Leilah closed the gate on the dozing mares, hearing the swish of lazy tails as they nuked flies with steady, instinctive regularity. She hosed out the buckets under a tap attached to the tack room wall and hung them up, placing the tub of antibiotic on the shelf.
“Nice bum.” Corey cackled like an old man as he reached into the darkened space for a head collar. He snorted at the horror in Leilah’s face and winked. “I’m riding up the mountain. Wanna come?”
Leilah shook her head. “I’m not interested in someone young enough to be my son.”
“Shame.” Corey shrugged. “But you can still ride out with me if you want.”
Leilah glanced back towards the silent house and contemplated her promise to Vaughan. He wanted her to stay but made little effort with the awkward atmosphere. “I want to,” she replied, staring at Corey. “But if you touch me, I’ll break your legs.”
He pulled a face and Leilah jabbed a finger into his chest. “I’m not kidding. I’m done with being pushed around by men.”
“Fair enough.” Corey raised his hands in submission. “I just wanted some company.”
Leilah snagged a battered crash hat from the tack room and set off after Corey. He dangled two rope halters in his hand and let out a low whistle. A chestnut mare sauntered across a wide paddock, her ears forward with eager anticipation. “Come on, girl!” Corey urged, his impatience rewarded with a flick of her right ear. He jerked his head towards Leilah. “Just grab whoever turns up next. Except the bay. He’s Vaughan’s and you won’t be able to ride him.” Corey opened the gate and approached the chestnut, knotting the rope halter on her head and letting the rope trail over her neck.
“You’re riding bare back?” Fear speckled Leilah’s tone and Corey stopped and watched her with interest.
“I can get you some proper tack,” he offered and Leilah nodded.
“I ride little and I’m rusty. Riding without a bit is fine but if we’re climbing the mountain I’d appreciate a saddle.”
“No worries.” Corey led his mare to the fence and put a loose knot in the lead rope. “Just pick one of the others and I’ll grab a saddle that fits them.” He jabbed his fingers at the gathering crowd and Leilah drew in an awed breath.
Leilah didn’t have to pick anyone because the horse chose her. He approached from the head of the knot of curious four-legged observers, confident and bold. He raised his nostrils to Leilah’s face and sensed her intent, covering her face with warm, grass-scented horse breath. Then he shoved her shoulder with his forehead. “I’ll take this one,” Leilah said, frowning at the familiar conformation of the solid body and gently rounded face. “He’s a Kaimanawa, isn’t he?”
“Oh, you can’t ride that one. He’s Vaughan’s.” Regret screwed up Corey’s face and Leilah put a hand on her hip in defiance. Devilment placed steel in her spine.
“Just get the saddle for him,” she snapped, snatching up the second head collar and fixing it over the bay gelding’s face. She checked the enormous feet and ran a curry comb over his huge body while Corey sloped back to the tack room. The youth dragged his feet and lost some of his natural assurance. When he returned with the saddle and a quilted cloth for underneath, he looked wrong-footed. “Vaughan won’t like it,” he maintained, his eyes wide. “He’ll go nuts.”
“He’s already nuts,” Leilah bit, her tone nasty. “And he’ll shout at me, not you.” She hefted the heavy Western saddle from the top rail of the fence and added it to the cloth on the horse’s back, careful not to thump it down. Her fingers shook as she caressed the intricate detail decorating the leather skirt of Hector’s most prized possession, doing up the wide girth and trying not to shed tears before the stranger. Corey gave her a leg up and Leilah closed her eyes against the familiarity of the curves against her bum, feeling the horse shudder beneath her as she communicated grief and loss through the unseen thread of connection.
Corey used a hoof pick and the curry comb, sending up a cloud of hairy dust from the chestnut mare. Then he mounted up from the top rail of the fence and set off through the paddock, easing the mare into her work with a brisk walk to warm up. Leilah adjusted the long stirrup leathers and followed, trotting to catch him. “Where are the cows?” she asked, puffing with exertion.
“Bush line,” he called back. “We’ll ride south and then follow the bush. Next door’s for sale and the agent asked us to keep the grass short.” Corey shot Leilah a blistering smile. “All good for us. We’ve ridden the drought fine this year with having the extra grazing.”
Leilah felt her chest tighten and caught up to Corey. “Next door? Over there?” She waved a trembling hand towards the white house on the hill and he nodded with enthusiasm. “I can’t go there.” Leilah’s voice sounded flat and her heart thudded in her breast.
“Yeah, ya can.” Misunderstanding, Corey forged ahead and the bay gelding followed. Curiosity and trepidation formed a hard knot in Leilah’s throat and she rode alongside as the house grew larger, the paddocks around it lush and green.
“So, what’s with you and the boss?” Corey asked, running a sleeve across his sweating forehead. “Are you related to him?”
Leilah shook her head. “We were friends until I left town at eighteen. I ran into him by accident after he came out of hospital and helped him bring Hinga home. I didn’t intend to stay, but she’s now scared of men.” Leilah chewed her lip, picking her words with care. “Why is he so on edge all the time? What’s been happening?”
Corey wrinkled his nose. “I probably shouldn’t say; Vaughan’s been good to me. When my dad kicked me out, he let me live at the cottage on the edge of the property for free and said I could take food from the garden to feed myself. I started helping him with the stock and he gave me a wage.”
“How long ago was that?” Leilah asked, pausing as her horse stamped away a fly.
“Three years ago.” Corey wiped his face on the bottom of his shirt. “I know he’s got no money, but he always pays me on time.”
“I don’t understand why there’s no money.” Leilah adjusted the crash hat on her head and loosened the strap against pinching her cheek. “Uncle Horse owned this property, so it’s just bills and maintenance, isn’t it?”
Corey shrugged. “There’s a debt. It swallows the cash every month whether we’ve made any money or not. Vaughan’s struggled recently. Being sick more often means we missed the last breeding season. He’s doing riding lessons for cash and that helps but a few bucks here and there don’t buy drench and all the stuff we need. Paying Gilroy back the money for the mare can’t have helped.”
“I saw a wedding photo in the house.” Leilah pushed her luck, hoping Corey could fill some information gaps for her. “Where’s his wife?”
Corey winced. “I heard some stuff when I lived with my dad in town. Vaughan went off to Palmerston North for a weekend and turned up here with this chick. The township was full of gossip about it. They had this real quiet wedding a few months later, but she kept herself hidden up at his place. I heard talk she miscarried a baby and then a while later she died.”
“Ouch!” Leilah regretted winding Vaughan up and realised most of what she saw in his eyes was heartache. “How did she die?”
“That’s the problem.” Corey chewed his lip and his eyes grew afraid. “If he finds out I’ve told you, he’ll probably fire me and I’ll lose everything.”
“Then I won’t tell.” Leilah forced her best listening face into place and tried to look sincere. “It can’t be that bad. Unless he killed her.” She smiled at her botched attempt at humour, alarmed when Corey’s face remained serious.
“He thinks he did.” Corey swallowed. “That’s why you can’t mention it.”
“What happened?” Foreboding hung over Leilah like a shroud, chilling the air and making her shiver.
“She killed herself. Waited until he went to the sale yards in Hamilton and then took pills and whiskey. He called an ambulance when he found her that night but she’d gone too far. It took two days for her organs to shut down and the doctors made him turn off the machine. He’s never got over it.”
Leilah swallowed and closed her eyes, imagining the horror of Vaughan’s discovery. No wonder he seemed so far removed from the laughing teenager she remembered. “Poor Vaughan,” she breathed. “Is that why he went off the rails and started drinking and fighting? I heard he spent time in the town jail.”
“Yeah.” Corey nodded. “He went to pieces after the funeral. His wife’s family turned up and accused him of hurting her and that’s where the rumours started. The coroner picked up all these untreated bone breaks and stuff like that.”
“Did he do it?” Leilah tried to conjure up an image of Vaughan hitting a woman and couldn’t. “I’d find that too hard to believe. He hit this boy at school once because he shoved a girl in the lunch queue. Kid didn’t know what hit him. Vaughan stood over him and screamed about men bashing women. The school counsellor and the dean carried him off still yelling, but he wouldn’t talk to us about it after.”
“Na. I don’t believe it either.” Corey sounded relieved at the unanimity and gave Leilah a sweet smile. “He’s a good bloke.” He lifted his reins off the mare’s neck to urge her forward and they cantered along the bush line towards Leilah’s former home.