‘But, Ivy, the barn’s roof looks bowed,’ Brendan said. ‘It could collapse under the weight of all this water.’
Ivy looked at the little waterfalls coming through the cracked roof and knew Brendan was right.
‘OK, but I’m not leaving Lucky,’ Ivy said. ‘If you want to help, you have to sing.’
‘Uh, what?’
‘Sing something!’
‘The itsy bitsy spider …’ Brendan said and poked his head around the door. He was dripping wet, his black hair like tendrils on his pale skin.
Lucky eyed him warily. Ivy joined in, so they were singing together. ‘Down came the rain …’
After a little while, Lucky calmed down and Ivy led him out with Brendan by her side.
‘The farm is this way,’ Brendan said, pointing down a small path Ivy was sure she would have missed. ‘Out came the sun …’
‘How did you know to come looking for me?’ Ivy said.
‘You called me but when I tried to call back, your phone was off,’ he replied. ‘I knew something was wrong.’
The rain eased a little, but they kept singing. Ivy couldn’t risk losing Lucky again. After a couple of bends in the path, Ivy saw the farmhouse through the trees. There were also the flashing lights of a police car.
Uh oh, Ivy thought.
As soon as they broke through the trees, the front door banged open and Olivia, her dad and Rebecca sprinted out to meet them, ignoring the rain.
‘You found them!’ Olivia cried to Brendan.
‘Oh, Lucky!’ said Rebecca, taking the lead from Ivy.
Mr Vega grabbed his two girls in a huge, damp hug.
A sheriff in a tan Stetson covered with plastic to keep off the rain followed. ‘Glad everything is under control. I’ll call the station.’ He walked off to his car.
Rebecca had been examining Lucky. ‘He’s under-fed, but he looks fine. I’ll just take him in and call the vet,’ Rebecca said. ‘Please, you all go inside and get warm. I’m going to check Lucky over.’
Olivia went inside and rushed upstairs for towels and a change of clothes for Ivy, while their dad made some hot chocolate. Ivy sank down on to a wooden chair, exhausted.
‘You will never, never do anything like that again,’ her dad said to Ivy, handing over a steaming mug. ‘That means you, too, Brendan.’
Soon, Rebecca came into the kitchen, her arms across her chest.
‘How did you find him?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know really,’ Ivy said. ‘I was just wandering, and I found him in a shack behind a really high fence. He’d caught his lead on the shelter, so was stuck. But the thing that made me able to bring him back was Mom’s journal.’
‘A journal?’ Mr Vega said.
‘We found Mom’s journal,’ Olivia said as Ivy pulled it out, still dry.
‘It said that she used to sing to Lucky, and so Brendan and I sang all the way home.’
Rebecca shot a look at Brendan. It wasn’t as angry as before, but she still wasn’t happy with his presence. Ivy took a deep breath. ‘If Brendan hadn’t come to find me, I don’t know how I would have found my way home. I was completely lost. And …’ Ivy had to say it. ‘It wasn’t Brendan that let Lucky escape. It was me. He just took the blame so that you wouldn’t hate me.’
‘I would never hate you!’ Rebecca said, rushing over to give Ivy a hug. She finally met Brendan’s eye. ‘And it seems I misjudged you. I’m sorry, Brendan.’
Brendan nodded, his wet curls still dripping on to the towel. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘And thank you, as well, for bringing my niece and my horse home.’ It was awkward but Rebecca wrapped Brendan in a big hug.
‘Can I …?’ Mr Vega was staring at the journal.
Ivy looked at Olivia and knew that she was thinking the same thing.
‘Of course,’ Ivy replied and pushed it across the table to him.
They all gathered around and read a section about how Susannah loved Lucky but not all the manure she had to muck out.
They were all in stitches as Rebecca told the story of the first time Susannah mucked out Lucky’s stall and ended up slipping in the mess.
Rebecca turned to Mr Vega. ‘I think I should say sorry to you, too,’ she said in a moment of seriousness. ‘It’s so clear that you loved Susannah as much as I did, and I can’t blame you for what happened.’
‘I know you miss her,’ Mr Vega said. ‘But I hope that Ivy and Olivia can bring you back some of her joy, like they have for me.’
Rebecca had tears in her eyes. ‘They already have. I should have said this days ago, but thank you for tracking me down.’
‘I know it’s what Susannah would have wanted,’ Mr Vega replied.
‘Finally!’ Ivy said, relieved that her dad and her aunt could start to work things out.
Ivy and Olivia leaped up for a group hug. At last their dad and their aunt had found something in common.
Ivy grinned at Olivia through Rebecca’s hug, and Olivia, who was slowly being crushed by Mr Vega, beamed right back.
It was starting to feel like they had a full family at last.