Free Mistwalker by Terri Farley Page B

squishy sound of Hoku’s tongue searching her mouth for every last grain of sugar.
    With the filly’s feet done, Darby faced her into the wind to use the curry comb. Hoku’s winter coat was nearly gone, but she didn’t want any loose hair or dust to blow into the mustang’s eyes.
    Last, she sprayed hair conditioner on Hoku’s mane and tail and worked the milky solution through. She’d started using her fingers to untangle knots ever since she’d seen Megan do it with her rose roan Tango.
    â€œPrevents breakage and split ends,” Megan had insisted, like a hairstylist.
    Besides, Darby thought, this way didn’t pull as much and Hoku didn’t flinch.
    â€œYou could rub a little baby oil on her face,” Cade suggested. “It’d look real pretty.”
    â€œHow long do you plan to keep me occupied?” Darby asked.
    Cade glanced toward the ranch road, then shrugged. “Long as it takes, I guess.”
    Just then, the high-low call of a turkey was answered by others of its kind. Darby listened as intently as her horse.
    A rafter of turkeys, Darby thought. She’d read that’s what they were properly called, instead of a covey, like quail, or a flock, like geese.
    But she didn’t share this information with Cade. Instead, she thought of the tumbling gray-brown chicks that would be following the turkey hens.
    â€œHey! Did you see your mom at the—”
    Cut off by Cade’s intent look, Darby just gestured toward the resort.
    â€œDid you see her?” he asked.
    â€œWell, that’s what I mean. I wouldn’t recognize her, because I’ve only seen her once before on TV, but this lady—while you were talking…” Darby wasn’t sure how to describe the look in the woman’s eyes. Cade might think she was being sentimental , to use Mom’s word, or pupule , to use his own.
    But maybe not. All at once Darby understood the expression of someone “hanging on” the words of another.
    â€œGo ahead.” Cade’s voice was almost a whisper, and Darby kicked herself for bringing this up when she wasn’t sure.
    What if Dee had left the island? No one had seen Cade’s mother since the tsunami.
    Trying not to give Cade false hope, Darby went on, “I just thought it might be her because of the way she was looking at you while you were standing up, talking. She looked satisfied . Like everyone was giving you what you deserved, or something.”
    Cade’s face looked happy and sad at the same time. And then he walked away.
    â€œOkay,” Darby said to Hoku as she watched Cade go. “That went really well, didn’t it?”
    She pressed her cheek against Hoku’s silky neck.
    Eyes closed, Darby heard Cade’s boots climb the stairs up to the porch, then go into the bunkhouse. He returned right away, and Darby stepped back from her horse.
    â€œHere,” Cade said. He held out a tattered photo. “Is that her?”
    In the picture, Cade was a gap-toothed toddler straddling the shoulders of a grinning woman. Tall, with a face round as the body of a banjo and gleaming blond hair, she steadied Cade’s leg with one hand and his shoulders with the other.
    So careful, Darby thought. What changed?

Chapter Eight
    D arby stared at the photograph of Cade and his mother while Cade waited. He was patient, giving her time to think about it.
    Even if she told herself the photograph had been taken twelve or so years and an emotional lifetime ago, Darby wasn’t sure.
    â€œI can’t tell,” Darby said. “I’m sorry, Cade.”
    â€œYeah, well,” Cade said, and he left, taking the photograph back inside.
    â€œNo sign of your mom yet?”
    Darby jumped at the voice behind her. She’d been concentrating so hard, she’d missed Megan’s approach.
    â€œNot yet,” she said, and Darby suddenly felt thankful.
    What if she’d been born to Dee instead of