When she got to her feet, he slipped his arm around her shoulders again. “I’m glad you are here, Jayden. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Me either, where you’re concerned,” she told him.

He stopped long enough to brush a soft kiss across her forehead, and then together they headed toward the stall.

All the girls looked up at them with red, swollen eyes. Apparently, those who didn’t love Dynamite as much as Keelan and Ashlyn weren’t going to let the rest of them mourn alone.

“Do we have to let them take him away?” Ashlyn asked. “Can’t we bury him and have a proper funeral? He was our friend.”

“Elijah says he’ll figure out a way to get his body out to the half-mile marker but that he doesn’t have equipment to dig a hole big enough to put him in,” Jayden told them.

Ashlyn stood up and squared her shoulders. “Give me a shovel. I’ll take care of the grave even if it takes me all week.”

“I’ll help.” Keelan got to her feet and stood beside Ashlyn. “Two of us digging will make the work go faster. Can we start right now?”

One by one the other girls got to their feet.

“How many shovels do we have?” Tiffany asked.

“I could probably rustle up four,” Elijah answered.

“Then half of us will dig for thirty minutes and then rest while the others take a turn,” Quinley said. “I’ll take the first shift with Ashlyn and Keelan.”

“Add me to that,” Carmella offered.

Elijah pointed to a couple of wheelbarrows. “The shovels are in the tack room. Take the wheelbarrows with you to help move dirt. I’ll bring him out there when you’re done and, girls, you’ll want to wear gloves, or you’ll have some mighty big blisters on your hands before the job is done.” He handed Ashlyn a tape measure. “You might want to use this to get an idea of how long and wide to make your hole, and I’d suggest piling rocks on top of it when you get him covered with dirt. That will keep the coyotes from trying to dig him up.”

“Thank you, Elijah,” Ashlyn said. “Tiffany, will you help me?”

Tiffany reached out and took the end of the tape measure, and Ashlyn stretched it from one end of Dynamite to the other.

“I’ll remember the numbers for you,” Quinley offered as Ashlyn called them out.

When they were finished with that, Keelan picked up the handles of one of the wheelbarrows and led the way out of the barn. Rita followed behind her with the other wheelbarrow, and the other girls carried shovels. All the girls left with their heads hanging low and with tears still dripping onto their shirts.

“I’m going with them,” Jayden said.

“Let them go out there alone,” Elijah suggested. “It’s their little procession. Give them half an hour, and then I’ll drive you out there in the truck. That way you can tell the others what’s happened and ask them if they’ll take shifts watching over the girls. You could stay a couple of hours, and then one of them can relieve you so you can come back in and make dinner. If they’re not done with the digging at noon, I’ll drive them all back. How does that sound?”

“You’re probably right, but I can’t stand to see them in so much pain. I want to support them and do something,” Jayden said.

“You’ll be helping them the most by letting them depend on each other,” Elijah told her.

“Okay, but it’s not easy,” she said on a sigh.

“I know, darlin’.” He gave her a sideways hug. “As adults we want to shield them.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her even closer to his body. He hadn’t cried like the girls had, but his eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “Now all I have to do is figure out how to get a thousand-pound horse onto a hay trailer.”

She finally took a step back. “If I can help in any way at all to get him on the trailer, just tell me what to do.”

“Thank you,” Elijah said. “I’m going to figure out something while you’re talking to the others. I’ll be down to get you in half an hour.”

She nodded his way and headed outside. The sun was a fireball in the eastern sky by then, promising a hot, humid day after the rain the day before. How could the sun shine on such a sad day for the girls? It didn’t seem fair, but then Jayden had had the same thoughts the day she and Skyler went to the cemetery—Skyler in her sports car, Jayden in her old green truck. The sun had been shining that day, too. Wildflowers bloomed in the medians, and her mother’s roses were thick with blooms. She had picked a huge basket of red, pink, and yellow roses and set them at the end of the casket. Skyler had sneered at the basket, but she hadn’t brought a single flower with her.

She’d held the tears back to be strong for the girls, but the dam broke on the way back to the dining room. Tears streamed down her face, dripped off her jaw, and made wet circles on her shirt. When she reached the dining hall, she squared her shoulders, forced herself to stop sobbing, and went inside.

Diana and Novalene had put the kitchen and dining room to rights and made a new pitcher of sweet tea while she was gone.

“What’s going on out there?” Novalene rushed to her side. “Are you okay? Is Ashlyn all right? We started to come on out there, but we figured you’d call if it was serious.”

“Dynamite died,” Jayden answered.

“No!” they chorused.

“Is Keelan all right?” Novalene asked. “She’s awfully attached to that horse and has been fussing about Ashlyn thinking he wasn’t doing well. I think she knew he was on his last legs but was just in denial.”

“They’re all taking it hard, and”—Jayden poured herself a tall glass of sweet tea, and slumped down into a chair—“they’re going to bury him and have a funeral this afternoon.”

“They are going to do what?” Diana’s eyes almost popped right out of her head.

Jayden repeated what she’d said. “They’re out at the half-mile marker digging a hole right now.”

“Those girls have never done anything like that,” Diana gasped. “We should go supervise and be there to comfort them.”

“Exactly.” Jayden laid out her plan. “I’m going to take bottles of water out with me for the first shift.”

“Let us take care of that,” Novalene suggested. “You need to cook. Elijah can drive us out there. Maybe they’ll have the grave done by lunchtime, and they can have their little service right after they eat.”

“Are you sure?” Jayden asked. “I don’t mind taking the first couple of hours.”

“Of course we are.” Diana laid a hand on Jayden’s shoulder. “We’ll get some water and maybe put some of those leftover cookies that you made into a bag. Digging is tough work, and they may need a little snack about midmorning. Poor darlin’s, the death of a pet is tough, and Dynamite has been a friend to all of them.”

Novalene bent down and slipped an arm around Jayden’s shoulders. “How are you holding up? It couldn’t have been a party out there with all eight of them, was it?”

“I’m fine,” Jayden answered, but she wiped a hand across her wet cheeks. “No, I’m not fine, but I will be. It hurts to see the girls in pain, and to tell the truth, Dynamite was my sounding board, or maybe I should say ‘sounding horse.’ I used to go out there at night and tell him my troubles.”