Read Online Sun Kissed by Catherine Anderson - Free Book Online Page B

hair, trying to comb away the hat ring. Age had streaked the strands with silver at his temples, but they were otherwise as black as his children’s. “I found him outside the ER, probably waitin’ for a ride. He’s a clean-cut, polite young fellow.” He shot Samantha a sidelong glance. “Tall, sturdy. Good-lookin’, too, in my estimation, even if he issportin’ two black eyes. I figure the other guy probably feels worse than he does.”
    “We can only hope. Sammy laid down the law.” Quincy grinned at his sister. “If we go anywhere near the jail, she’s gonna kick our butts.”
    “I think Coulter took care of the paybacks for us,” Frank said, patting his shirt pocket. “And one good turn deserves another. I got his card. Reckon I’ll steer a little business his way, maybe even some of my own.”
    “That’s a good idea, Dad,” Clint remarked. “Old Doc Washburn will be retiring soon. Having a young vet on line who knows his stuff can’t hurt.”
    “Just because he took up for me doesn’t mean he knows his stuff,” Samantha pointed out.
    Hooking his Stetson over the finial of a tall-backed chair, Frank sat down next to her. Even at sixty-one, he was as fit and trim as a thirty-year-old, testimony to a lifetime of hard work. Though semiretired now, he could still run circles around men half his age.
    “You’re absolutely right, Samantha Jane. And you know me: I don’t let just any vet touch one of my horses.”
    “So why consider recommending him to others or giving him business yourself?” she asked.
    “On the way home, I did some callin’ around to check him out,” Frank replied. “Thought the name Coulter sounded familiar. Now I know why. He’s that new fellow old Jim Ralston has been braggin’ about. I trust Jim’s opinion. He claims the boy is flat amazing with horses.”
    “How so?” Parker asked.
    “Not afraid of ’em, for starters. That’s important in a vet.”
    A rumble of general agreement urged Frank to continue.
    “More important, Jim says the boy has a gift.”
    Samantha recalled Tucker’s talking about his rapport with equines. “How do you mean?”
    Frank’s brow furrowed in thought. “Jim says the young man can calm a frightened horse like nobody he’s ever seen, as if he communicates with the animal in a way most folks can’t.”
    Samantha knew firsthand how charming Tucker Coulter could be.
    “Jim had a filly go lame on him,” Frank went on. “Thought she had real promise as a cuttin’ horse, and he’d hoped to put her with a professional trainer. But all of a sudden she developed a limp. He took her to a couple of other vets. They prescribed confinement and inactivity to let the foreleg heal. But she kept goin’ lame again as soon as Jim let her resume normal activity. He finally took her to Tucker Coulter, and now that filly is fit as a fiddle.”
    “What’d Coulter do to fix her up?” Clint asked.
    “Come to find out,” Frank continued, “there was nothin’ wrong with her foreleg. Coulter X-rayed it and discovered Jim’s farrier was trimming her hoof wrong. Too much inward slope. It was puttin’ a strain on the tendon, and every time she got the least bit active, the swelling and tenderness returned.”
    “And the other two vets didn’t find that?”
    “Never bothered to X-ray the hoof and leg.” Frank chuckled and shook his head. “Can’t find somethin’ if you don’t look for it, now, can you?”
    The conversation turned to veterinarians—storiesabout good ones and bad ones and all the mediocre ones in between. When supper was finally on the table, all talking came to a halt. Frank began the blessing by making the sign of the cross, and the six of them quickly recited the prayer that they’d been saying before meals for as long as Samantha could remember.
    “Boy howdy, Clint, you’ve surpassed yourself. This soup is superb,” Frank observed after taking a bite. “You got any wine, sweetheart? We’re celebrating Blue’s big