Ch8 Mishap At The Stables

Willa headed back up to the office and Tricia handed her a stack of memos.  “Your dad said you could handle these.  He left to go look after your mom this afternoon.  He thought you would be back earlier so he could talk to you himself.  Give him a call if you need something, otherwise I’ll be here as usual to help you as well.”

Tricia noticed the garment bag and other bag that Willa carried and asked her if she could put it away for her.  Willa handed it off.  “Can I take a peek at what you bought?” Tricia asked.

“Sure, it’s just an outfit for a dinner date that I have on Friday,” said Willa.

“This sure is beautiful!  Who is the lucky guy?” Tricia was fishing for more information.

Willa hesitated before answering her.  “I’m going out to a client dinner with Grey Langley.  Please don’t tell anyone.  After our lunch the other day the news about it was all over the place.  You know me.  I like to keep things low key.”

“Definitely Willa!  Mums the word,” Tricia winked at her and placed her pointer finger against her lips.

Willa went into her office and started going through the memos that she had received.  Her phone rang and she picked up noticing that it was a phone call from Trevor.  “Hi dad!  Is everything ok?”

“Not exactly.  I have some bad news.  Trigger is in an awful way so I called the vet over to take a look at him.  I thought you might want to know since he’s basically your horse.”

“What’s happened to him?”  Willa sounded frantic.

“We aren’t sure.  The stablehand found him laying down in the paddock.  I think he ate something toxic by the looks of him, but I’ll have the vet confirm it.  You should probably come home.”

“Ok, I’ll be right over.”  Willa grabbed her things and headed out.  She hailed the driver and jumped in the car with a worried look on her face.

Darryl had been Trevor’s chauffeur for many years and was almost like family to the Stockholm’s.  “Is everything ok, Miss?”

“I’m not sure, but please hurry.  Dad said that my horse, Trigger, is not doing well and that I’d better come home quickly.”

“Yes ma’am got it!”  Darryl pressed down on the gas and shot out of town.  In a shorter amount of time than normal they were back at the mansion.  “Hope he’s gonna be ok Miss.”

“Thanks for saying that Darryl.  I hope so too.”  Willa stepped out of the car and strode towards the stable praying that the vet had some good news.  When she got to where Trigger was Trevor and Martha were there with Dr. Nichols.

“Hi there Willa!  You sure did get here fast.  Darryl must have really been going fast!”  Trevor hugged Willa and Martha looked concerned while Dr. Nichols continued to care for Trigger.

Willa replied, “Oh I wasn’t paying attention to his driving dad.  You know I was too concerned about my friend here.”  She bent down and knelt next to Trigger as he lay down to rub his neck.  “So doc what’s the verdict?  Did my guy here eat too much of something that was bad for him or did he get poisoned?”  Willa got straight to the point.

Dr. Nichols had a look of shock on his face at what she said.  “I wouldn’t know about poisoning unless I took a sample of some of his blood back to the lab with me or has he vomitted?”  He looked at Trevor and then curiously at the stablehand Tom.

“Well answer the man Tom!  I wouldn’t know about any of that because I was gone with Martha to her doctor’s appointment.  Did you see anything near him when you found him?”  Trevor had lost his cool and was barking at Tom who looked scared.

“Uh, no sir!  He was just laying down and looked sickly is all.  Doc, I think you should draw his blood to make sure.”  Tom was frightened and was wringing his hands.  He was just a youngster about 18 years old or so and had only been working for the family for about six months.  Willa didn’t know him at all, but trusted her family’s judgement about who they hired to take care of things around the mansion and surrounding property.

Dr. Nichols began to draw a few vials of blood from Trigger and started him on a drip.  He handed the vials to his assistant and told her to take them to the lab for analysis.  “I’ll stay put and monitor him until the results come in.  Tell the lab that this is important and to put a rush on it.  Got it!”

“Sure thing doc!”  The assistant ran off with the vials and a few seconds later we heard their truck speed away.

Martha asked, “Doctor it might be a long night.  Can I bring you some coffee and perhaps something to eat?”  Mom was always taking care of everyone.

“Martha it sure would be nice.  Don’t go to much trouble though.  A sandwich will be fine and that coffee you spoke of should do it.  Y’all go about your business and I will monitor him.  He doesn’t seem to be in too much danger right now.  I will try and see if I can get him to drink some water after this drip is in him.”

“I’m going to change out of my work clothes, but I will be right back to sit with you Dr. Nichols.  I can bring your coffee and sandwich to you when I return.”  Willa strode away towards the mansion with Martha leaving Trevor behind with the doctor and her horse.

While in the house Martha made haste making the vet some fresh coffee and prepared a sandwich.  Meanwhile Willa went to her room to change into some jeans and a tee shirt.  She put on a pair of low cut boats and headed downstairs to the kitchen to meet up with Martha.  Martha was just placing the coffee and sandwich on a tray when Willa walked in.  “Just in time.  It’s ready for you to take to Dr. Nichols.  I made some for you too.”

“No thanks mom.  I had a big lunch at Georgio’s with Kaysea.  I should be good to go until whenever we have dinner.  You should rest.  I’ll call you if something changes with Trigger.  I’m going to send dad back here to rest with you too.  He looks tired and this is probably not good for his health either.”  Willa hugged her mom and gave her a kiss then she picked up the tray and walked out of the kitchen.

As she was headed towards the stable she ran into Tom.  “Willa, I’m really sorry about your horse.  I don’t know what he could have gotten into.  Please don’t be mad at me.”  Tom said in despair.

“It’s not your fault Tom.  Don’t worry.  Hopefully the doctor can help him to get better soon.”  Willa smiled at Tom and continued on her way to the stable.  As she placed the tray of food down her phone buzzed with a notification from Kaysea.

It read, 'I tried to call you on your office line a few times and then finally gave up and called the secretary.  She said you left work early.  Is everything ok at home?'

She quickly texted back, 'My horse fell ill.  I can call you in a bit.  Let me talk to the vet some more.'  Willa put her phone away and looked at Dr. Nichols.

“Thanks so much Willa.  Your family is always so nice to me.  I don’t have any word yet from the lab, but Trigger seems to be responding to the drip.  I’ll offer him some water in a bit.”

Willa nodded and looked at her dad.  “Dad, why don’t you go rest with mom for a while.  I think that the doc has everything under control here and there’s really nothing you can do.  I will keep them company and let you know if anything changes.  Sounds good?”

“Alright then,  I am kind of tired from going back and forth into town twice today and now this.  You can call me too if you want.  I will keep my phone next to me.”  Trevor hugged Willa and strode away towards the mansion.

Dr. Nichols picked up his coffee and took a few sips.  “Hmm…your mom sure does know how to make a great cup of coffee.  That sandwich sure does look yummy too!”

“Yes, mom always was a great cook.  That’s one thing about being back home.  I’m getting spoiled with all of my favorite foods again.  The kitchen staff just whips things up all of the time and when mom has the energy she’s right in there helping out.”  Willa smiled at her mom’s efforts during this difficult time of her life.

“That’s awesome.  I know her situation is not easy for you all, but at least they caught her breast cancer early.  She’s going to make a great recovery.  It just takes time.”  Dr. Nichols picked his coffee back up and then ate some of his sandwich.  A few minutes later his phone rang.  He nodded and looked at Willa with a furrowed brow.  “Thanks for the information Jess.”

“That was the lab.  They ruled out poison, but said that he definitely ate something.  There were some irregularities in his bloodwork.  I’m going to add some antibiotics to his IV drip on the next go round and continue to monitor him.  My assistant is on her way back with some additional meds as well.  We are going to camp her for the night and see how he is in the morning.  We have cots in the truck and will make ourselves a place here for the time being.  Don’t worry.  He’s going to be fine.”  Dr. Nichols patted Willa on the arm and said with determination.

Willa petted Trigger and said, “See there boy!  You are going to be just fine.  You just need to rest and let the great doctor here heal you with the medication.  You must have eaten something bad for you.”  Willa turned to Dr. Nichols and said to him, “I’ll go grab some blankets and pillows from the house for you and your assistant and I’ll be right back.  I’m so glad we have you as our vet.  I’m not sure many are like you and would care enough to hang around all night long.”

“You are very kind Willa.  Your dad and I go way back.  The lab is going to try and figure out what the toxin was that has Trigger all messed up.”

Willa replied, “That would be great!”