Free Beneath Outback Skies by Alissa Callen Page B

would go all the laughter and light he’d brought into their world.
    She couldn’t accept any more of Tait’s help. Even if he super-glued himself to the ute’s seat he could no longer come with her into the paddocks. He’d caused enough trouble. She had to keep her physical and emotional distance. Banora Downs was her responsibility and she wasn’t letting any man, no matter how disarming his smile or good his intentions, cause her to lose focus. Her father and the animals depended upon her.
    To her right a broken windmill came into view but no white pony stood in the shade of the rusted tank flicking her tail against the flies. Paige stopped to open a gate. The midday sun seared through the thin cotton of her father’s blue shirt. Gidget must be waiting for her daily feed in her second favourite spot on the other side of the dam beneath the coolibah tree. Paige didn’t usually visit the pony so late but she’d lost time tracking down a box of car manuals for Connor and Tait.
    The ute bumped its way across the paddock towards the wide-spreading coolibah tree, but again there was no sign of the pony. Paige’s thumbs tapped the steering wheel. While she’d been away droving, a neighbour’s teenage son had been kind enough to cut across theirtwo farms and feed her. But she was sure he’d fed her in the usual spots so Gidget shouldn’t be waiting anywhere else. So where was she?
    Paige’s fingers stilled. Cold panic swept through her like a flash flood down a dry gully. The dam. Gidget had a water trough to drink from but she could have wandered into the near-empty dam to cool off.
    The ute engine roared as Paige floored the accelerator. Gidget was the last connection she had with her mother. Everything else had gone. The flowers she’d planted beside her grave. The kelpie puppy. The Persian Blue kitten. The aged Welsh mountain pony had to be okay. Paige reached the dam, slammed on the brakes and left the ute. But with every stride up the dirt bank and every breath of hot air that sucked the life from her lungs, she grew more certain about what she’d find. She crested the wall and a sob tore through the hand she’d pressed against her mouth.
    A small, once-white horse was wedged up to its back in thick, brown mud.
    Paige spun on her heel and tore down the slope, not caring that loose dirt and stones almost sent her falling face-first. She slid into the ute seat and leaned over to grab the mobile. Please let there be reception. She could use the two-way but Connor and Tait were in the shed and wouldn’t hear her call. The bars indicating she had reception blurred as, hands shaking, she dialled Tait. Then using her shoulder to wedge the ringing phone next to her ear, she sent the ute rattling towards the homestead.
     
    Tait pushed the ancient ute to its limit as he followed Paige’s directions. White-lipped she’d made no protest when he’d insisted he drove. Her driving was nerve-wracking at the best of times. He risked taking his gaze off the barely-there track to glance at her. She sat hunched in the passenger seat, ropes across her lap, as if by leaning forward she could make the vehicletravel faster.
    The edge of a dam wall rushed up to meet them. Without preamble he killed the motor and followed Paige up the steep mound of dirt. He jammed his hat onto his head as the heat sucked all moisture from his pores. He came to a stop beside her. He didn’t know much about horses but he could tell the animal before him was exhausted. The only sign of life was a flicker of her small white ears as Paige spoke.
    ‘I’m so sorry, Gidget. We’ll have you out soon, I promise.’
    Paige turned to him. But however calm and confident her words had sounded, her chest rose and fell with an agitated urgency.
    ‘Here’s the plan. I’ll put a rope around her neck and another around her rump.’ Even before she’d finished speaking Paige had pulled off her boots and socks. Her fingers flew down her shirt buttons. ‘If