Page 29 of Operation: Return
“I understand.” He gave the reins a flick and walked his mount toward the railing then clicked his tongue twice. After trotting for only a minute, Pete tugged on the reins. “I’m doing it wrong. It doesn’t feel good.”
Cole showed him how to sit and support his spine while leaning into the motion of the trot. Pete gave a nod and headed right back in to try again. Cole couldn’t believe how much Pete looked and acted like him, and not like Erica. He shook the thought away. How could he know how Erica acted? He was making assumptions and those were dangerous.
She’d written to him often after he’d left. They’d even talked on the phone when he could manage to. His parents had never mentioned her taking up with someone else and they’d loved Erica like a part of the family. So how could she have had an affair so soon after he left that Pete had to have been conceived almost right after he shipped out?
She would’ve told him Pete was his if he was, wouldn’t she?
He closed his eyes and tried to believe differently, to see things the way they had to be, not the way he wanted them to be. Pete was another man’s child. He had to be. He couldn’t have a six-year-old son who had been through heartache and lived with almost nothing, all because Cole had refused to force the government to do right by him.
He’d let the government get away with their mistake, but had that cost him a wifeandchild? The longer he looked at Pete, the harder it was to believe he was anyone else’s. Just like he’d hoped that Erica would immediately see the truth right in front of her eyes, he couldn’t wipe away what he could plainly see.
Was that why she was so afraid to believe him? Was she worried he’d come along and take away the only family she’d ever known? Anger burned at the injustice. Had his parents known and kept the information from him or had they died before they’d known?
Barking interrupted his frustrated musing and Pete screeched as a huge dog raced toward Pete’s horse, barking and foaming at the mouth. Cole didn’t recognize the dog and pulled his gun from his belt.
“Cole, help!” Pete screamed, lifting his feet out of the stirrups, and holding on to the pommel tightly. The horse snorted and stomped, almost unseating Pete.
“Hold on tight!” He pushed through the corral gate and left it unlatched so the other horses could get out. Better to have to catch them later than for them to get bitten or injured trying to get away.
Pete was too frightened to listen and couldn’t control the horse without his legs keeping the right pressure on the horse’s flanks. Cole came around and the dog nipped and growled at a couple horses as they tried to run by, scaring them back to the other end of the corral.
Sam came running toward the animal with a loop snare. “Cole, inch him around this way,” he directed.
“I’m kind of busy at the moment trying to keep this dog from biting my . . .” he couldn’t call him son. Not yet. He might not be. Yet everything in him said Pete was his. And he would fight for Pete as if he were.
Cole didn’t want to shoot if he didn’t have to so he holstered his weapon. The noise would terrify the horses, terrify Pete, and probably scare the dog least of all of them. He inched around and the dog growled a warning. Trails of white saliva poured from its mouth.
If the dog had been a larger breed, like a mastiff, he might expect that. This dog looked part shepherd and shouldn’t have had anything coming from its mouth. “Is it rabid?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Sam answered. “But we need to get it contained and I’ll get it to the vet.”
Cole dodged in close and the dog lunged, barely missing his arm. He heard the sharp chomp of the dog’s teeth. Sam came in around the other side and looped the snare around the dog’s neck, tightening it while Cole carried Pete a safe distance away.
Sam maneuvered the dog out of the corral using the long pole to keep the dog far enough away to avoid getting bitten. “I’ve got a crate outside the dog shed, help me get him inside.”
Cole hated to put Pete down after such a scare but he set him back on his feet next to the horse barn and told him to stay right in that spot while he helped Sam. Pete nodded, his eyes still wide with fear.
After a few risky attempts, they finally managed to get the dog into the kennel and off the lead. It wouldn’t stop growling and barking though, making the horses skittish to return to the corral.
“Doc is going to need a tranquilizer to examine that one.” Sam shook his head. “Wonder how he got in and what happened to him.”
“The electric fence is probably short enough that he jumped it, but the cameras should’ve caught him doing it.” He didn’t look like any dog Cole knew from the other ranches around Piper’s Ridge. The area was small enough that he knew the ranchers and their dogs.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to let the vet sort this one out. Maybe he’ll recognize where he came from.”
Cole stared at the snarling animal and tried to convince himself the dog’s appearance wasn’t a threat.
* * *
Pete racedinto Erica’s office, slamming the door against the wall. She jumped at the noise. The terror on his face had her out of her seat and around the desk in seconds.
“Mom! I got chased by a dog while I was riding. Cole ran in and got me off the horse. I was so scared I couldn’t move.”
“A dog? One of the ranch dogs?” She couldn’t help feeling confused over his rapid-fire speech.
“No.” Cole strode in next, completely calm, helping her to stop and take a breath. If he wasn’t worked up over whatever had happened, then she would let her worry subside.
“Somehow, a strange dog got turned loose on the property. I didn’t notice at first, because I was too concerned with saving Pete and the other animals, but it looks like someone beat the poor animal into a frenzy, then turned him loose. I don’t know if they intended for the dog to attack or just wanted to be a jerk. Either way, the sheriff won’t be looking too hard to find the owner.”