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“Been working with him every day. I guess he connected the dots in his head and realized that I was the one who was making him feel better. He stopped kicking at me a few days into the treatment, and once he did that, I had a feeling we would be able to work through the infection. It was a slow journey, and we nearly lost him twice, but I tell you, that’s one tough horse.”

“Did you ever hear from his owner?” I asked.

“Nope.” Ham shook his head. “And I went into the court and petitioned that he be rehomed here legally. I explained the situation to the judge, and he was labeled an abandoned animal. I then filled out the paperwork that we were taking him on with the ranch, and the rest is history.”

“How did Raya find out?”

“I told her early on in the treatment. But I made her promise not to tell you. I wanted to surprise you with something when you got back to the ranch, and what better way to do it than with the horse you felt you had let down? I know you would do anything for any horse that comes to this ranch in need of help, but fate worked against you on this one. Did that mean he was a lost cause? Nope. No one is,” Ham said proudly.

“There are no lost causes,” I agreed. “Thank you, Ham. From the bottom of my heart, I mean that. I had no idea he was still alive. I haven’t talked about him at all because I felt so bad about having him put down. I really did feel like I failed him. I’m so glad you did that. Really. I owe you a million.”

“Nah,” Ham said with a shake of his head. “I just did what you would have done if you had been able. I know you well enough to know that you never would have sent that horse to the vet to be put down if you had any way of being able to treat him yourself. That’s just the way you are. You would have done anything in your power to make sure that infection was taken care of. And only after you had tried it all would you be willing to talk about other options.”

“You know me too well,” I said with a shake of my head. “And I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am that you stepped in and did that for me. I was sure I was the luckiest man in the world with Raya in my corner. But knowing now that I also have a buddy like you tells me that I really am the luckiest man in the world. I might have had cancer, but I can tell you one thing, that doesn’t do a damn thing to dampen what I just came home to find.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Ham said.

We fed the horses together, then we headed into the house to have a beer and catch up more. But, I couldn’t stop shaking my head in wonder over what Ham had been able to do with Maveric. He had truly worked a miracle with that horse, and to know that we now owned him, that he wasn’t going anywhere, made me even happier.

Just a few short weeks ago I had been so sure my life was falling apart. I hadn’t even been sure I would get to see the next year, really, but since then, things had been slowly coming back together. It hadn’t happened overnight, but step by step, things were fitting back into place. And that felt good.

I knew it was still a long journey ahead of me. I knew there would still be good days and bad days. I knew there would be times when I was fighting with Raya, or Ham, or even that the day would come when Maveric would be an old horse, and there really would be nothing we could do for him anymore. But, those were all little things that would come and go. Things that would make a day tough, but do nothing to touch the rest of my life.

If anyone would know about hardship in life, it was me. Shit, if anyone would know that life wasn’t fair, or that bad things really did happen to good people, that was me, too. I seemed to have a streak of bad luck that cropped up every now and then, and when it did, it hit me hard.

But that didn’t change the fact that I could look at the big picture.

And in the grand scheme of things, my life was pretty damn good.

It might not be perfect, but it sure was close.