“I know I grabbed you pretty hard earlier. I just didn’t want you to see Levon on the ground like that.”
He was talking about her arm, not her emotions something that pained her far more than her flesh.
“It’s okay,” she said.
“No, it’s not. I hope I didn’t leave a bruise.”
“You were trying to protect me. I admit it irritated me when you did it. But now I understand why.”
“You…were staring off into space just now. You looked like you were thinking of something important.”
“Important? No. I don’t think it is. It’s just superstition.”
“Superstition? I wouldn’t have thought it was that.”
“What did you think it was?”
His expression softened. “You mentioned your parents. I thought you were thinking of them.”
Her heart hurt with his words. It always did whenever she was reminded of how her parents died. It was senseless and tragic and she’d never come to grips with it. But who did? They were her parents and she’d loved them.
She leaned against the gate to Mad Dog’s stall. “They were coming home from an anniversary dinner about eight years ago. I was home alone. I’d spent some time with friends after graduation.”
She shook her head as if she were trying to get the image out of her head. But in truth, she’d never seen pictures of the accident. She’d only read the police report.
“You don’t have to talk about it if it’s too painful. In light of what just happened here today… You were pretty upset about no one being there to help them.”
She felt the stinging of tears in her eyes. “What can I say? They crashed on wet pavement. The SUV broke through the Jersey barrier and then slid down an embankment about fifty yards off the road. Their headlights were buried in debris from plowing through vegetation so no one saw the lights. Cars passed by on that road every few minutes. Someone must have seen the break in the Jersey barrier, but no one reported it until the next day. By the time an emergency crew got to them, they were dead. The coroner said they’d been alive all night.”
A tear slid down her cheek. She would not cry in front of this man. Tears would come tonight. They always did. She’d cry for Levon when she was alone, just like Trip.
But the tears were there, and try as she may, she couldn’t stop them.
“I’m okay,” she said quickly, before he could reach for her again. She turned and swiped the tears from her cheek and then pointed to the upside down horseshoe. “I noticed that the other day.”
Kas turned and looked at the barn door. “Noticed what?”
“The horseshoe. Does it seem out of place to you?”
Walking over to the door, he inspected the horseshoe, pushing at it with his fingers and then letting it go. It swung back down.
“You mean because it’s upside down?” he asked.
“A few days ago I noticed it was upside down.” She shook her head. “It’s not that big a deal by itself. Just…don’t you think it’s a coincidence?”
“What, that Levon was killed by a horseshoe? Tabby, there are horseshoes all over this ranch. Look, the nail holding it upright probably rusted and broke off.”
“Both nails?”
Kas shrugged. “Could be. Are you superstitious?”
“Yes. And no.”
He grinned. “Well, which is it?”
“Yes, I guess. An upside down horseshoe on a barn door and then Levon is killed by a horseshoe strike to the head. Doesn’t that sound funny to you?”
“You heard Caleb. Levon’s was an accident.”
“I know. I…never mind. I heard what Caleb said and I know it’s plausible. Freak accidents happen. It’s just…”
“What?”
“I’m superstitious, I guess. I’ve always been told a horseshoe should hang right side up to catch luck. An upside down horseshoe means that whatever good luck you had will spill out. You’ll have financial trouble, suffer infertility if you are looking to have a baby or whatever else that’s important in your life. Bad luck.”
“You make your own luck.”
She shook her head and felt her cheeks flame. “It’s stupid. It’s just a horseshoe.”
“Is that all?”
She glanced at him and saw that he was genuinely interested. “You should know this. Everyone knows about rodeo folklore.”
“Yeah. Some of the bull riders I knew on the circuit used to say it offered protection. I knew one bull rider who kept a horseshoe in his duffel bag when he traveled, just in case.”
“It’s just superstition and…I just still can’t believe Levon is dead. I guess I’m looking for a reason why.”
He reached for her again. This time she didn’t protest. “I don’t blame you. But there are some things in life you just don’t get answers to. They just happen.”
The randomness of life had always confused her. Maybe because Tabby had searched and wanted answers to how her parents had died eight years ago. Everyone wants answers to things that seem so incomprehensibly painful. Some answers never came.
* * *
Something had nagged at Kas since the moment Tabby started talking about horseshoe superstition in the barn. He wasn’t a superstitious person by nature. But he did know a lot of people who were and took it seriously.
One of the reasons he’d come back to Sweet was to check on his investments. He had investments in breeding, both in stud fees and finding the right mare to mate. He envisioned himself one day leaving New York and coming back to Sweet when he found the right spread of land to buy and build a ranch. That was still a long way off. To do it right, he had to plan and wait for the right property to become available. Until then, he’d continue investing in stock and building his reputation in the Western Rodeo Circuit.
The day he’d arrived at the ranch, Trip had been agitated by complaints that several of his studs failed to produce pregnant mares for his clients. Tabby had said that infertility was one of the “bad luck” things resulting from an upside down horseshoe. If his clients’ mares failed
