“No, no, no,” Salina cried as she ran blindly into the barn. “He’s dying and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.” She sobbed, fiercely wiping at the tears rolling down her face as she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around the dog that had been following behind her.  “What are we going to do, Queenie?” she asked her old friend. “Daddy’s not getting any better.  Nothing makes him smile,” she said. “He never even knew that I was in his room today.” She choked back another sob, remembering how scared she had been, thinking him gone until she had heard his raspy breath. She felt foolish now for running scared from his room. “Today was just another day of days that just seem to be going from bad to worse. “It seems, girl, like I have more bad days than good lately. What do you think?” she asked.

Sitting herself down on a mound of hay, she picked at the stalks and tried to soak up comfort where she had always gotten it.  “Why is it that you and Duchess make me feel so much better?  Mama has been gone twelve years now but still I come here to do my thinkin’. Daddy said that I started comin’ here right after she died.”  She patted the old dog and smiled.  Queenie had always been a good listener even now with her passel of puppies rooting for something to eat.

She had continued to seek her comfort here even after her father remarried and brought a stepmother and stepbrother into the family.  The horses still offered Salina the comfort she needed.

Rory.   She smiled as she thought about him. Her very best friend was coming home. It seemed he had been gone forever, instead of just the two years he’d been gone, looking for livestock to expand their ranch.

“I wonder when he’ll get here, girl. Do you think he’s changed? Big brother was always so handsome with all that beautiful brown hair and deep brown eyes to match.” She smiled, remembering how she’d teased him about making the girls giggle with his pretty looks.  For some reason, he’d never cared what the girls in town thought.

“I wonder if he’ll notice how I’ve grown.”  Two years had changed her somewhat. She looked down at the soft mounds where her breasts pressed against the fabric of her dress.  She’d grown into a woman in the time that he’d been away.

“Not that anyone’s noticed.” She grumbled.  She never saw anyone but Daddy, Agnes and a few of the ranch hands. All of whom had watched her grow.

Two years was a long time. But it was the last six months that had been the worst.