Free Free Falling by Susan Kiernan-Lewis Page B

loosened Rocky’s girth and tethered him to a bush. Next time, he decided, he would leave the horse behind and just walk the two miles to the pasture. The sheep had found a natural stone windbreak and had bedded down nearby. David decided to join them. The spot where the one sheep had been attacked was still evident but it didn’t seem to bother the flock. They grazed carelessly around the area which was still stained dark with the victim’s blood.
    David settled down on a blanket on the ground. He put the gun beside him.
    This was nuts beyond believable , he thought. I’m sitting in a pasture at night with a gun protecting a flock of sheep. My flock of sheep, in fact . He stared up into the autumn night sky and saw the stars so clearly he thought for a minute he must be hallucinating. He pulled a blanket over his shoulders and shivered.
    He felt a wave of sleepiness push over him and he leaned back against the stacked stones that served as the windbreak. He figured he could sleep. If the sheep didn’t wake him, Rocky surely would if someone or something was creeping about. He felt in his pocket for one of the biscuits. The grease from the goat butter coated his fingers and he licked them clean.
    He appreciated that Sarah seemed to jump right in and figure out the skills they needed to help them survive. That was a part of her that didn’t surprise him at all. He unwrapped one of the biscuits and bit into it. In their old life, she was always so together. No matter what life threw at them, she dealt with it. He’d gotten used to that. On the other hand, he knew her ability to function came at a price. She took anti-anxiety medication to help her control what she insisted was a rational but constant fear. She said it had to do with a parent’s normal concern for her child’s safety, but really, in his opinion, it was a fear of just about everything.
    He finished the biscuit and wiped his fingers on his jeans. He had to admit there was a lot to be afraid of nowadays. Even Dierdre was scared and she was the toughest lady he knew. He was grateful that Sarah seemed to be keeping it together in the face of this new, terrible situation they were all in.   His worry now that she really did have something to be afraid of was a simple one: How was she going to handle things when her meds ran out?
    He remembered for a moment the woman he had fallen in love with so many years ago. Sarah had been downright fearless in those days. It’s a terrible thing to realize the person you thought you knew was just a cover for the person they really were . He wondered if she thought that about him. Had he changed since they’d come to Ireland? It was only three weeks but he now had callouses he never imagined owning back then. He closed his eyes. And here he was sitting out in the middle of a pasture a hundred miles from nowhere in the middle of the frigging night, waiting to shoot someone for messing with his sheep. Yeah, not in a million years could he ever have imagined that scenario back home. And David found himself smiling as he dropped off to sleep.
     
    “Whoa, you’re a heavy sleeper, Dad. What if I were a wolf or something?”
    David woke to the sight of his son walking toward him and leading his pony. It was daylight. David yawned and stretched, instantly feeling every rock and stick that had dug into his back and hips while he’d slept.
    “Hey, John,” he said. “I don’t suppose you brought a thermos of coffee?”
    John started counting the sheep.
    “They’re all there,” David said, getting up and picking up his blanket. “Rocky was my early warning device and he didn’t go off all night so I know we’re fine.”
    “Mom says breakfast is ready. I’ll take over now.”
    David packed his saddlebag and tightened Rocky’s girth.
    “I don’t think predators will attack in the daylight,” he said.
    John frowned. “Is that true? They only attack at night?”
    David realized he had no idea.
    “Only at night,”