazed anyone would want to pet your mom instead of you, aren’t you?” Sam asked the filly.
    Tempest answered by slipping past