Page 45 of Booked for Kidnapping

Mr. Hampton chuckled. “If you want to try your hand at raising racers, I’m certainly not going to stop you. You’ll just have to take care with the foals. You don’t want to start them too early.”

“I read about that,” my mother announced. “I ain’t saddling a horse of mine until they’re at least four, and ain’t nobody gettin’ on their backs until they’re five and only if a vet clears they’re full grown. Maybe six. We can teach them on the ground without a rider until they’re ready to carry somebody without hurting them.”

Goodness. I would need to take care with my parents once I got home, if they’d gone to the stage of having a midlife crisis involving horses.

“How much are your horses going to cost you?”

“Three and a half thousand for the whole lot.”

“All right, go buy your horses, and if you need a trailer, I’ll call in favors and make sure your new pets get to your home, and I’ll get temporary homes for the ones we can’t keep at your place until we get a good setup for them. If you want goats and racehorses, it won’t break your budget, especially not with the stock work my boy’s been doing for you. Bradley, how much can you skim off for their horse budget without breaking their portfolio?”

“I already told you they hit big with the one long-term stock and sold it out before it dipped. Money’s no issue if they need funds for their new horses. It’s the same stock I went in hard on. We got lucky. I invested for them the same time I did.”

Just how long had Bradley been playing the stock market for my parents? Obviously, I needed to do more snooping into their private matters. Also, I would need to make use of his money-making skills.

I wanted to be able to buy a whole herd of horses as a rescue on a whim, too. And goats. I hadn’t even met my first few goats, and I already wanted more.

“I’ll text you,” my mother promised. “Bring my little girl home when she’s ready. If I’m going to have a bunch of horses around here, I’ll grab an extra so your little boy can ride a horse, too. Wake her up long enough to see what her favorite color of horse is, and we’ll see if there are any at the sale barn. It looks like I’m running an animal rescue, so who cares if it’s a good horse if it’s the right color?”

Bradley shook my shoulder, and he persisted until I cooperated and grumbled curses at him. “What’s your favorite color of horse? I don’t want you mother to kill me.”

I dug through my librarian knowledge in search of a color, one that might keep my mother busy for more than five minutes. Then I dredged through the little I knew of the colors and picked a pair of colors I thought had seemed pretty. “Dun or buckskin.”

As far as I could remember, there were differences between duns and buckskins, but if not, I’d get a color I liked.

“Dun or buckskin,” Bradley reported. He gave my shoulder a rub. “Go back to sleep, Janette. Your mom is expecting you home in a few weeks, and she’s planning presents.”

I yawned, burrowed into my nest, and covered my head with the blanket.

“She’s just about gone again already. She burrowed, and I don’t think she’s coming out again for a few hours.” Bradley took the time to tuck the blanket around me again. “I like this. She’s a lot easier to get up without the medications she was taking. No heart attacks waiting to see if she’s going to react to the drugs again.”

“Good. Now, what in the world is a dun or a buckskin?”

“No idea,” my fiancé admitted. “Dad? Any idea?”

“Tan or golden coats with black tail, mane, and ear tips, and they have dark socks, too. Duns are based on a different gene, but they’re very similar in how the horse looks. I’ll help you check the market for one. Riding would be a good physical therapy option, especially since her foot is healing. And with how much she likes animals? We’ll have her haunting your place most weekends.”

“Excellent. We will go forth and find her a good horse of the right color. We’re also going to get some barn cats. I found a lead on several litters of kittens with their feral mothers, and they’d make wonderful barn cats. Just have to get them taken care of, get their trackers installed, and make sure we protect them against the local wildlife. It’ll be a challenge.”

“I see you have decided to start a zoo.”

“We got the farmhouse, so why not have a farm?” My mother sighed. “I best be getting off the phone and get this place ready for the latest residents. If she’s not up for a phone call, let her know we don’t mind none, because she’s more of the kind to come crawling home so she can look sad and hope for forgiveness.”

No kidding.

“Tanya, is there any reason you’re unleashing your southern accent today?” Mr. Hampton asked.

“I haven’t had coffee,” my mother reminded him.

“Go have coffee. Please.”

My mother laughed, wished the Hampton men well, and hung up.

Bradley poked my side. “I know you’re playing dead, so you may as well fess up and stop pretending.”

How had he busted me? I peeked out from under the blankets. “How did you know?”

“You have a faint snore right after you fall asleep. You were quiet, so I figured you were playing dead and dodging talking to your mom because you’re scared of rejection.”