My Second Chance

Chapter Nine

"Ava!" I cried," But she's so kind and so lovely. Wouldn't she be traumatised after such an accident?"

"Yes, she was," Chloe said," And I wanted to send her away at first because I believed that if my father hadn't have gone to get her, he wouldn't have been killed. But when Mum and I looked through his papers, we found his will and in it, he had left me everything. Well, except the house and everything in it but the farm, the horses, the barn, everything was mine. He also left me a letter. Hang on, I'll get it."

She got up and went to the picture and lifted it up. She revealed a safe that was hidden there.

"All of the profits are in here," she said as she entered the pass code," All of the money that I use for the horses."

"How do you earn it?" I asked.

"I have lesson here in the spring, summer and autumn," Chloe said," And I sometimes do camps. The kids stay up here."

She unlocked the safe and handed me a tatty old letter. It read:

My dearest darling Chloe,
Hopefully by the time you read this, you will be able to deal with my death easily. But if not, then I want to tell you that I love you so much and I always will. I will be watching over you always and whenever you feel sad, scared or alone, just remember that I will always be with you. Embrace life, Chloe and live it to the fullest. You only have one chance and you are so clever, funny and talented. Go and make something of yourself and look after the horses for me. Don't mourn me, Chloe. I don't want to get in the way of your life but don't forget your old dad. I'll miss you my crazy girl and don't ever lose hope.
From your loving father xxx

I felt a tear rise to my eye as I read the true, meaningful words that Chloe's father had written. Although I had never met him, I felt a deep respect and love for him. I just wish I had known him. I had the letter carefully back to Chloe and she puts it back in the safe again.

"Your father sounded like a wonderful man," I said, thinking about my father.

"He was," Chloe sniffed," I miss him with all my heart and soul but I know that he's still with me."

I smiled at my cousin and she looked at me. It was then that I felt a sense of friendship and trust and I felt as though Chloe was accepting me into her life. Suddenly, there was a scream from one of the stalls and Chloe ran down the stairs. I followed close behind. We ran to where the sound was coming from and Chloe looked over a stall door with that name Cherry on it. The strawberry horse was lying on her side, sweating. Chloe unlocked the door and let herself in. At the sight of her, Cherry was calmed and she lay her head on the straw. I tried to follow her but Chloe locked the door on me.

"You can't come in, Amy," she said," Horses don't like it when someone they don't know interrupt their labour process. It's better for you to stay outside."

Chloe watched her for several minutes, watching her activity. Cherry kept getting up and then lying back down at every contraction and throughout half an hour, I saw no sign of the foal. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong so I asked Chloe.

"Yes, there is something wrong," Chloe said, taking off her jumper.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Don't look," Chloe said, approaching Cherry's rear end.

I did as I was told and looked away. There came several strange noises from the mare and then Chloe told me that I could turn back around again. I looked at her but she looked no different.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The foal is breached," she said," It's not coming out the right way. The placental sac hasn't even opened so the foal can't get out."

"Is breaching even possible?" I asked.

"Well, it is now," Chloe said," But it will be alright. I've dealt with trickier things before."

"What are you going to do?" I asked, really not knowing how Chloe was going to get out of this one.

"I'm going to have to tear open the placental sac open by hand," Chloe said slowly.

"Does that mean...?" I asked, communicating with my hands.

Chloe nodded grimly. I turned around, not wanting to watch what was about to happen. It took quite a long time for Chloe to tear the sac but by the time she told me to turn back around, I could see two little feet.

"I need you to come in here now," Chloe said. I stared at her but did as I was told.

"We need to get the foal out as quickly as possible," Chloe said.

"Why?" I asked," Shouldn't it just be a normal birth by now?"

"No," Chloe said," You see, when a foal is born, it always comes out head first so when the umbilical cord detaches, the foal will be able to breath right away. But in this case, the umbilical cord will detach before the foals head can get out so it won't be able to breath."

At that moment, there came a scream of pain from the mare and Chloe grabbed one of the foals legs and pulled. I did the same. We pulled and pulled and after about ten minutes, the foal was born. It fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Is it...dead?" I whispered.

Before Chloe could answer, it lifted it's head in search of its mother's milk. Cherry sighed in relief and turned around to lick her foal.

"We can go now," Chloe said, just as relieved as the mare was. I nodded and we left the mare alone.