Monster in the Closet

But if it could happen anywhere, it was here. Healing Hearts with Horses had been providing therapy to traumatized children for over a year now and already had a slew of success stories. Taylor knew this because she d very thoroughly researched the program, including its founder/president, Daphne Montgomery-Carter, and her staff, before submitting her application.

In addition to her philanthropy, Daphne was a full-time prosecutor for the city of Baltimore. Somehow she managed to raise money for the program in her spare time, lending a hand to the therapy sessions whenever she could. All the day-to-day details were left to Maggie VanDorn, an accomplished horsewoman and licensed therapist who had years of experience working with child victims of violent crime.

Janie and Jazzie had a good chance for recovery here if they d let themselves relax and have a little fun. Getting Janie to actually breathe while on her horse would be a good start, but telling new riders to remember to breathe often made them even more stressed.

Getting Janie to sing would get her to breathe without her knowing she was doing it.

Hey, Janie! Taylor called. Did you know that Ginger likes music?

Janie turned her head to stare at Taylor suspiciously. Horses don t like music.

Ginger does. She loves it when I sing to her. Especially when I m riding her. She just chills out like you re giving her a massage. It wasn t exactly true, but it wasn t necessarily a lie, either.

Taylor was good at telling not-exactly-truths that also weren t lies. She d perfected the skill at the feet of the master of lies and deceit. Thanks for that, Mom.

Pushing her own bitterness aside, she smiled at Janie. Do you know any songs?

A wary nod, but no reply, which was no surprise. Unlike Jazzie, who d remained mute, Janie did speak sometimes. Their fil